San Jose Sharks Bounce Back in Game Five, Advance into Conference Finals

It is after Mother's Day, and there are two unusual things in the beautiful Bay Area: The rain has not left us for the summer yet, and the San Jose Sharks have not, either. I have seen each happen only once since I moved out here in 2003, and I hope both become commonplace.

And maybe I should say there are three unusual things, because Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau came alive when their team needed them most. (For more analysis on the series, please see my companion piece .)

After Game Two, when Joe Pavelski scored a goal for the fifth straight game, including his third straight game with two goals (not to mention a goal in each Detroit game from a fellow linemate), Red Wings coach Mike Babcock made a change. He finally put Pavel Datsyuk's line out there to stop them instead of matching it up against Thornton's.

Before that, Thornton's line had still managed a goal in each game; after it, they exploded for seven goals in three games. (Meanwhile, Pavelski's line managed just one more goal, which is why I will argue that no player in hockey does what Datsyuk does: In a "bad" series, he shut down the hottest line in the playoffs and all but shut down arguably San Jose's best line while going plus-one with five points and ten takeaways to just five giveaways.)

San Jose came into the game having barely won the first three in the series and then being dominated in Game Four, leaving anyone other than Drew Remenda (near the end of the segment) to question their fragile hold on the series. Whether the team believed in themselves or not, only two Shark players who had ever had even 15 minutes of ice time in any game were not part of past spring collapses.

This game started off with the Sharks dominating play. After the teams both registered five shots on goal early, San Jose put 10 of the next 11 pucks on net.

Unfortunately, no goals were scored, and the second period did not go well for the home team. The Sharks gave up the first goal at 2:40 of the second, and began playing right into the Red Wings' hands as an East-West style of hockey forced them to commit numerous turnovers in the neutral zone; they were outshot 14-3, and were lucky to go into the second intermission tied.

But just as was the case the rest of the series, the Sharks owned the third period. Both teams had 14 shots, but the two best scoring chances were created by Joe Thornton passes from behind the goal line, and Patrick Marleau put the winner home.

Game Five Stars:

1. Joe Thornton tied the game with his first goal and set up Marleau's winner while registering three hits and winning 10 of 14 face offs.
2. Evgeni Nabokov saved 33 of 34 shots, including the last 27, for the win. The only one he let in he never saw.
   
3. Jimmy Howard stopped 30 of 32 shots to keep his team in the game, including the best three saves on either end.

Within the week, look for the Three Stars of the series and the preview of the next round's matchup.