Sharks expect tough atmosphere on road against Golden Knights in playoffs

SAN JOSE -- Peter DeBoer planned to take a leisurely walk from the San Jose Sharks' hotel to T-Mobile Arena before a game against the Vegas Golden Knights during the regular season.
The coach walked straight into a crowd of Golden Knights fans, well into their pregame party.

"I won't make that mistake again," DeBoer said Tuesday with the Sharks preparing to play the Golden Knights in the Western Conference Second Round. "I took a lot of heckling. But it was awesome, great experience. I think it's a special place."
Game 1 of the best-of-7 Stanley Cup Playoff series is at T-Mobile Arena on Thursday (10 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, TVAS).
RELATED: [Golden Knights vs. Sharks playoff preview | Complete Golden Knights vs. Sharks series coverage]
In their inaugural NHL season, the Golden Knights quickly established an impressive home-ice advantage and won the Pacific Division. Vegas was 29-10-2 at T-Mobile Arena, including wins against San Jose on Nov. 24 (5-4 in overtime) and March 31 (3-2).
The Sharks, who swept the Anaheim Ducks in the first round, will open the series on the road. The Golden Knights swept the Los Angeles Kings in the first round, winning the first two games at home.

"Really rowdy, exciting, passionate group of fans," Sharks defenseman Brenden Dillon said. "I love playing on the road come playoff time when you can go into these kind of buildings because you feed off it too. ... You get a lot of early excitement. You understand how hard the game's going to be, let alone with the crowd that's yelling, screaming, pumped up. That's playoff hockey.
"They've got everything, from the music to the celebrities coming to the rink. They've got the mascots buzzing around. They have the light show going in the regular season."
Sharks captain Joe Pavelski said, "It's a great building. They've done a tremendous job there. There's a lot of entertainment going on, a lot of noise. Their regular-season production was pretty good. I don't see it getting a whole lot louder.
"It's exciting. I think in warmups you can feel a little jump in your step. We had a lot of San Jose fans there during the regular season, so that was fun."

Defenseman Justin Braun said the Sharks might have been a little distracted for their first road game in Las Vegas.
"I think we came out, looking at the bright lights, thought it was more of a vacation or whatever," Braun said. "It took us until about the third period to really figure that one out. But I thought we played a lot better the next time we were there.
"We realized what kind of team they were. We might have taken them for granted the first time. I think a couple times there you kind of get used to the mindset. It's a little different. At this time of your season you have it dialed in and not looking at the bright lights as much."