SAN JOSE – After losing the first two games of the Stanley Cup Final in Pittsburgh, the San Jose Sharks didn’t act like a team in trouble.
Coach Peter DeBoer said the Sharks had played better in Game 2 than Game 1 and he fully expected them to be better in Game 3 than they were in Game 2. Wait until we get back to SAP Center seemed to be the Sharks' battle cry.
DeBoer clearly knows his team because the Sharks turned in their best effort of the series to defeat the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-2 on an overtime goal by Joonas Donskoi to cut Pittsburgh’s lead to 2-1 in the best-of-seven NHL championship series. Game 4 will be played Monday in San Jose.
Goalie Martin Jones made 40 saves and Joe Thornton had two assists to help the Sharks raise their postseason record to 8-2 in the Shark Tank.
The Sharks had lost four overtime games in the playoffs before beating the Penguins in Game 3.
The general impression is that the Penguins have dominated the series, but two games have gone to overtime and Game 1 was decided in the final minutes of regulation.
Playing more confidently than they did in Pittsburgh, the Sharks tied the game 2-2 midway through the third period when rookie Pittsburgh goalie Matt Murray muffed San Jose forward Joel Ward’s 41-foot shot from the point.
On the game-winner, the puck leaked through Murray from an odd angle. It was not Murray's best game, even though he also made some important saves.
The Sharks played grittier than they did in the first two games of the series. Their forecheck was better. They didn’t allow the Penguins to move the puck as crisply as they did in the first two games.
One of Pittsburgh’s goals came on a long-range bomb from Ben Lovejoy, and the other came on another Lovejoy long shot that was deflected into the net by Patric Hornqvist.
