“I think that’s been our mindset since Christmas”, said veteran winger Patrick Hornqvist. But they are trade-deadline acquisitions the Sharks needed for added depth.
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It sounded so simple. “We need to be better in their end offensively creating scoring chances”. “To have the game go the way it did, and they tied it up late, it could go either way”.
For most of Game 2, it was more of the same.
But the Sharks will not get a win the next time out just because they are returning home or because it’s their time to win an overtime game.
Beyond the stats is the eye test. The Sharks lost two close games on the road to an extremely good hockey team. They have earned the all important two victories on home ice and you could argue that they have controlled the flow of gameplay for much of the series so far. We’re giving them chances, and you can’t give a skill team like that a lot of chances.
In the process, Kessel continues to make a strong bid for the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player of the postseason. With their size and skill, especially up front, they were supposed to lay a pounding on the Penguins’ undersized and relatively no-name defence. The strategy is working for Pittsburgh and it has to be salt in the wound for the Sharks that the line who wasn’t driving play for Pittsburgh also scored. “But we try not to look at ourselves as rookies”.
Speed trumps size every day and Pittsburgh’s defence has been lightning quick in transitioning from defence to offence. The Penguins faced a similar situation after icing the puck.
“It’s been tough”, said Braun. “Coaches will go through it tomorrow and we’ll figure it out”.
Still, it was another one-goal loss. The puck hit the upper right corner of the net before Jones could react.
Heading into the Stanley Cup final, the Sharks appeared to have a clear matchup advantage over the Pittsburgh Penguins on the blue line with two members of Team Canada’s World Cup squad and three-time U.S. Olympian Paul Martin in their defensive corps. But the Sharks have been letting him off easy.
They endured almost 12 minutes between shots in one unproductive second-period stretch as the Penguins frustrated them with blocked shots and a strong forecheck. “Tonight was overtime. I think we’ll hold off on the funeral”, said Sharks coach Pete DeBoer.
The Sharks might have exorcised some of the demons from their past by making it this far. This once offensive-force is now an offensive-defensive force leading all defense in the National Hockey League in points. Game 3 won’t be until Saturday.
Jones never saw the puck, and the game was over.
Kessel was the only Penguin to beat Jones in regulation. “We hadn’t really done that before”, Sheary said. “We’ve got to forget these two and move forward”. He went out for one more shift after the hit before leaving the game for good.
It was rookie Conor Sheary that pulled the trigger on the victor, giving him two goals in two career Stanley Cup Final games. It was his fourth – and easily his biggest – goal of the post-season.
At this point in the season, you have to ask yourself: is he truly becoming a superstar with this year’s performance?
Rust has turned into a pivotal player for the Penguins during their march to their first Stanley Cup finals appearance since 2009. Dillon was picked free by the Penguins Carl Hagelin, who found teammate Nick Bonino, his passing attempt effortlessly guided in by Kessel.
Now, the Sharks find themselves in an unfamiliar position – trailing by two games in a series for the first time in the playoffs. But it was hard to execute.
We keep waiting for these goalies to show their age and experience. But it’s immensely disappointing to see a fan base that seemed to remember why it fell in love with these guys to begin with turn on them at the first sign of trouble. Murray would cap his night stopping 21 of 22 shots.
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Dealt by Toronto to Pittsburgh 11 months ago, Kessel leads the Penguins in playoff scoring with 10 goals and nine assists for 19 points, But a legitimate argument could be made that the Conn Smythe should go to the entire HBK Line, which easily has been the Penguins best in this Stanley Cup tournament and has now combined for 50 points in these playoffs.
