Martin Jones made 44 saves in Game 5 win – file photo by Brianna O’Mara
PITTSBURGH, Pa – The Pittsburgh Penguins went into Game Five of the 2016 Stanley Cup Finals having won three previous championships, all on the road. The Pittsburgh Steelers won all of their Super Bowls at a neutral site. Pittsburgh last won a title at home was back in 1960 when the Pirates won in seven games against the New York Yankees. If the Penguins are going to win a title at home they are going to have to wait just a little bit longer.
The San Jose Sharks won Game Five 4-2 and sent the series back to California on Sunday where the Penguins will get another chance to close out the series. If the Penguins lose Game Seven will be back in Pittsburgh on Wednesday.
If you are one of those people who wanted to stay up late to see how the game played out all you really had to do was watch the first period when all of the scoring occurred in record fashion. The Sharks got off to a 2-0 when Brent Burns scored 1:04 into the game and Logan Couture scored his ninth goal of the playoffs 1:43 later.
Both goals were poorly handed by Pens goalie Matt Murphy. It looked like his teammates might bail him out by coming back in typical Penguins fashion when Evgeni Malkin and Carl Hagelin scored each of the sixth goal of the playoffs 22 seconds apart starting at the 4:44 mark of the first period to tie the game at 2-2. The four goals set a Stanley Cup final record previously set back in 1992 set by the Penguins and the Chicago Blackhawks.
Melkar Karlsson scored the go ahead goal with 5:13 left in the first to finish off a wild and wooly first period of play. The Penguins would pepper the Sharks goalie the rest of the night but Martin Jones was spectacular in net with the Sharks getting outshot 46-22. Joe Pavelski put the game out of reach in the third period with an empty net goal, his 14th of the playoffs with 1:20 left in the game.
Head Coach Peter Deboer sang his players praises after the game.
“We needed some big game performances from guys,” said Deboer. “Jonesy was one of those guys in a tough environment. I thought we got big games from some other people, too. We found a way to stay alive and bring it back to San Jose.”
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