They say good things come to those who wait, and the Golden Knights and Sharks have been particularly patient lately.
Vegas finished off its sweep of the Kings on April 17. A day later, San Jose put a fork in the Ducks. Ever since, both teams have spent the better part of the last two weeks twiddling their thumbs and studying up while the rest of the Stanley Cup playoff field sorts itself out, so there's plenty of angst to get this series on the road.
GOLDEN STANDARD
How Vegas became the most successful expansion team in sports history
The Golden Knights extended the NHL's best story to unthinkable lengths, defying logic and confounding pundits. No one knows when their dream season will end, and Vegas' proclivity to prove everyone wrong applies an asterisk next to any prediction to the contrary. If they defeat the Sharks and the Predators advance past the Jets, the Golden Knights will have encountered three of the last four Stanley Cup finalists from the Western Conference on this remarkable run. Let that sink in.
San Jose, of course, has other ideas and perhaps its best shot to get back to the Final since finishing as runner-up in 2016. Its playoff-tested roster is packed with veterans in their primes and should give Vegas its toughest test yet.
Sporting News' NHL experts Brandon Schlager, Evan Sporer and Jim Cerny make their series predictions below.
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Golden Knights (-128) vs. Sharks (+108): Schedule, picks, predictions
Game 1: April 26 at Vegas, 10 p.m. (NBCSN, CBC, Sportsnet, fuboTV)
Game 2: April 28 at Vegas, 8 p.m. (NBC, CBC, Sportsnet, fuboTV)
Game 3: April 30 at San Jose, 10 p.m. (NBCSN, CBC, fuboTV)
Game 4: May 2 at San Jose, 10 p.m. (NBCSN, CBC, fuboTV)
*Game 5: May 4 at Vegas, 10 p.m. (NBCSN, CBC, fuboTV)
*Game 6: May 6 at San Jose, TBD
*Game 7: May 8 at Vegas, TBD
Regular season meetings: VGK, 5-4 OT (11/24); VGK, 5-3 (2/8); SJ, 2-1 OT (3/22); VGK, 3-2 (3/31)
Brandon Schlager: It's possible the Golden Knights finally meet their match. The Sharks, written off before the season as a team in transition, remastered their craft after Joe Thornton's injury — will Jumbo finally return this round? It could loom large — and a couple shrewd trade deadline acquisitions. They attack north-south, threaten with great speed in transition and can roll out four scoring lines (the bottom trio of Marcus Sorensen, Eric Fehr and Melker Karlsson combined for four goals in the first round). Sound familiar? San Jose is firing on all cylinders will give Vegas a taste of its own medicine, but I'm tilting the series in favor of the team with the hottest goalie in the playoffs. Marc-Andre Fleury is the deciding factor in a seven-game thriller and the expansion Golden Knights, against all odds, move on to the Western Conference finals.
Golden Knights in 7 games
Evan Sporer: What the Golden Knights have managed to do in their inaugural season is nothing short of remarkable. To defy regular season expectations, and then make the playoffs, and then sweep away the Kings in the first round, it’s something we all thought was laughably out of reach just months ago.
And at each step of the way, I’ve been demonstrably wrong. I thought the Golden Knights would produce one of the worst regular seasons, and they ended up winning the Pacific. I thought the Kings would finally find the tonic for the "Vegas flu" to put the kibosh on their expansion season, and the Golden Knights not only won, but needed four games. So of course, entering their second-round series against the San Jose Sharks, like any good gambler …
I will not quit while I’m ahead! There is no way the Sharks lose this series. Evander Kane has been dynamite and incredibly productive since Doug Wilson snatched him up from the Sabres prior to the NHL trade deadline, one of the best moves around the league that day in retrospect. Martin Jones looks like Regular Season Martin Jones and not the goaltender we’ve seen fade in the playoffs the past two years. I like Brent Burns matching up against the William Karlsson-Jonathan-Marchessault-Reilly Smith line (who should see a good deal of Joe Pavelski, as well), and think that could really be a major factor in this series. Also look out for that Thornton return; it’s impossible to know the impact of a 38-year-old freak of nature, who continues to beat Father Time.
Sharks in 5 games
Jim Cerny: Will the bubble finally burst for the Golden Knights? You expected it at some point during the regular season. It didn’t happen. I thought they’d lose in the first round. Not only didn’t it happen, the Golden Knights swept the Kings and allowed only three goals in the process. So, what now for the best first-year team in the history of the NHL? Here in Round 2 they face a deep, more-experienced Sharks team that also swept its opponent — the Ducks — in the first round.
San Jose not only got solid production from its top offensive performers in Round 1 — Logan Couture, Joe Pavelski, Evander Kane all excelled — but their depth play was terrific, led by Marcus Sorensen, who surprisingly chipped in three goals. The Sharks averaged four goals per game against Anaheim and also scored on 30 percent of their power plays, while allowing only one more goal than Vegas did in the opening round, four in total.
The Golden Knights' team defense and goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury will need to be the backbone against a much more dangerous opponent, and Vegas needs to get the offense in gear. The expansion Golden Knights won three of four from San Jose in the regular season with three of the four games decided by one goal and two decided in overtime. It’s going to be a good series, but the Vegas carriage turns into a pumpkin at midnight.
Sharks in 6 games
MORE NHL PLAYOFF PREDICTIONS:
Penguins-Capitals | Predators-Jets | Lightning-Bruins
