Further proof came in Wednesday’s second game of the best-of-seven series, narrowly won 2-1 in overtime by the Pittsburgh Penguins over the visiting San Jose Sharks, which gave them a 2-0 series lead.
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The Penguins were the dominant team in regulation, limiting the visitors to only 20 shots on goal with nine of those efforts coming in the third period alone.
Winger Bryan Rust, who missed most of the third period of Game 1 after absorbing a hit in the head from San Jose’s Patrick Marleau, returned to the Penguins’ lineup. He really just made sure Nick Bonino’s shot, which was probably going to go in anyway after Sharks defenceman Roman Polak deflected it, made it over the goal line.
Tomas Hertl had a couple of chances to put San Jose up early in the second, but put a pair of shots off the goalpost. What’s the deal? Do the Sharks just need two periods to adjust to the Penguins’ aggressive pressure and counterattack game?
Hagelin and Bonino had a chance to pad the Penguins’ advantage when they had a 2-on-1 break with less than five minutes to go before the intermission, but couldn’t capitalize. The Penguins’ dedicated shot-blocking kept many San Jose attempts from getting through to the net, and the Sharks weren’t able to capitalize on the edge they had over the Penguins in size and weight.
The hero on this night was Conor Sheary.
Game 3 is Saturday at the SAP Center in San Jose, Calif.
The Penguins’ forechecking was problematic for the Sharks, and it was only a matter of time before the sequence that led to Kessel’s goal occurred.
The problem the Sharks have is Crosby looks awfully motivated to win his second Stanley Cup.
The goal was Sheary’s first overtime goal between college, the AHL and the National Hockey League. For all his talent – he’s never finished outside the top 10 in points per game in any season in which he’s played enough games to qualify – he can occasionally be too unselfish with the puck on his stick, sometimes trading wide-open shots for hard passes in search of a teammate who may or may not be ready for them. “We better do the same thing”. We’re going to take it over for some periods. Especially taking into account the fact the Sharks are making their Final debut, history does not bode well for them.
“Game 1 was decided in the last two minutes”. They didn’t go to overtime at all in the first round, so six of their past 15 games have been settled after regulation.
The Game 2 victory was the Penguins’ ninth on home ice in these playoffs, tying the franchise record set in 1991 and matched in 2008 and 2009.
In the process, Kessel continues to make a strong bid for the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player of the postseason.
Pittsburgh’s rookie goaltender Matt Murray stopped 21 of 22 shots to win for the 13th time in 17 games. Sidney Crosby won a faceoff in the San Jose zone and dropped it to Kris Letang.
Overtime-3, Pittsburgh, Sheary 4 (Letang, Crosby) 2:35. “I think they kind of lost me when I came off the wall there”.
Polak gathered the puck, but under pressure – a situation Pittsburgh has foisted upon the Sharks with regularity – he made arguably a poor pass and a poor decision to try to get the puck to his defense partner, Brenden Dillon.
“We’ve definitely shown we can play”, said Sharks captain Joe Pavelski. “We know it’s going to get challenging going to San Jose”. “But we have to find a way to create some more five-on-five offence”.
Instead, Pittsburgh is playing a swarming defensive game, blocking shots and otherwise protecting Murray so well that the big shooters on San Jose – notably Joe Thornton, Joe Pavelski and Couture – have been frustrated at every turn.
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The team that has won the second game of the seven-game series has ended up hoisting the Cup almost 74 percent of the time since 1939, when the Final expanded to the current format, and in nine of the past 13 Game 2s.
