Sharks’ power-play goal in 2OT evens series against Golden Knights; Warriors coast to victory in second-round opener.
LAS VEGAS >> The Sharks failed to capitalize on one power play opportunity in the second overtime of Saturday’s game against the Vegas Golden Knights.
They made sure their second chance with the man advantage didn’t go to waste, and in the process, changed the complexion of their second round series with the upstart expansion franchise.
Logan Couture scored his biggest power-play goal of the season 5:13 into the second overtime as the Sharks recovered from a lopsided seriesopening loss to beat Vegas 4-3 at a raucous T-Mobile Arena to level the matchup at one win apiece.
The series now shifts back to San Jose for games 3 and 4 on Monday and Wednesday, respectively. Evander Kane, who was suspended for Game 2 for a cross check to the face of PierreEdouard Bellemare on Thursday, will be eligible to play again Monday.
Couture took a pass across the slot from Kevin Labanc and beat goalie Marc-Andre Fleury for his second of the game and his fourth of the playoffs.
“Kevin Labanc made a heck
of a pass,” Couture said. “I didn’t think he was going to dish it over there. It even surprised me a little bit.”
Brent Burns scored twice and goalie Martin Jones, who was pulled early in the second period of Thursday’s 7-0 loss in Game 1 after he allowed five goals on 13 shots, bounced back with 26 saves, including eight in the first overtime.
The Sharks also finally solved Fleury, who had allowed just three goals in his first five playoff games this year and was coming off a 33-save performance in Game 1.
“We were better everywhere,” Sharks coach Pete DeBoer said. “We were better in every situation, and I knew we would be.”
Vegas defenseman Shea Theodore took a high-sticking penalty on Mikkel Boedker 1:35 into the second overtime, but the Sharks were unable to take advantage.
But just eight seconds after Jon Merrill went to the box for hooking Timo Meier, Tomas Hertl won an offensive zone draw back to Burns, who fed Labanc. Labanc then waited a couple of seconds and found a seam to set up Couture.
Coming into Saturday, the Sharks were 5-2-1 in the regular season in the following game after a loss of three or more goals. To add to that, Jones had been 5-0-1 this year in his first start after a game in which he was pulled.
The trend continued Saturday.
“We just competed harder,” Couture said of the bounce-back win. “We were harder on pucks. We won more one-on-one battles.”
Vegas thought it had the winning goal with 3:02 left in the first overtime as a Jonathan Marchessault shot from the slot found
its way past Jones. But after a league-initiated video review, the NHL’s situation room determined that Jones was interfered with by Marchessault, impeding his ability to make a save.
The usually composed Jones was uncharacteristically demonstrative after the puck crossed the goal line, and watched the replay on the JumboTron to confirm what he believed.
“He just clipped me on my blocker side, kind of spun me around,” Jones said of Marchessault. “I was pretty sure (it was interference). You never know how it’s going to go, but I had pretty good idea that it was going to get called.”
The Golden Knights tied the score at 3-3 at the 13:28 mark of the third period as a one-timer from Nate Schmidt from inside the blue line — after a faceoff win by Erik Haula — got past Jones on the low glove side. The Sharks then killed off a delay of game penalty on defenseman Brenden Dillon, who shot the puck over the glass with 1:34 left in the third period.
Jones and Fleury each made eight saves in the first overtime. Jones stopping two grade A chances on Golden Knights forward James Neal with just under six minutes
to go, and Fleury stopped a point-blank from Barclay Goodrow.
The Sharks allowed the game’s first two goals, both by William Karlsson, but Burns scored twice and Couture added one in a dominant second period as the Sharks took a 3-2 lead.
Joe Pavelski assisted on both of Burns’ goals, including the go-ahead marker at the 14:07 mark of the second period. After Pavelski won a faceoff in the Vegas’ zone, Timo Meier tipped it back to Burns, who skated around the end boards for a wraparound goal that gave the Sharks their first lead of the series.
The Golden Knights challenged the goal, believing it was goalie interference as Meier made contact with Fleury. But the NHL’s situation room determined that Vegas’ Colin Miller caused Meier to contact Fleury before the puck crossed the goal line.
Asked before Saturday’s game why the Sharks have been able to bounce back from more lopsided losses, DeBoer said, “It’s just pride. It’s a long season. You’re going to have off nights. I don’t think we had any against Anaheim in the first round. We had some stretches where we didn’t
play well.
“I looked at the game tape. We weren’t good enough to win. But it wasn’t a 7-0 game either. The shots were (17-9) in the first period and we came out down 4-0. ,,, As bad as it looked and it felt, it’s my job to take a real view of it. The game is away from you at that point and you’re chasing it, and that often dictates how the rest of the game looks.”