Kings vs. Sharks: 3 things you need to know

WEST
ANA vs. DAL | SJS vs. LAK
COL vs. MIN | STL vs. CHI
EAST
BOS vs. DET | TBL vs. MTL
PIT vs. CBJ | NYR vs. PHI

This first round series, pitting NorCal's San Jose Sharks against SoCal's Los Angeles Kings, qualifies as a serious heavyweight tilt. After all, the Sharks and Kings are two of the NHL's top five teams by any relevant measurement.

San Jose hosts Los Angeles on Thursday to open their seven-game series. Here are the three things you need to know:

Finding Nemo?

San Jose Sharks starter Antti Niemi has always been a sure thing to get the nod in the San Jose net. Since arriving in NorCal in the summer of 2010, Niemi has averaged more than 60 starts a year and has started every single Sharks' playoff game. 

Oddly enough, however, Sharks head coach Todd McLellan wouldn't reveal the identity of his Game 1 starter in conversations with reporters on Monday. Is the wily Sharks' bench boss just playing mind games with the Kings, or is he seriously considering starting Sharks backup netminder Alex Stalock?

Niemi struggled enormously late in the season, posting a sub .900 save percentage over his final seven games. Meanwhile Stalock has been nigh impenetrable. Will McLellan go with the hot hand to begin the series?

The Kings Model

In a copycat league wannabe teams with "identity" and "culture" issues often cite the model of another successful franchise and seek to emulate it. 

Some popular variations: the "Boston-model"; which suggests a tough team with excellent goaltending, an elite checking center, and a dominant top-pairing defender. The "Pittsburgh model", like the "Chicago model," is based on being really, really bad for a long stretch of time and accumulating top draft picks. The "Detroit model" is based on speed, and puck possession, and sublime drafting.

No one ever cites the Kings' model. Probably because it's impossible to replicate. 

The Kings model, you see, is built around paying cents on the dollar for a top-line forward from the Columbus Blue Jackets at the trade deadline. In 2012, the Kings acquired Jeff Carter and promptly cruised to the franchise's first ever Stanley Cup. In 2014, the Kings acquired Marian Gaborik and, well, the rest of the story in unwritten as of yet.

But the signs so far are auspicious. With Gaborik on the ice at even-strength the Kings are outscoring their opponents two-to-one so far, while controlling 59.7 percent of all shot attempts - a stratospheric number. More importantly, they're legitimately shooting an elevated percentage with Gaborik on the ice; something that this team has never managed consistently for some reason. 

As a team the Kings look like the best even-strength club in the league heading into the playoffs, and have controlled nearly 58 percent of shot attempts since the trade deadline. That's ridiculous, and alone makes them a surefire Cup favorite.

Top Top Pairings

In some order the NHL's two most dominant defensive pairings will square off in this series. For Los Angeles, it's the dynamic pairing of Drew Doughty and Jake Muzzin, a pairing specifically built to never spend any time in their own end of the rink. For the Sharks, it's Marc-Edouard Vlasic and whomever (usually one of Jason Demers or Justin Braun). 

Both of these pairings control over 58 percent of shot attempts when they're on the ice, which won't be possible in this series considering how much time they'll spend going head-to-head. The Sharks and Vlasic won the matchup during the regular season series, but that sample is tiny (just over 20 minutes).

How will the best of the best stack up against one another in a seven-game playoff series? It should be extremely interesting to find out.

Schedule