Six reasons the Sharks have the upper hand heading into Game 3

2:28 PM ET

As the Western Conference finals shifts two time zones to the Bay Area, with the San Jose Sharks and St. Louis Blues tied 1-1, here’s why the Sharks look like the stronger team entering Game 3 Thursday night at 9 p.m. ET:

Their top line has been finer

Alexander Steen’s unit has done some excellent work this postseason, helping limit the likes of Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews and Jamie Benn, so we all wondered how things would play out for his line when it matched up against perhaps the most impactful offensive trio in the 2016 Stanley Cup playoffs.

Through two games in this series, it hasn’t been close. Joe Thornton, Joe Pavelski and Tomas Hertl are — hands down — winning the matchup with Steen, David Backes and Patrik Berglund. Thornton’s line didn’t score five-on-five in Game 2 but, oh man, did it have another good night at the office in terms of time spent in the Blues’ zone.

“They’re a good line,” Pavelski said of Steen’s trio. “They’re playing hard. You’ve just got to match that intensity. You’ve got to work and support and we’ve been able to do that. You just can’t take your foot off the gas. You’ve got to stay with your game.”

They’ve taken some of the sheen off Steen

Logic would dictate that, with the Sharks owning last line change for Games 3 and 4 at SAP Center, San Jose coach Peter DeBoer might want to try to shield his top line from Steen — one of the NHL’s pre-eminent two-way forwards — and get a more favorable matchup.

Sharks center Joe Pavelski, 8, and his line have held Alex Steen, 20, in check so far in the Western Conference finals. AP Photo/Jeff Roberson

I mean, that’s the normal course of action when you have the last line change. But given, as noted above, how well Thornton’s line played in the opening two games, why bother changing anything? DeBoer isn’t always one to chase matchups anyway.

So far, the third trio has been grand

I always laugh when I hear athletes or coaches say that they don’t read or hear what’s being said in the media. Um, yeah, OK.

Example No. 1,894,983,982: the Sharks clearly had their collective nose slightly out of joint at the suggestion, after they lost Game 1, that the Blues’ superior top-nine forward depth posed a matchup problem for San Jose’s third line, which is …

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