Stanley Cup Final three stars: Sharks survive, steal frenzied Game 5 from Penguins

Brandon Schlager

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Stanley Cup Final three stars: Sharks survive, steal frenzied Game 5 from Penguins image

Not so fast.

Ironic, because that word about sums up the Penguins and the Stanley Cup Final that had become a master class in sheer dominance. But speed means little when there's a brick wall in the way, which was the case Thursday in the form of Sharks goalie Martin Jones, who stopped 44 of 46 shots to will San Jose to a 4-2 victory in Game 5, avoiding elimination.

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Pittsburgh, like it has all series, played with the puck on a string nearly the entire game and finished with a 76-36 advantage in shot attempts, but for the first time, the Sharks fired the opening salvo. They ignited a frenzied first period that saw four goals in the first 5:06.

Needing desperately to score first, San Jose required all of 64 seconds.

The goal came courtesy of defenseman Brent Burns, who'd corralled the puck behind Pittsburgh's net and sneaked it between the post and goalie Matt Murray, who got caught cheating to the far side anticipating a pass. It was Burns' seventh goal of the playoffs and 23rd point — fourth-most by a defenseman since 1986.

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Nary two minutes later, just 2:53 into the game, Logan Couture made it 2-0 when he deflected home a Justin Braun point blast past Murray.

The Sharks, having trailed the entirety of the series save for their overtime Game 3 winner, held a lead at long last. Two goals worth. For three high-octane minutes they carried play and perplexed Murray, two things they'd failed to accomplish for a sustained period of time.

Then they blew it.

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Pittsburgh responded in short succession, first on the power play as a patient Evgeni Malkin waited out Jones and banked a wrist shot off the stick of Braun and into a yawning Sharks net. Twenty-two seconds later, Nick Bonino found Jones out of position and flung a wrister from the near circle that hit Jones in the shoulder and trickled in.

Tie game.

Four goals in the first 5:06 — in a series that had yet to feature more than five combined goals in a game — were the fastest four goals scored at the start of a Stanley Cup Final game in history.

The fifth goal came 10 minutes later — an eternity by this game's standard —  off the stick of Melker Karlsson, who'd been the beneficiary of a no-look pass by Couture and buried the shot from the low slot. It was three goals on five shots for the Sharks, capitalizing on the obvious jitters of Murray, the 22-year-old who was in thick of Conn Smythe Trophy discussions before the game.

Scoring dried up in the second period but the shots did not. By intermission, the Penguins had doubled the Sharks in shots attempts 54-26, but Jones stole the show (more on that below) and Karlsson's goal stood as the game-winner.

Joe Pavelski delivered an empty-netter to ensure Game 6 Sunday in San Jose (8 p.m. ET, NBC).

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The Sharks improved to 9-0 in the playoffs with a lead after two periods; Pittsburgh is 0-5 when trailing after two.

Three stars

3. Melker Karlsson, F, Sharks:  He's here by virtue of his game-winner, but Karlsson also assisted on Burns' goal and skated 15:38 on the Sharks' top line.

2. Logan Couture, F, Sharks:  Couture's three-point first period ran his playoff total to 29 in 23 games. He's tied with Jonathan Toews for the fourth-most points in a postseason run since 1997.

1. Martin Jones, G, Sharks:  Make no mistake, Jones is the only reason there will be a hockey game in San Jose on Sunday night. He shook off two early, ugly goals that could have easily rattled his cage and was unfazed the rest of the way.

Highlights

It was Jones and nobody else in the second period, in which the Penguins outshot the Sharks 17-8. His sprawling save to deny Bonino the empty net helped preserve a 3-2 lead:

Brandon Schlager

Brandon Schlager Photo

Brandon Schlager is an assistant managing editor at The Sporting News. A proud Buffalo, N.Y. native and graduate of SUNY Buffalo State, he joined SN as an intern in 2014 and now oversees editorial content strategy.