No return to Stanley Cup Final this year as San Jose bows out in the first round
SAN JOSE — The traditional handshake line at center ice was finished. Some fans at SAP Center stood and cheered. Others remained silent, staying near their seats as the Sharks remained on the ice for several more moments and saluted them for the final time this season.
A season that began with aspirations of returning to the Stanley Cup Final ended
in heartbreaking fashion Saturday at SAP Center, as the Sharks were eliminated from the playoffs with a 3-1 loss to the Edmonton Oilers in Game 6 of their openinground playoff series.
Patrick Marleau, who, along with Joe Thornton, might have been playing his final game as a member of the Sharks, scored with 7:48 to go in the third period to cut the Oilers’ lead to 2-1. But the Sharks could get no closer, even though a Joe Pavelski attempt from in close went off the crossbar and the post before it bounced out of harm’s way.
Trailing the best-ofseven series 3-2, the Sharks needed a win to send the series to a seventh and deciding game in Edmonton on Monday. Instead, the Oilers and former Sharks coach Todd McLellan now advance to face the Anaheim Ducks in the second round.
A year after the longest playoff run in franchise history, this postseason ended much sooner than most had expected.
“Everyone talked about getting to the finals the year before and how tough the next year is, and you always think you can be the team to buck that,” Sharks coach Pete DeBoer said. “It’s hard. It’s a grind. I’m not prepared to take inventory on what went wrong, but my gut feeling is we ran out of some gas here in the last month.”
Three of the six games in the series were decided by one goal. Saturday’s game was the second decided by two goals, and that’s only because Connor McDavid scored on an empty net with less than a second left in the third period.
The Sharks, who were looking to become the first team to win the Stanley Cup a season after losing in the final since Pittsburgh did it in 2009, were dealt injuries to Thornton and Logan Couture toward the end of the regular season.
“We had some guys who had heroic courage in playing in this series,” DeBoer said. “I won’t get into the details of the injuries, but there’s some men in there that I’m amazed found a way to get out on the ice.”
Of Thornton, who suffered a left knee injury April 2, DeBoer said it was “exceptional to see what he did and how he played for us.”
The Oilers struck twice just 56 seconds apart in the second period, with both goals coming on breakaways.
On the first goal, Justin Braun had a shot attempt blocked by Oilers defenseman Oscar Klefbom. The puck then came to Adam Larsson, who fed a streaking Leon Draisaitl in the neutral zone. Fighting off a check from Braun, Draisaitl got a shot off and found the five-hole on Sharks goalie Martin Jones just 54 seconds into the second period.
The Oilers made it 2-0 at the 1:50 mark of the second. With the Sharks inside the Edmonton zone, Paul Martin couldn’t handle an off-target pass from Chris Tierney back to the Oilers’ blue line. Anton Slepyshev pounced on the loose puck in the neutral zone, skated in all alone on Jones and scored low blocker side for his first point of the series.
As the second period progressed, the Sharks pushed hard to get at least one of those goals back. But goalie Cam Talbot, looking as confident as he has all series, turned aside 12 Sharks shots in the second period to keep the Oilers ahead by two goals.
The Sharks were unable to convert on their one power play chance of the first 40 minutes, when Drake Caggiula was sent off for slashing Jannik Hansen at the 16:47 mark of the second period.
The Sharks managed two shots on goal with the man advantage, but couldn’t convert. When the penalty to Caggiula expired, the Sharks dropped to 5 for 23 on the power play for the series, with four of those goals coming in Game 4, a 7-0 San Jose rout.
The push resumed early in the third period, but the Sharks could not catch a break.
Hansen’s backhand shot after a nice pass from Tierney drifted wide. A few seconds later, Hansen fed Joel Ward near the slot, but Ward’s shot hit the post.
The game was scoreless through the first 20 minutes, although it wasn’t really the start the Sharks were looking for in an elimination game. The Oilers held a 9-6 edge in shots on goal and a 22-8 advantage in shot attempts.
The Sharks’ best scoring chance of the first period came as they were killing a hooking penalty to Ward. Couture created a turnover in the Oilers zone and fed Karlsson, whose shot from just outside the crease was stopped by Talbot.
DeBoer opted to mix up his lines a bit after Thursday’s overtime loss, inserting Joonas Donskoi back into the lineup after he was a scratch for Game 5.
Donskoi started the game on the second line with Couture and Karlsson, and the third line of Hansen, Tomas Hertl and Boedker was put back together.