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SAN JOSE — Their locker stalls are side-by-side in the San Jose Sharks' dressing room, a configuration that was by design, not happenstance. When the Sharks acquired Brian Campbell from the Buffalo Sabres at the NHL trading deadline, it looked immediately as if it would be one of those deals that worked out for both sides. The Sabres received youth and futures; the Sharks remedied their perennial need for a No. 1 defenceman.
The fact that Campbell and Joe Thornton, the Sharks' leading scorer and assistant captain, were childhood friends and are now locker mates and road roommates, just made the transition that much easier for him. Or it did in the regular season, when the Sharks reeled in the Dallas Stars in the Pacific Division standings with a strong finish to earn the No. 2 playoff seed and become a sexy pre-playoff choice for the Stanley Cup.
It was a little different during the first two games of their playoff series with the Calgary Flames. Campbell had a difficult time of it in the opener — his turnover, following an aggressive fore-checking play by Jarome Iginla, led to the winning Calgary goal. Following Thursday's 2-0 San Jose win, which squared their Western Conference quarter-final series at one game apiece, Campbell acknowledged the opening-night jitters.
"I think we were pretty revved up for a few days ahead - maybe a bit too much," said Campbell. "I know I felt terrible in Game 1. I know a few other guys did as well.
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"But that happens. We regrouped well and I think we're realizing we're in the playoffs right now."
So what went wrong in the opener? "When you clinch a spot maybe a week and half or two weeks before - I'm not even sure what it was - and you're resting a little bit, and you're thinking about it, sometimes you get too much rest," said Campbell.
"I was trying to take care of myself as much as I could and I know in Game 1, I had nothing. Tonight I felt great."
The Sharks' victory sets the stage for a compelling third game in what is shaping up as a throwback series, with timely goaltending, good tempo and hits galore. The two ex-Sharks in the Flames' line-up, Miikka Kiprusoff and Owen Nolan, keep insisting that the chance to play their former team means nothing, but it sure doesn't look that way on the ice. Both were outstanding in front of their former fans.
The Flames' Jarome Iginla was the best skater in the opener, but let his cool slip in the next game, which happens to him half-a-dozen times a year and isn't necessarily a bad thing. When Iginla's emotions run high, the rest of the team feeds off him. The Flames ran into trouble this season, on the nights when their efforts were just a little too casual. That generally doesn't happen when Iginla plays with the sort of controlled energy that makes him effective and elusive in tight quarters around the net.
The Sharks, meanwhile, were the best road team in the NHL this season (27 wins) and have won at least one playoff round in each of the past three seasons, so panic is not a word in their dictionary yet. San Jose earned its split without getting a whole lot from either Thornton or Campbell in the first two games. They both assisted on Ryan Clowe's late goal in the opener; and were shut out in the second game, despite endless opportunities to score on the power play. Campbell was brought in to enhance that element on their game — in the regular season, their percentages shot up from the 16 per cent range to 26 following his arrival.
Campbell, who is a bit of an endearing chatterbox, says that on the Sharks' power play now, "I look for Joe a lot but I think he's starting to look for me. Not to be negative, or say I'm the be-all or end-all person, but I think before, he was just considering going to the net. Now, he's looking back to try and open things up that way. They're stubborn, those forwards sometime."
Campbell and Thornton have known each other, virtually their entire lives. They played summer hockey together for half-a-dozen years, two kids from small-town Ontario (Campbell from Strathroy, Thornton from St. Thomas) as well as one year of winter hockey — Campbell thought it might have been their minor bantam year, playing for Elgin-Middlesex.
Campbell's parents called the Thorntons right after the trade. Both were in town to watch Thursday's second game.
"You play six summer hockey tournaments and you're always staying in hotels, you get to know people pretty well," said Campbell.
To Campbell, the biggest difference between the Sabres, his former team, and the Sharks, his current team, is, "the accountability inside the dressing room. It's probably the first team I've been on where guys will speak up and say something and you take it to heart. It's a big change that way, probably the biggest thing."
The Sharks needed to do some of that self-challenging following their opening-night loss. Now that the series is square, the object is to win back the home-ice advantage back. Channeling the pressure is nothing new for them, said Thornton.
"Every year, it's 'Cup or bust' around these parts," said Thornton, "and I think that's how most teams are. If you don't win the Cup, it's a failure, so … that's our goal - to win the Stanley Cup."
One small step at a time.
