Their personality as a freewheeling juggernaut has been absent for much of the Stanley Cup Final, and if they don’t rediscover it promptly, the Penguins will be celebrating their fourth Stanley Cup – and first won on home ice – Thursday night.
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For several members of the Sharks, losing a three-games-to-one lead in a playoff series is not a foreign feeling. Now, though, the coach is freely referencing that series to serve as a reminder to his team that overcoming a 3-1 hole is not unreasonable. “I know he’s going to be a big part of the next few games here. We’ve been on the other end of that in the playoffs where we’ve jumped out to the lead on some teams and made them change their game”.
Pavelski’s shots and shot attempts are down in general, but the biggest drops have been in his scoring chances and deflections. Now, we go back home and try to win one in front of our fans.
“The Flower” – who had been sidelined by a concussion since March 31, while Murray helped guide the team through the playoffs – was given that chance by Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan. The Sharks outshot the Penguins 24-20 in Game 4, snapping Pittsburgh’s 12-game streak of outshooting its opponents… “That’s something that we have to get fixed”. “I think they believe in our team”.
Brent Burns hasn’t had a point since a two-assist Game 1. “Being one game away is something pretty special”.
The Sharks also had an extra day between games 2 and 3 of the Cup final against the Penguins and responded with a 2-1 overtime win. The same year the Sharks were doing their thing in 2014, Pittsburgh surrendered a 3-1 lead to the Rangers in the second round. “So at this particular point in the season … we don’t have the luxury … of allowing players to play through things”, Sullivan told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette before Game 6. All of their players are playing at a high level, their goalie is pulling out remarkable stats, and their rookies are giving them a boost. “We’ve got to find a way here”.
The Sharks would like nothing more than to ruin the party, but Joel Ward indicated they’re approaching it like just another game.
“You’re human. You’ve got to think about it”, said defenseman Brian Dumolin. “It hasn’t happened yet”, Couture said.
The 22 year old from Thunder Bay, Ontario has been the Penguins No. 1 goalie during the 2016 postseason over the injured Marc-Andre Fleury, who was selected first overall by Penguins in 2003.
Jones made two saves on the Penguins’ power play, including one on superstar Evgeni Malkin, to keep San Jose’s deficit at one goal. It’s going to be hard for them to close us out and it’s going to be hard for us to show up here and win a game in this environment.
“There is no magic answer”, DeBoer said. I think our support group has to take a little bit of pressure off them.
Defense was supposed to be the Penguins weakness and it was for large portions of the regular season, but the group as a whole put it together at the flawless time for a lengthy run through the playoffs.
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