Vegas' Home Ice Advantage Key In Matchup Against San Jose

Balance will meet balance in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs as the Vegas Golden Knights meet the San Jose Sharks.
Both teams have depth up front and on the blue line, have elite goaltending and are well coached. Both teams zipped through the opening round and will be rested and healthy when the puck drops to open the series.
Vegas would appear to have one edge and that's home ice advantage. Other than that, this is a very tight series.
Golden Knights goalie Marc-Andre Fleury and San Jose netminder Martin Jones were both brilliant in the opening round. The Sharks did generate more offense scoring 16 goals in their sweep of the Anaheim Ducks. Vegas put seven goals past the Los Angeles Kings en route to a four-game brooming.
The trade deadline addition of Evander Kane to the Sharks added speed and finish to their top line. On the back end, Brent Burns and Marc-Edouard Vlasic provide an elite one-two punch.
Vegas came up against the team with the lowest goals-against average in the first round and got balanced scoring from all over the lineup. Reilly Smith, James Neal and William Karlsson led the way offensively.

On defense, Nate Schmidt and Brayden McNabb shut down the Anze Kopitar line while Shea Theodore and Colin Miller were strong in terms of moving the puck and kickstarting offensive zone time.

Here's a statistical look at the series:

TEAM STATS
Vegas: 21.4 PP% (9th), 81.4 PK% (10th), 268 GF (5th), 225 GA (8th)
San Jose: 20.6 PP% (16th), 84.8 PK% (2nd), 226 GF (13th), 226 GA (9th)
HEAD-TO-HEAD RECORD
Vegas: 3-0-1
San Jose: 1-2-1
TEAM LEADERS (G-A-PTS)
Vegas: William Karlsson (43-35-78), Jonathan Marchessault (27-48-75), David Perron (16-50-66)
San Jose: Brent Burns (12-55-67), Joe Pavelski (22-44-66), Logan Couture (34-27-61)
Goals scored in season series combined - VGK 14 / SJS 10
SJS point leaders vs VGK: Brent Burns (2 G, 3 A), Joe Pavelski (3 G, 2 A), Marc-Edouard Vlasic (1 G, 2 A),
VGK point leaders vs SJS: William Karlsson (4 G, 2 A), Jonathan Marchessault (2 G, 4 A), Shea Theodore (2 G, 3 A), James Neal (2 G, 1 A)
Playoff Statistics
SJS playoff point leaders:Logan Couture (2-3-5), Joe Pavelski (1-4-5), Evander Kane (3-1-4)
VGK playoff point leaders:Reilly Smith (0-3-3), James Neal (1-1-2), William Karlsson (1-1-2)
San Jose Connections
-The Golden Knights claimed forward Ryan Carpenter on Dec. 13 after he was waived by the San Jose Sharks.
-Golden Knights Senior Vice President, Murray Craven, played for the Sharks from 1997-2000
-The Golden Knights acquired David Schlemko from the San Jose Sharks during the Expansion Draft on June 21. The Golden Knights acquired a fifth-round pick in the 2019 draft from the Montreal Canadiens for Schlemko