San Jose Sharks: What to Make of Last-Second Goals by Colin White, Logan Couture

At the 6:23 mark of the third period, the San Jose Sharks looked dead in the water.

They had just blown two consecutive power plays and were trailing 4-1.

People began to leave the building. They already knew the story: San Jose’s penalty kill was porous—the Sharks were 0-3 at that point. They could not sustain any offense against the Baby Blues.

They looked beat.

The Sharks were catching up on the shot clock, however. The count read San Jose: 25, St. Louis: 26.

Then, at the 5:19 mark, the Blues iced the puck.

Then a scrum ensued after winger Tommy Wingels hit an opposing player that was on the ice surface following a whistle. Teammate Andrew Desjardins and opponent David Perron would both be sent off the ice for roughing.

The Sharks’ effort on the four-on-four looked better than their power play. San Jose sustained offense, Patrick Marleau had a chance and then, at the 3:02 mark, defensemen Colin White (Colin White) turned around and slapped a loose puck past St. Louis goaltender Brian Elliott.

The cacophony in HP Pavilion threatened to shatter the Plexiglas.

To quote my friend and colleague Julian Huguet, the seats were as populated by fans as a hockey player's smile is by teeth, but to this point, this was the loudest the building had been since the opening light show.

“This is a momentum building,” Blues coach Ken Hitchcock said after the game. “It’s extremely loud. I always tell the players it’s the next shift.”

St. Louis dominated the next shift, drawing a penalty on Thornton.

Dead. In. The. Water.

Right?

Thornton took the penalty at the 2:29 mark. The penalty lasted two minutes.

The Sharks had given up a goal on their last three penalty kills.

Done. Over.

Except it wasn’t.

Two minutes passed, and no rubber would pass Antti Niemi.

Even strength.

The first digit was removed from the board, 0:59. The next digit was removed from the board, 0:49. Then another, 0:39. Then another, 0:29. Then another, 0:19.

Then another, 0:18…0:17…0:16.

Then, just before another digit was removed from the board, forward Logan Couture found a juicy rebound and put it in the upper deck.

The crowd erupted. The building was loud as ever.

Hope! There was hope for the Sharks. Coach Todd McLellan called timeout.

To recap: San Jose had just killed a penalty (what?). Then they scored (get outta here).

Everyone in teal was pining for a Cinderella story.

McLellan kept Niemi on the bench, sending out a lineup of four forwards: Couture, Thornton, Marleau and Joe Pavelski and two defensemen: Brent Burns and Dan Boyle.

All offense.

San Jose won the draw. Boyle corralled the puck in the opponent’s zone and fired a desperation shot across two blue lines that hit Elliott up high.

Couture had a deflection and…

The last digit was removed from the board, leaving the only two that matter.

4-3.

“It’s nice to see the guys not quit,” said Thornton following the game.

“From night to night, you definitely create a little momentum,” said Pavelski.

Daniel Winnik, who took the penalty that led to the game-winner, said, "You kinda take that and see where we beat them."

McLellan said, “The determination was still there until the end. There was no rollover, there was no play dead—even until the last second. Logan had a deflection that had a chance to go in.

“We can build off of that.”

San Jose will learn whether or not the momentum carries over on Thursday. Sharks fans, however, learned something from the past two games.

This team will go down fighting.

Tom Schreier is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. He covers hockey and baseball.

Follow him on Twitter @tschreier3.

All quotes are obtained firsthand.