This one’s going to a Game 7. The Sharks held 2–0 and 3–2 leads on Monday night but couldn’t finish off the Predators, dropping Game 6 on the road in overtime and setting up a winner-take-all matchup on Thursday in San Jose.
Logan Couture scored what looked like it might be the game-winning goal when, with the score tied 2–2 in the third, a penalty to Miika Salomaki for high-sticking Martin Jones gave the Sharks their first power play of the game. Couture blasted the go-ahead goal past Pekka Rinne, who fell over on the play and left the net wide open.
Laser.#SJSharks #SmashNash pic.twitter.com/Ap4IOTU5FV
— San Jose Sharks (@SanJoseSharks) May 10, 2016
Having already come back from 2–0, the Predators weren’t going to go down without a fight. Once again it was Mike Fisher’s line that did the damage, with Colin Wilson tapping a puck past Martin Jones to tie the game at 3–3. Viktor Arvidsson scored the eventual game-winner in overtime, shooting a puck off of Jones’ arm and into the net.
Pete DeBoer’s lineup changes in Game 5 paid immediate dividends in Game 6, with Chris Tierney’s third line scoring two quick goals. The first goal was scored on a Pavelskian™ tip by Tierney, who raised his stick and deflected Marc-Edouard Vlasic’s shot through traffic into the net. The league took a look at the play to see if Tierney’s stick was above the crossbar but determined that it was a good goal.
A Pavelskian tip from @tierney71.#SJSharks #SJSvsNSH pic.twitter.com/wCbIf55bkH
— San Jose Sharks (@SanJoseSharks) May 10, 2016
Tierney doubled the Sharks’ lead and put everyone on hat trick watch less than two minutes after his first goal. Pekka Rinne mishandled a shot from Brent Burns at the point and the puck went to Matt Nieto, and Tierney was there to clean up Nieto’s rebound for his second goal of the night.
Swoopin in on the rebound for two.#SJSharks #SJSvsNSH pic.twitter.com/9gISUVhZ0Z
— San Jose Sharks (@SanJoseSharks) May 10, 2016
Down 2–0 in an elimination game, it took the Predators only ten minutes to tie things up. They closed to within one before the end of the first on Roman Josi’s first goal of the playoffs, then Ryan Johansen made it 2–2 just 85 seconds into the second with Vlasic and Craig Smith both serving penalties for roughing. With Nashville dominating San Jose territorially, the Sharks were lucky to make it out of the second with a tie, but Jones settled in and made some big saves to keep them in the game and set up an exciting third period and eventually overtime.
Sharks goals (assists): Chris Tierney (Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Tomas Hertl), Chris Tierney (Matt Nieto, Brent Burns), Logan Couture (Brent Burns, Joe Thornton)
[Fancy Stats] – [Predators Reaction] – [TOI Log] – [Event Summary] – [Faceoff Report] – [PBP Log]
Fear the Fin’s Three Stars
2) Colin Wilson
3) Chris Tierney
As many of you know, Fear the Fin is an independent site run by Sharks fans for Sharks fans. Help keep Fear the Fin independent by contributing to our