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| Infographic by Kavin Mistry |
They fought hard to the bitter end, but the storybook season for the San Jose Sharks has come to an end on their home ice, at the hands of the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The Penguins defense was just too much for the Sharks offense and the superb goaltending of rookie Matt Murray shut the door on San Jose’s comeback.
Pittsburgh has one its franchises fourth Stanley Cup and its first since 2009. San Jose is still in search of its first cup in franchise history.
“I think first off, you have to give full credit to Pittsburgh,” said Sharks head coach Pete DeBoer in a postgame interview. “I thought they came out and played a hell of a series. They played their game for much longer stretches than we were able to.”
The game winning goal came off the sick of Penguins defenseman Kris Letang, who scored within a minute after the Sharks had tied the game in the second period.
“They had better execution, they made more plays,” said Sharks forward Patrick Marleau in a postgame interview. “It was a great taste for the younger guys to see what it takes to win the trophy.”
Sharks forward Logan Couture provided the bright spot on the night for the team in teal, he scored his 30th point of the postseason to tie the game at one in the second period. It was no surprise that the offense for the Sharks would come from Couture, who had been on a torrid scoring pace in the playoffs.
Penguins forward Patric Hornqvist added the dagger to Sharks fans hopes with an empty net goal with only a minute left in the third.
Pittsburgh started out of the gates hot, like they have in five of the six games this series and scored the first goal eight minutes into the first period on the powerplay. Penguins forward Brian Dumoulin scored the goal.
A big story in this series was the disappearance of the Sharks power play. That trend continued in game 6 and became one of the deciding factors in the outcome.
“It sucks. That’s the bottom line,” said Sharks forward Joe Thornton in a postgame interview. “It sucks. We thought we had the team, going through the teams we did in the West. It’s just tough right now.”
Despite allowing the two goals, Sharks goalie Martin Jones was sparkling in net, he made huge saves down the stretch to bail out the Sharks defense to keep the game close.
“We put in a lot of work and it sucks to come up short,” said Sharks forward Patrick Marleau in a postgame interview. “
What plagued the Sharks throughout the game was their inability to sustain pressure in the offensive zone. Credit the Penguins defense for clogging the passing lanes and giving San Jose headaches when trying to tie the game.
Penguins captain Sidney Crosby was named the Stanley Cup playoffs MVP, finishing the postseason with 19 points.
“They played great, that team over there,” said Couture in a postgame interview. “Can’t take anything away from what they did. They beat us.”
Pittsburgh proved one of the oldest cliches in playoff sports, defense wins championships. While they have a potent offense, it was the Penguins defense that won them the series over the Sharks.
“On our end, I’m very proud of our group,” DeBoer said. “ I thought our guys emptied the tank, gave us everything they possibly could.”
The Sharks will take a look at their roster this offseason and see what they need to do in order to get back to the Finals next year, a feat that is very difficult to achieve.
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