Mike Fisher scored for the second and finale time during the fourth overtime period, as the Nashville Predators edged the San Jose Sharks 4-3, early Friday morning.
Advertisement
“Pekka was unbelievable”, said Mike Fisher, who scored the game victor in the third OT.
And now the Predators, who started slowly but have been the better team through most of this series, have turned it into a best of three they feel very good about.
The Golden State Warriors are heading to Portland to take on the Trail Blazers for Game 3 of the Western Conference semi-finals on Saturday.
The Sharks do video work to review faceoffs and look at their opponents tendencies, not only how a individual player takes draws but also what a team likes to do right after a faceoff.
“You see them going upstairs and looking it all over, it makes you nervous”, Rinne said.
The Sharks hadn’t played this long in the postseason since a four-overtime game in Dallas in 2008.
The downside of that necessity is that giving referees leeway can easily lead to a lack of consistency, and that’s what Sharks coach Peter DeBoer was complaining about after the game. “He kept us in the game all OT and all game long”.
Another rebound goal gave Nashville a 2-1 lead at 9:50 of the first as Fisher swatted the puck into an open net after gathering inNeal’s initial shot.
Again, this didn’t change the fact that San Jose had a couple choice chances to find the back of the net in double- and triple-overtime and wasn’t able to cash it in. The home team has won all three games in this series thus far and they have scored 5 goals or more in all three games as well.
For as long as Shark fans live, wherever they gather, there will be talk about the Joe Pavelski goal that could have won the game 7:34 into the first overtime period.
“I don’t understand, I guess incidental contact is you’re cross-checked from behind while you are in the air and you have the opportunity to stop”. Joonas Donskoi evened things up in the second before Brent Burns (power play) and James Neal traded goals in the third. “If you’re not having a great time out there playing in overtime, you’re doing the wrong thing”, said Couture, who played 32:23.
Colin Wilson and Mike Fisher also scored for Nashville, and goalie Pekka Rinne made 39 saves with the Predators trying to tie up this series at 2-2.
Nashville center Mike Ribeiro was a healthy scratch for both home games after he saw ice time in the first two in San Jose. Burns played a team-high 47:35 for the Sharks.
Advertisement
The Sharks were officially 1-for-5 on the power play, including their failed chance at the end of the second overtime, although Donskoi’s marker occurred as the penalty box door was opening for Josi. Predators center Ryan Johansen hit the far post at 5:00, while the Sharks almost scored twice before Pavelski’s disallowed goal. Forsberg clearly pushed the puck over the blue line, but Joel Ward was able to tag up before Paul Martin touched the puck in the offensive zone therefore good goal. Fisher scored into the net behind Jones and was so exhausted he nearly forgot how he scored.
