Joe Thornton News

Logan Couture had just gone tumbling into the boards, gotten up gingerly, grabbed his left calf and headed immediately through the tunnel into the locker room without stopping on the bench.

SAN JOSE, Calif.-The San Jose Sharks might have been missing their biggest agitator Saturday, but that didn't stop them from playing what might have been their most physical game of this year's postseason.

Logan Couture scored a power play goal early in overtime to give the Sharks a 2-1 win over the Los Angeles Kings.

The San Jose Sharks had it all in their grasp Thursday night. They showed they could finally solve Kings' goalie Jonathan Quick.

The Kings played a great opening two periods last night and withstood a barrage of shots in the third to hold off the Sharks and take the opening game of the series.

The San Jose Sharks have confirmed that Raffi Torres is en route to New York for a hearing that could lead to a suspension for his hit on Los Angeles Kings forward Jarret Stoll.

The Los Angeles Kings defeated the San Jose Sharks by a 2-0 score in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals.

The Pittsburgh Penguins still look like the team to beat in the Eastern Conference as Stanley Cup playoff second-round series get under way.

After a quick exit, Habs fans find themselves without a team to cheer for in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Rested and ready, the Sharks reviewed video of the Los Angeles Kings on Monday, put in a 45-minute practice and boarded a plane for Southern California eager to begin their Western Conference semifinal series with the defending Stanley Cup champions.

Mar 14, 2013; San Jose, CA, USA; San Jose Sharks center Joe Pavelski and Los Angeles Kings right wing Dustin Brown face off during the second period at the HP Pavilion.

"It's the grittiest I've seen them in the playoffs,'' said NBC analyst and former Shark Jeremy Roenick.

With the identity of their second-round opponent set to be revealed tonight, we look back at the Sharks' four-game first round sweep of the Vancouver Canucks.

Patrick Marleau's power-play goal with 6:42 left in overtime secured San Jose's first-ever sweep of a seven-game series, as the Sharks downed the Vancouver Canucks, 4-3, at HP Pavilion to advance to the Eastern Conference semifinals.

Midway through a brisk workout Saturday, Dave Bolland was redeployed into active duty, dashing up the ice in the center of the Chciago Blackhawks' third line, the spot from which he had caused so much giddy postseason havoc.

The end of the Dallas Stars ' 2013 season came and went, accompanied by all of the fanfare a playoff race affords all the way through the second-to-last game of the year, leaving us with little time to explore the ancillary issues of the day -Issues like the passing on of the Pacific Division.

As we approach the second weekend of 2013 NHL Stanley Cup playoff action it's an appropriate time to put the events up to this point in perspective.

It's not quite like old times, when Brad Stuart was one of the Sharks' best offensive defenseman and a steady Scott Hannan had one of the more impressive heads of hair in the NHL.

The Sharks became the first NHL team to finish off an opponent with their sweep of the Vancouver Canucks and that earned them time away from the rink Wednesday.

The 2013 NHL Stanley Cup playoffs are more than a week old, and just like in years gone by, there are a few players that have just a bit more at stake than others.