Early nerves got the better of the Pittsburgh Penguins, who had a chance to win the Stanley Cup at home.
Advertisement
The Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the San Jose Sharks 3-1 in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final and won the series, 4-2. In a series that has featured three straight one-goal games all decided either in the final three minutes of regulation or overtime, some of the lesser-known players have delivered the goals.
After scoring the first two goals by 2:53 of the first period, the Penguins went on to out-shoot San Jose 44 to 20, but Martin Jones was simply too much. Pittsburgh is hoping that goalie Martin Jones put on a performance that can not be repeated in Game 6.
DeBoer believes any doubts about the Sharks character have been put to rest this spring, though his team will need a historic comeback and every bit of resiliency and perseverance to rally for the Stanley Cup.
Pittsburgh owner Mario Lemieux pointed to general manager Jim Rutherford and a series of moves made during the season – including acquiring Phil Kessel from Toronto – as the reason the Penguins won it all. The team’s fans will either see the greatest victory in franchise history or they will see Pittsburgh’s players skating with the Cup and celebrating.
First Period-1, Pittsburgh, Dumoulin 2 (Schultz, Kunitz) 8:16 (pp). Both 5-on-5 and power play.
From October until the end of December on their first game back after a road trip of two or more games, the Sharks were 0-5.
The Sharks on Saturday went through what was likely their last practice at Sharks Ice this season. “Nothing’s going to be handed to you, we learned that in the Nashville series, we nearly expected they were going to roll over and we eventually had to earn the win in Game 7”, Dillon said.
With Jones playing the role of hero, San Jose was given a stay of execution in the late stages of the second period, and most of the third.
Pavelski said: “It’s just about being ready to execute on that first one”.
Karlsson had the game-winning goal and an assist in Game 5 and Couture had a goal and two assists.
The Sharks came out with more urgency in the second and fired four shots at the Penguins goal in the opening three minutes.
The underlying message was that he wanted the series called tightly, due to the Sharks’ lethal power play, which finished third in the regular season and was even better through the first two rounds.
“I’ve never been through a run like this so everyday is a new learning experience and everyday you go through things that you’ve never gone through before, especially at my age, I haven’t really done this a whole lot”, said Murray. Seven years ago, Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Co. beat the Detroit Red Wings in Game 7. All that was left was for Crosby to accept the Conn Smythe trophy as playoff MVP and then the Stanley Cup.
“We felt bad after the last game”, winger Patric Hornqvist said Saturday after practice in SAP Center. Even a few shifts with Malkin couldn’t generate many chances for Pittsburgh.
Two years after becoming the fourth National Hockey League team ever to lose a best-of-seven series after winning the first three games, San Jose is trying to pull off a historic comeback of its own in the Stanley Cup Finals.
“We knew we were going to have to bring our best”, Sullivan said. Jones basically stole Game 5.
Despite being outplayed for much of the series – including in Game 5, in which Pittsburgh outshot San Jose 46-21 – the Sharks know the pressure on the Penguins will only increase of they can win at home to force the winner-take-all seventh game in Pittsburgh on Wednesday.
Advertisement
Coach Peter DeBoer said the Sharks will be without forward Tomas Hertl for the fourth consecutive game.
