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Sharks Don’t Believe Writing Is On the Wall
- Updated: June 2, 2016
PITTSBURGH — The San Jose Sharks believe the expectations of their imminent demise are premature.
Sure, there doesn’t appear to be a lot for the Sharks to be optimistic about after their 2-1 overtime loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final at Consol Energy Center on Wednesday. San Jose trails the best-of-7 series 2-0 with Game 3 on Saturday at SAP Center (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, TVA Sports) and is grasping for any positives to build upon.
But the Sharks aren’t ready to give up. That was the message in their locker room after the game.
“Got to take care of things at home,” defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic said. “That’s what was said, `Let’s go home and do what they did here.'”
What the Penguins did was control play for much of the first two games and got deserved victories. The Sharks had their moments, but were within striking distance in both games mostly because of goaltender Martin Jones, who made 28 saves Wednesday and 38 in a 3-2 loss in Game 1 on Monday.
Still, the Sharks feel with a bounce here or there that they could have split the first two games of the Final. Penguins forward Nick Bonino scored the game-winning goal with 2:33 left in regulation in Game 1. Conor Sheary was the hero for Pittsburgh in Game 2, scoring 2:35 into overtime.
“Game 1 was decided in the last [three] minutes. Tonight’s an overtime game,” Sharks coach Peter DeBoer said. “So, I think we’ll hold off on the funeral. We’ve got a lot of hockey left to play.”
The Sharks hope there’s a lot of hockey left, but know if they don’t find a way to elevate their play in the next two games at home the series might be over quickly. They had some of the same problems in Game 2 that they had in Game 1 with the Penguins pressuring them into repeated turnovers and …
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