Already one of the greatest players of the last two decades, Thornton is one win away from making the first Stanley Cup Final of his tremendous, but maligned, career at age 36. One of those goals was a shorthanded goal that gave the Blues full control of the game.
Advertisement
They aren’t showing much of any emotion, in fact. And Monday night was no different.
Pavelski scored on the power play with 87 seconds left in the second period to tie the game at 3-3, before putting the Sharks ahead 16 seconds into the third.
In the three games against the Sharks, Elliott has a 2.59 GAA and an.899 save percentage, but he has come up big for the Blues with their backs against the wall in these playoffs.
But the Sharks are motivated, more motivated than they have been in franchise history. So far, at least. In order for teams to be successful a group has to buy into the message and they’ve all gone all-in on DeBoer.
But after Allen surrendered four goals on 25 shots in Game 5, Hitchcock made a decision to turn to the horse his squad has ridden throughout most of the playoffs with everything on the line in Game 6.
That’s the type of postseason Pavelski has had though.
Wednesday’s total is set at five goals. The two goalies split time during the regular season. But this is clearly his breakout performance with the entire hockey world watching.
This playoff run by St. Louis would not be as historic or as deep if it wasn’t for Elliott. Hitchcock told reporters he expects the Sharks will face Game 6 with the same game plan they used at the Tank against the Nashville Predators two weeks ago in Game 7 of that series: Aggressive pressure in all zones, working for turnovers to create scoring chances, riding the home crowd energy to build a quick lead. “They’ve been waiting for this for a long time”. He scored the game-winner in Game 7 against Nashville. After all, Ken Hitchcock’s squad did manage to withstand a feverish rally from the defending Cup champs, then ousted the NHL’s top-scoring team in the next round.
SAN JOSE (AP) – Patrick Marleau has played more than 1,500 games with the San Jose Sharks since joining the National Hockey League as an 18-year-old draft pick but never one quite like the next one. And the Blues rang a pair of shots off the post when the score was 4-3 in the third. In a game of inches, St. Louis is now facing elimination. “We went over film of the last game and we weren’t happy with the game”.
Hitchcock has hard choice to make though.
The Sharks and Blues have both utilized strong power plays to make it to this point. The initial shot was stopped by Allen but it flipped over his back and Joel Ward did his best Brouwer impression by tipping it out of mid-air into the net. With their season on the line, they have no choice. St. Louis obviously doesn’t want to be bouncing back and forth between netminders at this critical juncture, but it would be tough to have the season end with a healthy Elliott sitting on the bench.
Blanked: Hitchcock offered up a storyline to reporters who attended his off-day press conference on Tuesday: superstar Vladimir Tarasenko is batting.000 in the series because he’s swinging for the fences. After notching 40 goals and 34 assists during the regular season, then piling up another seven goals and six assists in his club’s first 14 playoffs games, the gifted 24-year old has exactly zero points over five games in this series.
Advertisement
Jones, of course, remains in net for San Jose. But alas the team who wanted it more got it and that was the Sharks.
