Goalie Jones has Anaheim behind the 8-puck
There were three moments in the opening period of Game 1 that might have altered this so-far onesided Sharks-Ducks Stanley Cup playoff series had they gone the other way.
An Anaheim point-blank shot was denied following a horrendous giveaway, a bounce off the end boards got mixed up in skates but didn’t cross the goal line and, finally, a Ducks drive rang off the goal post.
The common thread in thwarting all three efforts was San Jose goalie Martin Jones. If one, two or all three had found the back of the net, perhaps the Sharks wouldn’t be in a position to close out Anaheim in Wednesday’s Game 4 at SAP Center.
“It’s not just the saves, it’s the timing of the saves,” Sharks head coach Peter DeBoer said. “Saves at the key times or saves at the right
time of games.”
Certainly, Jones’ timing in this best-of-seven, first-round series has been impeccable.
Beyond San Jose’s balanced scoring (eight players scored a goal in Monday’s 8-1 Game 3 romp), Anaheim’s penchant for marching to the box and the Sharks’ ability to make the Ducks pay for liberties taken, the fact Jones has built a wall around his 4-by-6 net is perhaps the most important reason his team can taste the second round.
“You know you’re going to face a little adversity, you’re going to be in your own end at times. You need some saves,” captain Joe Pavelski said. “He’s always been there. As a team, playing in front of a goalie like that gives you a lot of confidence.”
Jones already had the reputation as a money goalie in the postseason with his .925 career save percentage in 30 games — not the largest sample size, but one has to start somewhere. Now, after allowing three goals on 104 shots in the series, Jones has improved that figure to .934 and lowered his goals-against average to 1.85.
And then there’s the timing. While nursing a 3-2 lead after two periods in Saturday’s Game 2, Jones turned aside all 11 of Anaheim’s third-period shots. In Monday’s second period — as the Sharks’ offense blitzed the Ducks with four goals to go up 5-1 — Jones stopped all 19 shots en route to 45 saves, a club playoff record for a regulation game.
“He’s been playing so calm and nothing fazes him,” forward Logan Couture said. “It seems like he’s been that way since he got here. He’s just a great goaltender that no one talks about.”
“Nothing really rattles him,” Pavelski echoed. “This time of the season, that goes such a long ways.”
The Sharks are looking for one more lock-down performance from Jones to close out the higher-seeded team. And they’re hoping that comes sooner rather than later.
“This is exactly where we want to be with this opportunity, and we’re playing good hockey,” Pavelski said. “We understand this next game is always the hardest to get. They’re not going to give us anything so we’ve got to be ready.”
“Even though travel is short to Anaheim, you don’t want to get back on the plane,” Couture added. “We know it’s going to be loud, we know it’s going to be energized, so we want to put on a good show for our fans.”