San Jose Sharks’ Logan Couture (39) celebrates his goal against the Pittsburgh Penguins with teammates during the first period in Game 5 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals on Thursday, June 9, 2016, in Pittsburgh. Though it was short-lived – Pittsburgh tied the game less than five minutes later – Melker Karlsson gave San Jose a 3-2 lead at 14:47.
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That had previously not been the case for the Sharks, who headed into Game 5 with Couture, Joe Thornton, Joe Pavelski and Brent Burns searching for their first goal. Logan Couture made it 2-0 just over a minute later.
Encouraged passionately by a boisterous home crowd, the Penguins cut the lead to one when Evgeni Malkin flung a shot off the skate of Sharks defenceman Justin Braun – the power-play goal being the second in as many games for Malkin.
Needing desperately to score first, San Jose required all of 64 seconds. Then the Penguins added to the frenzy of the first period with their own tying two-goal barrage, which came from their seventh and eighth shot attempts.
The goal came courtesy of defenseman Brent Burns, who’d corralled the puck behind Pittsburgh’s net and sneaked it between the post and goalie Matt Murray, who got caught cheating to the far side anticipating a pass. The Penguins came out in the second and third period with wave after wave of attack, but Jones kept his composure and stopped everything in sight.
The previous high in that span and in that situation was Henrik Lundqvist, who had 40 for the New York Rangers in Game 4 of the 2014 finals against the Los Angeles Kings. Burns’ goal also ended the Penguins streak of not trailing in a game at 436 minutes and 50 seconds. With three goals allowed on seven shots in the first period, the young netminder did a nice job of recovering, but enough damage was already done. Some 10 seconds later, Pittsburgh’s Phil Kessel had a shot from near the same spot deflect off both posts. Jones was superb, stopping 17 shots. “I was a little bit jittery, a little bit nervous to start the game, but I really settled in after that and I thought I played really well the last two periods”. “Sometimes you think you deserve to win, sometimes you think you shouldn’t, but it’s all about who scores more goals”.
Jones now has a.932 save percentage through five games in the Stanley Cup Final and a.922 mark in the playoffs. It’s quite possible, considering all the hype for the Penguins finally being able to clinch a Stanley Cup on home ice. Martin Jones made 44 saves, facing an incredible onslaught from the Penguins in a game that was essentially decided in the first period. Rookie Connor Sheary is the only Pittsburgh player with two goals in the first four games of this series.
Sharks assistant Bob Boughner reminded the group of the time his Windsor Spitfires rallied from a 3-0 deficit in the Ontario Hockey League playoffs opposite another one of the team’s assistants, then Kitchener Rangers coach Steve Spott.
Thornton had a few good chances late, especially after Couture joined him and Pavelski on San Jose’s top line. Two goals worth. For three high-octane minutes they carried play and perplexed Murray, two things they’d failed to accomplish for a sustained period of time.
Somehow, the Sharks live – but not for long without a drastic change in Game 6. They outshot San Jose 46-22, and lost.
But that was before the series began, and before the Pittsburgh Penguins showed how this series would be engaged.
PITTSBURGH – The San Jose Sharks might have been flying home for a different reason had it not been for Martin Jones Thursday night.
“I feel like there was some pucks there that beat him and didn’t go in”, Crosby said. They can thank their goalie for making sure this series rolled on.
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Jones made 44 saves in the winning effort, setting the Sharks’ franchise record for saves in a regulation game in postseason history.
