Joe Thornton now has 11 points in 12 playoff games after generating exactly a point-per-game in 82 regular season contests.
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“Hat’s off to the Nashville team and the coaches”, DeBoer said. “They got off to a good start and we were unable to match it”. After blowing an early 2-0 lead and late 3-2 lead to the Predators in Game 6 before losing in overtime, the Sharks responded with their most complete performance of the playoffs in Game 7.
Three of the Sharks big five worked together to score the opening goal on the power play midway through the first period. The goal came via the power play after Mattias Ekholm was called for cross checking after the final whistle of the second period.
But as these two teams have proven with their impressive playoff runs and blowout Game 7 victories, history should hardly matter here. The Sharks defeated the Blues 3-1 on February 4 and 6-3 on February 22 (both in St. Louis), while the Blues defeated their opponent, 1-0, in their most recent meeting on March 22 in San Jose.
The first period ended with the Sharks out shooting the Predators 17-3. “I’m just glad we came on the good side tonight”. In a game with a story line for failure primed to go, the Sharks had none of it. Déjà vu got the night off. “That’s what we did”.
By the end of the second period the shots were 23-8, as Nashville’s unravelling continued after the buzzer with a Mattias Ekholm cross-checking penalty.
Once considered one of the NHL’s premier defensemen, Shea Weber had a disgusting night on defense.
NOTES: Josi and Weber were on the ice for all five San Jose goals…. Nashville Predators goalie Pekka Rinne, right, sits on the bench after being pulled, next to teammates Barret Jackman (5) and Roman Josi (59) during the third period of Game 7 in an NHL hockey Stanley Cup Western Confere… Predators coach Peter Laviolette is 5-1 in Game 7s….
“You can’t understand how traumatic that injury was”, De Boer said of the fibula. Getting him back, now he’s fresh obviously, he’s getting back to 100 percent. “I don’t think any of the young players on San Jose care about what happened five, six years ago for them and I know Troy Brouwer and (Kyle) Brodziak and these guys don’t care what happened here two years ago or in ’01-02”.
After Marleau’s goal, Rinne smashed his stick against the goal post and threw it in the corner, providing the ideal illustration to the Predators frustration.
There were tons of positives for the Nashville Predators this season. San Jose won the most road games in the National Hockey League this season and all three in Los Angeles in the first round.
After countless stressful games, the Sharks took game seven by the horns.
Jason Day had a two-shot lead after tying the course record with a 9-under 63 in the first round of The Players Championship. He only faced eight shots in the first 40 minutes.
“You’re excited to play these games, you can’t wait for it to get going”, said Sharks captain Joe Pavelski.
“Tonight, we did a great job”. They had just finished up a power play and were still in aggressive mode.
Couture carries the Sharks past Nashville; Thornton, Marleau, Vlasic, Jones and more in Scott Cullen’s Statistically Speaking.
There they travel to face the St. Louis Blues in Game 1 Sunday for a chance to go the Stanley Cup final, while in the East, the Pittsburgh Penguins will host the Tampa Bay Lightning on Friday in game 1 of their best of seven series.
“The core guys here are great”.
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“It’s that time of year”, DeBoer said. “They’re not the problem”.
