And it feels. pretty fantastic, actually. Also odd and unusual.
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The Sharks can wrap up the series and seal a spot in the Stanley Cup final with a win in game six at the SAP Center in San Jose on Wednesday. Shark fans are not quite sure how to approach this.
“These guys are experienced guys”, DeBoer said.
Pavelski scored the tying goal on the power play late in the second period and tipped in the eventual victor early in the third as the Sharks moved to within one game of their first appearance in the Stanley Cup finals with a riveting 6-3 win over the Blues.
What stands out about that even more is that only one of the three goals those players have scored against the Sharks this postseason came against either Vlasic or Braun, and that was a Neal power play goal in Game 4 of the series against a defensive pairing of Justin Braun and Roman Polak. Why not bask in the unease?
The Shark players have done this so impressively, all through this six-week skate across nails to reach this point. All three of them have been overpowered at both ends of the ice, and that has proven to make a huge difference in the series. A lot of organizations would have blown it up, the owner would have got rid of everyone or whatever, they didn’t do that. “The last one is going to be the toughest one to win”. We know better than that.
Teams look for anything to give them an edge during the playoffs, especially as they travel back and forth between time zones.
Jones, of course, remains in net for San Jose.
The Sharks scored a pair of power-play goals in the second period to twice come back from one-goal deficits and tie the game, both goals coming with Blues defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk in the penalty box. So this could be all about desperation levels and maximum passion.
Head coach Peter DeBoer said the Blues goalie swap isn’t going to impact how his team approaches Game 6. “And that’s what we’ll need tomorrow”.
Hold your breath. It’s hard to believe this will be anything but a tight game. That could be enough for the Blues to regain momentum and stay alive for the Stanley Cup.
Making an impact is something that Joe Pavelski has been doing for a long time. Wednesday’s Game 6 is the first of two chances to get over the hump that has grown annually for the last 18 years. It was his 12th goal in 17 games in the playoffs, the most in the National Hockey League this season.
The first period was so much better than the last time we played at home.
“I thought he scored there in the third where he finally got a little space and got a nice shot off through a little traffic back against the grain”, Backes said Monday after Game 5.
The formula worked against Nashville.
The Sharks would like to do what the Tampa Bay Lightning could not do Tuesday – close out a series on home ice.
“It’s about throwing our game out there each night, the game that we like, we feel that’s best suited for us”, Pavelski said. Our job is to answer the bell. “Treat this like two Game 7s and see where it goes”. “I think we’ve been in that mode, that this is the most important game, for a while now”. “Long into the night” is hockey code for “multiple overtimes”. For the San Jose Sharks, up 3-2 in the Western Conference finals, it’s a chance to make franchise history. The Blues were blanked in his past two losses. But the players can’t think about that every shift. You need someone to follow or you just wander around in the desert.
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But if the game does go down to the final minutes or into overtime. well, then it does. And the least tired team might have the edge. A faceoff win by Joe Thornton, another key tonight, led to a screened shot from Marc-Edouard Vlasic that eluded Jake Allen in yet another theme tonight. Only Martin Jones and Dainius Zubrus have ever played in a Stanley Cup Final, and only Jones has won a championship – at that was as the backup to Jonathan Quick in 2014.
