VIDEO: Sharks Shock In Game 5, Keep Penguins From Winning Old Stanley

By Jameson Bradley

If you would have told me the outcome to Game 5 on Thursday morning, I wouldn’t have believed it. Everything that has happened in this series has pointed to the Penguins taking this in 5 games. But for the Sharks to win Game 5? They had to clean up their act. And there had to be some type of miracle. Both things happened Thursday night as the Sharks stunned the entire city of Pittsburgh by keeping the Penguins from the sacred grail.

1st Period

Hold on to your hats for this one. After a pretty soft chip in by the Sharks one minute into the game Brent Burns went below the hash marks and got the puck. He wheeled around the net, and almost in the exact same fashion as the overtime winner in Game 3 he scored. One minute in. About two minutes later a great keep in led to a point shot by Justin Braun. On it’s way to the net the puck would be tipped by Logan Couture for his 9th goal of the playoffs, but 28th point. 2-0 Sharks. Amazing right? It gets better. About 3 minutes later the Penguins went on the PP.  Phil Kessel gave Evgeni Malkin a great cross ice pass. Malkin delayed, and banked the puck off Sharks defenseman Justin Braun to make it a one goal game. Twenty two seconds later the Sharks had a horrible turnover. Nick Bonino was there to cash in. He gave it a shot, and it went off Carl Hagelin to make it a tie game. That’s right. Five minutes into the game it was already 2-2. With 5 minutes left in the period the Sharks would give a point shot which led to a pass in front to Melker Karlsson  He would shoot a flimsy, weird, and weak shot on goal which would find its way to the back of the net and give him his 5th of the playoffs.  Shark lead 3-2 at the end of the first.

2nd Period

You got the feeling that the game wasn’t going to end with the score being 3-2.  The shot advantage in the first period was 15-7 in favor of Pittsburgh, and 17-8 in favor of them again in the 2nd. But the score would stay the same after some truly incredible play by Martin Jones. When a goalie has their night, they have their night. He seemed to read the puck before anything would even happened. The Penguins couldn’t find anything past him, and the period would end like it started.

3rd Period

Not much to say here.  Shots again would be in favor of the Penguins 14-7 but they would get nothing of it. Martin Jones continued to stone player after player. The Penguins really controlled both periods after the first. The Sharks had trouble getting things going. There were a few key saves by Matt Murray, especially one big on in the third. But other than that it was all Pittsburgh. Joe Pavelski would eventually get an empty net goal and end his goal drought at 4 games. That would be his 14th of the playoffs. Sharks would win the game 4-2.

Conclusion/Analysis

I really don’t know how the Sharks are doing it. The shot advantage was 46-22 tonight in favor of Pittsburgh. Without Martin Jones that game would have been easily 6-3. He was on his game and the Sharks have him to thank for a trip back to San Jose. I wouldn’t count the chickens just yet. Pittsburgh will be playing better than ever in Game 6. They have won the Cup on enemy territory before, and I will look to them to respond with brute force. It looks like Malkin has finally awoken from his slumber and that is something to be afraid of. Murray was obviously not on his gam, and given his age and the fact that his is still a rookie it is understandable. Should Pittsburgh put their veteran in back up Fleury in the next game? Who knows. This was the first game and first time ever that San Jose had a lead over the Penguins.  If they look to extend the series to 7 games they need to do the same thing. Strike fast. Strike quick. Strike first.

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