The San Jose Sharks officially plunged deeper into the Stanley Cup bracket than they ever had in the largely successful Todd McLellan era with their second conference final win in Game 3.
Part of the reason? Swag.
No, not the showy suits, beards, cars, or general laissez-faire attitude seen from some of the more important players on the roster, but a leader with aplomb.
"It may not be what people consider your typical Puff Daddy swag," Joel Ward said of coach Pete DeBoer, according to Paul Gackle of the San Jose Mercury News. "But he definitely has a good amount of swag."
DeBoer's swag comes from poise and an unwavering confidence that has rubbed off on a team, and organization, reaching new heights in his first year at the helm.
"It flows through our lineup," defenseman Brenden Dillon said. "After the triple OT game in Nashville, that was a big point in the series where it could have gone either way. We were able to regroup and just kind of had that continuous, hey, we're OK, we're fine."
And that's a marked change from what we've seen previously. Long considered little brothers to their California rivals, the Sharks seemed well on their way to completely bottoming out after missing the playoffs for the first time in 11 years the season following their shattering first-round collapse at the hands of the Los Angeles Kings.
"If the leader of the group is confident, it's hard as players not to feel the same way," said Tommy Wingels.
