San Jose Sharks defeat LA Kings in five games

The San Jose Sharks have gotten their hearts broken by the Los Angeles Kings one too many times. 

But this time around, they got the last laugh. The resilient Sharks defeated the mighty Los Angeles Kings in five games. San Jose had the painful memory of blowing a 3-0 series to the Kings a couple years ago in the back of their minds.

"It felt really good, the end of the game and that buzzer, I couldn't wipe the smile off my face for a while," said Sharks center Logan Couture. "We needed to win that series for our fans. It was nice to win, especially with things that were said by players on their team about us and our leadership and stuff like that. It was nice to beat them." 

San Jose raced out to a 3-0 lead in Game 5, but all of a sudden LA had tied the game, and painful memories of collapse were starting to comeback. 

But this time, a pesky Sharks squad powered through adversity, as they scored three unanswered goals to win 6-3. All of a sudden, a legitimate Stanley Cup contender was out, and the Sharks were relieved. 

San Jose will play the winner of the Nashville-Anaheim series. The key to the Sharks success was goaltending and strong road play. 

Martin Jones played outstanding in this series, outplaying Kings goalie Johnathan Quick. Also, they picked up three wins in the Staples Center, which meant they only had to win one game in the Shark Tank. 

The key to the Kings success in the past years has been their depth, but this year they weren’t as deep as usual. When San Jose got out to a 2-0 start, it was a good sign that they were going to win the series. 

Now San Jose has new life, after beating their bitter rivals, they are looking like contenders in the West.