Understandably, the Sharks want this Stanley Cup run to be
different. So they wore black jerseys in the playoffs for the first
time. They set a franchise record for quickest goal at the start of
a postseason game. And though they needed overtime to do it,
eventually they got the one thing they wanted the most: a 3-2
victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday night that enabled
them to start the postseason with a win for the first time since
2007.
SAN JOSE
Understandably, the Sharks want this Stanley Cup run to be different.
So they wore black jerseys in the playoffs for the first time. They set a franchise record for quickest goal at the start of a postseason game. And though they needed overtime to do it, eventually they got the one thing they wanted the most: a 3-2 victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday night that enabled them to start the postseason with a win for the first time since 2007.
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“We’re trying to get to four wins in this series,” said Joe Pavelski, who scored the game-winner at 14:44 of the extra period. “You have to get the first one, and we’re definitely on our toes a little bit more now. Whatever jitters, we got out.”
Pavelski already has a well-earned reputation for playoff heroics, having led San Jose in scoring a year ago. This was the third postseason overtime goal of his career, and it came on a play that started when Ryane Clowe stripped the puck from Kings forward Wayne Simmonds.
Clowe, in fact, thought he might be the one taking the shot as the play developed, but Kyle Wellwood opted for Pavelski, who was trailing on the play as all three Sharks headed down the ice.
“I had no idea Pavs was up in the play,” said Clowe, who was heading at full speed down the ice, ahead of Wellwood. “I thought I could get in on a clear break, but obviously Welly made the right play. That was a great shot.”
Dany Heatley and Logan Couture scored in regulation for the Sharks, who had to play with only five defensemen after Ian White was driven into the boards by Kings forward Jarret Stoll in the final minute of the first period and did not return.
Los Angeles got its goals off the sticks of forwards Dustin Brown and Justin Williams, who was playing his first game after missing nine with a shoulder injury. Goalie Antti Niemi stopped 33 other shots to earn the win as he attempts to become the first goalie to win back-to-back Stanley Cups with different teams.
Poor postseason openers have plagued the Sharks the past three Aprils as they dropped games to the Calgary Flames in 2008, the Anaheim Ducks in 2009 and the Colorado Avalanche in 2010 — all on home ice.
Which is why a fast start is what San Jose had to be hoping for — and it got just that on the game’s first shift when White set up Clowe for a shot from the left faceoff circle and Heatley scooped the rebound past goalie Jonathan Quick just 28 seconds into the game — 10 seconds earlier than their previous record set by Jonathan Cheechoo against Detroit on April 28, 2007.
Los Angeles got a power-play goal from Brown at 7:25 of the second period to tie the game, but Couture gave the Sharks their second lead a little less than three minutes later when he eluded a hip check from childhood friend Drew Doughty and found a gap between Quick’s pads.
That disappeared at 16:20 of the second period when the Sharks’ defense was pursuing Ryan Smyth behind the net and the puck squirted to Williams, who tucked the puck just past the post before Niemi could slide over to close the gap.
Both goalies came up with big saves in the third period, Niemi holding his ground when Kings forward Kyle Clifford crashed the net and Quick stopping a shot by Devin Setoguchi while the Sharks were applying pressure.
Sharks coach Todd McLellan was not happy with the hit by Stoll, suggesting that the league may decide on supplementary discipline even though no penalty was called on the play.
“It was disappointing that it was missed on the ice,” the coach said, “but it’s in somebody else’s hands now, and the league takes it very seriously.”
McLellan didn’t provide specifics on the injury.
— Story by David Pollak, San Jose Mercury News
