History possible if there is something left in the Tank
SAN JOSE — One last Tank battle. That is what we are left with here in Northern California.
Sunday afternoon, the final hockey game of the season at SAP Center will be the possible penultimate important hockey game of the season and the most important. And the Stanley Cup will be in the house.
No matter what happens,
the Cup will be headed back to Pittsburgh on Monday. The Sharks would prefer that it be headed back there with two teams instead of just the Penguins. And it might. It just might.
The Sharks could win Game 6 and tie the series at 3-3, then fly back east for a Game 7. Or the Penguins could end it here in Northern California. But at last the Sharks will have this chance to win their biggest game before their home fans, many of whom have taken this ride for 25 years. They get the opportunity to help extend it Sunday.
“It’ll be nice to have them on our side,” said Sharks captain Joe Pavelski after Saturday’s practice session. “It’s important for everybody in this room.”
One last Tank battle. Before the opening faceoff, can we at least just pause to look around and appreciate all of this?
So much has changed about the traditional Bay Area hockey narrative over the past two months. At every step, the reputation of the Sharks as a team that deflated and sagged out of the picture at the first sign of adversity was destroyed.
First, the Sharks faced down their Los Angeles Kings demons, those memories of blowing the 3-0 series lead in 2014, and vanquished them completely. Then the Sharks won a Game 7 against Nashville. Then the Sharks rebounded after losing Game 1 to St. Louis and won the series.
Now comes the opportunity to do something even more extraordinary. How many times does a team, in its history, get to face down something like this on its home ice? The scene inside the Shark Tank on Sunday will be unprecedented and potentially epic.
It’s hardly unthinkable for the Sharks to dream big. The last Stanley Cup Final to go seven games was in 2011, when the Boston Bruins rallied from a 3-2 deficit to win a Game 7 in Vancouver.
One last Tank battle. The feeling here? If the Sharks again get great goaltending from Martin Jones on Sunday, find a little more energy and will to disrupt Pittsburgh’s offensive flow and take Sunday’s game into the third period with the outcome still in play, then the beloved Los Tiburones can figure out a way to win on their home rink. And then we’ll go back to Pittsburgh for a roll of the dice in Game 7.
One reason for that feeling: The Sharks totally realize they have not yet solved the Penguins. There is no false arrogance about that. The Sharks know that winning Game 5 in Pittsburgh last Thursday night was hardly a sign that the momentum has completely turned or that they’ve regained the upper hand.
“We’re not dumb,” said defenseman Brent Burns. “We won one game.”
“Our game still isn’t quite where it needs to be at times,” Pavelski said. “But we’ve got another chance here in Game 6.”
One more Tank battle. Sharks coach Pete DeBoer won’t be making any rahrah speeches.
“These guys don’t need to be inspired to play,” DeBoer said. “They’re in the Stanley Cup Final. Some of them have waited 18 years. There’s no speech I’m going to give Patty Marleau and ... make him play harder. That’s for movies and for Sunday football, when you’re playing 11 or 12 games a year.
“When we’re on our 105th game, I’m just trying to get our game on the right track, get them out there with as much energy as possible and get our execution in the right place.”
One last Tank battle. Among the other achievements of the Sharks over the last few months, you’d have to say they have rebooted the trust of their fan base. After the playoff collapse of 2014 and then the nonplayoff season a year ago, many of the team’s followers were hesitant to dive in with all emotion. Even the best fans were more loyal than enthusiastic.
That’s all changed now. The fans are clearly all in. They have enjoyed every twist of this new narrative. That includes the revelatory emergence of Jones in goal and the emergence of Logan Couture as a clutch player of the first magnitude. Very quietly, Couture is leading all postseason NHL scorers since the first playoff faceoff in early April, with nine goals and 29 points.
Couture also understands none of that means anything unless the team plays its best hockey moving ahead.
“That’s all we can do,” Couture said. “I mean, we can’t go back and play better in Game 1 or anything.”
One last Tank battle. Anyone who’s been watching the first five games of the series — and if you haven’t, shame on you, because it’s been riveting hockey — has noticed that Pittsburgh has been getting more offensive zone time, has been carrying the tempo more often. Jones basically stole Game 5.
But it’s not as if the Sharks have been doing nothing. They have managed to throw off Pittsburgh’s timing on occasion, to control the flow in stretches, to get a few pucks past rookie Penguins goalie Matt Murray on which he looked a little wobbly. It’s true that Pavelski hasn’t really broken out yet — but then again, neither has Pittsburgh superstar Sidney Crosby. Who would ever think we’d get to this point in the series with those two players combining for just one goal (by Pavelski) and two assists (by Crosby).
Tired and weary? Of course they are. When asked Saturday if fatigue was setting in, Pavelski was honest enough to give an indirect answer.
“We’re ready to play,” Pavelski said. “This time of year, we’re always ready to play. You’ve got to be ready.”
One last Tank battle. A little after 5 o’clock Sunday afternoon, the large Shark head descends to the ice for the final time this season. There has never been a hockey season like this in San Jose. On Sunday, another remarkable moment is at hand. The team’s fans will either see the greatest victory in franchise history or they will see Pittsburgh’s players skating with the Cup and celebrating.
One last Tank battle. One more desperate chance for the Sharks to do something unexpected. It should be a beautiful thing to watch. Let’s drop the puck.