San Jose went 0-3 in its previous three conference finals, but after the game seven victory against the Predators put the Sharks within eight wins of Lord Stanley’s Cup I won’t begrudge fans the giddy feeling we all woke up with this morning.
Advertisement
But the conference finals against the Chicago Blackhawks brought more misery. “We’re suppose to go out there and lead this team, and contribute offensively, so we did what we’re suppose to do”. The Blues will face the San Jose Sharks, with the victor earning a chance to compete for the Stanley Cup. It was Pavelski’s ninth goal this postseason, tying the franchise record he and Marleau already held.
Like the Stars before them, the Sharks put on a show in Game 7, but it was hardly satisfying.
After Pavelski gave the Sharks the lead, Joel Ward redeemed himself for a third period gaffe in Game 6 that led to the game-tying goal, scoring the third Game 7 tally of his career, slipping the puck through goalie Pekka Rinne’s pads on the rush.
Whatever Preds coach Peter Laviolette said to get his team fired up for the second period didn’t work because 36 seconds after the faceoff it was 3-0 Sharks when Couture scored courtesy of a Weber giveaway. “We did a better job of finishing and I think we did a better job of that today and staying with the game plan and everyone contributing and believing in ourselves”. “We couldn’t get anything going. That’s what we did”. They had a 23-8 advantage after the second period.
Once considered one of the NHL’s premier defensemen, Shea Weber had a frightful night on defense.
Weber finished the game with a minus-three rating.
After outshooting the Preds 17-3 in the first, the Sharks continue in the second as Logan Couture steals the puck and finds the net for his seventh of the postseason and a 3-0 San Jose lead.
The Sharks alternate captain also leads the National Hockey League in scoring with 17 points in the playoffs.
It’s not just offense as the Sharks goaltending has been much, much better at the Shark Tank. Again, you can’t underestimate how traumatic an injury he dealt with in the first half of the year.
Really, we can’t blame him. Getting him back, now he’s fresh obviously, he’s getting back to 100 percent.
Rinne got the hook following Marleau’s goal to make it 5-0 with just under four minutes left in the third period. Carter Hutton only faced one SOG in 16:06 TOI, giving you a good idea of how over that game was by then.
The Sharks thought they had won the game when Joe Pavelski slammed home his own rebound, but it was controversially waved off due to goalie interference so they would play on. San Jose earned two more points than Nashvillle in the regular season – the equivalent of one win – and the teams posted identical 54.3 per cent score-adjusted Fenwick marks.
After countless stressful games, the Sharks took game seven by the horns.
That resiliency paid off in the form of more goals in the third. However, when they’ve struggled to do so, the Predators have won. We’ll soon know if the team will move forward in their quest for a championship. About five minutes later, Roman Josi pinballed a shot in over the head of Martin Jones to get Nashville on the board.
The Sharks used their playoff-leading power play to open the scoring and piled on from there, crushing the Predators 5-0 Thursday to advance to the West final against the Blues.
Advertisement
“The core guys are still the same, but the core guys here are great”, DeBoer said. They’re not the problem, it was filling in behind them. They were better than us. “The guys at the top are feeling that and are feeding them”.
