SAN JOSE — There is little doubt that, to some degree, the San Jose Sharks and Edmonton Oilers are two ships passing in the night.
For over a decade the Sharks have been at worst a contender and more often a Western Conference powerhouse, finally reaching the Stanley Cup Final last spring. But Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau are in their sunset years at 37 years old each. Joe Pavelski turns 33 in July. Brent Burns is 32.
Include Jumbo in his usual spot, and the average age on San Jose’s top two lines comes in at 32 years old.
Meanwhile, the cyclical nature of sport has finally brought dawn to Edmonton, where Connor McDavid is 20 and Leon Draisaitl 21. Their top six averages 24 years old, and after years as a bottom feeder it’s pretty clear this team is in Year 1 of an era of contention, however long.
It’s why we love playoff hockey, right?
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Isn’t it always the ageing Corey Perrys and Ryan Getzlafs trying to suppress the emerging Johnny Gaudreaus and Sean Monahans?
Isn’t it so often Columbus, which finally grew some regular season chops this year, versus the big brother Penguins, who’ve been washing the Blue Jackets’ collective face with snow winter after winter? The Maple Leafs’ David to Washington’s Goliath; Nashville’s eternal playoff failings to Chicago’s uncanny post-season success?
Out West this spring, the Sharks know that Edmonton is coming. But they’ll be damned if they’re going to be the Oilers’ first victims in 11 years. So in Game 1, with so much of the hockey world picking the Oilers to win this series, the San Jose reply was simple: “Watch and learn.”
And thus, the first significant playoff quote of McDavid’s career became: “They had the puck all night.”
It was like that old yarn about the young bull and the old bull, standing up on the hill surveying the herd of cows. The young bull exhorts, “Let’s run down there and get one of them!” To which the elder replies, “No, son. Let’s walk down there and get ‘em all.”
The Oilers are young, dumb and even better than they know. They’ve given the Sharks an NHL-high 12 power plays in this series, mostly owing to sheer youthful exuberance.
“We’re trying to be the smarter team,” said Sharks defenceman Brenden Dillon. Alas, San Jose’s ageing distributor is hurt, and without Thornton San Jose has had issues with making the Oilers pay, in fact surrendering two short-handed goals in that 2-0 loss in Game 2.
“We’re getting some power plays here,” Dillon said of their 1-for-12 unit. “It would be nice to bury on a couple of those and make them pay when they’re doing stuff like that.”
The Sharks have constructed a belief system that dates back to when McDavid was playing Timbits hockey, while each day you can hear an Oiler convincing himself that his team has one too. Even though Edmonton’s first playoff victory since 2006 came on Friday night.
“Now we know that when we get a lead we can lock it down. We know what it takes to play that way,” said goalie Cam Talbot. “(In Game 1) we weren’t doing the little things that made the difference. (In Game 2) we did. It was a huge bounce-back game and a big confidence booster.”
Confidence booster. There’s a term you won’t hear Marleau utter after 1,666 regular season and playoff games. His confidence is an unwavering product of Olympic selections and all-star teams, yet that seniority at the top of the talent pool also tells him how fast the game has become every time McDavid whizzes past.
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Marleau was drafted when Darnell Nurse was two years old, making the two a metaphor for where these two teams are in their evolution.
There are some things Edmonton has that the Sharks can’t match. McDavid’s speed for sure, and the fact that the Oilers have bigger, tougher and more aggressive players in their lineup who can really play.
Does San Jose have an answer for Zack Kassian? It’s not Micheal Haley. And what if Pat Maroon wakes up? Or if Milan Lucic brings that power game that produced a hat trick here a couple of weeks back?
“I think the post-season is fitted for anybody who’s a player like Kass,” said Kassian’s centreman Mark Letestu. “The physical play, the speed, the emotion that’s in the game — that’s Kass. The impact he made on (Game 2), the impression he made on the fans, chanting his name…
“It was pretty obvious who was our best player.”
It’s the delicious back and forth of playoff hockey, where Melker Karlsson is the hero one night, Kassian the next.
What does it mean for San Jose if Edmonton stops taking dumb penalties? What does it mean for Edmonton if Jumbo Joe skates out of the tunnel Sunday night?
In a series where teams have taken turns dominating in puck possession, who prevails in that inevitable 50-50 game where neither team is much better than the other?
Does the Sharks’ experience play out as the series lengthens? Or do young Edmonton legs prevail?
“Settle in,” said Sharks coach Pete DeBoer. “This isn’t going to be a short series.”
We’re settled, Pete. Can’t wait for it.
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