Ducks at Sharks
The San Jose Sharks are one of only four teams in NHL history to lose a best-of-seven series after winning the first three games but, barring a stunning repeat of four years ago, they are heading to the second round of the Western Conference playoffs. San Jose can complete a four-game sweep and close out the series on home ice when it hosts the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday night.
The Sharks have shown no residual effects from the late wobble down the stretch that enabled the Ducks to snag the No. 2 seed and home ice in the series, winning twice in Anaheim before returning home to destroy their Pacific Division rivals in an 8-1 drubbing Monday to set up an elimination game. "It's a different team in here, different makeup," San Jose forward Logan Couture said in dismissing comparisons to the 2014 squad. "Our goal right now is to try to win one at home, win the fourth game, which is a tough one." Although the Ducks had their streak of five consecutive division titles snapped, they finished the season on a 10-1-1 run and appeared poised to make a deep playoff run but now are just trying to get the series back to Anaheim. “One win,” said Ducks captain Ryan Getzlaf, who embodied the team meltdown when he received a game misconduct Monday. “We got to win a game now. Our focus got to be to win that Game 4 and that’s all we can do.”
TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, GOLF, Sportsnet1, TVAS2, Prime Ticket (Anaheim), NBCS California (San Jose)
ABOUT THE DUCKS: Rickard Rakell, who paced Anaheim in goals (34) and points (69), finally got on the scoreboard with a first-period tally but the Ducks were shut down the rest of the way and have managed only three goals in the series while piling up penalty minutes at an alarming rate. “You’re not going to give yourself any kind of an opportunity when you take the number of penalties we took," Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said. "And I call them selfish penalties.” Getzlaf has been limited to two assists while Ondrej Kase, Adam Henrique, Jakob Silfverberg and Corey Perry have one goal and one point between them after combining for 74 goals during the season.
ABOUT THE SHARKS: Couture and Joonas Donskoi each had a goal and two assists and trade-deadline acquisition Evander Kane added one of each, but coach Peter DeBoer was thrilled with the performance of fourth-line members Eric Fehr, Melker Karlsson and Marcus Sorensen. "I thought particularly Fehr, Sorensen and Karlsson were outstanding tonight," DeBoer said. "You come into these games, and when you go on any kind of playoff runs you have to win all kinds of different ways. Different guys have to step up at different moments." Almost loss in the offensive showcase was the play of goaltender Martin Jones, who registered a playoff career-high 45 saves.
OVERTIME
1. San Jose is 6-for-17 on the power play in the series after converting on half its eight chances in Game 3.
2. The Ducks called up G Reto Berra from San Diego of the American Hockey League on Tuesday.
3. Sharks D Brent Burns sat out the final 10 minutes of Game 3 but is good to go for Wednesday.