Sharks win OT thriller to keep odd streak going
San Jose takes 2-1 series lead on St. Louis thanks to Karlsson goal early in extra frame
What are the odds?
Pretty good if you were putting money on San Jose Wednesday.
The Sharks went into Game 3 of the Western Conference final against St. Louis having won seven-straight odd-numbered games in the playoffs — 5 and 7 against Vegas, 1-3-5 and 7 against Colorado and 1 against the Blues.
So that’s where the smart money was heading into Game 3. Even some of the stupid money couldn’t ignore the rather strange trend.
And, sure enough, even after St. Louis borrowed the Wesley Snipes line from Passenger 57 and told the visitors to “always bet on Blue,” before scoring three straight goals in the second period (two of them from No. 57 David Perron) — the Sharks held true to form.
Logan Couture forced overtime at 18:59 of the third period and Erik Karlsson scored 5:23 into the extra period to give San Jose a 5-4 overtime victory, a 2-1 series lead and wins in eight straight odd-numbered games.
San Jose got the jump in the opening period, scoring first on Karlsson’s goal at 13:37 and a second goal from Joe Thornton at 16:58 to lead 2-0 at the first intermission.
And when St. Louis answered back (Alex Steen 78 seconds into the second period), Thornton restored the two-goal cushion just 18 seconds later.
The Sharks were in full control. Until the Blues were.
St. Louis, which has been writing comeback story after comeback story this season, showed what they were made of one more time, rallying for three straight goals, one from previously stagnant Vladimir Tarasenko and two from Perron to lead 4-3 after 40.
It should have been done with the finals seconds ticking down in the third period, but moments after St. Louis hit the outside of the post with the Sharks net empty, Couture forced overtime with 59.6 seconds left on the clock.
Game 4 (the Sharks have lost four straight even-numbered games in a row) goes Friday.
NO TWO ALIKE
The Sharks haven’t won two games in a row in a series since the end of the Vegas series in the first round, but it’s something they’ll need to fix against a
St. Louis team that knows how to go on a run.
“We can’t get into the rhythm of win one, lose one,” said Sharks winger Timo Meier. “We have to be winning some games in a row. When we win one we have to come out the next game ever harder and show the desperation level.”
Desperation shouldn’t be a problem the longer this thing goes.
“We have a veteran group, guys who’ve done it here for a long time,” said Evander Kane. “If you go back to the first series against Vegas we were down 3-1. We won the first game and then lost three in a row. Then we won three in a row. We know we can respond, we’ve done it all year.”
JOE TIME
A popular theme in San Jose’s playoff run is for the Sharks to win a championship for long-serving veteran Thornton, who remains ringless as he approaches the end of his NHL career.
But Jumbo hadn’t been helping his cause much. He had just one assist and was minus nine in the eight games before Wednesday in St. Louis. He joined the party in a big way, though, in Game 3. His two goals marked the first time he’s found the mesh since the opening game of the Colorado series.
MUSCLE UP
With St. Louis grinding itself to a physical edge in the first two games of the series, Sharks coach Pete DeBoer decided to add a little more muscle to his own lineup in the form of fourth-line winger Micheal Haley, who has 10 career goals and 637 career penalty minutes in 248 regular season games.
His job description is simple: “Kind of do what they’ve been doing,” he said. “You don’t want to go out of your way to take runs, but bring some physicality and play down in their end a lot.”
His addition paid early dividends as he was in on the forecheck on the first San Jose goal, doing what he does down low to set the table for Karlsson’s goal. After that, there wasn’t much of an impact.
BAD SCENE
Scary scene early in the first period when St. Louis defenceman Vince Dunn took a shot in the face in front of his own net. He dropped his stick and both gloves and struggled to the bench, where he needed to be held up by his teammates. The injury left the Blues with five defencemen for 50 minutes.
FINALLY
Tarasenko’s goal in the second period, a beauty under the crossbar, snapped a five-game scoring drought, which is good, because head coach Craig Berube was getting tired of answering Tarasenko drought questions.
“I get that you look at the goals and the points,” he said. “But he’s doing a lot of other things.”