Sharks on the brink of eliminating their nemesis — again

8:51 PM ET

SAN JOSE, Calif. — The reality is that the San Jose Sharks will take it any which way as long as they finally prevail over their personal boogeyman.

As Sharks head coach Peter DeBoer said Thursday, even if takes Game 7 and double overtime, so be it, as long as his team moves on to the second round. Sure, he would have preferred a four-game sweep, but he’ll take win No. 4 whenever it comes.

But let’s be real, too. The cherry on the sundae is right there for the taking Friday night, starting at 10:30 ET, at Staples Center.

The Sharks are getting set to play their 19th consecutive playoff game against the Los Angeles Kings, having lost seven-game series in both 2013 and, famously, in 2014.

Winning in five tidy games would be the punctuation mark to redemption for a Sharks team that’s had its fill of the rival Kings, thank you very much, the lost 3-0 series lead in 2014 still very much in the back of their minds no matter what they say.

So, yeah, I’m here to tell you that a Game 5 victory Friday night at Staples Center would be the ultimate rebuttal for the organization. In other words, don’t let the series drag out so people keep asking about what happened in 2014, don’t give the two-time former Cup champs any life.

End it now.

“We need to win, we need to close it out, we’re going there to win the game,” star Sharks defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic said Thursday before his team left for L.A.

The Sharks are desperate to win so people will finally stop talking about the collapse of 2014. Juan Ocampo/Getty Images

If you’re looking to ready body language, this was a loose-looking …

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