Returning home should boost Sharks in Stanley Cup Final

SAN JOSE -– Historically, the Penguins have had their problems in San Jose. Prior to beating the Sharks, 5-1 on Dec. 1 at SAP Center, they had lost 11 games and tied one dating back nearly two decades to 1997.

The Sharks will almost certainly have to start a new streak against them on Saturday in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final in order to keep their championship hopes alive, as they trail two-games-to-none.

Home wasn’t all that productive for the Sharks in the regular season, as they entered the tournament with just 18 wins at home in 41 games, the worst mark among the 16 playoff qualifiers. In the postseason, though, they’re 7-2 with wins in seven of their last eight.

There should be both tactical and emotional advantages to returning home for the Sharks, whose fans have been waiting 25 years to witness their first game in the Stanley Cup Final.

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Regarding the emotions, Joe Pavelski said: “You can feel the energy going around the city right now. Everyone’s excited for this game here.”

“Regular season we weren’t as strong as we wanted to be, but playoffs we seem to find that extra energy from the crowd,” Justin Braun said.

Joe Thornton was asked why the Sharks have been so strong at home in the postseason.

“I think once you get into the Shark Tank, you’ll know why,” he said.

“It’s extremely loud, extremely intimidating and getting last change has definitely helped us.”

That’s the tactical part, of course, as the Penguins had last change against the Sharks in games one and two. They took advantage of it, too, as the Sharks’ third and fourth lines and third defense pair in particular were exposed against the Penguins’ deeper forward group.

It took until the third period of Game 2 for the Sharks to successfully counter what the Penguins were doing to them up front, when coach Pete DeBoer moved Patrick Marleau to center the third line. Marleau, though, was back alongside Logan Couture on the second line for Friday’s practice.

There was also some speculation -– albeit somewhat irrational -– that Dylan DeMelo, who hasn’t played in nearly two months, might draw into the lineup on the third pair. That won’t happen.

Just how Pete DeBoer plans on utilizing that last change luxury, including potentially leaning on his top players to play more minutes, could determine the outcome.

“They've given us matchup problems. Not just us, but other teams,” DeBoer said.

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Paul Martin said: “It will be good to get the last change and get the matchups that we want. Hopefully that can spark something and we can get an advantage somewhere with that.”

The Sharks could also have an edge in that they are used to flying all over the country for hockey games. That includes the playoffs, in which they’ve gone 20,340 miles while playing the Kings, Predators and Blues.

Pittsburgh has had it easy, going just 7,134 miles – the Sharks eclipsed that in the Nashville series alone (7,744). The Penguins haven’t been out of the Eastern Time Zone since Jan. 18, and that first game after the time change is often the most difficult.

Regardless of all that, though, the Sharks will simply have to play better than they have in the first two games, whether it’s played in Pittsburgh, San Jose or on Mars.

“I think last change, home crowd, sleeping in your own bed – all those things are important in playoffs,” DeBoer said. “We’ve just got to keep building our game. I thought we were better in Game 2 than in Game 1, and I think we’ll be better [Saturday] than we were in Game 2.”