Penguins: Celebration on Hold as Sharks Steal Game 5
By Jason Zemcik
The Penguins’ Stanley Cup celebration was put on hold as an unworldly effort from goaltender Martin Jones propelled the Sharks to a 4-2 Game 5 win, cutting the Pens lead in the best-of-seven series to 3-2.
Crowds began to form outside of Consol Energy Center early Thursday morning in hopes of seeing the Pens win Pittsburgh’s first major professional sports championship at home since the Pirates in 1960, but they left disappointed. San Jose jumped out to an early lead as Brent Burns lifted a shot high over Matt Murray’s shoulder from close range just 1:04 into the game and Logan Couture scored less than two minutes later to make it 2-0 Sharks.
Pittsburgh came right back however, re-energizing the largest crowd in Consol history with their own pair of back to back strikes. Evgeni Malkin hammered home a power play goal to cut the deficit to 2-1 at 4:44 of the first and then Carl Hagelin found the back of the net just 22 seconds later to make it a brand new hockey game.
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The four tallies set a Stanley Cup Finals record for the quickest four goals to open a game. San Jose’s Melker Karlsson put the Sharks back on top at 14:47 of the first with what would become the eventual game winner.
Try as the might, the Pens simply couldn’t solve Jones on this night. The San Jose netminder made save after dazzling save as the Penguins continued the series trend of largely outshooting the Sharks, this time by a 46-22 margin. Pittsburgh had several brilliant looks down the stretch and it seemed as if it were only a matter of time until one found its way past Jones, but it was not to be.
Joe Pavelski added an empty-net goal at 18:40 of the third to seal the victory for the Sharks and send both teams’ travel staffs back into cross-country flight planning mode.
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The Stanley Cup will now make its way back to the SAP center to be on standby for Sunday’s contest, the Penguins still seeking the final win necessary to secure their fourth championship. Faceoff is at 8:20 PM.