Sharks at Ducks
A potent offensive punch displayed by Evander Kane made him one of the marquee names available at this season's NHL trade deadline. The San Jose Sharks tried their luck with Kane, and the 26-year-old provided the knockout with two goals in his postseason debut to send the Sharks into Honda Center on Saturday bidding for a 2-0 lead in their Western Conference first-round series against the Anaheim Ducks.
Kane, who ended a 574-game postseason absence in Thursday's 3-0 win over Anaheim, relished the taste of postseason play after spending the bulk of his career forced into hockey-less springs while toiling with Atlanta/Winnipeg and Buffalo. "It was nice to finally get out in the playoff atmosphere. Obviously nice to get my first win in the playoffs too. Now, to focus on Game 2," said the physical forward, who has 10 goals in his last 11 games and 16 points (11 goals, five assists) in 18 contests since being acquired from the Sabres. Kane's first goal came on a two-man advantage for the Sharks, with Ducks coach Randy Carlyle lamenting his team making grooves in the ice as they skated toward the penalty box. "You can't afford to take seven minor (penalties) and give the opposition an opportunity to practice their power play," Carlyle said. "It takes any momentum that you had building in the game. It flips everything in their favor."
TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, Sportsnet360, TVAS, NBCS California (San Jose), Prime (Anaheim)
ABOUT THE SHARKS: Martin Jones turned in his worst season in terms of goals-against average (2.55) and yielded 20 goals in his last six outings (2-4-0) down the stretch only to turn the tables with a 25-save performance in the series opener for his fifth playoff shutout. Demoralizing the Ducks is nothing new for the 28-year-old, who turned aside 78 of 83 shots to post a 2-0-1 mark in three encounters against Anaheim during the regular season and Thursday's performance increased his save percentage to .928 in 33 career playoff games. Reigning Norris Trophy winner Brent Burns, who led the team in assists (55) and points (67), scored to cap San Jose's three-goal second period and captain Joe Pavelski notched a pair of assists to give him 22 points (seven goals, 15 assists) in his last 20 games.
ABOUT THE DUCKS: Anaheim captain Ryan Getzlaf isn't willing to overreact to just one loss, even if it was a shutout and marked just the third setback in the team's last 13 games overall (10-2-1) and first in its last eight home games. "We just have to regroup. It's one game. Best of seven. ... We have to understand what we did wrong and build from it now," said Getzlaf, who may know a thing or two about this as he's appeared in 122 playoff games. The 32-year-old Getzlaf had a team-leading six assists and eight points in the season series versus San Jose.
OVERTIME
1. San Jose RW Timo Meier had an assist on Wednesday to push his point total to five (two goals, three assists) in his last six games.
2. Anaheim C Adam Henrique (20 goals) and LW Jakob Silfverberg (17 goals) failed to record a shot on goal in the opener, while C Ryan Kesler (nine-time 20-goal scorer) suffered the same fate after hitting the post.
3. Sharks C Joe Thornton (knee) was on the ice for warmups before sitting out in Game 1 and likely will do the same in Saturday's tilt.
PREDICTION: Ducks 2, Sharks 1