Sharks bite back to even series
SAN JOSE 4 LAS VEGAS 0 (Series tied 2-2)
SAN JOSE, California — Tomas Hertl scored his team-leading fifth goal of the playoffs, Martin Jones made 34 saves for his sixth career post-season shutout and the San Jose Sharks evened their second-round series against the Vegas Golden Knights with a 4-0 victory in Game 4 on Wednesday night.
Marcus Sorensen and Joonas Donskoi scored in the first period to allow San Jose to play from ahead and Joe Pavelski added a power-play goal in the third to help the Sharks rebound from an overtime loss at home in Game 3.
Marc-Andre Fleury made 30 saves and Vegas failed to convert on all five power-play chances to lose for the second time in eight games this post-season.
The teams have now alternated wins through four games, heading into Game 5 on Friday night in Vegas.
Each team has a shutout and an overtime win so far this series, which is now a best-of-three for a spot in the Western Conference Final.
Jones was sharp from the start, tying Evgeni Nabokov’s record for most saves in a playoff shutout in Sharks history.
He robbed Reilly Smith early in the game and delivered big saves throughout. He was helped on a delayed penalty when Brent Burns cleared a puck off the goal line and when James Neal hit the post on a power play in the first period.
But he also delivered some bigtime saves, including back-to-back stops against William Karlsson and Jonathan Marchessault on a Vegas power play in the final minute of the second period. Jones then turned aside Smith on a power play in the third.
Hertl helped give Jones a cushion with his goal early in the second. Logan Couture won an offensive zone faceoff against Erik Haula and Mikkel Boedker took the puck behind the goal for a wraparound attempt. Hertl was in front and knocked the loose puck in to make it 3-0.
Pavelski’s goal on the rebound of Couture’s shot sealed the game midway through the third.
The Sharks made some lineup changes from Game 3 with defenceman Joakim Ryan returning to the lineup for the first time since March 16 in place of Paul Martin and Donskoi getting back in after missing the previous game with a lower-body injury.
The moves paid off as the Sharks got off to the fast start coach Peter DeBoer was seeking. After an early giveaway led to a scoring chance for Vegas, Ryan fared well and stripped William Carrier of the puck to thwart a chance for the Golden Knights.
San Jose then scored twice in the final five minutes of the first period. Sorensen struck first, using a pick from linemate Eric Fehr to get loose from the corner and then skated around two defenceman to beat Fleury with his fourth goal of the playoffs.
The Sharks added to the lead with 5.1 seconds to go when Donskoi skated from his own zone and beat Fleury with a wrist shot from the high slot. BOSTON — Between the birth of his first child in Tampa Bay and Game 3 of the Eastern Conference semifinals in Boston, Yanni Gourde squeezed in what could be his last nap for a while.
The Lightning forward spent the night with his wife and newborn daughter in the hospital on the off-day and flew to Boston on Wednesday. He missed the morning skate, but was waiting for his teammates at lunch. He received quite a greeting. “It was like we scored a gamewinning goal,” coach Jon Cooper said after Ondrej Palat scored twice and Gourde assisted on Tampa Bay’s third goal in a 4-1 victory over Boston that gave the Lightning a 2-1 lead in the series.
“It’s a team that cares,” Cooper said. “We were so happy for him.”
Palat scored twice in the first 3:19 of the game, and Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 28 shots to help Tampa Bay to its second win in a row since losing the series opener at home. Game 4 is Friday night. “Boston came in and took one of our games at home, we had to take one of theirs on the road,” Cooper said. “We did that.”
After Patrice Bergeron made it a one-goal game, Anthony Cirelli scored his first career NHL playoff goal to give the Lightning a 3-1 lead late in the first. Gourde provided an assist.