Ducks vs Sharks Series Preview

Ducks vs Sharks Series Preview

Years go by, but your Pacific Conference quarterfinals remain the same. VideoJ’s quackers will go against BRRR’s sharks. Lets deep dive and call a winner before Simon T messes this one up. 

The forwards

When it comes to the forward groups in play, the Ducks have some intimidating Stanley-cup winning names on top, led by Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron. But the Sharks also show a killer top six led by the dynamic Hyman/RNG duo that racked up 70 goals and 88 assists combined during the regular season. Yes, that would be more than your Bruins 52 goals 84 assists combined. When it comes to the bottom 6, we’ll give ANA the edge with young stars Seth Jarvis and Shane Pinto. In a shocking move at the trade deadline, the Sharks traded key center Boone Jenner to the rival Ducks for the young up and coming Ridley Grieg who will be watching from home with back spasms. Both team show very little grit up front, so don’t expect bone-crunching hits or nasty fights, with only the sharks Dakota Joshua maybe qualifying as some sort of a tough guy. 
 

ANA

SJS

The defense

The Sharks and Ducks probably show the two most stacked defensive squads of the league. Bottom pairing Ds listed at 70 overall make both teams look like all-star selections. The Sharks have a far more experienced core, led by 1296 games-played Marc-Edouard Vlasic, 1011 games-played Nick Leddy and 928 games-played Ryan McDonagh. Brandon Montour should be the offensive touch and PP quarterback but there is still reason to worry after a traumatizing stay with the Vegas Golden Knights that left him with a dramatic morale. The Ducks are intimidating with this Josi and Carlson duo, they get the point.

ANA

SJS

The goalies

Two elite goalies here with similar regular season stats. Jarry coming off a 2.28 gaa .918 sv% season will face Shesterkin showing a virtually identical  2.30 gaa 0.917 sv% record. Lets call this one a draw.

SJS : Igor Shesterkin, Jaroslav Halak
ANA : Tristan Jarry, Kevin Lankinen

The fans pick

Your RHL GMs have spoken. Out of 7 playoff brackets published at the time of publication, 6 have the Sharks getting out alive of this highly expected matchup.

The GM rivalry

GM BRRR and VideoJ going head-to-head has become a spring tradition in the past years with mixed results. The Ducks had the upper hand last year in the exact same setup of the Pacific Conference quarter-final. In a parallel universe, the two well acquainted GMs also went head-to-head in the playoffs of a high bidders fantasy league for the previous past seasons. BRRR came out victorious a few weeks ago now in what should be a sign of things to come for this RHL matchup. When asked to comment this upset defeat, GM VideoJ’s last words were : “So you added desmith defensively, You’re a double cunt” and “Ugh, You just ruined Easter”

Regular season record

This season, the series was split evenly 2-2 with some hard fought low scoring battles. In the past 4 seasons though, the Ducks had the last laugh in 9 games out of 16. 

2020-2021 :

2021-2022 : 

2022-2023 : 

2023-2024 :

Playoffs record

If last year’s matchup is any indication, the Ducks should be clear favorites for this series. The lower seed Sharks could’nt secure a 3rd home game and it’s precious ticket revenues last year, falling in 5 short games.

2022-2023 Playoffs :

And least but not all.

The actual way it’s going to be decided :

https://g.co/kgs/8jVhrha