Round One Schedule:

THE FORWARDS

THE BLUE-LINERS

THE NETMINDERS

Wednesday 4/10/19, 7:30 PST, NBCSNFriday 4/12/19, 7:30 PST, NBCSNSunday 4/14/19, 7:00 PST, NBCSNTuesday 4/16/19, 7:30 PST, NBCSNThursday 4/18/19, Time TBD, NBCSN* (if necessary)Sunday 4/21/19, Time TBD, NBCSN* (if necessary)Tuesday 4/23/19, Time TBD, NBCSN* (if necessary)Hockey fans across the continent couldn’t have asked for a better matchup than the impending round one battle featuring the San Jose Sharks and Vegas Golden Knights. Both teams are highly skilled at the top end of their lineups and have developed quite the bitter rivalry. This season, each of their meetings were up-tempo, intense games and there is no sign of slowing down. In their last meeting, there were multiple post-whistle “get-togethers”, misconducts were assessed, and two players even walked away with fines from the Department of Player Safety.It is uncanny to think of the similarities between the two clubs. Both the Sharks and Golden Knights have battled through injuries to key players throughout the season. Impact players such as Joe Pavelski (SJS), Joe Thornton (SJS), Erik Karlsson (SJS), Paul Stastny (VGK), Max Pacioretty (VGK), and Marc-Andre Fleury (VGK) have missed significant time. Both teams have been ice cold of late. Playing without Fleury, the Golden Knights sputtered to a 0-3-2 record before finally picking up a 3-1 win over the Edmonton Oilers. For the Sharks, it took a 4-3 win over the Golden Knights last week, to snap their own seven-game skid. These teams are very evenly matched, have similar makeups, and certainly don’t care for one another. This series will be electric, but the question remains, who is the better team, who will win this series?While the Sharks boast a lineup of forwards featuring one of the best playmakers in recent history and quite possibly the best American player still playing the game, the Golden Knights are simply healthier and deeper up front. “Jumbo” Joe Thornton and captain Joe Pavelski are two huge centers for the Sharks both literally and figuratively speaking. Without those men, the Sharks relied heavily on Logan Couture, Tomas Hertl, and Timo Meier. All three of those men have put up at 25 goals and 65 points presenting top-end talent above that of the Golden Knight's.Pavelski made his way back, scoring a goal in his first game, following a seven-game absence to injury. Pavelski has built a reputation as a guy who rarely misses time and he is not surprisingly back in time for the playoffs. Meanwhile, the other Joe has started a feud with the downright terrifying Ryan Reaves. Although Thornton has been no stranger to the fight game throughout his career, Reaves is one of the few elite fighters left in the league. In the last meeting, the two got into a high-sticking exchange, earning both supplemental discipline from the league in the form of fines. Karlsson is expected to be available for the start of the playoffs, which certainly helps the Sharks’ chances of advancing.Unlike their foes, the Sharks’ depth runs dry in the middle-six (lines 2 and 3). With Couture and Hertl serving as their best options currently, the next players in line to accrue points are Evander Kane, Kevin Lebanc, and Gustav Nyguist. Kane has top-end talent but tends to disappear for stretches and he has shown the propensity to become subject to ill-advised penalties.With an aggressive approach in the offseason and at this year’s trade deadline, the Golden Knights have ended up with three legitimate scoring lines. Their first line continues to be William Karlsson centering Jonathan Marchessault and Reilly Smith. That line was one of the best in the NHL last season and due to the recent play of Smith, are starting to heat up at the perfect time. As good as that top line is, line two is where General Manager George McPhee has particularly outdone himself.None of the players on the second line wore a VGK sweater last season. Stastny centers the line and was brought in as a free agent signing. After signing his well-rounded center, McPhee went out and traded for an upgrade on the wing, bringing in Pacioretty from Montreal for Tomas Tatar, prospect Nick Suzuki, and a pick. “Patches” was a bona fide 25-30 goal scorer, the finisher the Golden Knights longed for. At the trade deadline, McPhee dealt for the prize of the deadline, Mark Stone. Stone was an impending-UFA on a rebuilding Ottawa Senators team. The Sens dealt just about everyone, the last being Stone, to the Golden Knights for highly-regarded defenseman Erik Brannstrom. McPhee quickly announced that an eight-year contract extension, at an average annual value of $9.5 million per season was in place with Stone, upon completion of the deal. It didn’t take long for the fans to get over losing Brannstrom as Stone’s 200-foot play quickly won them over as his acquisition spurred a 10-1-0 stretch of games.With those additions, they are now able to ice a third line of Cody Eakin, Alex Tuch, and Brandon Pirri and all three men are a threat to score when the puck is on their stick. Eakin set a new career high in goals and points this season, seeing time on the second line while Stastny was out injured. Tuch was the team leader in points prior to the Stone acquisition. Not only did McPhee bring in another weapon, but he made the team dangerously deep, pushing a guy like Tuch down the depth chart. Pirri can also score, evidenced by the way he lit the league on fire, right from his first game back at the NHL level. If it’s not line one scoring, it will be two or three. This team is simply too deep to shut down on a regular basis. While the Sharks opt to front-load their forward lines, the Golden Knights spread the wealth a bit more. For this reason, the forward battle goes to VGK.Defense is an interesting comparison between these two clubs. Both have defenders that can drive play at a high level while activating into the offense. In an effort to snap their streak of unsuccessful playoff trips, the Sharks went out and acquired one of the best defensemen in the league, in Karlsson. Unfortunately for the Sharks, he has been out of action since February 26th with a groin injury. When he plays, Karlsson remains one of the elite offensive-defensemen in the game. On the season he has a line of 3-42-45 over 52 games, with an ungodly Corsi For (CF) of 59.3%. Only one player in the league (minimum 50 GP) has a better CF% and oddly enough, that man is none other than the former Golden Knight, Tatar.Supplementing Karlsson is the long-bearded, man-bun wearing, behemoth of a man, Brent Burns. As a converted forward, Burns is always ready to jump into the play and he often will carry the puck coast-to-coast deep into enemy territory. He currently leads all defensemen in points with 81 (15g-66a) ranking 24th overall, among household names like Giroux, Eichel, Bergeron, and Pastrnak. When healthy, the Sharks have two top-unit power play defensemen, making their special teams a real threat. When they really need a goal, they’ll pair Karlsson with Burns to maximize the talent on ice. Their bottom-four are highlighted by Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Brendan Dillon, and Justin Braun who are solid two-way defensemen. None of those men jump off the screen, but they do their good jobs well.It is very easy to point out the strength of the Golden Knights’ defense corps by simply watching one game. Seriously, pick any game out of their 164 regular season examples and try to point out the focus from the d-men. Using their speed, in quick transition, their defensemen are ALWAYS looking to jump up on the rush. The Golden Knights are blessed with many talented puck-moving defensemen. Nate Schmidt, Shea Theodore, and Colin Miller are all threats to score, both on the power play and at even strength. Miller’s slap shot is one of the most lethal I have seen in person. Standing behind the goal at practice is dangerous for your ear drums. He has a very heavy shot that makes a distinct thud, different than any other player on the team. While they are good on the offensive end, their play in their own zone can leave much to be desired at times.Currently, they are leaning heavily on a 36-year-old defenseman in Deryk Engelland, to operate as a top-pair guy, something he is not now and has never been in his career. Paired with Schmidt, Engelland is seeing far too many minutes, logging more TOI than Jon Merrill, Brayden McNabb, and Colin Miller. For most of the season and last season as well, Engelland was paired on the de facto second pairing with Theodore. Down the stretch, Head Coach Gerard Gallant decided to swap McNabb and Engelland. Although the pairing with Schmidt is fine, it pushes number 88 to the opposite side of where he played all season. It has also come with more minutes and responsibilities, something one of the older defensemen on the team with an expiring contract should not experience.Due to their dynamic, playmaking ability on all three pairs, the Golden Knights get the edge in defense corps. Although Miller is inconsistent at times and needs to get more pucks on goal, his top-end potential as a third-pair defensemen gives them so much depth on the blue line. Combine that with the reemergence of Merrill and you have a solid six-man unit. Most of their top guys fall well under the Karlsson and Burns tier, but having so many above-average options makes the Golden Knights dangerous. They have had an issue of getting pinned in their own zone for long stretches and have been prone to odd-man rushes, but their potential to score on any given shift is hard for the opposition’s wingers to pick up on. Speed, quick passing, and gap control need to be tighter for this group in the playoffs, but with a more concerted effort in their own end, this group can wreak havoc on the Sharks.Our last positional battle comes down to the masked men and boy is it a landslide in the Golden Knights’ favor. The Sharks have compiled a solid roster with numerous scoring options and a pair of elite offensive-defensemen, but they have one huge hole in their makeup and that hole is in goal. Starter Martin Jones has been, for lack of a better word, horrific this season. He is one of the only starting goalies in the league with a sub-.900 save percentage. He has been notoriously bad against the Golden Knights, to the point where Vegas and San Jose fans alike have been debating if they should go with Andy Dell instead.Meanwhile, the Golden Knights have as stable of a situation in goal as possible. The hands-down, number one netminder, is Fleury. He has a Hall-of-Fame caliber resume and his back-up has only been in the NHL for two seasons, appearing in just 45 career games. Fleury recently returned from an undisclosed lower-body injury, taking a 4-1 home loss on Fan Appreciation Night, at the hands of the outside-looking-in Coyotes. With one more regular season game left, Fleury has stated his desire to play, in order to get back into rhythm for the impending playoffs.Currently, Fleury is second in the league in shutouts, trailing only the former Vezina winner in Columbus, Sergei Bobrovsky. If called upon, Malcolm Subban has shown the ability to win games and make highlight reel saves. Furthermore, Subban is perfect in the shootout which highlights his ability to make a save when it matters most. While it is hard to play under the shadow cast by a goaltender like Fleury, Subban has learned the position well and it has made him a more complete player. He will be a Restricted Free Agent at the end of the season and if the Golden Knights don’t offer him much, I’d be shocked if there wasn’t an attractive offer sheet sent in the 26-year-old’s direction.Overall, the Golden Knights simply have the deeper team and the better goaltender. Most playoff series are decided by the goaltending and the fact of the matter is that Jones is not consistent enough or frankly good enough to get the Sharks further than they have been over the past few seasons. This is not to say that Jones doesn't belong, but in order to hit that next level, the Sharks will need better from their number one goaltender. When tempers flare and the adrenaline pumps, all bets are off and I would not be surprised if either team won in four, five, six, or seven games. This series will be a fun one to follow, be sure to tune in!