The Sharks are coming home up 2-0 and have looked like the better team through the two games…for the most part. The same thing could have been said in 2014, the last time the Sharks went up 2-0 against the Kings in the first round of the playoffs. Alex, Colin and Ben talk about how and why this time might be different. Is it the new C (Joe Pavelski)? Is it Jumbo’s renewed determination and extra rest (and lack of leadership responsibilities)? Is it that our ‘league average goalie’ is better than theirs right now? At least one of those was true the last time the Sharks faced the Kings. Is it objectively silly to have to talk about whether the Kings have the Sharks where they want them by being down two games to none? We certainly hope it is. Go Sharks!

It’s here! The Sharks have made the playoffs and get to face a cupcake better team as was the case two years ago when the Kings reverse-swept the Sharks and my heart. Alex has faith that the Sharks will pull it out while Ben is picking the Kings in six. So go ahead and send your hate tweets to @circlingthecup. Ben runs that account and deserves your scorn. Or maybe he’s just trying to jinx the Kings (editor’s note: it’s both. I think the Kings will win but I would love to jinx them).

Three chances to clinch a playoff spot ended in whiffs and some in the fan base are panicking (as Sharks fans are want to do).  The Sharks aren’t clutch, they say. The Sharks can’t win without Marc Edouard Vlasic, they say. On the other hand, we’d argue that the big problem this week, aside from running into a hot goalie against St. Louis, was a return of mental errors and iffy goalie play. So listen in as we talk about what the Sharks need to do to have success when the playoffs arrive. Hint: some of it is out of their hands.

Three of the top teams in the East have come through the California grinder in the last two weeks and the Sharks acquitted themselves pretty well in dominating them in possession and on the scoreboard. In between a couple of those games, the refs decided to award a win to Arizona, though, so it wasn’t a perfect week. Colin and Ben talk about that and how the Sharks have been managing a deeper bench despite some new injuries as the playoffs approach.

Colin missed a podcast, but this time it was the universe’s fault. Sorry Colin, it’s you and me next week. This week, though, Alex and I talk about Martin Jones’ pretty good few weeks, his amazing theft of a game in Calgary and the Sharks gaining ground, inexplicably, on both the Kings and Ducks right after we concluded that 3rd place was a lock. Oops! Anyway, here’s to continuing to win three of every four the rest of the way as well.

Two trades with the Toronto Maple Leafs in one week and if you aggregate them it looks like both teams won out. Also, we can no longer change the name of our podcast to Brown Notes because it seems like our long national nightmare is over — he’s a Barracuda now. Regardless, the Sharks aren’t markedly better today, but they’ve plugged the holes that would prevent them from winning a round of the playoffs. Whether they can get further? That’s goalie voodoo, man.

Alex and Ben jumped on the internets to discuss what the Sharks gave up to acquire some DeBoer-friendly veteran player depth. And at the cost of the corpse of Raffi Torres and two future 2nd round draft picks. The main question is: where do the Sharks go to get a legit backup goalie?

Mike Brown should never skate another minute with the Sharks. Goalies should never play both halves of a back to back. Unfortunately, injuries and poor play pushed DeBoer and the organization to make some bad calls. That said, the only cost to these decisions was to lose the second half of a road back-to-back. In other words, a game the Sharks were going to probably lose anyway. Colin and I talk about the reasons and impact of the bad decisions, as we  do. Alex was changing diapers and weeping, as predicted. This means that I (Ben) had to host and edit the podcast again. That’s never a good thing.

This week we talk about Dylan DeMelo’s growth on the Sharks 3rd D-pair, the effect of Brendan Dillon’s mysterious upper-body concussion er injury on the Sharks’ not-so-deep-already D corps (and the upcoming trade deadline) and the solidification of the bottom six with the healthy returns of Logan Couture and, of all people, 95-year old Dainius Zubrus. Also, because Alex had to go like be a dad or something, Ben takes his first shot at assembling the podcast. Next time he has to edit, Ben promises to play with compression to even out volume changes.