Behind stellar performance, Sharks get even with Vegas
It’s going to be a long series now.
The Sharks put it all together Wednesday night at SAP Center in Game 4 of the Western Conference semifinals — timely goals, staunch defense and solid special teams — to beat the Vegas Golden Knights 4-0.
Joe Pavelski, Tomas Hertl, Marcus Sorensen and Joonas Donskoi scored goals and goalie Martin Jones made 34 saves for his second playoff shutout this spring and the sixth of his career.
San Jose’s win evens the best-of-seven series at 2-2. Game 5 is Friday in Las Vegas, with a Game 6 now as-
All San Jose wanted to do Wednesday night at SAP Center was to slow down the Vegas Golden Knights.
The Sharks did much more than that: They killed off five Golden Knights power plays and held Vegas scoreless for the first time this postseason, grabbing a 4-0 victory in Game 4 and evening the secondround series at two games apiece.
Vegas had scored 14 goals in the first three games of the best-of-seven series, including seven in the opener. Wednesday, not only was San Jose’s defense tough, but the forwards helped, too.
“Game 1, that was on the forwards turning the puck over too much in the neutral zone, we didn’t give our D-men a chance,” Sharks center Logan Couture said. “We did a better job of not forcing plays when we didn’t have it, just chip it in and go forecheck, that gives the D-men a chance to get their gap.”
Back among the Sharks’ defensemen: Joakim Ryan, out since March 16 with an upperbody injury. He played nearly 12 minutes in Game 4 and said his legs and his lungs felt good.
There had been some questions about leaving in Paul Martin for Game 3 once Ryan was available again, but Sharks head coach Peter DeBoer said, “We didn’t win tonight because of Joakim Ryan. We didn’t lose (Game 3) because of Paul Martin. Our team game the last three games has been really good. The difference tonight was they were 0-for-5 on the power play and we stuck some goals in the net.”
San Jose had the secondbest penalty-kill percentage during the regular season at 84.8, but over the first three games of the series, the Golden Knights had scored on five of their 18 power plays. Ten of Vegas’ shots Wednesday came on the power play, and all for naught.
“That was big,” defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic said after spending more than seven minutes killing penalties. “It feels like I’m playing half my minutes on the penalty kill, but I don’t mind. It was great tonight. They went 0for-5 and that helped us win.”
At full strength, Vegas didn’t get many good looks, and San Jose’s Martin Jones was unperturbed in net, stopping 34 shots.
“I thought we played solid tonight. We were doing a good job of trying to eliminate their speed; the whole D-corps played well,” Ryan said. “Obviously, Jonesy made some great saves over the course of the game and that helps a lot. We were overall solid but there’s always room for improvement.”
“I thought we played really well,” Jones said. “When we make them come through us 200 feet through all five guys, we’re a lot tougher team to play against.”
DeBoer felt Vegas had the upper hand in the first 10 minutes or so, but from that point on, San Jose was the more assertive team, pouncing on loose pucks, winning battles along the boards, attending to details.
“It’s a tight series,” Vlasic said. “Some nights, they get the best of us. Some nights, we get the best of them. It’s tight checking and it’s a lot of fun.”