The San Jose Sharks can go up 2-0 in the best-of-7 series with the Anaheim Ducks if they do more of what they did in game one.

Seems simple enough. Almost too simple. The Sharks too what Anaheim gave them and it was more than enough to re-insert themselves as a real threat in these playoffs.

Led by by a pait of goals from Evander Kane in his Stanley Cup Playoff debut, the Sharks skated to a 3-0 win against the Ducks in Game 1 of the Western Conference First Round at Honda Center on Thursday night.

San Jose can fly back home with a commanding 2-0 lead if they stick with these three keys to winning game 2:

A natural: Evander Kane had two goals in his playoff debut. It was sort of like he'd been here before. Clearly he was on a mission. Now that Kane has the taste of the playoffs, he will do whatever it takes to stick around as long as possible. Kane finished the night with six shots on goal - four at 5v5 and two on the power play. The Sharks can put a stranglehold on this series if they get another performance like this from Kane tonight.

Traffic and Shots: Brent Burns was a shot machine in game one.  He was credited with nine shots on goal, scored a goal and hit a post. San Jose was very good at getting traffic in front on John Gibson and Burns was rewarded for it. He snapped a shot from the point that found its way through a maze of lets and past a surprised Gibson. If this was part of the Sharks gameplan, they executed it to a tee. If the Sharks can make it a habit of jamming Gibson and clogging the front of his crease, than maybe the goals that eluded Burns in the regular season will start finding theit way into the net when it matters most?

Goaltending: The playoffs are Martin Jones time. The Sharks goalie made 25 saves for his fifth playoff shutout. He was solid again making a couple of big stops when the game was still 0-0. Jones has been well above average in the playoffs and if he gets hot, San Jose fans could be busy for the next couple of months.

Game 2 is tonight at Honda Center.

Thanks for reading,
Steve

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