Bob Boughner: Series-clinching win vs. Kings was “launching pad” to Stanley Cup final

Over the next few weeks, NBC Sports California will be re-airing several classic Sharks games on nights they were scheduled to play before the NHL paused its season indefinitely amid the coronavirus pandemic. This week, Sharks interim coach Bob Boughner spoke with Bay Area News Group about his memories from the team’s game with the Los Angeles Kings on April 22, 2016, Game 5 of their first round series.

The Sharks were a confident group to start the 2016 NHL playoffs. They had gone 28-12-4 during the second half of the regular season to finish third in the Pacific Division, earning a postseason spot after missing out the year before.

But it wouldn’t mean much without playoff success, and the Sharks had to start things off with the team that handed them crushing postseason losses in 2013 and 2014 — the Los Angeles Kings.

“That was a huge motivating factor for our players,” Boughner, then an assistant under first-year coach Pete DeBoer, said. “From our standpoint as a staff, being a new staff, we didn’t have that emotional tie to that.

“Second half, we were playing so well that no matter who the matchup was for us as a staff, we were just concentrating on getting through the first round with this team.”

The Sharks had gone 3-1-1 against the Kings in the regular season, which included two victories at Staples Center.

Even though the first four games of the playoff series were all decided by one goal, that success continued as the Sharks took a 3-1 series lead. They won the first two games in Los Angeles. In San Jose, they lost 2-1 in overtime in Game 3 rebounded to capture Game 4 — scoring three times on the power play in a 3-2 win.

Such a commanding lead in a series against the Kings only evoked memories of 2014, though. After losing the first three games, Los Angeles came back to win the final four, move onto the second round and later win the Stanley Cup.

“Going into Game 5 and obviously knowing that’s sort of a make-or-break game for you,” Boughner said. “It’s a huge momentum game. Either ending the series or giving the other team life.”

This was a different Sharks team, though, with a new goalie in Martin Jones and a first-year captain in Joe Pavelski. Ten players had at least one point in the first four games, with Pavelski and Brent Burns collecting five points each.

That trend of getting production from a variety of sources would continue early in Game 5.

Joonas Donskoi scored early in the first period, Chris Tierney scored midway through the first, and Matt Nieto gave the Sharks a 3-0 at the 4:05 mark of the second.

The goals were examples of what the Sharks wanted to do against Kings goalie Jonathan Quick: Get to the net.

“One of the things we were talking about was getting traffic on Quick,” Boughner said. “He wasn’t a very big goalie. We wanted to crash the net hard on him. Our first three goals were all the same. (Logan Couture) was in the goalie’s eyes on the first one, (Tommy) Wingels on the second one. Nieto scored on a jam play in the blue paint, but you’ve got (Joel) Ward in front of the goalie.

“We knew what we wanted to accomplish in that game was really attack. Quick’s aggressive and he pushes so far out. We wanted to be in tight around the blue and all three goals happened that way.”

Patrick Marleau missed a penalty shot attempt at the 5:31 mark of the second period, and that seemed to wake up the Kings. Goals by Anze Kopitar, Jeff Carter and Kris Versteeg, all in under a nine-minute span, tied the game 3-3.

“The building is lit up and you can feel the atmosphere,” Boughner said. “Thank god the period ended when it did. It felt like the ice was tilted there for a bit.”

The mood in the Sharks’ locker room wasn’t one of panic, though, as DeBoer relayed a clear message: We’re right where we want to be.

“For me, being in my first year in San Jose, you can feel the room and look around. You had (Joe Thornton) and Marleau and Pavelski, Paul Martin, Joel Ward,” Boughner said. “Older guys, and you didn’t see a lot of panic there. It wasn’t a very emotional room. You could tell that the guys were fine, and they were going to go out and play our game.

“We’ve got to win a period to win a series.”

Donskoi scored his second of the game at the 3:58 mark of the third period off assists from Burns and Couture to break the tie and settle down the capacity crowd. Pavelski scored his first of the game and fifth of the series with less than eight minutes left in regulation time. Melker Karlsson scored an empty netter with 22 seconds left to seal the win, and clinch the series.

The Sharks also took just one penalty in the game, and allowed just 22 shots.

“The way we won that series really set up a good run for us,” Boughner said, as the Sharks would go on to beat Nashville in seven games and St. Louis in six games to advance to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time.

“We felt really good about our game. We came out of it good and healthy. That sort of sling-shotted us into the second round and built some momentum. I thought it did wonders for the team’s confidence.”

It also gave the Sharks a bit of rest between rounds. Game 5 against the Kings was on April 22. Game 1 of their series with the Predators was April 29.

That would be their last extended break. By the time the Sharks won the Western Conference Final on May 25, they had played 18 games in 42 days, including three overtime games.

“Everybody knows our travel schedule and who we played in the second and third round and the travel that we had, with St. Louis and Nashville, basically flying cross country,” Boughner said. “I think that attributed (to losing) in the final to Pittsburgh, We lost some guys to injury. We were beat up, traveling across the country basically for the next three rounds after L.A.

“But to win that round against L.A. was a little bit of redemption, exorcised the demons and really put us in a launching pad.”