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Three OT wins help propel Sharks over the Kings and on to round two |
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The Sharks have advanced to the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs with a dramatic overtime 4-3 win at the Staples center in LA. Hockey fans know where to watch reality TV and when the best time of year it is to watch it. The playoffs are here and if you are a fan of drama the Sharks were in the middle of it throughout the entire series.
Three overtime wins and one in regulation is the story of the first round series against the LA Kings. The extra time it took in the overtime games is a testament to how well the Kings battled San Jose and they deserve a lot of credit for making this series closer than many people thought it would be. Winning in the extra frame has to give San Jose a great deal of confidence going forward. Knowing that your team has the ability to score clutch goals is a powerful weapon in the playoffs.
The Kings gave the Sharks everything they could handle in game six. Each time San Jose took a lead LA came back to tie the contest stealing the momentum away. It was an emotional roller coaster and the Sharks were never able to settle down into a rhythm with the lead. Even with the Kings top scorer Anze Kopitar out with an ankle injury, they fought back by manufacturing blue collar goals.
The Kings netted two of their three goals with the man advantage but came up short when their best opportunity knocked. With 3:23 left in the game the Kings were the benefactors of a bad call by the officials on Sharks forward Jamie McGinn. McGinn received a five minute major penalty and a game misconduct for boarding. The penalty kill for San Jose went 2-4 tonight and was put to the test with the game on the line. The Sharks PK has been good the last two games but throughout the series, and tonight was the team’s Achilles heel. The Sharks finished the game and started the overtime period a man short and gained momentum from the kill. With two power play goals already scored by LA in the game they had to feel good about their chances with the major.
Less than a minute after the penalty finished captain Joe Thornton scored his first playoff overtime goal for the win. In the post-game interviews Joe had a tough time containing his smile when he was asked how it felt to score the game winner “It felt great. To go down with a five minute penalty, to kill that off was good, once we killed that off we thought we have a good chance here, we’ll get the momentum after killing that and we did and ended up winning the series off that.”
It was good to see the St. Thomas Ontario, Canada native show some emotion. After winning a tough series like that most of the players showed more emotion than we are accustomed seeing during interviews.
The game winning goal was the result of a broken play and was a good bounce for San Jose. Setoguchi’s pass attempt to Marleau streaking to the net went off a pair of skates and Patty’s stick before it bounced to Thornton in the slot with Kings net minder Jonathan Quick out of position leaving Jumbo an open cage to shoot at. Joe’s celebration was not quite Theo Fleury like from 1989 but he did do the long slide through the neutral zone before he was mobbed by his teammates.
All three of the Kings goals came off of rebounds. The Kings were firing from everywhere and beating the Sharks to the loose pucks. Niemi got the start tonight and the win but didn’t play his best hockey. His rebound control was poor in the beginning of the game, but steadily improved as the game went on. The Sharks starter has not played up to the same level he did down the stretch, but came up big while killing the major penalty. The bottom line is he played well enough to win but will have to be better in the next round against Detroit or Chicago depending on who wins in Vancouver tomorrow night. Both potential opponents have more firepower than the Kings showed in this series.
Contenders
Joe Thornton – gets the first nod for scoring the biggest goal of his career, but also for ruling the face-off circle at 71%. Joe was responsible on the defensive side of the puck and as I mentioned earlier in the series has his mojo going earlier than he did in the 2010 playoffs. Thornton finished the night with a goal and an assist.
Kyle Wellwood – was great tonight after a poor outing in game five. He finally did what Sharks fans have been pleading for him to do when he gets the puck in the slot. SHOOT is the chant you can hear at the Shark Tank when he has the puck. Tonight Wellwood shot, but hesitated just enough and fooled the Kings goalie Jonathan Quick with a high glove side goal. Wellwood was one of two Sharks to finish the game at plus – 2.
Jason Demers – was the other Shark to finish at plus – 2 and he also scored a goal. The skilled defenseman took a broken pass from Pavelski and buried in the top shelf where the premiums are kept. His offensive breakout, along with Ian White have taken some pressure and attention away from Dan Boyle which will benefit this team down the line.
Pretenders
Terry Murray – is the head coach for the LA Kings and didn’t join the line with his team for the traditional post series hand shake. That is uncharacteristic of Murray to pull a classless move like that. I would like to think has a good reason for breaking a hockey tradition, but until we hear otherwise he is the night’s first pretender.
Scott Nichol – threw his weight around tonight but we need him to return to form in the face-off circle. Nichol isn’t a goal scorer or an enforcer, he wins big draws in the defensive zone and kills penalties and tonight he didn’t do much of either. He finished the game winning one draw which makes me wonder if he has aggravated his upper body injury that kept him out of the line-up during the final stretch of the regular season.
The officials – blew it on the McGinn call and if the Sharks had lost the game as a result of that five minute power play that is all we would be talking about. The call was a charge but on the replay you could see that McGinn coasted into the hit. He also kept his elbows, shoulders, and fists in tight to the body. The play looked worse than it was because the Kings Brad Richardson tried to avoid the hit by ducking. He did leave his feet but not until after contact was made. The referees also missed a high stick on Thornton in the first period.
Worth Noting
When Coach Todd McLellan was asked about the McGinn hit he said “Let’s move on to the next series.”
This series was the first time since 1995 against Calgary that San Jose won three games on the road and won the series.
Not since the 1992 Pittsburgh Penguins has a team gone seven games in the first round and won the Cup. Finishing early and resting the body is important this time of year.
The last time LA lost three overtime games in a series was the 1993 Cup final against the Montreal Canadians.
The road team won again. Home ice has not been friendly to many teams this spring and with tonight’s victory that streak continues.
San Jose Sharks Blogger • 
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