Learning from losses has been an annual playoff tradition for the San Jose Sharks.
Since their trip to the 2004 Western Conference final against the Calgary Flames, the Men in Teal have been bounced in the second round in three straight springs.
For many teams, that would be an accomplishment.
For the Sharks, it's been considered a kind of failure.
But their past as a team unable to live up the hype that always seems to surround the powerhouse heading into the playoffs doesn't haunt them, according to super sophomore Devin Setoguchi.
"It's not like we go into the playoffs thinking we need to show everyone we're not going to get bounced in the second round," said the Taber, product. "Before Detroit won the Cup, they lost in the first round, they lost in the second round, they lost in the first round.
"We don't see the pressure we have put on us as that big of a deal. We just go out and expect we should win games when playoff time comes.
"We expect to win."
So do so many others.
That's why the Sharks have been disappointments in second-round losses to the Dallas Stars in 2008, the Detroit Red Wings in 2007 and the Edmonton Oilers in 2006.
Fine-tuning their roster every season, the Sharks seem to get more and more powerful on paper.
This year has been no exception with the additions of star defencemen Rob Blake and Dan Boyle in the off-season.
But it's their homegrown talent taken in the annual draft that has the Sharks considered Cup contenders year after year.
Losses teach guys like Setoguchi things that will only make them better in their next quest to make it out of the Western Conference.
"It's a lot different than it is during the regular season," said Setoguchi, who dressed for nine of the Sharks' 13 post-season games a year ago and netted just a pair of points (a goal and an assist). "You've got to make sure you've got good habits, because you can't turn it on or off.
"I think the biggest thing I learned is in any second of a playoff game, it can be the difference between winning and losing a game. You never know when that second in a game is going to happen."
Carrying over that mentality into his second season, Setoguchi has been a difference-maker for the Sharks this year.
He's been a top-line forward for much of the campaign, a staple on the powerplay and a dependable two-way winger under first-year head coach Todd McLellan.
Becoming a 30-goal scorer and avoiding the alleged sophomore jinx, it's been easy for Setoguchi to have fun. The whole room feels that way more than ever.
"Guys are always excited in here. It starts with Big Joe (Thornton)," said Setoguchi. "He's always got a smile on his face. He's always laughing. It's easy for the young guys to just kind of follow along and have fun."
Thornton is confident, too.
"We feel we've got all of what it takes this year," said Thornton, whose team added a couple of proven playoff performers from further south on the California coastline in Travis Moen and Kent Huskins. Both deadline additions won Cups with the Ducks.
"We have a lot of depth," said Thornton.
That additional depth only stabilizes what they already believed they had in place. And that's a Stanley Cup-worthy lineup.
"From Day 1, we've had confidence," said Thornton. "We've got the personnel to go a long way.
"That's what we're hoping."
STEVE.MACFARLANE@SUNMEDIA.CA
SHARKS: STARTING LINEUP
LEFT WING
Patrick Marleau
Milan Michalek
Travis Moen
Mike Grier
DEFENCE
Rob Blake
Marc-Edouard Vlasic
Douglas Murray
CENTRE
Joe Thornton
Joe Pavelski
Marcel Goc
Jeremy Roenick
DEFENCE
Dan Boyle
Christian Ehrhoff
Brad Lukowich
RIGHT WING
Devin Setoguchi
Ryane Clowe
Jonathan Cheechoo
Claude Lemieux
GOALIES
Evgeni Nabokov
Brian Boucher
RESERVES/INJURIES: LW Jody Shelley, D Alexei Semenov, C Tomas Plihal, D Kent Huskins, C Torrey Mitchell (broken leg, indefinite).
