PITTSBURGH — By the time the count was in, the crowd outside Consol Energy had swelled to an estimated 20,000. Well before, it had reached “everyone should feel uneasy about this” levels.
Traffic along Fifth Avenue was a gnarled mess — you could stand outside adjacent parking garages, wait for the people who’d chosen their work lot poorly and pick out the exact moment they realized the magnitude of their error. Making it into the arena was a feat unto itself. A semi-emergency call was placed with the mayor’s office to set up another outdoor projection screen, which was the on-paper reason all those people showed up.
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It was A Thing, and seemed impossible to notice — unless, apparently, you played for the San Jose Sharks, who renewed their lease in the Stanley Cup Final and beat Pittsburgh 4-2 in Game 5.
They held off the Penguins, too.
Melker Karlsson, did you guys have any idea what was going on outside?
Pittsburgh was anticipating a Stanley Cup celebration. (Getty Images)
“No. No we didn’t.”
Seriously?
“No.”
Well, you disappointed a lot of people tonight.
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“Yeah?” said Karlsson, who scored the game-winning goal at 14:47 of the first period. “Well, that’s good.”
Right; it’s bad for this city, which still hasn’t seen a team close out a title at home since the Pirates’ 1960 World Series. Yes, Bill Mazeroski was here. Maybe it was his fault.
It’s good for the Sharks, who stayed alive courtesy of a brutal first period by Penguins goalie Matt Murray and a full three periods worth of anti-brutality by Martin Jones.
For as bad as Murray was early on — three of the first five shots he faced wound up in the back of the net — the game was about Jones. He was everywhere, nearly all of the time, stopping all but two of the shots he faced. He’s been great all postseason, but this felt like The Martin Jones Game.
“We didn’t put the puck in, but their goalie played one of the better games of his life,” said Carl Hagelin, who led Pittsburgh with five recorded shots on net.
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There were saves on Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, Conor Sheary and Bryan Rust, Phil Kessel and Chris Kunitz, Hagelin and Nick Bonino. There were so many saves — and so many attempts that didn’t reach Jones, for that matter — that it was tough to keep track.
Sharks defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic didn’t bother; asked which of Jones’ saves was his favorite, he smiled and said “All 44.”
Hornqvist was responsible for seven of them, many from inches away, so, naturally, he remembered them a little better. “(Jones) was unbelievable,” he said. “He made some saves that I don't think he even thought he made.”
And then there were the ones that he didn’t make, and didn’t need to; Kunitz hit a post on a second-period power play. Seconds later, Kessel managed to hit two on the same shot. Jones was locked in, and when he wasn’t, Pittsburgh’s process — for good as it was, and for as positively as it bodes for Saturday’s Game 6 — didn’t lead to results.
“I feel like there was some pucks there that beat him and didn’t go in,” Crosby said. “I guess if you add everything up maybe that’s the case. But I feel like we still had our chances.”
And if the Penguins get another chance to take their Cup lap at home, it won’t come until Wednesday. At this point, given how good Jones was, the guys on the team and all 20,000 outside should take whatever they can get.
San Jose gets another chance. And if Karlsson enjoyed the role of party-pooper — pity the South Side bartenders, who were in for the tip night of a lifetime — not everyone felt the same.
“You don't come in just to spoil something for the fans,” Sharks (and ex-Penguins) defenseman Paul Martin said. “We came in to get a win for us.”