Familiarity in the NHL does not breed contempt exactly, but it can conjure up a fierce rivalry, like the one between the Los Angeles Kings and the San Jose Sharks.
No teams have played each other more since the start of the 2010-11 season. They met for the 52nd time (31 regular-season, 21 playoff games) in Thursday's Pacific Division semi-final opener, a seesaw war won 4-3 by the Sharks when Joe Pavelski scored the tie-breaking goal 17 seconds into the third period, his second goal of the game.
Pavelski led the NHL with 11 game-winning goals in the regular season, and he was at it again in the opener, a game in which the Sharks' top line outplayed its Kings' counterpart, with Little Joe (Pavelski) and Big Joe (Thornton) leading the way.
It is a fascinating series because it pits Los Angeles, a team with oodles of playoff success in recent years, against, San Jose, known for its inability to win big in the postseason. And yet, year after year, series after series, they almost always put on a compelling show. You might have to stay up late to watch it, but the results are usually worth the effort.
Pavelski is the current Sharks captain; he replaced Thornton. It is the sort of leadership switch that could lead to an organizational rift, especially considering Thornton and another ex-captain, Patrick Marleau, are still integral parts of the team.
But Thornton is coming off an 82-point season, his best in six years, while the underrated Pavelski continues to be the most consistent goal scorer this side of Alex Ovechkin. Suddenly the Sharks – aging players and all – appear to be a playoff force to be reckoned with.
San Jose led the NHL with 28 regular-season road wins and also scored more power-play goals (62) than any other team.
The Sharks had made the playoffs for 10 consecutive years, until missing out last year, a result that precipitated the departure of long-time coach Todd McLellan to the Edmonton Oilers.
With the Sharks' core group of players starting to get on in years, the conventional wisdom around the NHL was they'd passed their best-before date and were starting a slow steady decline down the standings.
"I've been reading that since I took the job – that this team is past its window," said Peter DeBoer, who replaced McLellan a head coach last summer. "I don't buy it. I had Jaromir Jagr in New Jersey. He may have had his best season yet when he was 43. I think age is just a number. It depends upon the person. The guys we've got who are little older on our team have the same characteristics as Jaromir Jagr. They love the game. They keep themselves in fantastic shape. I don't buy that they don't have a lot of miles left in them."
For a large portion of the season, DeBoer had to deal with the absence of Logan Couture because of two separate injuries. Once Couture returned for good, he switched Marleau to centre, his natural position, after Marleau spent years playing wing on the second line. With Thornton, Marleau and Couture as their centre-ice corps, the Sharks are as deep down the middle as any team in the league.
According to DeBoer, a previous relationship with Thornton helped the two get off on the right foot this year.
"He's a good Ontario guy," said DeBoer, who used to coach in the OHL. "I've always admired Joe. I remember [when he was] a 17-year-old, playing him in a playoff series in the Sault. How he competed and led that team. I had him on an under-17 or under-18 team with Patrick Marleau 25 years ago. So I know a little about him and his character. But 20 years is a long time and there's a lot of water under the bridge in his career. What I found was a guy who is the same [as he was] when he was 17 or 18 – a great passion for the game; he just wants to win.
"We've got a few guys in the most-valuable-player category for us, but he'd be right at the top of the list. Never mind what he's done on the ice. Carrying the message, from the first time I met with him last summer, about how we wanted to play, the goal of getting back in the playoffs, the fact that we were going to Pav as the captain, but I still wanted him as a big part of the leadership group."
One of the intriguing stories of this series is the matchup in goal, between the Kings' Jonathan Quick and his former understudy in Los Angeles, Martin Jones, who is now the San Jose starter. Jones won the skirmish Thursday night, but understands there is a still a long way to go.
"Our motivation is to win the Stanley Cup," Jones said. "I mean, we're playing the L.A. Kings. It's not about me or Quickie. He [Quick] has obviously proven he's one of the best goalies, especially in the playoffs, so we have our work cut out for us here."