Nashville did a fantastic job of bottling up the Ducks and their top-ranked power play during the first round, however I’m not sure they will have the same success against San Jose in the second – especially after watching game one. So why does it feel like the Sharks are close to sending everybody on the beach home early?
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TIL: there might be such a thing as a feline hockey fan.
Again, the Sharks look poised and impressive in a playoff win. He won that game by himself. But Pavelski knocked the rebound in for his sixth goal of the playoffs to give the Sharks a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.
The San Jose forecheck was more about hounding the Preds’ puck-moving defensemen and forcing turnovers.
San Jose relied on the top line all season long, and Tomas Hertl and company played a great game, but the power and tenacity of the second line dominated all night long. Nashville has no faith in their fourth line or their bottom two defenders, Barrett Jackman and Anthony Bitetto.
“I expected (Nashville) to come with a little more jump”.
“I think most every team is dealing with guys that are banged up right now”, he said.
Ward set up the tying goal and then put San Jose in the lead for good with a tiebreaker with 8:11 remaining in regulation to help the Sharks rally past the Predators 5-2 on Friday night in Game 1 of their second-round series. Defensively, the San Jose Sharks are allowing 2.5 goals per game and are killing 80.5 percent of their power play chances. Ryan Johansen leads Nashville with three goals, Colin Wilson has five assists and James Neal has 29 shots on goal. They’ve never once managed to make it to the Stanley Cup Final in 25 years. The top unit of Joe Thornton, Joe Pavelski, Brent Burns, Patrick Marleau and Logan Couture has done most of the damage with Couture scoring the eventual game victor in the opener.
Conversely, even though Game 2 wasn’t a beauty, the Sharks have three straight victories at SAP Center.
Pekka Rinne is mortalNashville Predators goalie Pekka Rinne needs to have a spectacular game three if the Predators are to win this series. When the Sharks’ second power play unit came on the ice halfway through the penalty, defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic broke a stick on a shot and the pieces of shattered wood covered the ice. “We found a way”, DeBoer said. The third has been a different story. The point is that San Jose has gotten better with each period. “We were just as good as they were tonight”. This is an important mindset to be aware of.
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Tonight will mark the ninth game Nashville has played in the past 17 days. Seeing a goal go by you early while knowing that you aren’t going to see your oppnent’s best for another 20 plus minutes is a tough mental hurdle to leap. The Sharks scored twice on second chance plays around the net, and got another exceptional performance from goalie Martin Jones to win 3-2 on Sunday and retain home ice advantage in the series. “We weathered the storm as best we could”.
