PITTSBURGH – Game 1 of the 2016 Stanley Cup Final between the San Jose Sharks and Pittsburgh Penguins was a game of adjustments. After breaking out to 2-0 lead in the opening period, the Pens saw the Sharks make the necessary adjustments in the first intermission to get back to even after 40 minutes.
Peter DeBoer will look for better play from his roster Wednesday
“I think some of the adjustments, they probably came out a little bit too easy at times. Early on, especially, our turnover rate was probably a little higher than what we’re used to,” Sharks’ Joe Pavelski said on media day Tuesday. “If we limit that, that cuts a few shots, a few zone time minutes right there. It’s a game. You just got to manage it along the way. If you do get that, we responded well and got back to our game then.”
It wasn’t until Nick Bonino’s goal late in the third that the game decided.
Martin Jones took the loss in the game but made 38 saves. He was asked about his time in Los Angeles watching Jonathan Quick during the Kings Cup runs.
“I mean, just watching him throughout the playoffs, he competes on everything. I think that’s the biggest thing you can take away when you watch him play,” Jones said. “Other than that, I don’t know, just from him or the group that just kind of managing a long playoff run, then all the distractions and things that go along with that.”
The Pens has been much-talked about this season and playoffs. Their efforts to chip the puck out of the defensive zone and then go racing after it has been a source of success. But Peter DeBoer said Tuesday it was not something he or his team or the rest of the NHL had not been doing already.
“It’s no different than most of the teams in the league,” DeBoer said. “There’s nothing there we haven’t seen before. The game is on us. It’s on us to execute better. It’s on us to impose our game on them for longer stretches.
“We did it for the second period and for spurts of the third. But, you know, they did it for longer than we did and they won. It’s as simple as that. It’s not a complicated game.”
While the Sharks make their adjustments, the Pens will be doing the same looking for a bigger edge in Game 2.
Images from off day skate
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