Jones was the much busier goalie in the contest, and faced a Predators attack that kept coming.
Advertisement
Nashville Predators center Ryan Johansen (92) is congratulated by teammates after scoring against the San Jose Sharks during the second period in Game 6 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup Western Conference semifinal playoff series.
Thursday’s deciding Game 7 will occur three days after Monday’s 4-3 Nashville win in overtime in Game 6, with the local start time yet to be announced.
The Sharks lead by the halfway point in the third but Colin Wilson tied it, forcing overtime.
And in the other series, for as well as San Jose’s big guns have played in this postseason, the Sharks haven’t been able to put away a quietly risky Nashville team that already topped Anaheim and rallied to win Game 6 against San Jose in overtime. Nobody picked up Colin Wilson, who headed toward the net. He has played every minute in goal of every playoff game for San Jose. It’s big to get that out of the way early. He went hard into the post late in the first period, knocking the net off of its moorings, and was slow to get up. Just as both teams were settling in for another long overtime slog, Arvidsson jumped on a misplayed puck at the feet of Melker Karlsson and found the top right corner with his shot from the left faceoff dot to even the series.
“Unbelievable”, said Arvidsson, who turned 23 last month. You see where I’m heading.
“You never assume things, but we didn’t respond well to it”, Couture said. “It was really nice”. “Just get it to the net and hope something would happen”, said Arvidsson of his goal, the first playoff one of his career.
Fans celebrated by tossing a bunch of the hats given away for this game onto the ice.
“Everybody is doing a great job of embracing it”, said Wilson. The trio had been the Predators’ best line through four games, but they combined for one goal Saturday in the Sharks’ 5-1 win.
– The Sharks were out shot 32-18 for the game.
The Blues made some noise by knocking out the defending champion Chicago Blackhawks in the opening round, while the Predators eliminated the Anaheim Ducks in what ended up being the final game for Bruce Boudreau behind the Ducks’ bench.
“Two goods teams going at it”. While still built around defense, they are solid in all facets of the game. “We’re excited and looking forward to it in our building”.
Chris Tierney got the Sharks on the board and then doubled their goal total in the first period. His two first-period goals in the game gave the Sharks a quick 2-0 lead.
Arvidsson’s victor wasn’t the only thrilling moment in the Nashville-San Jose series.
Tierney tipped home a Vlasic point shot for the 1-0 lead at 9:55 – his stick was on the borderline of being too high on the play. So did their one goal lead in the third. DeBoer has choices to make that could affect things Thursday – and still has to be concerned with stopping the tough Mike Fisher line of Nashville.
Ryan Johansen wasted little time in the second period as he tied the game up early in the second period. With the teams playing 4-on-4, he skated around Sharks defenseman Justin Braun and beat Jones with a backhander.
Which is why the Sharks lost Game 6 in overtime, 4-3. Jones had 27 saves at the end of regulation time.
“They didn’t seem to buckle at all”, Johnston said.
However, Rinne, who faced just 18 shots, delivered a clutch stop on Joonas Donskoi’s unsafe wrister in the first minute of overtime. “I think it will give us a push when we go out there for Game 7”.
Advertisement
NOTES: Rinne got the secondary assist on Arvidsson’s goal.
