In 2014, after San Jose failed to complete the sweep of Los Angeles, Drew Doughty said the Kings could see the fear in the Sharks’ eyes.
“Once we won that first game of the San Jose series, we kind of had a feeling we were going to come back and win that series,” Doughty said. “And you could see it in their eyes and their team and their captains and leaders that they were worried about us coming back.”
Two years later and Doughty believes the Sharks have to be worried about blowing it again.
“You know they’re thinking a little bit about it now, so we’re right where we want to be,” he told reporters after last night’s overtime victory by the Kings that cut the Sharks’ series lead from 2-0 to 2-1.
It’s a savvy bit of gamesmanship from Doughty.
It’s also undoubtedly the truth. The Sharks are probably thinking about it a bit. They may even be thinking about it a lot. As soon as they went into Los Angeles and won the first two games, the big question became, But can they close it out this time?
Granted, the Sharks are still in the driver’s seat. Game 4 is in San Jose, and their opponents are down a key defenseman.
But lose Game 4 and the Kings will have home-ice advantage again.
And win Game 4 and it’s right back to that big question.
Bottom line -- however this series ends, it’s going to be fascinating.