Community Picks: Los Angeles Kings 0% vs San Jose Sharks 0%

The playoffs started the way much of this season has gone for the San Jose Sharks: a successful road trip where structured defense, strong goaltending and solid all-around play led to two straight wins in Los Angeles. Now the task for the Sharks is figuring out how to take that road success they have enjoyed all season and bring it back to San Jose where the once-imposing Shark Tank has become too comfortable for visiting teams. It's a similar pattern to last season when home struggles left San Jose outside the playoffs for the first time since 2003 and is somewhat perplexing giving how dominant the Sharks historically have been at home in front of their rabid fans. Continue to Article

April 18, 2016 2:29:am EST

The Dallas Stars have had a clear edge over the depleted Minnesota Wild during most of the first two games of their Western Conference quarterfinal series. The Stars even got the big break. Now the Wild want one, too. Continue to Article

April 17, 2016 5:33:pm EST

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April 17, 2016 3:10:am EST

No. 1 Star: Braden Holtby, Washington Capitals As he has done much of the season, Holtby stood on his head to keep the Capitals in the game while the offense did their thing. The Philadelphia Flyers sent 42 shots on net Holtby's way and he stopped all but one of them. No. 2 Star: Derick Brassard, New York Rangers Huge game for Brassard all over the ice. He had a goal and 2 assists, was a plus-4, and delivered 7 hits out of the 57 recorded for the Rangers.   No. 3 Star: Joe Pavelski, San Jose Sharks Pavelski opened the scoring 3:37 into the first period. He assisted on Logan Couture's power play goal in the second. After beating the Los Angeles Kings, the Sharks take a 2-0 series lead back to San Jose. Honorable Mention: Nicklas Backstrom assisted on both John Carlson and Alex Ovechkin's power play goal, and scored in the final 2:13 of the third to ice the game for the Capitals, 4-1 ... J.T. Miller assisted on three straight goals by the Rangers. Henrik Lundqvist recovered from his Game 1 eye injury, and made 29 saves in New York's 4-2 victory. Evgeni Malkin returned for Pittsburgh playing 19:29 and registering 1 assist. Angry looking hamster, Phil Kessel, scored both goals for the Penguins on the power play: ... Tyler Seguin returned to the Dallas Stars lineup; he had 1 shot on goal and 4 hits in 15:40. Antoine Roussel scored the wackiest goal of the playoffs. Good luck understanding the NHL's explanation of why it counted. Jamie Benn mugged for a photographer after drawing a penalty . Benn also scored on a breakaway to give the Stars the 2-0 win. ... Martin Jones made 26 of 27 saves in the win. Marian Gaborik returned to the Kings lineup; he played 14:32 and registered 4 shots on goal. Vincent Lecavalier scored the lone goal for LA with 5:01 to go in the third. Luke Schenn came up with the biggest save of the game in place of Jonathan Quick: #LAKings trail 1-0 after one. #SJSvsLAK pic.twitter.com/XVKWWifwTT — Eric Burger (@Kingsgifs) April 17, 2016 Did You Know? . @Holts170 ( @washcaps ) has allowed no more than one goal in 15 of his 18 career postseason victories. #WSHvsPHI pic.twitter.com/QZEWW3fGah — NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) April 17, 2016 Dishonorable Mention: Steve Mason allowed a goal that was deflected at the center ice red line ... Bryan Rust played a game low 6:19. Trevor Daley was a minus-4 against the Rangers ... Minnesota Wild forward Ryan Carter was given a game misconduct after his interaction with Stars netminder Kari Lehtonen: here's why Carter got a 10 min misconduct (watch Lehtonen skating to bench) pic.twitter.com/hfLnDYHrNv — Stephanie (@myregularface) April 17, 2016 ...  Always follow through on your checks, right? Unfortunately for Joonas Donskoi, Luke Schenn is very aware of that rule. Boop pic.twitter.com/UWAZrnVgHg — Pete Blackburn (@PeteBlackburn) April 17, 2016 - - - - - - - Jen Neale is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow her on Twitter! Follow @MsJenNeale_PD . MORE FROM YAHOO HOCKEY: Continue to Article

April 17, 2016 2:54:am EST