Growing up, there was a baseball highlight show Saturday mornings before the Game of the Week. The late Mel Allen did the voiceover for āThis Week in Baseball,ā and all baseball fans knew his signature phrase āHow about that?ā following a truly spectacular play.
Allen had to have been smiling as Iām sure he was watching the San Jose Sharks-Vegas Golden Knights Game 7 Tuesday night because quite frankly, the Sharksā 5-4 overtime win might have been the greatest playoff comeback Iāve ever seen, given the lose-and-go-home circumstances.
Because for two and a half periods, the Sharks were dead in the water. Having battled back from a 3-1 series deficit, it looked as if San Jose had run out of gas.
Goaltender Martin Jones, who had completely turned around his series with a pair of outstanding games, was solid in Game 7, but single goals from Vegas in each of the first three periods had the Sharks staring at a 3-0 deficit with roughly 10 minutes left in the season. With Vegas goalie Marc Andre-Fleury stoning the Sharks at every turn, it looked as if the Sharks magic had finally run out.
But a game misconduct penalty on the Golden Knights following an ugly injury to Sharks captain Joe Pavelski. Given the severity of the penalty and ensuing result of the cross check, the referees ruled a mandatory five-minute power play, which brought new life to the Sharksā flagging playoff hopes.
As the Sharks lineup for the power-play faceoff, the announcers on television were saying now the team has to score three goals, to which I quipped, āThey havenāt done anything all night. Now theyāre going to score in bushels?ā
Apparently so. Logan Coutureās goal less than a minute into the man-advantage made me perk up. Goals two and three came in quick succession as the Daily Journal sports department started to ramp up the excitement.
When Kevin Lebanc fired home the fourth goal of the power play, the Shark Tank and Daily Journal office exploded.
In less than five minutes, the Sharks turned an almost-certain 3-0 defeat into a 4-3 advantage with just over six minutes to play. Some of the excitement wore off when the Knights netted the equalizer with less than a minute to play in regulation, but a spectacular rush from Barclay Goodrow resulted in the game winner with less than two minutes left in the first overtime to send the SAP Center into bedlam.
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It almost felt as if San Jose had finally won that elusive Stanley Cup, instead of it just being the end of the first round of the playoffs.
But if the Sharks do go on and do something special the rest of the playoffs, many will look back at Game 7 of the first round as the game that propelled the Sharks to the greatest heights. San Jose is the highest remaining seed in the Western Conference, with the top-seeded Calgary Flames flaming out in a five games against eighth-seeded Colorado āĀ the Sharksā second-round opponent. Joining the Flames on the sidelines are No. 3 Nashville Predators and No. 4 Winnipeg Jets.
In the Eastern Conference, Tampa Bay, which had a record-setting regular season and the overall No. 1 seed, was swept out of the first round by Columbus.
Suddenly, the path to the Stanley Cup is wide open and following that emotional win over Vegas, the Sharks could live up to the preseason expectations.
How about that?
***
South City has a number of coaching openings for the 2019-20 season. The Warriors need a varsity football assistant coach, girlsā varsity tennis, and head coaches for the girlsā varsity and JV volleyball teams.
For more information, contact athletic director Noelle Nelson at nnelson@ssfusd.org.
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Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
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Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
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