Written by Adam Gretz at CBSSports.com
With their 6-3 win in Game 5 of their first round series on Friday night, the San Jose Sharksare the first Western Conference team to advance to the second round of the playoffs.
They did it by finally climbing the mountain that was the Los Angeles Kings.
Before this year, the Sharks’ past two postseason appearances ended with a tough Game 7 loss to the Kings in both 2013 and again in 2014 when they let a 3-0 series lead slip away.
Overall, each of their past 19 playoff games have come against the Kings, and this year they finally got the results to go their way.
Here is how it happened.
1. Drew Doughty couldn’t stop Joe Thornton’s line
The big difference in this series really came down to the fact that the Sharks’ best players outproduced the Kings’ best players, and it’s easy to see when looking at the final goal and point totals. Brent Burns had a series-high eight points. Joe Pavelski is tied for the NHL lead with five goals in the first round. Logan Couture had six points, including five assists.
But as was the case all season for the Sharks, Joe Thornton was probably their best overall player and was just as dominant away from the puck as he was with it. And when his line was on the ice against the Kings’ top defenseman, Drew Doughty, the Sharks simply rolled over the Kings, outscoring them by a 4-0 margin at even-strength in the series.
Overall for the series Doughty was on the ice for 10 of the Sharks’ 16 goals in the series. He is a great player and one of the best defensemen in the NHL, but this series was not his best.
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