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The San Jose Sharks are back in the Stanley Cup Final following a 3-2 overtime win on Saturday night at a raucous SAP Center.
The man, the myth, the legend...Joonas Donskoi was the hero, scoring a beautiful goal midway through the first overtime to save the Sharks from falling down 0-3.
Donskoi shook off Evgeni Malkin, behind the net before circling back to the front and beating Matt Murray high for the game-winning goal. The play seemed so innocent the Sharks bench had a bit of a delay before the began to celebrate.
The Sharks had not led in the series until that goal. The Penguins had leads of 1-0 and 2-1 before Donskoi's goal. I was beginning to think they would never have a lead. The Pens scored the first goal in all three games and San Jose was 1-4 in these playoffs when trailing after two periods.
San Jose is alive in the Stanley Cup Final. Deep breathe....
Game 3 was by far the Sharks best effort of the Final. Without the risk of sounding too cliche, the Sharks finally got back to playing Sharks hockey. San Jose used their depth to get the goals and their speed to keep pace with the "Mighty Pens" and avoided going down 0-3 in their own building.
Justin Braun and Joel Ward scored for San Jose and Joe Thornton had 2 assists.
Despite all the warmth and fuzziness for San Jose, this game was all about the men between the pipes.
Martin Jones made 40 saves, including 9 in overtime in another outstanding effort. Jones has been great through the irst three games and probably deserved better than being down 0-2.
Game 3 was no different at all. Jones was unreal at times. His stop of the Phil Kessel break away was a series changer. I felt very uncomfortable for most of the third period and overtime. It feels like the Pens could strike at any moment, but Jones came through over and over again.
Matt Murray's (23 saves) play has been on par with Jones from the drop. A few of his saves knocked the wind out of the Sharks especially the point blank stop on Brent Burns and the breakaway save on Joel Ward. Every time he made a big stop the Pens would counter with a scoring chance of their own.
It was like watching two heavy-weight fighters going toe-to-toe for 15 rounds.
Now we have a series. The Sharks still trails the best-of-7 series 2-1 with Game 4 on Monday night.
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Hot Takeaways....
- With the win, the Sharks improved to 1-4 in overtime this postseason and avoided becoming the first team to go 0-5 in overtime in a Stanley Cup Playoff.
- Rookies Donskoi and Conor Sheary each have an overtime goal. It is the first time two rookies have scored an overtime goal in a Stanley Cup Final.
- The Sharks outhit the Pens 47-17. I like physical play, especially against speed and finesse teams like Pittsburgh. Hit hard and hit 'em often. It will pay off later in the series when the bodies start to wear down.
- Pittsburgh is out-shooting the Sharks 113-73 through the first three game of the Final. The Penguins have more than 40 shots in two of the three games.
- San Jose improved to 8-2 at home in the playoffs. The need that ninth win to come on Monday night or they may not get another chance at home.
- Joe Thornton had his best game of the Final. Thornton was much more involved in the offense which led to several golden scoring chances for himself and his teammates. Wonder when Joe Pavelski gets off the snide?
- Justin Braun has goals in back-to-back games for the first time in his career. It's been a rough week for Braun personally. I'm really happy for him. He's a big piece of the Sharks and he deserves a few just desserts.
- Three of Donskoi's 6 goals in the playoffs have given the Sharks a lead. He was very good tonight. When Joonas is peeling with the puck in the offensive zone you know it's going to be a good night.
Thanks for reading, Steve Follow me on Twitter: @Faultlinehockey