With the Kings beginning to find their legs in the third period you could feel game seven looming around the corner. And once Jamie McGinn headed to the box for a five minute boarding major at the end of the period, game seven seemed like a foregone conclusion. San Jose was coming home. They were going to be tested at home in another big playoff game.
As it turns out, the Sharks are coming home for a big playoff game. It just won’t be of the elimination type.
Joe Thornton, he of eternal ridicule and endless speculation, put the Sharks into the second round with the game winner 2:22 into overtime. It was the third overtime win for the Sharks in this series. It was the first time they have won three away games in the postseason since 1995 against the Calgary Flames. And while tonight’s win was far from the type of upsets we bore witness to in the mid-90’s, the Sharks tonight showed the type of perseverance associated with those teams. A five minute penalty kill, especially with the Sharks shorthanded unit struggling down the stretch, is no small feat. It was a defining moment for San Jose, and potentially a defining moment in the story of this Sharks postseason.
Tonight, the Sharks advance to the second round.
Tonight, they are four wins down and have twelve to go.
Tonight is only the beginning.
God Save Us All.
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