Los Angeles: The San Jose Sharks moved to within one win of the Stanley Cup finals on Monday after beating the St Louis Blues 6-3 to take control of their Western Conference series.
A Joe Pavelski strike 16 seconds into the final period handed the Sharks a 4-3 lead before two empty-net goals in the final minute gave the scoreline a flattering look.
The win puts San Jose 3-2 ahead in the best-of-seven series, meaning they will reach the Stanley Cup for the first time in franchise history with a win at home on Wednesday in Game Six.
A decisive Game Seven, if needed, would be played in St Louis on Friday. Pavelski’s go-ahead goal came after he redirected a shot by Brent Burns past Jake Allen for his 12th goal in 17 playoff games.
Chris Tierney made it 5-3 and Joel Ward completed the scoring with his second goal of the game. It was the fifth time during the postseason that the Sharks have bounced back from a defeat to score a win.
San Jose coach Peter DeBoer paid tribute to his team’s mental strength when asked to comment on their “bouncebackability.”
“They’re a smart group. They’re a veteran group. The most important thing is they understand our identity as a team,” DeBoer said. “When we get away from it, we get burnt. We’ve had one of those games each round. In the LA series we had one. We had one against Nashville. We had one in this series.
“Hopefully it’s out of the way. Every time we’ve reset. The guys have got back to our game. When we’re playing that way, we’re hard to beat.”
Sharks goaltender Martin Jones made 18 saves while his opposite number Jake Allen stopped 21 of the 25 shots he faced.
The Blues had looked on course for a win after twice taking the lead in the second period.
But the Sharks hit back twice through power-play goals to tie the game. Both goals came while Blues defenceman Kevin Shattenkirk was in the penalty box.
Ward made it 2-2 after a roughing penalty to Shattenkirk. Shattenkirk was then called again for hooking, leaving Pavelski free to grab his first of the game and make it 3-3.
The Blues had earlier capitalised on a power-play goal of their own from Robby Fabbri to take a 3-2 lead in the second period before Pavelski’s equaliser.
San Jose had taken the lead through Marc-Edouard Vasic in the first period before Jaden Schwartz and Troy Bouwer put the Blues 2-1 ahead.
Blues coach Ken Hitchcock said he expects San Jose to go for the jugular on Wednesday.
“I think they’re going to try to hit us with a knock-out punch early, he said. “We fully expect that’s what they’re going to do. Our job is to answer the bell.”
