With goals from five different skaters – all the big names, no less – San Jose capped a second-round playoff victory with a 5-0 Game 7 thumping to the delight of a sold-out SAP Center.
Advertisement
Rinne got the hook following Marleau’s goal to make it 5-0 with just under four minutes left in the third period.
The Sharks overwhelmed the Nashville Predators from the start, and Marleau’s goal 3:54 into the third put the finishing touches on a 5-0 win that put his team into the Western Conference finals for the first time since 2011. Game 1 will be Sunday in St. Louis.
But honestly, watching the Stars and Predators no-show for their respective Game 7s – with culpable Dallas goalie Kari Lehtonen and hung-out-to-dry but insufficient Predators goaltender Pekka Rinne chased from their respective nets – was a reminder that perhaps it’s been taken for granted just how excellent Lundqvist and the Rangers have been with their seasons on the line in the high-pressure National Hockey League playoffs. This time, after beating the Sharks in overtime of Game 6, the Predators made the long trip in vein.
Shea Weber had a terrible night. “You need all the pieces the further you get”. They’re fast, they play fast and they can light up the scoreboard in a hurry. “When we got pushed to the limit, it was nice to see how we would respond because you never know until you’re in that spot”. The Blues and Sharks have met four times in the postseason, only in the first round, and each team has won twice.
San Jose played possibly their best game of the season. A loss and the Sharks are back to square one. “We always knew we had a good team and we showed it tonight”. “I think it started this morning; led by our leadership and the veterans in our room. No, I think it was their goalie”.
Leading by three going into the final period, the Sharks took advantage of defenseman Mattias Ekholm’s cross-check of Tommy Wingels at the horn of the second period. Shea Weber fumbled a puck in his own zone, Logan Couture pounced on it and beat Pekka Rinne for the Sharks third goal. The last goal caused angry Nashville goaltender Pekka Rinne to smash his stick in half on the post behind him, then hurl the damaged lumber into the air. Rinne did not have his best season in net and he was probably their biggest question mark heading into the postseason. “I wish I hadn’t have done that”. It feels good but we understand this was a second step. But he stopped all 20 shots against him for his first career playoff shutout.
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.
“It was a tough night”, Weber said.
“It’s that time of year”, DeBoer said. “Tonight, they outplayed us”. “They were on their toes, on the forecheck, Hounding pucks”.
DAVID BACKES: The Sharks top line of Pavelski, Joe Thornton and Tomas Hertl will be quite familiar with Backes by the end of the Western Conference finals. “It feels good, but we have to keep going”. Tickets for the series go on sale Friday at noon. The fourth goal came on a 4-on-1 rush while on the power play.
“We kept coming wave after wave”. “Not just playoffs, but if you watched them throughout the year, what they’ve done: scored big goals”. Pietrangelo will be asked to contain the Sharks top two lines, and as excellent penalty killer, he’ll also be key to slowing down the team’s power play, which is converting at a 30.9 percent clip this spring.
Advertisement
“Going back to the Game 7s since I’ve been here, in the other two, we fell behind”. Nieto sustained an undisclosed injury midway through Game 6 in Nashville on Monday. Alex Ovechkin’s answer to whether the Penguins’ speed won the series was telling, praising rookie backup netminder Matt Murray: “Speed?” The Blues, though, did finish the season series with a 1-0 win on March 22 in San Jose without Alexander Steen.
