San Jose Sharks goalie Martin Jones (31) stops a shot by Nashville Predators right wing Viktor Arvidsson (38) as San Jose Sharks defenseman Paul Martin (7) defends during the second period of Game 2 in an NHL hockey Western Conf.
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A special furry friend made an appearance on the ice before the San Jose Sharks 5-2 victory over the Nashville Predators Friday at the SAP Center, according to Sharks officials. Linemate Logan Couture also was a presence with two goals in Game 1.OVERTIME1.
Mike Fisher and Ryan Johansen scored for the Predators, who were playing their eighth game in 15 days after wrapping up a seven game series win over the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday.
San Jose won the most road games in the National Hockey League this season and all three in Los Angeles in the first round.
DeBoer attributed the slow start to the fact San Jose had a week between games.
“He’s stumbled a bit, we sent him back to the minors because of the inconsistency in that area and I think he s starting to understand now the importance of all those little details, those compete details all over the ice”.
Despite the loss, Preds head coach Peter Laviolette wasn’t too disappointed by the way his team played. “There’s two games at home for us now, and we’ve just got to reset and refocus”.
The Sharks, who took a 2-0 series lead en route to beating the Kings in five games, are 7-2 in playoff series when winning the first two games.
But Couture would get his payback before the buzzer went off in the second period, gathering a Brent Burns shot that deflected off Rinne, easily putting it into the back of the net on the power-play. “We found a way”, DeBoer said.
Antti Niemi had stopped 19 consecutive shots since relieving Kari Lehtonen after the first period until Backes scored.
Things turned around in the third period, as they took advantage of two power play opportunities and established a better forecheck to help outshoot Nashville 8-2 through the first 11 minutes.
“You knew it was a game you were going to have to earn”, Pavelski said.
“Those are goals that Jaromir Jagr and other highly skilled players score”, he said.
The series shifts to Pittsburgh for Game 3 on Monday night. “First 40, the offense didn’t work as we wanted it too, but as long as we play good defense, I think we’ll be good”. I thought tonight was probably the best game since Game Six, and we got going in a north direction into the offensive zone, cycling the puck, lots of chances from in tight, got good scoring chances… San Jose’s goalie out-dueled an outstanding Renne for the second consecutive game, posting 37 saves and a.949 save percentage.
When asked if he’d ever seen that tactic before, Martin said, “Maybe get knocked into the bench, but I hadn’t seen jumping into the bench”.
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Both Jones and Rinne showed they were ready to play in the first period, combining for 23 saves. The Sharks’ top line had done nearly nothing all night until there were less than three minutes to go, but Pavelski managed to bang home a Matt Nieto rebound at 17:20 of the third period on a rush that began with a pretty cross-ice setup by Joe Thornton.
