Hungry Sharks circle elusive Stanley Cup as playoffs loom

SAN JOSE — As the NHL playoffs begin today, it's not the usual hockey hotbeds of Detroit, Philadelphia or Boston that enter as the top seed.
It's the Silicon Valley skaters from San Jose — a team in its 17th season and seeking its first Stanley Cup — who not long ago were hitting milestones that were laughable more than laudable.

In 1992-93, the team set the NHL loss record (71). Despite 12 trips to the playoffs, the Sharks haven't made the Finals.

"We didn't have the talent to win," says Sharks general manager Doug Wilson, who played defense for the team's first two seasons. "Guys like Mario Lemiuex averaged six points a night against us. Even if Mario hadn't played in a while, he always seemed to get healthy when we played him."

But fans embraced the team that features an unusual signature color (teal), and now those times seem about as far away as the antiquated Cow Palace, which opened in 1941 about 40 miles north of here and was the team's home during its first two seasons.

San Jose enters the playoffs vs. the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday with first-year coach Todd McLellan, veteran experience from past Cup winners and loftier expectations thanks in part to a team-record 32-5-4 mark at home.

Despite losing their last two games, the Sharks (53-18-11) earned their first Western Conference title and Presidents' Trophy, the award given to the team with the best record during the regular season.

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"You walk down the street, and people know what's going on," defenseman Dan Boyle says. "They really want this thing. Three-quarters of the questions I get asked is about whether we're going to win the Stanley Cup. It's been, 'Great job this year. Bring home the Cup.' "

Early on, the Sharks pulled off huge first-round playoff upsets — against the Detroit Red Wings (1994), Calgary Flames (1995) and St. Louis Blues (2000). But in those dozen playoff appearances, they advanced to the conference finals once (2004), losing to the Flames in six games.

Of the five expansion teams that entered the league from 1991-93, the Sharks are the only one that hasn't made the Finals. Two of those teams (the Tampa Bay Lightning and Anaheim) have won Cups.

"They better this year," ESPN analyst Barry Melrose says. "That's a great team they have, and they had great teams before. But they were missing guys who knew how to win. Now they have those guys."

The Cup-winning additions include:

•Boyle and Brad Lukowich (Tampa Bay, 2004 Cup): The defensemen were acquired via a trade with Tampa Bay last summer. They often are grouped together. Boyle is the more offensive-minded of the two and was tops in the Pacific Division and sixth overall among defenseman with 57 points. Lukowich was injured much of the season.

•Rob Blake (Colorado Avalanche, 2001): The 39-year-old decided against retirement and has given San Jose punch on the power play with his blistering slap shot. His 44 points rank him second to Boyle among Sharks defensemen.

•Claude Lemieux (Montreal Canadiens, 1986; New Jersey Devils, 1995, 2000; Colorado, 1996): Five years after retiring, the gritty forward, 43, returned to the NHL in January. He has a reputation for stepping up in the playoffs.

•Travis Moen and Kent Huskins (Anaheim, 2007): Moen, a forward, and Huskins, a defenseman, give San Jose more depth. Both were added at the March trade deadline.

"On paper, they're better than Detroit," Melrose says. "But Detroit has won (a Cup), while the Sharks have been disappointing."

Championship or bust

McLellan can be counted in that group of Cup winners. He was an assistant with the Red Wings, a veteran club that won the title last season, marking Detroit's fourth Cup since 1997. The Sharks, meanwhile, have seen second-round exits the past three years: to the Dallas Stars (2008), the Red Wings (2007) and the Edmonton Oilers (2006).

Those short playoff appearances cost coach Ron Wilson his job.

"The Sharks' approach appears to be much different," says former NHL defenseman Larry Murphy, a TV analyst for the Red Wings and the NHL Network. "It seems like the last few years they were hoping to succeed. Now they're determined to succeed."

McLellan looked to simplify the team's philosophy. He's not one to give wordy instructions or complicated plays but instead preaches throwing pucks at the net and capitalizing on chances.

The mastermind behind the Red Wings' potent power play helped the Sharks elevate their man advantage from 10th in the league last season to third, thanks to a 24.2% scoring rate.

"We had a plan coming in on how we thought this team should play and how we could put the players in the position to succeed," McLellan says. "We implemented it in training camp, and at that point it could go either way."

One thing he didn't alter was who wears the captain's C. That remained on the jersey of forward Patrick Marleau, who owns every major offensive franchise mark after 11 seasons in teal. He shares top billing on the Sharks' No. 1 line with All-Star center Joe Thornton.

Both have been tagged as underachievers in the playoffs. While Marleau has been consistent in the postseason, averaging 0.7 points a game — about the same as his regular-season output — he was ridiculed last year for jumping out of the way of a shot against the Stars that resulted in a goal. NBC analyst Mike Milbury coined the move "the double flamingo" because Marleau curled both of his legs to avoid the puck.

Thornton has been unable to shake the perception since his days with the Boston Bruins, when he went to the playoffs five times and never got past the second round. His points-a-game output is 31.6% lower in the playoffs.

"I watched the team a lot in the past, and those guys were responsible with carrying the whole load along with (forward Jonathan) Cheechoo and a few others," Lemieux says. "It's too easy to shut two or three guys down in the playoffs. It's got to be coming from a lot of different angles, and I feel we have that."

'This is the year'

The Sharks lost twice in October and in November, compiling the best start in league history through 30 games (52 points). San Jose also began the season 20-0-2 at home and remained atop the Western Conference from start to finish.

The Sharks sold out all but one game at HP Pavilion, also known as the "Shark Tank," which seats 17,496, and have been below 96.2% capacity once in their 15 seasons there.

Sheldon Perry, owner of a San Jose mortgage company, says he has seen fans at the Tank get more anxious.

"Everybody who sits around me thinks this is the year," says Perry, a season-ticketholder for more than a decade. "If they don't make it past at least the first couple rounds, there will be a revolt."

McLellan concedes that the road toward the best record in hockey hasn't been without its detours.

"We had our share of adversity," he says. "In the second half, we had to fight back from a rash of injuries. We played more on the road than at home and had some mini-slumps. I think that's going to help us in the long run."

Goalie Evgeni Nabokov missed 13 games to lower-body injuries and flu. Speedster Torrey Mitchell missed the regular season after breaking his leg in training camp, and veterans Jeremy Roenick (39 games), center Marcel Goc (27), Lukowich (21), right wing Mike Grier (20), Lemieux (18) and Cheechoo (16) also missed time.

The team is as healthy as it has been since the season's opening weeks.

"You have to like our chances," says Thornton, who won the Hart Trophy, the NHL's version of the MVP, in 2006. "We're first in the NHL for a reason."