Sharks withstand Penguins’ onslaught
The Pittsburgh Penguins offense did just about everything necessary to hoist the Stanley Cup on Thursday night.
The Penguins had double the scoring chances and more than double the shots, but Pittsburgh lost 4-2 to the San Jose Sharks in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final. Sharks goalie Martin Jones basically forced the series back to San Jose for a Game 6 on Sunday with 44 saves.
Jones bounced back from his worst start of the series in Game 4, when he gave up three goals on 20 shots.
Despite the Penguins’ offensive onslaught, Jones remained calm — even after allowing the Penguins to score two in a row within a 1-minute, 22-second span early in the first to tie the score after the Sharks jumped to a 2-0 lead.
“Hockey doesn’t always go your way,” Pittsburgh forward Bryan Rust said. “Sometimes you think you deserve to win; sometimes you think you shouldn’t. It’s all about who scores more goals.”
Patric Hornqvist led the Penguins in shots on goal, putting seven on Jones. The Pens’ two goal scorers, Evgeni Malkin and Carl Hagelin, had six shots each.
“I thought we had traffic in front of the net and we got pucks to the net,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. “We had people there. We had rebound opportunities. We couldn’t seem to find that third goal. I give our players credit. They stayed with it through the course of the game.”
Jones had help, even though the Pens’ pressure was relentless.
Phil Kessel, a leading candidate for the Conn Smythe as the playoff MVP and the Penguins’ top scorer in the postseason, attempted nine shots. But only four made it on net as the rest were blocked or missed.
The Sharks recorded 17 blocked shots; the Penguins produced 10.
“I think we did a lot of positive things,” Rust said. “We can learn from the film and clean up a few things. Overall, we can keep building.”