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Sheary beats Sharks in
OT
San Jose limps home down 0-2 in the
series
The Sharks first foray into the Stanley Cup Finals
is turning into a public flogging. San was dominated in Game 2, and by some
grace of the hockey gods they managed to get the game to overtime, where they
would fall 2-1. Rookie Conor Sheary snapped a shot past a screened Martin Jones
2:35 into overtime to hand the Pittsburgh Penguins a 2-0 lead in the best-of-7
series. San Jose spent the majority of the night scrambling in their own zone,
defending against a superior Penguins lineup that owned them.
If not
for Jones, this game would have been a blood bath. Jones was by far the best
Shark on the ice, but he didn't get the offensive support necessary to win this
game. The Sharks netminder was thrown to the wolves for a second straight game,
but he kept hi team in the game.
Pittsburgh threw 23 shots at Jones
through the first 40 minutes, but that stat didn't tell the whole story. The
puck never seemed to leave the Sharks zone, as the Sharks were constantly on
their heels.
Like Game 1, the Penguins controlled the opening 20
minutes, dictating things with their speed. The Sharks struggled to mount any
form of offense because they seemingly spent the majority of the period hemmed
into their own zone.
The difference however was that the Sharks kept
things simple defensively, preventing any worthwhile scoring chances by the
Penguins, and Jones made the saves when he needed to. Pittsburgh out-shot San
Jose 11-6 in the period, but they didn't have any sustained chances.
Chris Kunitz came closest to scoring for either team 9:20 into the game when he
rang a shot off the cross bar after snapping a wrist shot from the slot.
Paul Martin setup the game's first power play when he lofted a puck
over the glass for a delay of game penalty at 12:09. As was the case in Game 1,
the Sharks penalty killers kept the Consol Energy Center crowd muffled by
keeping the puck away from Jones.
San Jose didn't apply any real
pressure in the offensive zone until the 15 minute mark of the period, when
they worked a couple of sustained drives in the Penguins zone. The period would
end deadlocked in a scoreless tie.
Shoddy puck possession would
eventually catch up to San Jose. Roman Polak's half-hearted pass in front of
his own net, led to a turnover, but Pittsburgh quickly returned teh favor.
Brendan Dillon grabbed the Penguins turnover and tried to skate up the left
wing, but Karl Hagelin stripped him of the puck and sent it to Nick Bonino on
the left side. Bonino pushed a limp-wristed shot that Polak then deflected
toward his own net after he fell face first to the ice. Phil Kessel tapped home
the deflection to put the Penguins up 1-0.
Defenseman Paul Martin was
called for a high stick 30 seconds later to back the Sharks right back up. The
one bright spot for San Jose has been their penalty kill, which diffused the
situation by stopping a 4th consecutive Penguins power play.
Ian Cole
was called for interference at the end of the 2nd period, but San Jose whiffed
on their lone man advantage of the night.
DeBoer shuffled his lines to start the 3rd period,
moving Patrick Marleau down to center the 3rd line, and shuffling Joel Ward up
to the 2nd line to play along side Logan Couture and Joonas Donskoi. The move
seemed to spark the Sharks.
Chris Tierney had a partial breakaway 4
minutes into the period, but his shot clanked off the crossbar.
Kessel
countered with his own post shot midway through the period, bouncing a scoring
chance off the left pipe.
Justin Braun was the Sharks savior late in
the period when his shot from the right point weaved through traffic and beat
Matt Murray for his 1st goal of the playoffs. San Jose created a web of traffic
in front of the Penguins goaltender, who held a glove up but never seemed to
track it.
San Jose made another push late but they simply ran out of
time.
The overtime came down to two events. The Sharks opened the
extra session by firing with both pistols. They were finally the aggressor,
throwing a pair of quality scoring chances at Murray.
Mike Sullivan
was forced to burn his timeout 1:45 into overtime after the Sharks sustained
pressure in the Penguins zone forced an icing. That may have been the most
crucial coaching decision of the game.
The Penguins won the ensuing
faceoff and cleared the puck, pushing it into the Sharks zone. Largely quiet
all night, Penguins captain won the final faceoff of the game, pulling the puck
back to Kris Letang on the left point.
Letang faked a shot then slid
the puck to Sheary in the high slot. Patric Hornqvist backed into the area at
the top of the Sharks crease as Braun tried to step out to block Sheary's shot.
Both players ended up providing the perfect screen in front of Jones, who never
saw the shot. Sheary's shot whipped past Jones to the glove side and the
Penguins accomplished their goal of taking both games on home ice.
Game Notes:
* The Sharks made a lineup change by inserting Matt
Nieto in favor of Dainius Zubrus. The move was intended to leverage Nieto's
speed, but the forward was a non-factor all night. The winger returned after
missing most of the playoffs with an upper body injury.
* San Jose
continues to fail miserably in the faceoff circle. The Sharks lost 55% of the
draws in Game 2. None were bigger than the last draw of the game. Joe Pavelski
won a paltry 6 of 16 draws (38%).
* Pavelski was also AWOL from an
offensive perspective. After tearing up the first three rounds, Pavelski and
Logan Couture combined for 2 shots in the game.
* Joel Ward and Tomas
Hertl led all Sharks forwards with shots on goal each. Brent Burns led all
Sharks skaters with 4 shots on goal.
* Sidney Crosby was held to 1
shot on goal, but he killed the Sharks in the faceoff circle, winning 17 of 24
draws (71%), including the faceoff that led to the game winning goal.
* San Jose is now 0-4 in overtime during the playoffs.
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Feeder Forums |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
OT |
T |
| SJ |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
| PIT |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
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| 2nd period - 1, PIT,
Kessel 10 (Bonino, Hagelin), 8:20. |
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| 3rd period - 2, SJ,
Braun 1 (Couture, Ward), 15:55. |
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| Overtime - 3, PIT,
Sheary 4 (Letang, Crosby), 2:35. |
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| 1st period - Martin, SJ
(delay of game - puck over glass), 12:09. |
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| 2nd period - Martin, SJ
(high sticking), 8:50; Cole, PIT (interference), 18:49. |
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Shots |
Saves |
| SJ - Jones |
30 |
28 |
| PIT - Murray |
22 |
21 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
OT |
T |
| SJ |
6 |
5 |
9 |
2 |
22 |
| PIT |
11 |
12 |
6 |
1 |
30 |
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| Referees: McCauley,
Sutherland. Linesmen: Racicot, Murphy. |
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