Predators vs. Sharks: Keys to Victory for Both Teams in NHL Playoff Series

After each upsetting one of Southern California's hockey powerhouses, the San Jose Sharks and Nashville Predators will face off in a second-round NHL playoff series for a chance to reach the 2016 Western Conference Final and, potentially, play for the Stanley Cup.

Neither club has won a Cup in the history of its franchise. In fact, the Sharks' best years were Western Conference Final losses in 2004, 2010 and 2011, while the Predators failed to advance in their two previous second-round appearances, in 2011 and 2012.

The two teams have faced each other twice before in the postseason, with San Jose winning in five games in the first round in both 2006 and 2007. This year's matchup will feature a few holdovers from those series of nearly a decade ago—Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau, Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Joe Pavelski (2007 only) for the Sharks and Shea Weber for the Predators. 

Here's a look at what it will take for either the Preds or the Sharks to take the next step to Round 3 this year.

Nashville Predators: Shea Weber Continues in Beast Mode

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Nashville defenseman Shea Weber has long been regarded as one of the top defensemen in the game. His booming slap shot has earned him the hardest shot title at the NHL All-Star Game for the past two years, per Robby Stanley of NHL.com, and Weber can also skate and hit with the best of his peers.

During the 2015 playoffs, the Predators started off well in the first round against the eventual Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks, losing a Game 1 double-overtime heartbreaker before Weber was knocked out of the series with a knee injury in Game 2. Nashville won that second game but Chicago took three of the next four with Weber out of the lineup, enabling them to advance.

This year, Weber was a beast in the first round—tying for Nashville's scoring lead with five points and leading his team with 25 hits. Weber's complete "A" Game was on full display against Anaheim. If he can keep it up, it could be a difference-maker against the Sharks.

Nashville Predators: Pekka Rinne Plays at a Vezina-Caliber Level

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After finishing second to Carey Price in voting for the NHL's best goaltender in 2014-15, per Hockey Reference, Pekka Rinne was a problem instead of a solution for Nashville through much of the 2015-16 regular season.

Rinne's 2.48 goals-against average and .908 save percentage were well below his career averages and even farther below the elite numbers he had posted one year earlier. That left the Predators fighting for a playoff spot for much of the season.

Down the stretch, Rinne started to deliver, posting a 15-6-3 record after February 1 to help secure Nashville's wild-card spot.

But his personal performance still wasn't great—and the same could be said for the first five games of the first round, when he gave up 15 goals in five games on 135 shots against Anaheim—a goals-against of just under three and a save percentage of .889.

Once the Predators were facing elimination, Rinne rediscovered his elite game—allowing just two goals on 64 shots in Games 6 and 7 and maintaining his unflappable demeanor no matter how many times the Ducks crashed the crease.

A calm, cool and collected Rinne will go a long way towards giving the Predators a chance to win against the Sharks in Round 2.

Nashville Predators: At Home on the Road

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Strangely, Nashville's first-round series against Anaheim was dominated by the road team, which won five out of seven games. The Predators picked up three of their four wins in the Honda Center, which has been a tough barn for opposing clubs in previous seasons.

The same is true at the Shark Tank—once one of the most intimidating arenas in the NHL, but a place where San Jose struggled uncharacteristically in 2015-16, ranking last among playoff teams during the regular season with an 18-20-3 home record. The Sharks' only loss in the first round against the Los Angeles Kings also came on home ice.

If San Jose continues to struggle at SAP Center, the Predators should be able to parlay their team's road success into their franchise's first-ever second-round playoff win.

San Jose Sharks: Exploit Tired Opposition

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When the Sharks fell to the Los Angeles Kings in the 2013 and 2014 playoffs, both series were seven-game soul destroyers that must have taken the players months to put behind them.

This year, a quick-and-dirty five-game win barely took a toll.

The Sharks are healthy and have been home resting up for a week after dispatching the Kings on April 22. Since San Jose clinched Round 1, the Predators have travelled the 2,000 miles between Anaheim and Nashville three times and played three games—two of them while facing elimination—then hopped a one-hour flight up to the Bay Area for Friday's series opener.

Teams that enjoy long playoff breaks can often come out flat in their first games back on the ice but San Jose won't be taking this opportunity for granted. If the series goes long, the extra freshness generated from a rejuvenating rest between series could prove to be a huge benefit to the Sharks once the intensity ratchets up.

San Jose Sharks: Capitalize on Experience

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Usually at this time of year, the Sharks are hearing all about their inability to win big games in the playoffs. It's a reputation that has haunted them throughout the history of their franchise and grew even more pointed during the last decade when the team couldn't parlay good regular seasons into Stanley Cup success.

But with the usual suspects like Chicago and Los Angeles out of the way, the Sharks are the most playoff-proven team left in the Western Conference. Over the last 18 NHL seasons, San Jose has made the playoffs 16 times, with and three trips to the Western Conference Final during that time.

Yes, the Dallas Stars won the Stanley Cup in 1999, but the Stars also missed the playoffs in six of seven years during that span, between 2009 and 2015. For their parts, since 1998 the Preds haven't been out of the second round and the St. Louis Blues have reached the Western Conference Final just once, in 2001.

This year, San Jose turns out to be the battle-tested group in the Western Conference, instead of the team that's expected to fail. If the Sharks can embrace this role and use it to their advantage, it should help them punch their ticket to a fourth Western Conference Final appearance.

San Jose Sharks: Brent Burns Continues His Takeover

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No longer just a quirky personality with a knack for offense, at age 31 Brent Burns has made his case as one of the best defensemen in the NHL.

Burns finished the 2015-16 season with career highs of 75 points and 27 goals—good enough to rank him second among defensemen behind Erik Karlsson of the Ottawa Senators and narrowly miss the overall top 10 in NHL scoring.

In the first round against Los Angeles, Burns led all defensemen in the playoffs with eight points even though he was limited to a relatively conservative 23:58 of ice time per game. That's already a personal single-season playoff record for him—and he's far from finished.

If Burns continues to play his best hockey, he'll help the Sharks to advance and could cement his reputation among hockey's top all-round blueliners by the time the Stanley Cup is lifted in June.

All stats courtesy of NHL.com.