Golden Knights vs. Sharks playoff preview

Vegas Golden Knights vs. San Jose Sharks
Golden Knights: 51-24-7, 109 points, first in Pacific
Sharks:45-27-10, 100 points, third in Pacific
Season series:VGK 3-0-1; SJS 1-2-1

The skinny

For the eighth time in NHL history -- and the second time in the past 22 years -- two teams will meet in the Stanley Cup Playoffs after each swept an opponent in the preceding best-of-7 series. The good news for the Vegas Golden Knights and the San Jose Sharks: Six of the previous eight times, the victor went on to win the Stanley Cup.
RELATED: [Complete Golden Knights vs. Sharks series coverage]
Vegas won three of the four regular-season games against San Jose with Jonathan Marchessault (six points), William Karlsson (five) and Shea Theodore (five) leading the way offensively.
In the playoffs, each team has tightened up defensively, with the Golden Knights allowing three goals in four games to the Los Angeles Kings, and the Sharks allowing four goals in four games against the Anaheim Ducks.
Golden Knights coach Gerard Gallant said the commitment to defense will ultimately determine how far they advance in the playoffs.
"I think that's the identity of our team," Gallant said. "People say we score a lot of goals, we're a good offensive club. I think when we played these games that meant a lot to us, really important games, if you look back at these key games, we always had a great defensive game."
Each team will have a lengthy break before the series begins with Game 1 at Vegas on Thursday. Vegas eliminated Los Angeles on April 17; San Jose advanced by defeating Anaheim on April 18.
"You definitely have to do some planning on how this is going to go," Sharks coach Peter DeBoer said. "We're going to try to keep our rhythm of a series going. Go hard, and then easy, and then hard. That's the thought process behind it."
The Golden Knights had a few days off before resuming practice, and mixed in a little scrimmaging to stay sharp. Game 1 is at Vegas on Thursday (10 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, SN, TVAS).
"We know them, they know us," Gallant said. "We've played each other four times. You watch a lot of their games because you're on the West Coast. They're a good, solid hockey team. They remind you of L.A. a lot. They've been to a Stanley Cup Final a few years ago (2016). They have a lot of experience and they have a lot of good hockey players. We'll see what happens."

Game breaker

Sharks:Center Logan Couture had a San Jose-high 34-goals in the regular season, and with Joe Pavelski gives San Jose a strong one-two scoring punch down the middle. When San Jose reached the Stanley Cup Final two years ago, Couture led the playoffs with 30 points (10 goals, 20 assists) in 24 games, six more than the runner-up, Sharks defenseman Brent Burns.
Golden Knights:Center William Karlsson was limited to one goal against the Kings but scored 43 in the regular season after combining for 18 in his first four NHL seasons. Karlsson was their most reliable scorer in the regular season; he had 14 more goals than runner-up Erik Haula. Expect Karlsson to see a lot of defensemen Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Justin Braun in this series.

X-factor

Sharks:Forward Marcus Sorensen scored five regular-season goals in 32 games but had three in the first round, contributing to the balanced attack that helped San Jose score 16 goals in the series. Sorensen, 26, was signed as a free agent May 13, 2016 and has spent most of his first two professional seasons playing for their American Hockey League affiliate, the San Jose Barracuda.
Golden Knights:Forward Reilly Smith missed 15 games down the stretch recovering from an upper-body injury before returning for the regular-season finale against the Calgary Flames. Smith, 27, a fixture on the top line with Karlsson and Marchessault, had three assists against Los Angeles but hasn't scored since March 2 against the Ottawa Senators. Smith, who scored 22 goals during the regular season, is capable of a break-out series.

Goaltending

Sharks:Martin Jones, who led the 2016 Stanley Cup Playoffs in games (24), minutes (1,473) and shutouts (three), had an exceptional start to the 2018 playoffs, going 4-0 in the opening round with a 1.00 goals-against average, a .970 save percentage and one shutout.

Golden Knights:Marc-Andre Fleury is a three-time Stanley Cup champion who, at 33, seems to be getting better. In the first round, he had two shutouts in four starts with a 0.65 goals-against average and a .977 save percentage, making him the fifth goaltender in the NHL's expansion era (1967-68) to win four games of a playoff series with a goals-against average of 0.70 or less.

Numbers to know

Sharks: With Burns and forward Evander Kane, the Sharks have two of the five players this season who took more than 300 shots in the regular season (Burns, 332, third; Kane, 307, fourth). If the Sharks want to get to Fleury more effectively than the Kings did, they will need Burns and Kane to keep getting a lot of pucks to the net. Kane had 21 shots in the first round; Burns had 15.
Golden Knights:Their power play struggled in the first round, scoring on one of 12 chances (8.3 percent) after finishing tied for ninth in the regular season (21.4 percent). The matchup won't get any easier against the Sharks, who finished second in the regular-season in penalty-killing percentage (84.8 percent) and were seventh (83.3 percent) in the first round.

They said it

"We just won four straight against a great hockey team, and I'd be an idiot to make lineup changes." -- Sharks coach Peter DeBoer
"A guy (Fleury) who has three Stanley Cups, you wouldn't think he has to prove anything. But that's the kind of competitive guy he is, and I love having him behind us. He's been our backbone and our captain all year." -- Golden Knights forward James Neal

Will win if ...

Sharks:They continue to get balanced scoring. They followed a regular season when they had 13 players score at least 30 points with a first round when eight of their 12 forwards scored at least three points in the four-game sweep of Anaheim. There was a time when they relied heavily on a small group of players to produce offense, but this season's group has depth up front.

Golden Knights:They maintain their season-long, home-ice advantage. Their 29 regular-season home wins were tied for third in the NHL with the Tampa Bay Lightning (behind the Winnipeg Jets, 32, and Pittsburgh Penguins, 30) and they had a plus-44 goal differential at home (146-102). The crowd at T-Mobile Arena was one of the most inspiring in the NHL, and in what figures to be a close series, the home-ice advantage may tip the balance their way.

How they look

Sharks projected lineup

Evander Kane -- Joe Pavelski -- Joonas Donskoi
Tomas Hertl -- Logan Couture -- Mikkel Boedker
Timo Meier -- Chris Tierney -- Kevin Labanc
Melker Karlsson -- Eric Fehr -- Marcus Sorensen
Paul Martin -- Brent Burns
Marc-Edouard Vlasic -- Justin Braun
Brenden Dillon -- Dylan DeMelo
Martin Jones
Aaron Dell
Scratched:Dylan Gambrell](https://www.nhl.com/player/dylan-gambrell-8479580?season=20172018), Barclay Goodrow, Jannik Hansen, Joakim Ryan, Joel Ward
Injured:Joe Thornton (lower body)

Golden Knights projected lineup

Jonathan Marchessault -- William Karlsson -- Reilly Smith
Alex Tuch -- Erik Haula -- James Neal
David Perron -- Cody Eakin -- Ryan Carpenter
Tomas Nosek -- Pierre-Edouard Bellemare -- William Carrier
Brayden McNabb -- Nate Schmidt
Jon Merrill -- Colin Miller
Shea Theodore -- Deryk Engelland
Marc-Andre Fleury
Malcolm Subban
Scratched: Brad Hunt, Oscar Lindberg, Ryan Reaves, Luca Sbisa, Tomas Tatar
Injured:None

Status report

Thornton has been skating regularly and took warmups during the first round, but the timetable for his possible return from knee surgery remains uncertain. … Perron, who returned to the lineup in the third game against the Kings, shifted to the third line with Eakin and Carpenter. He had been on the second line. … Tatar, who was acquired in a trade with the Detroit Red Wings on Feb. 26 for three NHL Draft picks, was scratched with Perron's return. In 20 regular-season games with the Golden Knights, Tatar had six points (four goals, two assists) and averaged 14:48 of ice time.