But the San Jose goalie managed to gather himself in time to fashion a solid third-period effort that helped the Sharks to a 6-3 win in Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals at Scottrade Center.
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The Blues twice had taken a one-goal lead only to see the Sharks tie the game with the power-play goals.
SAN JOSE, Calif. – To the St. Louis Blues, this is essentially the first of two Game 7s. And guess what? He does, to a wide open Joe Pavelski who wires a shot past Allen to tie the game with just under a minute and a half to go in the second.
Chris Tierney scored in the final minute of the third period after Joe Thornton forced a turnover, before Ward scored his second to round out the win with 33 seconds to go. He leads the National Hockey League in both points (tied at 21 with teammate Logan Couture) and goals, with 12. If the Sharks don’t win Wednesday, they have Game 7 in St. Louis looming on Friday.
However, Allen gave up four goals on 25 shots in the Blues’ 6-3 loss to the Sharks on Monday, prompting Hitchcock to switch back to Elliott. He’s represented Team USA on the worldwide stage many times, and he already had seven playoff game-winners on his resume coming into this season.
Troy Brouwer batted in a rebound from midair for St. Louis and Ward scored a similar goal for San Jose with his first of the game. “It’s up to us players to go out there and play”, forward Logan Couture said.
“This has been Brian’s playoffs”, head coach Ken Hitchcock said, referring to Elliott.
The Blues are 2-0 in elimination games these playoffs, so they’re not dead yet.
Pavelski, whose two goals gave him an NHL-best 12 for the postseason, also assisted on Marc-Edouard Vlasic’s first period goal as the Sharks took a three-games-to-two lead with Game 6 on Wednesday in San Jose. Brouwer had been scorching since his series-winning goal in Game 7 against the Chicago Blackhawks, as he had four goals in the series win over Dallas. “We all want to play well for him and I think this group has taken directions very well this year”.
That is a testament the Sharks commitment to team defense and sacrificing the body, but it also speaks volumes about Jones.
But it seems impossible, with so numerous Sharks’ best players in peak form, for the Blues to win the final two games of the series and advance to their first Stanley Cup final since 1970 without some help from their best and highest-paid (eight years, US$60 million) player.
“We needed a jolt to get back in the series and we got it”, Hitchcock said.
There were only six power play attempts in the game, with three going to each team.
None of this comes as a surprise, of course, and quite frankly I’d be lying if I said my irritation with this sort of coverage outweighs my happiness that Thornton is finally getting the love he’s gotten in the Bay Area since he was traded here.
Tarasenko, who had 40 goals in the regular season, has been held without a point for five straight games in the Western Conference finals, the longest drought he’s had since his rookie year in 2013. Marleau, the longest-serving Sharks player on the club, said in a moment of unvarnished truth that April night two years ago. We need him to just act like a worker.
While the Blues have struggled to score outside of the six-goal outburst in Game 4 in San Jose, the Sharks top line of Joe Pavelski, Joe Thornton and Tomas Hertl has been machine-like in its execution.
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Coach Peter DeBoer and the Sharks are one win away from reaching the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time in San Jose history.
