OT win gives Pittsburgh 2-0 lead in Cup final,
PITTSBURGH— It was a lot closer than it should have been, but the Pittsburgh Penguins don’t mind.
Conor Sheary scored in the first overtime, off a Sidney Crosby faceoff win, and the Pittsburgh Penguins took a 2-1decision over the San Jose Sharks in the Stanley Cup final.
The scoreline certainly wasn’t lopsided. The game certainly felt that way most of the way, and now the series is.
The Penguins lead the best-of-seven series 2-0 and are just two games away from the franchise’s third championship. The next two games are in San Jose, and as the adage goes, a team is not in trouble until it loses at home. So the Sharks have that going for them. But not much else.
The numbers work against San Jose. Only five teams that fell behind 2-0 in a best-of-seven Stanley Cup final have rallied to win the chalice.
If there’s a positive for San Jose, it appears the stellar netminding of Martin Jones can keep any game close.
It took until the final five minutes of the third period for the Sharks to show up. The Penguins dominated the game, if not the score. But a favourable icing call late in the third allowed San Jose to gain the Pittsburgh zone — something they’d had trouble doing all night. They were rewarded with the overtime-forcing goal with 4:05 remaining, on just their 17th shot. Justin Braun’s shot from the point eluding Penguins rookie netminder Matt Murray.
Phil Kessel opened the scoring for Pittsburgh. He may not get to the playoffs often, but when he does, my goodness is he something special.
Kessel, in the playoffs for the first time since 2013 with the Maple Leafs, has 10 goals in the playoffs: three in the first round, two in the second, four in the conference final and now one in the Stanley Cup Final. He’s Mr. Consistency. And maybe Mr. Conn Smythe.
Kessel had a terrific game against the Sharks, leading the Penguins in shots through the first 30 minutes until he finally scored on weak shot. He really just made sure Nick Bonino’s shot — which was probably going to go in anyway after Sharks defenceman Roman Polak deflected it — made it over the goal line.
The shift that resulted in the goal by the so-called HBK line (Carl Hagelin, Bonino and Kessel) exemplified everything the Penguins are doing right and all that is going wrong for San Jose. The line is the speediest, and uses it to gain the zone and pressure defenders.
Polak — another ex-Leaf in this series — had an egregious turnover that led to the game’s first goal but could do little when overwhelmed by Pittsburgh’s speedsters. Polak looked so feeble on the play, one press-row wag suggested perhaps it was not such a good idea for the playoffbound Sharks to “upgrade” at the trade deadline with players from the last-place Leafs.
Still, the Penguins are happy to have Kessel, who has delivered on the promise of his talent in these playoffs. Kessel has been a big-moment player through his career, early as a Bruin and that one playoff series in Toronto. His problems in Toronto weren’t his big-game ability, it was simply getting to the playoffs.
And now, with favourable profiles written by members of the hockey media, Kessel’s legacy is being rewritten.
If the Sharks’ idea of having a better first period in Game 2 than Game 1 was to emerge tied, rather than down two goals, then it was mission accomplished. But the periods were eerily similar, with San Jose surrendering unforced turnovers and succumbing to Pittsburgh’s pressure.
The Penguins out-hustled, out-skated and outshot (11-6) San Jose through the first 20 minutes. Only the netminding of Jones kept the score 0-0. Kessel had the most chances with three shots, of the mostly dangerous variety.
The Penguins kept at it in the second, outshooting San Jose12-5 and getting the ultimate reward with Kessel’s goal.