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Milan Lucic warns Kings about hungry Sharks after his own 3-0 nightmare

SAN JOSE, CA - APRIL 30: Justin Braun #61, Brad Stuart #7 and James Sheppard #15 of the San Jose Sharks after being eliminated by the Los Angeles Kings in Game Seven of the First Round of the 2014 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at SAP Center on April 30, 2014 in San Jose, California. (Photo by Rocky Widner/Getty Images)

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. – Milan Lucic knows how past events can shape the course of the present in a Stanley Cup playoff series.

In the 2010 Eastern Conference playoffs, Lucic’s Boston Bruins blew a 3-0 lead to the Philadelphia Flyers and lost in seven games. The following year the Bruins demolished the Flyers in a four-game sweep.

“It motivated us. We had a lot to prove. There were a lot of doubters. There were a lot of people saying we were good in the season, but broke when it mattered the most. It was something that was good for us because it motivated us in the right way,” Lucic said. “The next year we got to play Philly again in the second-round and we made no mistake. We absolutely smoked them.”

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It’s been two years since the Kings came back from a 3-0 deficit against the San Jose Sharks to beat them in seven games in the first-round of the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Some personnel has changed, but the cores remain the same. Joe Thornton, Joe Pavelski, Brent Burns and Patrick Marleau are still in San Jose's main players. All are in their early-to-mid-30s and this is shaping up to be one of their last big runs as a group with the Sharks.

It'll be up to Drew Doughty, Anze Kopitar and Jeff Carter to once again stop the Sharks in the playoffs. Game 1 of their first-round series is Thursday.

Lucic has pointed out to his team going into their first-round series against San Jose to not underestimate the will of the Sharks based off the last playoff series between the two teams.

“That’s part of the challenge of playing the Sharks in this playoff series is you talk about that motivation,” Lucic said. “This team we’re playing has a lot to prove to themselves and a lot of people out there and they probably have a lot to prove against the LA Kings as well.”

Whether that comeback plays a role in the thinking heading this series depends on who you ask. Lucic believes it does. The Sharks have said it doesn’t.

Kings defenseman Jake Muzzin says it does: “I’m sure they’re licking their chops to get at us after what happened two years ago so you don’t forget that stuff, you don’t forget it in your career. You remember series and ones like that.”

Los Angeles center Anze Kopitar says it won’t matter: “That happened two years ago That’s past us. We both had, I believe they didn’t make the playoffs last year also. Both teams had pretty bad seasons last year. What happened two years ago is not going to matter. What’s going to matter is who’s coming out to being on top of their game and winning four games.”

Lucic said after such collapses, teams can take one of two paths.

“It can completely destroy the group within, or it can motivate them,” Lucic said. “For us, for whatever reason I think it took that for us to do what we did next year, which was win the Cup.”

Really, with these two teams it goes deeper than one round. The last few seasons in meaningful contests Los Angeles has elevated their game against their in-state rival. Along with 2014, the Kings beat the Sharks in seven games in the 2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Last season LA came back to beat San Jose in a much-hyped Stadium Series game in Santa Clara, Calif.

The Kings understand this, but say not to read too much into their recent success against the Sharks.

“It’s a new series, we have new players, they have new players,” Muzzin said. “Yeah, we’ve come on the winning end more than not against them in the last little bit, but that has nothing to do with coming into this series.”

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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!