ARE THE SHARKS LUCKY? NOPE, SAYS COACH

ST. LOUIS — San Jose Sharks coach Pete DeBoer wasn’t having any talk that his team has been lucky at various points in the postseason.

“It irks me when you use words like that because this is a team that’s played (four) elimination games,” DeBoer said Thursday. “Not moments, games. Twelve to 15 periods of elimination hockey, against Vegas, against Colorado in Game 7.

“I think it’s a ridiculous statement.”

The Sharks, 4-0 in games when they’ve faced elimination since the playoffs began, will take a 2-1 series lead in the Western Conference Final over the St. Louis Blues into Game 4 on Friday, after defenseman Erik Karlsson scored in overtime in Game 3 to give San Jose a 5-4 win.

The Blues were furious after the goal was scored, as they saw Timo Meier bat the puck in the air with his glove toward the front of the net, although it appeared Meier’s pass might have glanced off Jay Bouwmeester’s leg before the puck got to Gus Nyquist.

Nyquist then played the puck in front of goalie Jordan Binnington, and fed Karlsson, who scored his second of the game 5:23 into the extra session.

Despite the protests of the Blues on Wednesday night, the play was not one that can be reviewed by the NHL.

But that sequence and the lack of a whistle, along with others the Sharks have had go their way in pivotal moments this postseason, has led to the feeling that the Sharks have been extra-fortunate.

DeBoer disagreed. Vehemently. “I heard (Carolina coach) Rod Brind’amour speak out about it, and I thought he said it best: those things happen so quickly on the ice, and there are so many bodies flying around and there are split-second decisions and it’s easy when we sit there on the bench or you guys look at a TV monitor and criticize and hold people accountable for errors that happen in milliseconds,” DeBoer said.

“You know what? We’ve found a way. And we’ve faced a lot of adversity. We’ve had calls go against us and we’ve had calls go for us, and we’re still standing. For anybody to minimize that, I think is disrespectful to our group and what we’ve done.”

On April 23, the Sharks, trailing by three goals, received a five-minute power play in the third period of Game 7 in their first round series with the Vegas Golden Knights when Cody Eakin cross-checked Joe Pavelski after a faceoff. Pavelski collided with Paul Stastny and fell backward in an awkward fashion, and was injured on the play when the back of his helmet hit the ice.

Eakin was given a major penalty and a game misconduct, when it appeared Eakin had only cross-checked Pavelski in the chest, and the Sharks scored four power play goals to take the lead before they won in overtime.

On May 8 in Game 7 of the Sharks’ second round series against the Colorado Avalanche, Colin Wilson thought he scored the tying goal in the second period. But after a coach’s challenge by the Sharks, Gabriel Landeskog was ruled to have been offside before the goal was scored. The Sharks kept their 2-1 lead at the time, and went on to win 3-2 to advance to the conference final.

“I think there’s a lot of calls that go both ways throughout a playoff run,” Sharks center Logan Couture said. “Right now, we’ve gotten some in big areas of games but there are some throughout those games that go against us as well. It’s part of the game. People make mistakes. That’s it.”

The Sharks were upset at another non-call that went against them midway through the second period of Game 3, as it appeared David Perron put the puck over the glass from behind the Blues net without it touching a San Jose player. That is an automatic delay of game call, and Joe Thornton indicated right away that he believed the puck left the ice and hit the netting without it touching a Sharks player’s stick.

But after officials huddled to discuss the sequence, no penalty was given. It proved to be a momentumchanging moment, as Perron went on to score two goals later in the second period to give St. Louis a 4-3 lead. Couture tied it with 1:01 left in the third period — his NHL-leading 14th of the playoffs — to help send the game into overtime.

Asked if his team might use the talk of being lucky as motivation, DeBoer said, “We don’t need any more motivation. We’re two wins away from playing for the Stanley Cup. We have all the motivation we need.”