Sharks from Playoff Failure to Playoff Delirium, bring the Avalanche
Barclay Goodrow #23 of the San Jose Sharks scores the game-winning goal against Marc-Andre Fleury #29 of the Vegas Golden Knights in overtime in Game Seven of the Western Conference First Round during the 2019 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at SAP Center on April 23, 2019 in San Jose, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
2019.04.26 – It only took the San Jose Sharks 4:01 seconds to go from another playoff failure to playoff delirium. Bring the Avalanche!
The Sharks rallied behind their captain Joe Pavelski after he was knocked down to the ice head first. Thanks to two goals from Logan Couture, one from Tomas Hertl and then the tiebreaker from Kevin Labanc, the Sharks avoided another playoff failure, completing one of the most improbable comebacks in recent NHL playoff history. That scoring spree in 4:01 seconds against the Vegas Golden Knights’ Marc-Andre Fleury sent the fans at the Shark Tank into delirium. San Jose scored four goals on the power play to take a 4-3 lead.
It all began when Cody Eakin, decided to cross-check Joe Pavelski with 10:47 to play in the third period with San Jose down 3-0. Eakin drove a high stick cross-check into Pavelski off a faceoff, driving him back into Paul Stastny who punched another high stick, and the second collision knocked Pavelski to the ice head first causing a pool of blood on the ice. He was taken from the ice barely conscious, and Eakin was hit with a five-minute major cross-checking penalty and a game misconduct.
The Sharks saw blood and went into a frenzy, San Jose addressed the idea of desperation with the proper response instead of turning to submission as they often have, they found the resolve to bite back.
What followed may have been the most amazing four minutes and one second in Sharks history.
Logan Couture scored seven seconds after the incident, then Tomas Hertl 49 seconds after that to make it 3-2, then Couture again at 12:53 to tie the game and raise the roof, and then because the game wasn’t done mocking logic, from previous failures, and the roof hadn’t buckled enough, Kevin Labanc put the Sharks absurdly ahead 28 seconds later, capping a four-goal, 4:01 power play barrage that choke-slammed then revived a depressed crowd conditioned by history to expect the worst. It was only the third time in NHL history that a team had scored four goals in a single power play (Toronto in 2011 against the now dead Atlanta Thrashers, and the New York Islanders last year against the Detroit Red Wings), and the Sharks had fought back from a well-deserved death to an even more-deserved rescue.
Martin Jones then appeared ready to seal the win, robbing Mark Stone with a glove save with 3:10 to go and Vegas on the power play. But because the Sharks do Sharks even in the most triumphant moments, they gave up the tying goal to Jonathan Marchessault with 47 seconds to play.
William Karlsson, who scored the first goal, leaped at the blue line to keep a puck in the zone and then Reilly Smith ended up with it behind the Sharks net where he set up the Vegas’ human turbine Marchessault, to spoiled the party, as he got open in front of the Sharks net, took the pass from Smith and snapped a shot over Martin Jones’ left shoulder to tie the game with 47.0 seconds left to make it 4-4 and set up the overtime. The Golden Knights got the equalizer with Fleury pulled in the final minute. It was the third-latest tying goal in a Game 7 in NHL history.
Sharks vs Golden Knights – 1st RD Game #7 – 2019 Video Highlights
2019.04.23 (Sharks vs. VGK) Goodrow in OT! See video & blog below
Then, it’s Barclay Goodrow in Overtime! On his 10th shift of the night and with a clear path across goaltender/nemesis Fleury’s face with both patience and aim, and suddenly all the years of almost collapsed in a heap of joy. Down 3-1 in games, down 3-0 in the game that mattered most, the Sharks finally shot their fingers to the sky in a statement of defiance few people thought they had in them. The Sharks past the Golden Knights in game 7.
The Sharks achieved their greatest moment ever as an organized team Tuesday night by beating the Vegas Golden Knights 5-4 in overtime to win this Western Conference first-round series in the most improbable way ever seen.
Now here comes the Colorado Avalanche a team that just knocked off the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference.
The Sharks’ reward for beating the Golden Knights on Tuesday is getting to play the Avalanche, who right now aren’t playing like a team that just squeaked into the postseason to claim the west’s second wild-card spot.
The Avalanche knocked off the Calgary Flames in five games in their first-round series and have been waiting, and resting, since last Friday to see who they would play next.
Certainly the Avalanche had to be loving what they saw coming out of Las Vegas and San Jose. The Sharks beat the Golden Knights in Game 6 on Sunday in double overtime and less than 48 hours after that game ended, came back in dramatic fashion Tuesday to complete an exhausting seven-game series.
This will be the fifth time the Sharks and Avalanche will meet in the playoffs, with the last coming in the first round in 2010. The Sharks won that series in six games.
“It’ll be another tough series,” Hertl said. “We have to be ready. They’ll be fresh and be flying and we just have to shut them down and play o-zone.”
SHARKS INJURIES
Captain Joe Pavelski likely will not play tonight and the availability of some other Sharks forwards is also in question for Game 1 of their second round series against the Colorado Avalanche at SAP Center.
Pavelski was at the Sharks’ practice facility Thursday but did not take the ice and was not available to the media. The captain is the Sharks’ leading goal scorer with 38 goals this season.
“I saw him this morning. He’s OK,” Sharks coach Pete DeBoer said.
“It could have been worse. You could have been dealing with a fractured skull or something like that. Thankfully, we weren’t, but he’s definitely feeling the effects of it.”
Forward Melker Karlsson also did not practice Thursday. Joonas Donskoi, who was a scratch for Game 7, skated briefly on his own Thursday morning but did not take part in the full practice.
Forward Micheal Haley, who hasn’t played since he blocked a shot by Shea Theodore with the inside of his left foot in Game 3 against the Golden Knights, practiced but according to DeBoer, is not all the way back from his injury.
“Like anybody this time of year,” DeBoer said, “we’ve got a lot of game-time decisions.”
Game 1 of the second round series starts tonight at SAP Center.
Read more at: San Jose Sharks Media Services / More AP NHL: https://apnews.com/NHL
JEstevez@EMIsportsCentral.com
For more on the San Jose Sharks, see the blog at www.EMIsportsCentral.com
DGDG.com – SPRING INTO SAVINGS
EMI Sports Central – EMI Sports Bay Area: Join the conversation on sports news for SF Bay Area teams: Follow @EMIsports on Twitter, “Like” us on Facebook and sign up for our FREE email newsletters.