San Jose Sharks and Nashville Predators battle near the boards during the second period of Game 1 in an NHL hockey Stanley Cup Western Conference semifinal series Friday, April 29, 2016, in San Jose, Calif.
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Ezra Shaw/Getty Images Not even the bad luck of a black cat can slow down the San Jose Sharks in National Hockey League playoff series.
The San Jose forecheck was more about hounding the Preds’ puck-moving defensemen and forcing turnovers.
Nashville was the better team in the second period, but it went for naught when San Jose scored the first goal of the game 1:24 before intermission. “I’m assuming it’s a rule that they’re not allowed to change on our bench”.
“I think we were better team out there tonight”, Ekholm said. “It’s fun. Everyone is ramped up”. The Sharks broke the tie with 2:40 to play and got an empty-net goal with 56 seconds to go, which rendered Johansen’s goal with four seconds remaining useless.
Logan Couture punched a rebound past Rinne during a man-up chance near the end of the second period for his third goal of the series, and the defense successfully killed all three Predators penalty advantages.
If Jones doesn’t make that stop, it’s unlikely San Jose would’ve been able to mount the comeback that they did.
“The biggest variable”, said Tortora, “was that we didn’t know the schedule of the series until Wednesday night”. “They know when we’re not playing the way we need to play and they know how to fix it”. Some credit to them for bottling things up.
But Matt Nieto took an undisciplined tripping penalty just 2:45 into the second period, as he stuck his leg out and caught the back of Colin Wilson’s leg almost 200 feet from the Sharks’ net.
The Sharks are 7-2 all-time when leading a series two-games-to-none, including the first round this year against Los Angeles.
Whether it had anything to do with the black-cat curse or not is for higher powers to decide, but San Jose did open the scoring on a rather odd penalty to Nashville. It’s easy for the top-line players to take those shortcuts but he gives that effort when they have the puck with a chance to score. Jones has given up seven goals in his last three games. He proved he could do it just as well against the Predators.
The Joe Thornton line didn’t even have a shot until well into the third period in that second game.
Ward then scored his 15th career playoff goal when he was left all alone after taking a pass from Joonas Donskoi. “I tried to get off, but it was too late”. The Nashville Predators are averaging 2.7 goals per game and are scoring on 19.7 percent of their power plays.
But Couture and Wingels answered with the empty-netters to clinch the win.
“It’s huge for us to get them involved”, DeBoer said. “The guys did a really good job in front of the net”.
“The amount of interest generated by Joe’s appearance and those wishing to adopt him has been overwhelming”, said San Jose Sharks chief operating officer John Tortora. He’s posted a 2.13 GAA and a.923 save percentage throughout the postseason after outperforming his mentor in Jonathan Quick during the Sharks five-game series win in round one.
Superstitious Sharks fans’ fears were assuaged after the team cruised to a 5-2 victory.
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Game 1 saw the Predators carry a 1-0 lead into the third period. San Jose trailed 3-2 after two before winning 4-3 in OT. It shifts to Bridgestone Arena for Game 3 on Tuesday (6 p.m., USA).
