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The 2016 Stanley Cup Playoffs' 'road ice advantage'
The road team has won every game thus far in the series between the Anaheim Ducks and Nashville Predators. John Russell/Getty Images

The 2016 Stanley Cup Playoffs' 'road ice advantage'

It’s something that still remains a mystery. After a big 3-2 victory over the Kings, the Sharks took a 3-1 series lead and were set to travel back to Los Angeles — a positive sign for the NHL leader in road wins this season.

That brought back up a question that the team had become visibly tired of being asked about: Why has San Jose had so much more success on the road?

As it turns out, Team Teal isn’t the only squad to display this pattern during the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The St. Louis Blues won Games 3 and 4 against the Chicago Blackhawks at United Center. Likewise, the Penguins took both games from the Rangers that were played at Madison Square Garden, handing the Blueshirts their fourth and fifth straight playoff losses on home ice. In the series between the Anaheim Ducks and Nashville Predators — a series split 2-2 as of Friday — both teams notched all their wins on the road. 

Road teams appear to be reigning supreme in Round 1. A couple outlets have gone so far as to refer to it as “road ice advantage.”

Some of that has to do with players getting hot when the stage is the biggest and the pressure is the greatest (i.e., not in front of your home crowd). In the Chicago-St. Louis series, Vladimir Tarasenko has had his big games for the Blues not just in the playoffs, but on the road. Fox Sports talked about the phenomenon:

The 24-year-old Tarasenko had a career-best 40 goals in the regular season and just like last spring when he scored six goals in a first-round loss to the Wild, there's been no letup in the playoffs. 
"When the stage seems to be the biggest, when the lights seem to be the brightest, he seems to play his best," captain David Backes said. "You love having guys like that on your team." 
It was especially nice for the team to see that kind of production on the road. The Blues seized control of the series by taking two straight in Chicago.

In the case of the Anaheim-Nashville series, the Ducks put a dent in the series when they switched up goaltenders. After dropping the first two games in Anaheim, coach Bruce Boudreau swapped out netminder John Gibson for veteran Frederik Andersen, who went on to blank Nashville in Game 3 and only allow one goal in Game 4. 

But as Preds defenseman Shea Weber told the Nashville Post after the team dropped two straight at home to the Ducks, being stronger on the road is a bit odd:

“Both teams are pretty good at home so [it's] definitely not a blueprint I think a lot of people would have drawn up… But it's not always how everyone predicts. Hopefully, we'll go back there and have some success.”

Unlike the Ducks and Preds, the Sharks have not had that success at home, which made a Game 4 victory at the Shark Tank just as big a story line for San Jose as it was to take a 3-1 series lead over Los Angeles.

“It was nice to win at home in front of our fans,” Sharks forward Logan Couture told the media following the Game 4 win. “It was a loud building, the way it has been here for years. Obviously, this year it hasn’t been like this — but it’s nice to get a win in front of these fans.”

As nice as getting that home win was for San Jose, it’s also nice that a pivotal Game 5 will be played away from home — where the Sharks have thrived all season.

When asked about how to prepare the team for Staples Center, Sharks coach Peter DeBoer said confidently: “We’re comfortable on the road. We’re very  good on the road.”

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