Tuesday
Sharks vs. Penguins: Stanley Cup Final Game 1 Live Blog
11:05 p.m. ET: And here is the shot attempts chart from War on Ice. As you can tell, the Penguins pulled away at the end, and it showed with their late game-winner.
11:00 p.m. ET: Here is the final boxscore from Pittsburgh's Game 1 win over the Sharks.
10:54 p.m. ET: Game 1 hero Nick Bonino spoke with NHL on NBC's Pierre McGuire on the win.
"We can't expect it to be easy. They're the best team in the West. It's going to be hard every period," he said.
10:53 p.m. ET: The Penguins take Game 1, 3-2. This could be a classic series. What a phenomenal game with back-and-forth action along with drama.
10:51 p.m. ET: The Sharks get a power play almost right after that Bonino goal. Great chance for San Jose.
10:49 p.m. ET: Kris Letang to Nick Bonino in front, perfect shot by Boninio. It's now 3-2 Penguins at the 17:27 mark of the third. Brent Burns broke his stick on the play, which opened up the passing lane.
10:44 p.m. ET: Sharks goaltender Martin Jones has been excellent this game. He made a brilliant save on Patric Hornqvist and then a secondary chance on Sidney Crosby. He has made 35 saves on 37 shots on goal so far.
10:37 p.m. ET: Rust has reportedly left the Penguins' bench again. Tough loss for Pittsburgh for an important player on Evgeni Malkin's line.
10:31 p.m. ET: NBC's Pierre McGuire reported Bryan Rust went to the "dark room" to make sure no head injury was suffered after the Patrick Marleau hit.
10:24 p.m. ET: Patrick Marleau gets two minutes after a sholder check to the head area of Bryan Rust. Call is illegal check to the head. Marleau isn't a dirty player, but he definitely hit Rust's head with that check. Video showed trainer talking to Rust on the bench.
10:18 p.m. ET: The third period is about to start. What type of adjustments should the Penguins make to combat the Sharks' strong second period?
10:08 p.m. ET: According to Sportsnet Stats, Patrick Marleau has the most postseason goals since 1997-98. He has 65 including one in Game 1. As Wysh pointed out earlier, this was his first Stanley Cup Final goal.
10:06 p.m. ET: In case you missed it, Joe Thornton got a little feisty on Evgeni Malkin in that second period. No penalties were called on this play.
10:04 p.m. ET: Here is the puck possession flow chart through two periods.
10:02 p.m. ET: This is NHL game No. 1,577 for Patrick Marleau. That that was his first Stanley Cup Final point, in his first Stanley Cup Final game. - WYSH
10 p.m. ET: End of two periods. Here is the boxscore!
9:58 p.m. ET: With 1:08 left in the second, the Penguins get a power play. Trip by Joe Pavelski. He slammed his stick on the ice. Was not happy about it.
9:54 p.m. ET: Brent Burns rips a shot toward the net off a feed from Logan Couture. Patrick Marleau corrals the rebound and wraps it around on Matt Murray. It's now 2-2 with under two minutes to go in the first period.
9:53 p.m. ET: "Joe Thornton with that magnificent beard from the Charles Dickens era" - Doc Emrick
9:47 p.m. ET: Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown is at Consol Energy Center to cheer on the Penguins. First in-arena celebrity sighting of the Final!
9:43 p.m. ET: NBC's Pierre McGuire just asked Sharks coach Peter DeBoer about why his team has played better in the second period.
"First period a little bit of nerves," DeBoer said. "We just regrouped after the group and wanted to throw our best game at them. That’s what we’re doing right now."
9:36 p.m. ET: Sharks are playing a much better second period. Here is the shot attempts flow chart from War on Ice. Notice the teal line creeping up.
9:32 p.m. ET: Here’s the Brent Burns play that set up the Hertl goal. This and that backcheck he had before, and Burns is alone atop the “Sharks playing a solid complete Game 1” leaderboard. - WYSH
9:24 p.m. ET: The Penguins learn the hard way that you can't put the Sharks on the power play. Tomas Hertl is lethal in front of the net. 2-1 Penguins at the 16:58 of the second period. Nice jam play in front off Matt Murray's stick.
9:21 p.m. ET: The Sharks will go to their first power play. Drawn by Melker Karlsson. It's on Ian Cole. San Jose's power play has been lethal this postseason.
9:18 p.m. ET: The second period has started! Patrick Marleau fires wide on a scoring chance 2-on-1.
9:17 p.m. ET: One last look about how the Sharks got dominated in the first period of Game 1.
9:15 p.m. ET: Another note on the Penguins' dominance that period:
9:09 p.m. ET: NBC showing a piece on how Sidney Crosby has matured. Clearly that's tha narrative they're pushing. Before the game Keith Jones pointed out how Crosby does less jawing to referees and at opponents.
9:04 p.m. ET: Our own Jen Neale points out some photoshop action on the NBC broadcast.
9:01 p.m. ET: End of one period, score is 2-0 in favor of the Penguins. Here are your stats for that frame. Also, total shot attempts are 27-14 in favor of the Penguins.
8:52 p.m. ET: Incredible speed shift by the Penguins. Carl Hagelin with a breakaway and was defended by Brent Burns. Then Phil Kessel and Nick Bonino both had chances and Jones made the saves. Shots are 14-4 in favor of Pittsburgh.
8:48 p.m. ET: Sidney Crosby wins a foot race down the ice, finds Conor Sheary and it's 2-0 Penguins at the 13:48 mark of the first. Marc-Edouard Vlasic was again on ice for San Jose. He's now a minus-2 this game.
8:46 p.m. ET: Bryan Rust gets the first goal of the Stanley Cup Final. Penguins up 1-0 at the 12:46 mark of the first period. Marc-Edouard Vlasic on ice for the Sharks. You don't see a lot of goals scored with Vlasic on the ice.
8:45 p.m. ET: The Penguins had their first power play and didn't score. Dangerous moments but no dice. Shots are 7-2 in favor of Pitt. Here's the high sticking penalty by Dainius Zubrus.
8:41 p.m. ET: I'd estimate there are less than 100 Sharks fans here, based on their jerseys and my eyeballs. - WYSH
8:37 p.m. ET: Max Talbot is in the house as a fan:
Very long, very loud ovation for him, as he swung the Penguins' rally towel. -WYSH
8:34 p.m. ET: A terrifying moment for Sharks fans:
And then relief
8:32 p.m. ET: Some nice back and forth action between the Sharks and Penguins. Sidney Crosby's line had a few good chances, and then Nick Spaling had an open shot on Matt Murray. Both young goaltenders have been tested and are holding up early on in a pressure packed situation.
8:30 p.m. ET: Strong start for the Sharks. They've gone 5-for-5 on faceoffs and Brenden Dillon crushed Evgeni Malkin behind their net. Statement moment perhaps by Dillon?
8:20 p.m. ET: Hockey players love to kick around soccer balls before games in the basements of arenas. Sometimes the soccer balls get stuck in various objects.
8:09 p.m. ET: Before Game 1, NBC did a piece on the best beard for the Sharks between Joe Thornton and Brent Burns. We did our take on beards earlier. Seems like Thornton got the most votes.
8 p.m. ET: Welcome to Puck Daddy's Stanley Cup Final Live Blog for Game 1 between the San Jose Sharks and Pittsburgh Penguins! Make sure to check back over the course of the game as we keep you updated with all the news and happenings on the ice and off the ice around the game.
We'll start out with Greg Wyshynski and Sean Leahy talking about Game 1.
Also here's Brent Burns walking into Consol Energy Center.
Enjoy Game 1, everyone! And here are our predictions for the Final.
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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @joshuacooper
Is Randy Carlyle a serious candidate for the Ducks' head coaching job?
The Anaheim Ducks will take a look backwards in order to try to take a step forward.
According to TSN’s Darren Dreger, the Ducks will meet with former coach Randy Carlyle about replacing Bruce Boudreau as the team’s head coach. The Ducks replaced Carlyle in 2011 with Boudreau and Boudreau was fired at the end of April.
The 60-year-old Carlyle led the Ducks to their only Stanley Cup championship, when they beat the Ottawa Senators in five games in 2007. He held a 230-155-49 overall record with Anaheim and a 27-19 postseason record.
The decision to look at Carlyle could be seen as controversial, considering his recent coaching past.
He’s considered an old-school disciplinarian who hasn’t meshed well with hockey’s analytics movement. The latter was often pointed out during Carlyle’s time with the Toronto Maple Leafs where he had a 91-78-19 record and led the group to one playoff appearance.
Despite some of his on-ice accomplishments, his struggles with analytics became a major part of his narrative and could be a reason why he’s yet to land a job since being fired early in 2015.
A story from May of 2014 from Sportsnet explained how Carlyle’s underlying numbers from his systems weren’t great, especially in comparison to Boudreau.
When Boudreau replaced Carlyle in Anaheim, the Ducks Corsi% got about 4.5 percent better. When Carlyle replaced Wilson in Toronto, the Maple Leafs’ Corsi% got about 4.5 percent worse.
While, 4.5 percent may not seem like a lot, it’s actually a massive swing.
When Anaheim Ducks general manager Bob Murray fired Boudreau he was asked about trying to find someone opposite of Boudreau, who was known as one of the more easygoing coaches in the NHL. Murray seemed to chafe at the idea of someone like Carlyle, without naming names.
“You cannot do what the old guys did in the old days. I don’t think you can, and I even think some of those guys that are older that are still coaching in this league, that are good, have changed their ways somewhat to deal with the new modern athlete,” Murray said. “There’s a bunch of guys out there. This is a huge choice for us. We’re going to take our time; do all our homework.”
Murray praised Jon Cooper with the Tampa Bay Lightning as the type of coach who is perfect for today’s day and age. But really guys like Cooper are few and far between.
Cooper never played in the NHL and went to Hofstra undergrad and Thomas M. Cooley Law School in Lansing, Michigan. He’s a hockey coach, but not a hockey lifer.
The Ducks have also reportedly interviewed former Minnesota Wild coach Mike Yeo and Utica Comets coach Travis Green, who made the Calder Cup Final last season. Green has also reportedly been interviewed by the Calgary Flames. He falls under the ‘Jon Cooper’ mold as up-and-coming coach, but unlike Cooper is a former NHL player with 970 career games.
Maybe being fired twice since 2011 has humbled Carlyle to a degree to where he’s one of those coaches who, as Murray said, has “changed their ways” for today’s hockey player.
One of Boudreau’s supposed faults was the belief that he struggled behind the bench in the face of pressure, which was considered in part why Anaheim lost four straight Game 7s on home ice. Carlyle’s strength is considered his management of his team’s bench, according to TSN’s Gary Lawless last October.
Carlyle isn't easy on an organization. He likes things done a certain way and there's no grey area. It's either right or it's wrong and there's hell to pay when it's the latter. From the training staff to the players to the P.R. department, he can be thorny.
He demands a high standard of everyone involved and he's not much of a politician. He can be caustic and cutting.
But there aren't many better bench managers in the game. Carlyle knows how to handle a veteran group and how to get the most out of a lineup.
The LA Daily news pointed out why Carlyle seemed to wear out his welcome near the end of his time in Anaheim, which could point to this being a poor fit.
While it became clear at the end of his six-year-plus run that the Ducks, in particular top players Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry, had grown tired of Carlyle and needed a more player-friendly coach, Carlyle’s prodding in the early days pushed a talented team over the top in 2007.
Negatives would be that his demanding ways wear on a team over time and that his dump-and-chase style of hockey goes against an NHL that is increasingly about puck possession, with teams using more analytics to shape their rosters and systems.
The Ducks’ next coach will a ready-made championship contender in 2016-17. Anaheim has some decisions to make with their goaltenders, such as trading pending restricted free agents Frederik Andersen, and whether they should keep some of their defensemen.
But those choices are being forced mostly out of organizational depth created by Murray. While there have been questions about the Ducks’ leadership of late, the Western Conference Champion San Jose Sharks have proved that re-finding the path with your core can sometimes trump major changes. Before the season the Ducks were a Cup favorite.
Anaheim still has these important pieces, but in order to figure out how to use them properly, the need the right coach. Do they really think Carlyle is that guy? The answer will come soon.
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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @joshuacooper
UFC fighter unharmed after getting caught up in robbery shootout in Peru
UFC women’s bantamweight Valentina Shevchenko and her trainer, Pavel Fedotov, were caught in middle of a shootout during a robbery at a restaurant in Peru that resulted in Fedotov being hit by gunfire and taken to the emergency room.
The shootout took place during a robbery attempt at the restaurant in the Chorrilos distract of Lima, Peru, and was captured by security cameras. According to Peru’s El Comercio, three armed individuals entered the restaurant on Sunday evening and demanded employees and patrons to hand over their belongings, which included cash, cell phones, purses and wallets.
There were conflicting reports as to how the shootout started. El Comercio initially reported that Fedotov started firing at the assailants when they were trying to escape. However, FPP reported that Fedotov pulled out his gun and fired after the robbers started firing their weapons, injuring a female customer in the process. Another restaurant patron also reportedly engaged in the shootout that led to more than 15 shots fired.
One of the robbers ended up dead just outside the restaurant while the other two managed to flee from the scene. Both the female customer and Fedotov are expected to recover. Fedotov remains at the Casimiro Ulloa hospital.
The restaurant owner stated that it was the sixth time this particular location had been robbed and the security cameras were installed due to situations such as this.
Shevchenko, who is slated to face former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Holly Holm in the main event of a UFC Fight Night card on July 23, can be seen in the security footage rushing to the aid of her trainer after the gunfire ceased. Although she is originally from Kyrgyzstan, Shevchenko and Fedotov relocated to Peru back in 2008.
Sharks happy to get Game 1 out of the way
PITTSBURGH – You’re always nervous your first time.
Those awkward moments of discovery. Making inexperienced mistakes. Being unable to contain neither your enthusiasm nor your anxiety. And knowing that, in the end, the second time is going to be much more rewarding.
Such was Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final for the San Jose Sharks, as all but three players were in their first championship-round game.
“It was good to get it out of the way,” said winger Joel Ward. “We had a couple of mistakes, couple of turnovers. Which is uncharacteristic for this squad."
The Sharks couldn’t handle the forechecking pressure by the Penguins in the first period, getting pinned in their zone and giving up two goals. They found their footing in the second, eventually tied the game, but lost 3-2 on a late Nick Bonino goal.
So now they’ll do what the Sharks have done best in these playoffs: Adjust, respond and rally, having gone 5-1 after losses.
“It’s a veteran group. I don’t know. In the playoffs, if you lose, you gotta win the next game,” said defenseman Brent Burns. “Coaches go through what you did wrong. You fix it.”
What needs to be fixed? Chiefly, the Sharks have to find a way to control the pace, puck and tempo as they did in the second period.
“When we got the puck in deep, we forechecked and got a better result. We’re looking forward to continuing with that,” said Ward. “As a group, we’ve been in this territory before. We know what we can do.”
To that end, coach Peter DeBoer said it was less about what the Penguins bring in Game 2 that how the Sharks execute. “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. They did it for longer than we did, and they won,” he said.
You’re not always confident your first time. That’s why it’s your first time.
Your second time? There’s always a bit more confidence.
“They’re a great team, but we gave them a lot. Made them a look a little better than what they can be,” said Burns.
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Greg Wyshynski is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at [email protected] or find him on Twitter. His book, TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE PUCK, is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.
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Puck Lists: The 10 biggest World Cup of Hockey snubs
(As the NCAA hockey season is done, our own Ryan Lambert needed something on which to opine. Say hello to a special Tuesday series from yer boy RL, PUCK LISTS, in which he arbitrarily lists hockey things.)
10. Alex Galchenyuk
The 23-and-under North American forward group is as purely talented as just about any other team in the tournament. Peter Chiarelli and Stan Bowman were always going to end up leaving someone good at home. And while Max Domi, Boone Jenner, and maybe one or two other young scorers in the league may seem like snubs, it's tough to argue that a guy who scored 50 goals in the last two seasons — and 30 this year — doesn't deserve to crack the roster.
If you're putting together a list of 23-and-under North Americans, the number who have netted at least that many goals since the start of last season is quite small: Sean Monahan (made it), Johnny Gaudreau (made it), Brandon Saad (made it), Alex Galchenyuk (didn't make it). More recently, only Saad, Galchenyuk, Gaudreau, and Boone Jenner (also didn't make it) cleared 30 this season.
Again, it's tough to say who you leave off from this group. Maybe J.T. Miller or Dylan Larkin, both of whom were named to the initial roster back in March. But other than that you're in tough to find someone even a player as talented as Galchenyuk should have supplanted. The four additions up front were Jonathan Drouin, Auston Matthews, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and Mark Scheifele.
9. Justin Faulk
This isn't exactly the biggest snub on the U.S. blue line, nor is it even close to the biggest snub on the U.S. roster overall, but this is still a strange move.
Well, I mean, strange insofar as Justin Faulk is undoubtedly one of the eight best American-born defensemen currently over the age of 24. Not strange as it relates to the U.S. roster selection overall, which is abysmal beyond language. That in itself is strange but perfectly expected given who had a hand in the decision-making process (Brian Burke) and who's coaching the team (John Tortorella).
One might have thought that Dean Lombardi, the man who brought a binder to before-Sochi meetings advocating for Keith Yandle (at the time the best offensive defenseman America had to offer), would have been able to put aside the American predisposition toward bringing in players to fill specific roles rather than asking actual talented players to fill those roles. That is how successful teams put together rosters at the international level. Picking players like the people in charge of the U.S. team is a good way to finish very poorly. Say, Sochi-level poorly.
Will it surprise you to learn that three other American players are on this list as well?
8. Tyler Johnson
Oh, here's another one now. Johnson had something of a down regular season, with only 14 goals and 38 points. A lot of players on the Lightning frankly didn't have particularly good regular seasons, offensively speaking. Nikita Kucherov led the team in scoring with just 66 points. But Johnson was a point-a-game player in the postseason and scored 71 points last year.
It's almost like he's really good.
And again, if you're bringing Brandon Dubinsky and Ryan Callahan instead of Johnson, fair enough. You're looking for something different — something fundamentally wrong — from your roster selections. But this is a guy with 40 points in 43 playoff games over the last two seasons, and that is (or at least should be) something that even the staunchest of Old School Hockey Guys value. He shows up when the games matter most, or something?
This, and every other U.S. snub, seems to be a case where management had to talk itself out of bringing Player X because he doesn't do a thing Player Y does in his own zone, theoretically. Of course Player Y can't put the puck in the net, but given that the foundation of every U.S. medal in the history of international play is built on “unsustainably hot goaltending in a short tournament,” I guess who cares?
7. Kevin Shattenkirk
I went on Edmonton radio to discuss World Cup rosters soon after they were announced I advanced the idea that Shattenkirk was arguably as good as or better than Alex Pietrangelo, a teammate who made the deeper Canadian D corps (I doubt the Canadians would have taken one blue liner the U.S. did).
My position here is borne out by WAR and other metrics over the last few years, but there is the still-pervasive idea that if defenders are not provable “shutdown guys” they are of lesser value, even if the ability to drive offense — which Shattenkirk does very well — outweighs the other player's ability to shut down others.
I mean that doesn't begin to explain the Jack Johnson selection but okay sure. Shattenkirk is a defenseman whose value is derived mostly from his offense. Given how this team is designed, it's a dumb move that should have the people who made it thrown in jail, but you see where they're coming from.
6. Kyle Okposo
Take all the stuff I said about Tyler Johnson and apply it here. Now pretend I said it about a guy who had an awesome regular season (22-42-64) in addition to a good-but-not-great playoff and so forth. Just doesn't make sense.
5. John Klingberg
At least we know now that it's not just the Americans who make bad decisions on defense.
Sweden initially named six players to their blue line, a lot more than Canada, the U.S., and others. This is largely because the Swedish blue line is the best in the tournament by a decent margin, and there's a pretty clear top-six there overall. Of course, Klingberg should be in it, but instead they brought... Niklas Kronwall(???).
To say Kronwall is “past it” undersells things considerably. His impact is marginal if not negative. Meanwhile, Klingberg is awesome and trending up. He and Hampus Lindholm should be on this team, even ahead of Mattias Ekholm, the last addition who is good. But Lindholm asked out due to injury, so fair enough. Leaving Klingberg off is a borderline-criminal act.
4. Kris Letang
See above about Klingberg. I just don't get it except Canada obviously wanted a better mix of left- and right-shot D than adding Letang would have provided. But I dunno, Jake Muzzin and Shea Weber are very clearly not better than Letang, and while it probably doesn't matter because they're going to win anyway, it's still a dopey move.
3. Taylor Hall
The kid is the third- or fourth-best left wing alive (depending on how you feel about Brad Marchand, who is also third- or fourth-best depending on how you feel about Taylor Hall) and certainly among the top-three for Canadians. Only Jamie Benn is clearly above both.
So they added Marchand, which is fair enough. But Claude Giroux playing out of position — he's not getting a center spot, full stop — has less value than Taylor Hall. Hell, Claude Giroux playing in position probably has less value than Hall. Canada is so deep at center that this is what's going to happen time and again: Super-talented wings just get pushed off the roster because there are even more talented centers from there.
But in this case, there aren't too many players alive who are more talented than Hall, so Canada made a clear mistake here.
Look, my feelings on Philip Joseph Kessel, Jr., are pretty clear by now but only 12 players have more goals in the last three seasons than Kessel's 88. Only two of those players are American. And he's ninth in points among all players with at least 80 goals in the same stretch. Only two Americans are ahead of him there as well.
Not to put too much credence into a Steve Simmons take, but the idea — if it's truly out there — that American players were blaming Kessel for the subpar Sochi performance is just about the stupidest [expletive]ing thing I've ever heard in my life. He had five goals, to lead not only the U.S., but the entire tournament. He had eight points, to lead not only the U.S., but the entire tournament.
So the idea that Kessel was in any way a drag on the team is ludicrous to the point that it's not worth discussing. Or at least wouldn't be if it didn't seem like the people picking the U.S. roster didn't 100 percent buy into it. This is a world-class player and his teammates in Pittsburgh seem to like him very much. He's currently tied for the top spot in Vegas's Conn Smythe odds because he's shredding the postseason.
But hey, maybe the hot dog story was true, right? Can't take that kind of chance.
1. P.K. Subban
I mean jeez. What else is there even left to say? One of the, what, three best defenders on the planet? And even if you don't rate him that highly, there's no way you have him outside the top five. But Canada found at least seven better than him from one country? Yeah, okay, sure.
Ryan Lambert is a Puck Daddy columnist. His email is here and his Twitter is here
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Sharks’ Justin Braun mourns loss of father-in-law Tom Lysiak
PITTSBURGH – Monday was one of the greatest days of Justin Braun’s life. It was Game 1 of his first Stanley Cup Final, playing for the San Jose Sharks against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
For his family, however, it was one of the saddest days: Tom Lysiak, the former NHL center with the Atlanta Flames and the Chicago Blackhawks, died at 63 after a prolonged battle with leukemia. He was diagnosed three years ago.
As Jessie Lysiak Braun announced:
Lysiak was a gritty character in the game, and arguably the finest player in the Flames’ history in Atlanta, making three NHL All-Star Games. Perhaps most infamously, he was suspended for 20 games for tripping Ron Foyt during a game against the Hartford Whalers.
But that was only one side of Lysiak.
"He was great; full of life," Braun said after the Sharks’ Game 1 loss, via NHL.com. "Loved to hang out with the boys, hearing about the hockey days when he played. He was just one of the guys, loved hanging out. [He] was a great husband, a great father; was great to me, welcomed me into the family. It was a tough day."
The Sharks knew it was a tough day, and were impressed with how Braun kept it together.
“It’s a tough situation,” said coach Peter DeBoer. “To Justin’s credit, he was business as usual. He’s made some arrangements for after Game 2 to pay his respects, do what he has to do on that end.
“[As a coach] there’s not much you can do. You feel for him. He went out there. He battled for us. And we all appreciated it.”
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Greg Wyshynski is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at [email protected] or find him on Twitter. His book, TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE PUCK, is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.
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Nick Bonino has always had a knack for coming up big
PITTSBURGH -- Nick Bonino has gotten used to moving in the summertime. Traded from Anaheim to Vancouver to Pittsburgh since 2014, the Penguins forward may finally be able to relax this off-season.
After coming over in a July trade, the 28-year-old Bonino has found a home on one of the postseason's top lines and probably won't have to worry about settling into another new zip code this summer.
“I enjoy the guys, enjoy the team," he said after Game 1. "Organization is first class.”
As the ‘B’ in the popular HBK line, Bonino has found a knack of being in right place at the time, an ability that goes back to a Connecticut state high school title game in 2005.
A magical 2004-05 season for Farmington High School saw Bonino, then a junior, score 68 goals, including the double overtime winner in the state title game. The Indians were down 3-0 at one point, but the future NHLer wouldn’t let his team go down in defeat. He would score twice and assist on another goal during a five-minute span before heading into overtime.
Four years later, Bonino’s magic touch continued in college.
Miami University was ready to celebrate a national championship up 3-1 against Boston University with 3:32 left in the third period. The RedHawks faithful at Verizon Center in Washington D.C. were waiting in anticipation for the clock to tick down, each second moving slower and slower. But then Bonino would win an offensive draw, which led to a Terriers goal, cutting the lead to one with one minute left.
Seventeen seconds later, there was Bonino again in the right place at the right time firing the tying goal by Miami netminder Cody Reichard, stunning everyone watching and forcing overtime, where Colby Cohen would end up scoring the title-winning goal.
Seven years later and playing for another championship, Bonino hasn't stopped producing during important situations, with his latest performance helping the Penguins take Game 1 over the San Jose Sharks.
But let’s go back three weeks to Round 2 and overtime of Game 6 with Pittsburgh looking to eliminate the Washington Capitals. The puck is in the corner on Phil Kessel’s stick in the offensive zone. There’s Bonino going right to the front of Braden Holtby’s net, so when Carl Hagelin’s shot is denied by a pad the Penguins center is ready to stuff it home to send the CONSOL Energy Center crowd into euphoria.
It’s no surprise then that as the Penguins and Sharks were tied at two with under three minutes to go in Game 1 Monday night, Bonino snuck behind an unaware Paul Martin to station himself in perfect position to corral Kris Letang’s pass from the corner and flip the puck over Martin Jones’ blocker for the winning goal.
Just look at his celebration; it's old hat for him now.
“It's one of those shots that wasn't my hardest shot by any means, but just found a way to kind of flip it over him,” Bonino said.
He’s not a guy who’s only scored big goals for the Penguins. Bonino also has earned the confidence of his coaches while fulfilling his responsibilities on both special teams units.
“I think he's a guy that has a real high hockey IQ, sees the ice really well. He has real good hands,” said Penguins coach Mike Sullivan. “His awareness defensively I think, the use of his stick to take passing lanes away, it's impressive. He's brave. He blocks shots. He's one of our better shot-blockers. He's a good faceoff guy.
“He's done so much for this team to help us get to this point. I don't know what other praise I can shower on him right now. We think he's a terrific player.”
After going 73 games this season without a game-winning goal, Bonino now has a pair of big ones in a nine-game span. Of his 12 career playoffs goals, three have come in overtime, including a series-clincher for the Ducks in Game 6 over the Dallas Stars in 2014.
Right place. Right time. Right mind frame.
“I think the biggest thing for me is to stay even-keeled, not change my game, whether it's game one of the season or the Stanley Cup Final,” he said. “I think that allows me to kind of stay in the moment there.
“When you get passes like I've gotten, pucks to the net like Haggy did, the pass tonight from Tanger, it makes it a whole lot easier to score those goals.”
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Sean Leahy is the associate editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Sean_Leahy
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Marek Vs. Wyshynski Podcast: Breaking down Stanley Cup Final Game 1
It's a new edition of MAREK VS. WYSHYNSKI, and we're talking about:
- Wysh and Marek are reunited, and it feels so good!
- Breaking down Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final.
- The Patrick Marleau head-shot and no suspension.
- Marek visits the Sutter Family farm.
- News and notes from around the NHL.
The Marek vs. Wyshynski Podcast is hosted by Jeff Marek of Sportsnet and Greg Wyshynski of Yahoo Sports, breaking down the NHL on a (somewhat) daily basis with their particular brand of whimsy and with guest voices from around the hockey world. MvsW streams live while its being recorded: LISTEN HERE! [And if that doesn't work, try here.]
GET MAREK VS. WYSHYNSKI T-SHIRTS HERE! PROCEEDS GO TO HOCKEY FIGHTS CANCER!
The Bonino difference; San Jose's nerves (Puck Headlines)
Here are your Puck Headlines: A glorious collection of news and views collected from the greatest blogosphere in sports and the few, the proud, the mainstream hockey media. Have a link you want to submit? Email us at [email protected].
• Quite the face paint job for Game 1. [Getty]
• Pittsburgh Penguins forward Nick Bonino scores goals at the right moments: “Bonino previously scored two series-clinching overtime goals. He had one in 2014 for the Ducks against the Stars and one against the Capitals in the second round this postseason.”[ESPN]
• How Bonino was the difference for the Penguins against the San Jose Sharks in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final. [TSN]
• If Game 1 was any indication, this Penguins/Sharks Stanley Cup Final is sure to thrill the hockey world. [Sportsnet]
• Penguins rookie goaltender Matt Murray came up big in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final. [Pittsburgh Tribune-Review]
• Sending defenseman Kris Letang on the attack has opened up the Pittsburgh offense in the Mike Sullivan era. [Pensburgh]
• The goals from the Penguins in Game 1 came from unlikely sources – in true team fashion. [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]
• The San Jose Sharks showed palpable nerves in their loss to the Penguins in Game 1. It was the first Cup Final appearance for many players on the team. [CSN Bay Area]
• The Sharks have time to digest what they did wrong in the first period of Game 1 and correct their problems for Game 2. [San Jose Mercury News]
• What do the Sharks need to do to win Game 2? Here’s an interesting side note on Game 1: “The third line played a poor game overall, for that matter. Chris Tierney finished with a game-worst -10 corsi differential at even strength while Joel Ward (-9) and Melker Karlsson (-8) didn't fare much better. That held true for the fourth line as well and both Justin Braun and Marc-Edouard Vlasic finished as negative possession players after the night ended.” [Fear the Fin]
• Five questions with longtime Penguins play-by-play broadcaster Mike Lange. [NHL]
• Former Pittsburgh forward Pascal Dupuis tried to pump up his team for the Stanley Cup Final. Dupuis had to retire unexpectedly this year because of a blood clot. [Players’ Tribune]
• New York Rangers assistant coach Ulf Samuelsson was reportedly hired by the Carolina Hurricanes to coach the Charlotte Checkers. [Blueshirt Banter]
• The St. Louis Blues face pressing decisions with their roster this summer. [Post-Dispatch]
• Why the Blues need to keep captain David Backes for next season: “He is the Blues version of Albert Pujols. The face of the franchise. The person you associate with a team. Take away the World Series championships and the elite status of Pujols in the Majors and just think about the emotional value to the city. Backes has played 10 years with Blues and is 32 years old(right around the same age and tenure as Pujols).” [St. Louis Gametime]
• Philadelphia Flyers great Rick MacLeish died Tuesday after battling illness for several weeks. [Cherry Hill Courier-Post]
• Will St. Louis Blues forward Troy Brouwer sign with the Vancouver Canucks? He’s a pending unrestricted free agent and is from Vancouver. He recently talked about the topic on local radio. [The Canuck Way]
• Where does 2015 first-round draft pick Mitch Marner fit with the Toronto Maple Leafs next season? Marner just finished the Memorial Cup with the London Knights. [Today's Slapshot]
• The Boston Pride and the New York Riveters of the National Women's Hockey League (NWHL) have signed goaltender Brittany Ott (University of Maine) and forward Beth Hanrahan, [NWHL]
• A compelling encounter with an enthusiastic young fan planted the seed for Toledo Walleye forward Evan Rankin to help organize a fantasy hockey camp for players with developmental disabilities. [Toledo Blade]
• On Joel Ward saying the NHL should retire Willie O’Ree’s number and what O’Ree means to current NHL players. [Color of Hockey]
• NHL digital head Chris Foster on how the league is using the cloud to deliver ‘enhanced stats’ and a better fan experience. [IT World Canada]
• The Dallas Stars should have salary cap space to work with this summer if they want to improve their roster. [Defending Big D]
• Offseason fantasy outlook for the Detroit Red Wings and Flyers. [Dobber Hockey]
• Finally, Actual penguins eating fish out of the Stanley Cup.
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Can Ken Hitchcock get more magic from Blues in final season?
Ken Hitchcock has decided that the rest of his coaching life will be spent signing one-year contracts, like the one he’s agreed on with the St. Louis Blues for the 2016-17 season.
And it turns out that his coaching life has one more year left in it: Hitchcock announced on Tuesday that this will be his last season coaching in the NHL.
"I just feel like I've got this really good year in me. This season has invigorated me like no season before,” he said. "This group of players, their dynamic has changed, and it's really exciting right now."
What we know about Hitchcock is that he’s going to get you regular season success. He’s guided the Blues to the playoffs for five straight seasons, and the last three have been over 100 points each. What we weren’t sure about was whether he could get them over the hump in the postseason; and after three straight opening-round defeats, the Blues finally broke through to the Western Conference Final, where they lost to the San Jose Sharks in six games.
The only question about Hitchcock – and it’s a legitimate one – is about his message, and when it’s worn out.
We assumed it was after the 2014-15 season, but then he comes back and the Blues get to within two wins of the Stanley Cup Final. To hear the players talk about it after the season, it appears that they’ve come to terms with their coach’s approach. From STLToday.com:
(Said David Backes): “There’s certainly times when he gets under your skin and he’s not your best friend. But I don’t know if you want a coach that’s your best friend. You want someone that’s pushing you and always wanting to make you better and make the team better. He fits all those qualities in a coach. Five years together now, I think he’s done one heck of a job.”
Blues defenseman Alex Pietrangelo added: “You aren’t always going to love your boss, right? ‘Hitch’ is a competitor, he knows how to push the right buttons. It’s not easy to accept it in the moment. But when you look back and look at the overall picture now of what he was able to do, obviously he’s doing it for a reason. He’s had success in this league for so long for a reason. Sometimes you don’t always agree with it, but it works.”
So it sounds like they’re still down for his particular brand of tough love.
What’s interesting is that the responsibility for the Blues’ success next season has shifted completely away from Hitchcock onto Doug Armstrong, the general manager.
What does he do with Backes? What does he do with Troy Brouwer? What does he do with Kevin Shattenkirk, who is one year away from a huge next contract? And, in consideration of these decisions, what does he do about their overall team speed that was one decent goaltending performance away from losing to the Dallas Stars and that was overmatched by the San Jose Sharks?
Then, when that’s figured out, Armstrong and Hitchcock can move onto the other big issue with the Blues: Vladimir Tarasenko.
If you read this blog, you know we’re not in the “blame the Russian” business. But there’s plenty of reason to scrutinize his borderline-apathetic performance against the Sharks, including more than a few concerns coming out of St. Louis about his stamina in the postseason. It deserves some attention, this situation.
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Greg Wyshynski is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at [email protected] or find him on Twitter. His book, TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE PUCK, is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.
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Patrick Marleau won’t be suspended for Bryan Rust hit; right call?
Patrick Marleau of the San Jose Sharks will not have a hearing for his hit on Bryan Rust of the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final, and thus will not be suspended by the Department of Player Safety.
Marleau was given a two-minute minor for an illegal check to the head at 4:47 of the third period.
Rust left the game for concussion protocol according to NHL on NBC's Pierre McGuire, then returned to the bench. He played one more shift after that at 8:36 but would not hit the ice again for the rest of the Penguins’ 3-2 win.
"Obviously we lost him for the rest of the period. He's day-to-day with an upper-body injury," Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. "It's a blindside hit to the head. He gets a penalty. I'm sure the league will look at it."
Marleau, obviously, saw it differently and didn’t think the League would suspend him.
“I don’t think so. I kept my shoulder in and elbow in and everything. I just kinda let him skate into me," he said. “I wanted to keep everything down. Didn’t get too up high.”
Was this the right decision by the NHL?
Yes, it was.
There are two things happening on this play, both in Marleau’s favor for exoneration. The first is that he’s delivering a full body check, aiming for the far shoulder of Rust.
For all the hue and cry about the NHL “taking hitting out of the game,” this is one of those situations where they’re not. Head contact was unavoidable on an otherwise full body check, as Marleau goes through Rust’s body on the play. He doesn’t pick the head, doesn’t target the head.
Rule 48 spells it out:
“In determining whether contact with an opponent's head was avoidable, the circumstances of the hit including the following shall be considered: Whether the player attempted to hit squarely through the opponent’s body and the head was not ‘picked’ as a result of poor timing, poor angle of approach, or unnecessary extension of the body upward or outward.”
If you’re looking for precedent, look no further than Dustin Byfuglien’s hit on Brendan Gallagher last November, that didn’t result in a suspension:
So you have Rule 48 in Marleau’s favor and a previous, similar case that didn’t result in a suspension.
Furthermore, Marleau’s sort of right: Rust skates into his nameplate. He hits Rust through his hands at the same time as Rust's head hits Marleau in the upper back.
We never like to see players – especially rookies having marvelous postseasons – injured on a play that involves the head. But not liking the result doesn’t mean the play itself warrants a suspension. This one didn’t, and the NHL Department of Player Safety got it right.
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Greg Wyshynski is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at [email protected] or find him on Twitter. His book, TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE PUCK, is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.
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Bonino, Bonino, Bonino! Hockey Night Punjabi’s viral epic goal call
Harnarayan Singh is the play-by-play voice for Hockey Night In Canada Punjabi, which is thought to be the only regular game coverage of the NHL that’s not in English or French. He’s a national treasure for many reasons, chief among them his creative goal calls. For example, when he somehow worked Nikita Kucherov’s name into the song lyrics of a famous Punjabi song during the Tampa Bay Lightning’s run.
Nick Bonino of the Pittsburgh Penguins is also a favorite of Singh’s. In the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Washington Capitals, the Penguins center scored and Singh just shouted “Bonino, Bonino, Bonino, Bonino, Bonino!” in celebration.
In Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final, Bonino had the game-winning goal with just over two minutes left in regulation against the San Jose Sharks. And Singh didn’t disappoint:
Well that was amazing. "BOOOOOO-NEEEEEEEEE-NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
As these things do, the goal call went viral after the game on social media. And as these things do, they inspired some fans to contribute their own “Bonino, Bonino, Bonino!” goal calls:
And
That Hockey Night In Canada Punjabi exists is one of our favorite things in the NHL, so we’re thrilled to see that crew get the spotlight on the game’s biggest stage.
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Greg Wyshynski is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at [email protected] or find him on Twitter. His book, TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE PUCK, is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.
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Cody Garbrandt flattens Thomas Almeida to remain undefeated
LAS VEGAS – The battle of the UFC’s young and unbeaten knockout artists was no contest.
From the moment the bell rang, Cody Garbrandt was dominant over Thomas Almeida in the main event of their bantamweight fight Sunday at the Mandalay Bay Events Center.
They entered the bout a combined 29-0 and were seen as the future of the 135-pound division. Almeida, who was 21-0, was ranked fourth, though Garbrandt was unranked.
But in racking up his ninth win in as many tries, Garbrandt pretty much guaranteed that he’ll be way up in the rankings when they come out later in the week.
“When the lights are shining, that’s when I’m at my best,” Garbrandt said.
Garbrandt knocked Almeida out with a brutal right cross that sent the Brazilian crashing to the canvas. The super aggressive Garbrandt could have pulled a Mark Hunt and simply walked away, because it was obviously over the moment that right landed.
But Garbrandt was amped and out to make a point and he followed Almeida to the floor before referee “Big” John McCarthy dove in to stop it. The time of the finish was 2:53 of the first.
Almeida was never in the fight. He was backing up from the moment the bell rang and didn’t land, or really throw, anything of consequence.
Garbrandt’s power dictated this fight.
“I’m the hardest hitter in the division and I’ll knock anybody out, [champion] Dominick Cruz or whoever,” Garbrandt said.
Cruz, who fights Garbrandt’s teammate Urijah Faber in the co-main event of UFC 199 on Saturday, is a totally different story.
But Garbrandt proved he belongs with the best of them at 135. He’s got a solid wrestling base, good quickness and heavy hands.
He was clearly irritated that he wasn’t ranked prior to this fight, and noted that Almeida’s record was built on soft opponents. Almeida came into the fight with numerous highlight reel knockouts, and his finish of Anthony Birchak in November is still talked about with reverence.
Garbrandt predicted an early KO and delivered on his promise.
“Can I get some respect now?” he shouted to the media at cageside, hoping to be ranked.
It’s a pretty good bet he’ll get his wish.
Stanley Cup Final Game 1: Puck Daddy's Postgame Awards
(Ed. Note: We're changing things up for the Stanley Cup Finals. Instead of writing Three Stars as we normally do on game night, we'll be handing out some post-game awards.)
First Star: Nick Bonino, Pittsburgh Penguins
With 2:33 to go in the third period and the game tied, Bonino netted the game winning goal. To top it off, he gave the interview of the night with Pierre McGuire. It involved the quote, "... sorry for spitting on you." What a good Connecticut boy!
Worst Star: Marc-Edouard Vlasic, San Jose Sharks
Okay, he wasn't the 'worst,' but he did experience a night that more difficult than he'd experienced in the first three playoff series. For the first time in the entire 2016 playoff run, he was a minus-2 in a game (take that stat for what it's worth to you). He was tasked primarily with shutting down Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. It was a tough night, and something he's probably going to bounce back from in Game 2.
Best pregame speech quote: Pete DeBoer, San Jose Sharks
"We're heavier, we're harder, we're much better looking."
Sharks are going to have to work on being ridiculously good looking for Game 2.
Best Warm Up Shimmy: Brent Burns, San Jose Sharks
First Pittsburgh Pirate honored on broadcast by Doc: Manager Clint Hurdle
This is something friend of the blog and Puck Soup co-host, Dave Lozo, knows all too well. On every broadcast, Mike "Doc" Emrick works in a reference to the Pirates baseball team. Here's is first mention from Game 1.
It came with 13:12 left in the second period. Tomas Hertl put the Sharks on the board minutes earlier. As the broadcast was going to commercial, Doc says, "Tomas Hertl - no relation to the Pirates manager - has made this a 2-1 game."
Best Nightmare fuel: Pierre and Sullivan masks
From the first period coach's interview between Pierre McGuirre and Penguins coach Mike Sullivan with some creepy onlookers.
The 'REALLY PIERRE?!' moment of the night: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Bryan Rust.
Doc reads a promo for the new movie "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows." After he finishes Pierre pipes in, yelling the way he does, "SPEAKING OF OUT OF THE SHADOWS, BRYAN RUST JUST RETURNED FROM THE DARK ROOM."
Rust, who was hit in the head earlier by Patrick Marleau went to the locker room for evaluation. As Pierre ridiculously alluded, Rust returned to the bench. He played one more shift before returning to the locker room for the rest of the game.
REALLY PIERE?! A TMNT movie title seemed like a good transition to you? REALLY?!
Tweet of the Night: From Laura (a.k.a @theactivestick) on Crosby's pass to Conor Sheary for the goal and his famed robust backside.
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Jen Neale is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at [email protected] or follow her on Twitter! Follow @MsJenNeale_PD.
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Monday
Penguins bypass feeling-out process, take Game 1 right at Sharks
PITTSBURGH – The opening period of Game 1 of the 2016 Stanley Cup Final was absent of any sort of typical feeling-out process between teams in the first game of a series. The Pittsburgh Penguins didn’t wait around to see how the San Jose Sharks would react; they took the game directly to their opponents and it led to a 3-2 victory.
The first period ended with a Penguins shot advantage of 15-4 and a 2-0 lead for the home side thanks to goals 1:02 apart from Bryan Rust and Conor Sheary.
Going right at the Sharks was part of the Penguins’ gameplay. Feeding off a sold out CONSOL Energy Center, Pittsburgh dictated the pace and caught the Sharks flat-footed at times by using their speed.
“It’s Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals. There’s always nerves there,” said Sidney Crosby. “I thought we did a good job of just playing and trying to get to our game. It gave us a big boost to get that kind of start.”
“Credit to them, they came out and were moving, like you would expect if you were playing at home in the first game of the Stanley Cup Final,” said Sharks head coach Peter DeBoer. “We stood around and watched a little bit. Didn't get up to speed, didn't get up to pace.”
The Sharks hadn’t seen this Penguins team in person until Monday night. When they last met it was Dec. 1, nearly two weeks before Mike Sullivan replaced Mike Johnston as head coach and the Pittsburgh transformation began.
After building up multi-goal leads several times in these playoffs only to see his players sit back and allow opponents to get back into the game, Sullivan encouraged his players to play fast and fearless in Game 1. He wanted them to consistently take away time and space for the Sharks, which they did. He wanted them to control the tempo, which they did.
Outside of the second period when San Jose took control and evened the score at two, the Penguins followed their coach’s message and it ended with a win.
“When I used the term ‘fearless’ I think that word encompasses a lot of things,” Sullivan said. “Most specifically is let’s not get overwhelmed by the circumstance. Let’s not have any sort of anxiety when we go out there because the stakes are high. Let’s go embrace the moment. Let’s challenge each other to give our best here and let’s have fun with this. I thought our guys did that tonight.”
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Sean Leahy is the associate editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Sean_Leahy
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Sharks baffled by slow start in Game 1 loss to Penguins
PITTSBURGH – The San Jose Sharks had 2,102 regular-season and playoff games to prepare for their first Stanley Cup Final appearance.
And they weren’t ready.
Defenseman Brent Burns called it the Sharks’ “holy [crap] we’re here’ moment. A first period absolutely dominated by the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final. A first period that saw them control puck possession, shot totals and on the scoreboard, building a 2-0 lead.
“We started so slow. I don’t know if it was the long break. It wasn’t pretty in the first period. Nobody can skate. It was slow for us. We played the whole first period in the D-zone, and that’s not out game,” said forward Tomas Hertl.
The Sharks would rally in the second to tie the game, only to lose late in the third period on a Nick Bonino goal, 3-2. But it was the horrific start and getting skated out of the building in the first 20 minutes that was the talk of the dressing room.
Were they nervous?
“Eh, possibly,” said forward Logan Couture. “They came out flying. We looked like we were stuck in mud. Maybe that was it. But this time of year, the games are too big to have a start like that.”
The Penguins’ speed has been their calling card this postseason, and the Sharks saw it firsthand in the opening frame.
We stood around and watched a little bit. Didn't get up to speed, didn't get up to pace,” said coach Pete DeBoer. “We had some spurts here and there. But they played their game for longer stretches than we did tonight. That's what happens. You don't deserve to win when you don't outplay the other team.”
So what happened?
The Penguins swarmed every Sharks player. They preach taking away time and space, and that’s what they did, to the tune of 15 shots on goal to the Sharks’ four. San Jose coughed the puck up with regularity because of that pressure.
“We want to make a few plays a little bit too early in the game, and that was a big part of turning it over,” said captain Joe Pavelski.
“We turned way too many pucks over. Felt like we were giving it away. Giving it right back to them all night. O-zone, D-zone, neutral zone especially. They had a lot of rushes off pucks off of our sticks,” said Couture.
If this sounds familiar for the Sharks, let’s take you back to Game 1 of the Western Conference Final, when the St. Louis Blues outplayed the Sharks in the first period and eventually won a one-goal game. “That’s what was talked about in the first. Come out, have a second period. It felt like the same game, but we didn’t finish it off tonight,” said forward Joe Thornton.
“It's the first game of the series. It reminds me a lot of St. Louis, Game 1. I know we're going to get better. Our execution's got to get better. Part of it was some of the pressure they put on, but part of it was self-inflicted,” said DeBoer.
And it did get better. The Sharks controlled play for stretches of the second period and into the third. They had some things to build on for Game 2. And they’re 5-1 in these playoffs after a loss.
“What you’re going to see is momentum changes. What’s what you saw tonight. They started with it. We took it back. They took it back with that third goal. That’s the game. And it was a good game tonight,” said Thornton.
“We’ll respond. We’ve done it all postseason. We’ll forget about this in 10 minutes and be ready for Game 2."
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Greg Wyshynski is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at [email protected] or find him on Twitter. His book, TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE PUCK, is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.
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