The Blues have fired Ken Hitchcock, and Mike Yeo, who was hired in June as the coach-in-waiting, takes over early.
The Sharks' line of Joe Pavelski-Joe Thornton-Tomas Hertl is proving hard to contain for the Blues, who have fallen behind 2-1 in the Western Conference finals as a result.
Former teammates with NCAA champion Wisconsin, Joe Pavelski and Brian Elliott are on opposite sides of the puck in the conference finals, with more than bragging rights on the line.
St. Louis has tried to get under San Jose's skin, but penalties have continued to Burn the Blues and -- as Tommy Wingels' tally in Game 2 showed -- even the Sharks' fourth line has bite.
Beating the Kings in the first round has proved to be good preparation for the Sharks against a similarly built Blues team that finds itself playing catch-up in the Western Conference finals.
The Sharks' Joel Ward and the Blues' Troy Brouwer are friends and former teammates in Washington, but they won't cut each other any slack in the West finals with the Capitals watching from home.
