Sharks beat Blues in St. Louis 6-3 and take 3-2 series lead

Sharks 6, Blues 3

Joe Pavelski scored two goals, including the go-ahead score in the opening minute of the third period, and San Jose beat St. Louis o take a 3-2 lead in the Western Conference final on Monday night. Joel Ward also scored twice including one of two empty-netters in the final minute for San Jose, which can close it out at home on Wednesday night. The Sharks have never reached the Stanley Cup Final. Joe Thornton had three assists for the Sharks. Pavelski leads the playoffs with 12 goals and has three two-goal games, one in each series. The Sharks' captain added an assist and is tied with teammate Logan Couture for the postseason points lead, each with a franchise-record 21 points. Rookie Robby Fabbri scored and David Backes had an assist for St. Louis. Both were questionable coming off injuries in Game 4. The Blues are just 4-6 at home in the postseason, and failed to hold leads of 2-1 and 3-2 in Game 5. They're 6-3 on the road. The Sharks were 2 for 3 on the power play in the win. Troy Brouwer batted in a rebound from midair for St. Louis and Ward also scored a similar goal for San Jose with his first of the game. Brouwer leads St. Louis with eight goals in 19 games this postseason after totaling seven in his first 78 playoff games. Pavelski was left alone in the slot on a power play at 18:33 of the second and beat Jake Allen to tie it at 3-3. He redirected Brent Burns' drive from the point 16 seconds into the third to put the Sharks in front to stay. San Jose goalie Martin Jones allowed three goals on the Blues' first 13 shots, but stopped all seven shots in the third. The Sharks scored first on Marc-Edouard Vlasic's first goal of the postseason from the point at 3:51 of the first period. Jaden Schwartz snapped a 13-game goal drought to tie it on a rebound at 7:04 of the first.

Late Sunday Lightning 4, Penguins 3

Tyler Johnson turned toward the net, wary of taking another shot to his already battered face. The puck off Jason Garrison's stick found him anyway, and this time he didn't even feel it. He was too busy celebrating lifting Tampa Bay to within one win away from a return trip to the Stanley Cup Finals. Garrison's wrister smacked off Johnson's back and into the Pittsburgh Penguins net 53 seconds into overtime, giving the Lightning a victory and a 3-2 lead in the best-ofseven series. A year after falling to the Chicago Blackhawks in the Cup finals, Tampa Bay can head back to the championship round with a win in Game 6 at home on Tuesday. "I was just battling in front," Johnson said. "I saw Garry starting to shoot it, thought he was going for my head again, so I turned around." Just in time for his seventh — and most important — goal of the playoffs. The Lightning are 12-1 in the last 13 postseason games in which Johnson has scored, his fortunate bounce Sunday coming two days after he received stitches and lost some teeth after a puck smashed into his face during warmups before Game 4. He didn't miss a shift that night. He didn't miss the net in overtime 48 hours later, even if he wasn't technically aiming for it. "He's a winner, that's what winners do," Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said of Johnson. "They don't back down." Even on the road. Even down a pair of goals. Even trailing by one heading into the third period against a team that began the night 46-0 on the season when leading after two. Yet Tampa Bay survived by consistently and expertly counterpunching every time the Penguins provided an opportunity. Nikita Kucherov scored twice to boost his postseason total to an NHLbest 11 — including a wraparound that beat Marc-Andre Fleury and tied it at 3 with just 3:16 left in regulation. Alex Killorn picked up his fifth of the playoffs as the Lightning handed the Penguins consecutive losses for the first time since January. Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 31 shots to outplay Fleury, who returned to the lineup for the first time in more than seven weeks. Fleury finished with 21 saves, but couldn't protect leads of 2-0 and 3-2. "It wasn't the best I have felt in a game," Fleury said. "Still, I have been practicing a lot, so I should have been better." Brian Dumoulin, Chris Kunitz and Patric Hornqvist scored for the Penguins, who appeared to be in firm control at certain points only to find themselves on the brink of elimination. "This is the first time we've been in this position," coach Mike Sullivan said. "I know our guys will respond the right way. They have for four months, five months now." If the Penguins want to play at least one more game in Pittsburgh this season, they don't really have a choice. While the Penguins have peppered Vasilevskiy for the better part of five games, the Lightning keep finding ways to create quality chances around the Pittsburgh net, though Garrison's flick toward Johnson might not exactly qualify. "No shot's a bad shot in overtime," Garrison said with a laugh.