Los Angeles has an opportunity to punch its ticket for the Western Conference finals tonight in San Jose. The Kings and Sharks square off at 8 p.m. ET at HP Pavilion, where San Jose is 4-0 this postseason.
The Sharks trail Los Angeles 3-2 in a series that has seen the home team win every game. The Kings claimed a 3-0 victory in Game 5, riding goalie Jonathan Quick's seventh playoff shutout to a pivotal win.
Can San Jose stave off elimination, or will Los Angeles move one step closer to a Stanley Cup repeat? Stay tuned right here for live updates, analysis and reaction.
SAN JOSE -- Jonathan Quick is a Los Angeles Kings goalie. He is not a doorman behind a velvet rope at a nightclub entrance. But you'd never know it, given the Sharks' difficulty getting pucks past him.
Maybe that's because they are treating him more as a doorman. And treating the Kings' defensive zone coverage as more of a velvet rope.
Excuse me, Mr. Quick. Could we push your defensemen out of the way here a little bit, so that we could score a goal? Puh-leeez? Mr. Quick? What do you mean we can't get in? Don't you know who we are? We're the guys with the great power play! Our names should be on the list! Look again!
The velvet rope strategy must end Sunday night for the Sharks, or their season
will be over. They face Quick and the Kings at HP Pavilion in Game 6 of a series that ends if the Sharks lose. And it will end, unless they solve Quick. He's shut out the Sharks twice in the series. He's allowed seven goals total in the five games.
"When you get your chance, you've got to bear down on him," said Sharks captain Joe Thornton.
Which means what?
"When you get within 10 feet of him, you've got to find the opening, find the hole," Thornton said. "You hope to use his aggressiveness against him, use the back door."
Doesn't sound impossible. It certainly wasn't two years ago. If the Sharks plan to extend this series, they might try getting a little nostalgic for 2011. The beloved Los Tiburones defeated
