DETROIT, Mich – Joe does it again. Joe Pavelski decided to share the spotlight tonight as Joe Thornton showed great leadership by scoring a goal and added an assist on the game winner in overtime to take a strangle hold on the Western Conference semi finals.
It wasn’t how coach MacLellan would have drawn things up, but a win is a win. To take three in a row from the Detroit Red Wings and five in a row in the playoffs sends a message to the rest of the contenders out there for Lord Stanley’s Cup that the Sharks are no longer a post season push over.
If things went the coaches’ way, the power play would not have gone 0 for 6 and they would not have found themselves down by two goals twice in the game.
The Sharks were unable to weather the storm in the 1st period the coach felt that they “didn’t skate well in the 1st and they won the battles” referring to the Red Wings. Devin Setoguchi’s goal with 1.8 seconds left cut the deficit in half and sent San Jose to the room feeling pretty good after a disappointing 20 minutes.
Fortunately for San Jose there are three 20 minute periods and the Sharks have been saving their best for the 3rd. This team has taken on the theme of overcoming and they have overcome in this series twice now against the Red Wings in the 3rd period. “It’s been important for our team to keep believing they can do that” is what the coach had to say in the post game press conference.
When Patrick Marleau was asked about the teams late game success he had this to say “We stick to our plan and execute, do what we need to do there is a good chance we can come back.” This group has been believing in the plan and themselves all year long and we are now seeing the results from their hard work pay off in the post season.
As it turned out tonight, Joe Thornton’s second goal of the series, which was unassisted made it a 3-2 game but it was the turning point. Jumbo as he is called in San Jose lost the draw but chased the puck down behind Detroit’s net. While using his 6’4 frame to protect the puck he curled in front of the cage and fired a hard wrist shot that deflected off of a defender’s stick and in.
The tying marker came off of rookie Logan Couture’s stick on a bad angle shot as Jimmy Howard was caught cheating. Howard opened up the 5 hole anticipating a pass in front and number 39 made him pay. Mitchell and Vlasic assisted on the Sharks 3rd goal.
Another contributing factor to the late game success in this series could be that the Red Wings have spent only 5 of the last 26 nights at home and fatigue may be setting in. Let us not forget this is a team that has been to the Cup finals two years in row and as a result has played almost 40 games more than other clubs during that time. They are by no means a young crew and tonight’s stats agree with that theory. Shots on net were severely lopsided in the 1st, even in the 2nd and the Sharks out shot the Wings in the 3rd. Typically when a team takes a lot of penalties it is a sign that they are tired and so far in three games Detroit has visited the sin bin 22 times as opposed to 12 times for the Sharks.
The game winning goal came on a 2 on 1 break that was a result of a bad change by San Jose and a shot wide by the Red Wings that came all the way out the zone and onto Joe Thornton’s stick. Thornton is known as a passer but has goals in the last two games and has been shooting the puck more as of late. On this odd man rush number 19 approached Detroit’s goalie with a head of steam from the right hand side and is a left handed shot, which means he had a good shooting angle on the net. Thornton sold most people, including the net minder that he was going to shoot before he feathered a perfect pass over to Patrick Marleau who was left with an empty six by four foot opening for the game winner.
Coach Mike Babcock of the Red Wings “thought this was our best game as far as fore checking and getting them in trouble goes.” Detroit has dug themselves quite the whole and the Sharks from San Jose have showed poise, patience, confidence in each other and have not backed down against a Western conference power house. The go to guys for the Sharks are starting to produce which makes the steep slope the Wings are on much more difficult to climb. One for certain is that if Detroit is going to force a game 5 in this series their best will have to be better than what they have displayed so far.
Game four of this series is one you won’t want to miss and takes place at Joe Louis Arena Thursday night at 7:30 eastern time. Until then
Keep your sticks on the ice,
Contact Cam.Gore@prohockeynews.com
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