SAN JOSE -- The Sharks and Avalanche enter their second-round series of the NHL playoffs on very different pages. San Jose will be just three days removed from their Game 7 overtime victory over the Vegas Golden Knights, while the Avs haven't played since booting the Calgary Flames from the playoffs on April 19.
When asked if there was an advantage to not having time to get rusty, Sharks' coach Peter DeBoer tried to suppress a laugh.
"If you're asking me if I'd rather have a week off, I'll take the week off," he told NBC Sports California with a smile.
Granted, San Jose is dealing with multiple injuries sustained during their contentious first-round bout with the Golden Knights. But more than anything, DeBoer wants his team to be able to keep their intensity high after a come-from-behind series win over Vegas. Extracurriculars, off-ice chatter, and back-to-back games going extra long can really zap the energy out of a team, and San Jose has to be ready to bounce back from that.
"I'm more worried about our emotional level than our physical," DeBoer admitted. "You're fighting for your life for three games in a row, that taxes you emotionally. So we've got to get our emotional levels back up when we come out on the ice on Friday night."
There is one advantage San Jose has over their next opponent, however: getting to start the series in their own building.
"It's nice to not be traveling today to Colorado," DeBoer said. "It's nice, especially after a seven-game series, to not have to travel."
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Defenseman Brenden Dillon agreed. "I think any time you get to play at home and you don't have to travel three or four hours, different time zones, it's going to play to our advantage. Especially after a big series like that, a physical series where guys are banged up. Any time you're able to sleep in your own bed I think is a positive."
Dillon and the rest of the Sharks' defensemen have a tall task ahead of them in shutting down Colorado's speedy offense, which did quite a bit of damage against the Flames in their first-round series. Top-line center Nathan MacKinnon and second-line winger Mikko Rantanen led the charge with a combined 17 points (eight goals, nine assists) against Calgary, while Hobey Baker winner Cale Makar finished his first NHL playoff series with two points (one goal, one assist) and a plus-four.
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Much like shutting down Vegas' Mark Stone line, San Jose will have to solve the MacKinnon combo if they're going to be successful.
"We've got to be aware of them," DeBoer said, explaining that facing the Avs' offense in the playoffs will be different than facing them during the regular season. "The regular season you throw out the window this time of year. We watched them against Calgary and what they did to them against a really good d-corps. We know what we're dealing with and that's going to be the challenge of the series."
