Martin Jones leads the series back to San Jose

Infographic by Kavin Mistry

The best road team in the NHL lived up to the bill on the biggest stage Thursday night with a big win in Pittsburgh to send the Stanley Cup final back to San Jose.

Down 3-1 in series, the Sharks win a must-win game 4-2 on the back of their goalie Martin Jones, who had a game for the ages, 44 saves and none of them cheap. Those 44 saves are the most in a game ending in regulation in the playoffs since 1988.

“Just not this series and not tonight but he’s been doing this all year,” said Sharks forward Joe Thornton in a postgame interview. “He’s the backbone of our team and we just feel so much confidence coming out of him, but just a fantastic performance by him tonight.”

Jones is 7-2 in the playoffs this postseason in games after a loss for the Sharks. He brought a calming presence to his team that needed a big lift from him in order to win this game. Despite the 4-2 win for the Sharks, the entire game was controlled by the Penguins, they outshot the Sharks 46-21, but Jones was the difference maker.

The Sharks wasted no time in this game taking their first regulation lead of the series. Defenseman Brent Burns got the team on the board just over a minute into the game with a strong play behind the net before firing a wrist shot past Penguins goalie Matt Murray.

“It was huge, it was huge,” Thornton said. “We haven’t played with a lead this whole series, to get the first goal and then the second goal, they came back and scored two quick ones but we rallied and scored that third one.”

The lead did not take long to grow, just under two minutes later, on a shot by Sharks defenseman Justin Braun, forward Logan Couture tipped it home past Murray. Couture had an incredible game for the Sharks, he finished with a goal and two assists, having an important role in three of the Sharks four goals.

“All day we were a loose group,” said Sharks captain Joe Pavelski in a postgame interview. “The thought behind it was ‘we want this one, we want this one’ and we did not want it to end tonight.”

Couture, who did not have a great season for the Sharks this year has been a difference maker this postseason, eclipsing 29 points so far.

“He’s been a rock for us all season,” Pavelski said. “All playoffs he has been solid, shows up and is finding the puck, finding some ice and it was definitely something we needed.”

The lead however was short lived. The Penguins fired back with two goals within 22 seconds of each other to tie the game back up at two. Sharks players said postgame that when the Penguins tied it they felt no pressure, they knew what they had to do.

“Relax, relax, it is a long game and there are going to be ups and downs,” Thornton said. “We have been doing this for so long that there is no panic in our game.”

The Sharks knew the game was far from over when the Penguins tied it and their resiliency showed later in the first period when unlikely playoff hero Melker Karlsson buried a wrist shot past Murray to put the Sharks up again.

The 3-2 lead stuck for the Sharks through the second and third periods, aided by an empty netter by Pavelski late in the third to increase the lead to 4-2. That goal was first for Pavelski in these Stanley Cup finals.

“We are excited to get back home and try to force a game seven,” said Sharks forward Chris Tierney in a postgame interview. “We’ll just take it one game at a time.”

The Sharks still have a long way to go if they want to hoist the Stanley Cup, but they kept their hopes alive with this big victory in game 5, setting up game 6 on Sunday at the SAP Center.