All summer long, NHL Network will be replaying the 2011 Stanley Cup Playoffs -- from every jaw-dropping goal to every highlight-reel save to every crushing defeat.
Each game of the postseason -- spanning the more than two-month period from the opening round to Boston's Game 7 clincher of the Stanley Cup Final -- will be shown on the Network throughout the offseason.
Fans can tune in at 8 p.m. ET nightly for a different game -- and different chance to re-live history. A complete program schedule can be found on NHLNetwork.com.
For just the third time in NHL history, two teams from California squared off in the Stanley Cup Playoffs as the second-seeded San Jose Sharks met the seventh-seeded Los Angeles Kings. This Western Conference quarterfinal series also marked the first time ever that these Pacific Division rivals faced each other in the postseason. The Sharks once again entered the postseason with high expectations, having won the Pacific for a fourth straight year. On the other side, the Kings limped into the playoffs after losing leading scorer Anze Kopitar for the season following right ankle surgery.
The opening period of Game 1 reflected how the teams finished the regular season, as the Sharks scored 28 seconds into the contest and outshot the Kings 14-3 in the frame. L.A. picked up its game in the second though, notching two goals to San Jose’s one, creating a 2-2 tie after 40 minutes. Jonathan Quick and Antti Niemi kept the teams off the board in the third, and the game headed into overtime at the HP Pavilion.
With 5:16 remaining in the first OT, Joe Pavelski fired a wrist shot over the glove of Quick and into the top corner, lifting the Sharks to a 3-2 victory and a 1-0 series lead. Pavelski had five of San Jose’s 45 shots on the night, and the last of those five was good for his third career overtime goal in the playoffs.
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