Let’s take a look at the top picks, plays and predictions for the Stanley Cup Final, Game 3.
June 3rd, 2016
Penguins vs Sharks
ML: +118 / -130
O/U: 5.5
Here are tonight’s starting goaltenders, courtesy of LeftWingLock.
The Sharks find themselves in a very deep hole. Deeper than one might think. There’s an old adage that goes around in the playoffs in any sport that you are never in trouble until you lose at home. The Stanley Cup Final may just be the one exception to that rule. The evidence, after all, is pretty damning.
San Jose is 0-10 in series where they fall behind 2-0. In the 49 Stanley Cup Finals before where one team goes up 2-0, that team is 44-5.
Then again, they could be looking at the same scenario that they saw in the Pacific Division Final, wherein the home team won every game in the series. If that is the case, then tonight, they will need to play a flawless game. Which will be extremely difficult, given that Pittsburgh now smells blood in the water (I apologize for the ironic analogy).
Pittsburgh held the shot advantage once again in the first period of Game 2 11-6, but the 20 minutes would expire and the score would still be deadlocked at zero. It would not be until eight minutes into the second that someone would find the back of the net. That someone was Phil Kessel.
The Hagelin-Bonino-Kessel line gets a lot of credit for their incredible puck movement and their speed, but it often goes unnoticed just how good this line has been defensively as well. All three forwards were in the San Jose zone on the forecheck, just waiting to strike. Roman Polak held the puck with Carl Hagelin, one of the best defensive forwards in the game, bearing down on him. Polak tried to throw it across the ice to his defensive partner but the pass was too soft. Kessel nearly intercepted the puck, but it was just out of his reach enough to get to Brenden Dillon. Hagelin, looping around, lifted the stick of Dillon so forcefully he stripped the puck clean off his stick and found a streaking Bonino. Polak went down to the ice, trying desperately to stop something. He didn’t. Bonino slid the puck across the crease out of reach of Martin Jones and Kessel tapped it in. Pittsburgh up 1-0.
The goal was Kessel’s 10th. Bonino tallied his 13th assist, Hagelin his 9th.
https://twitter.com/myregularface/status/738181750401204224
The period would end. The Sharks would muster just five shots on goal, giving them 11 in the game. They hit the post over and over. Their offense was smothered in the offensive zone and Peter DeBoer seemed unwilling or unable to make any changes to the strategy.
Finally, late in the third period, the Sharks found their break.
The Sharks were pinned behind the Pittsburgh net, trapped on the fringes of the ice once again. As Brian Dumoulin tried to staple-gun Logan Couture to the boards, Couture used his incredible lower body strength (okay, it was the strength of his butt) to slip away from the Pens defender. He banked a pass off the boards to Justin Braun, who had space but not a whole lot of time with Hagelin speeding towards him. He hurriedly fired off a shot.
It found the back of the net. San Jose tied it with 4:05 remaining in regulation.
https://twitter.com/myregularface/status/738199281937551360
The game would head to overtime. It looked as though San Jose might have found their groove. Momentum was on their side, and a win to reclaim home-ice advantage might be an early dagger to stick to Pittsburgh.
The momentum would last two and a half minutes.
Sidney Crosby won a faceoff in the San Jose zone, as he had all night. Prior to the draw, he had instructed Conor Sheary to loop around the circle and find some space in the middle of the ice. It would be a different approach, and his lack of urgency may catch the Sharks off guard.
Sure enough, Letang looked towards the net faking a shot or a pass down low and instead fed the puck to Sheary up high, looking nonchalant. Sheary collected the puck and rifled a shot before the Sharks could adjust. It would find the back of the net.
Game-winner.
https://twitter.com/myregularface/status/738206924332761088
This is what I meant in my series preview about Sidney Crosby. The dude is seriously the smartest player in the National Hockey League and is a wizard at drawing plays up in an offensive zone faceoff situation. And people question his leadership? Please.
So now San Jose has some thinking to do. Do they re-insert Dainus Zubrus for Nick Spaling, who was beaten like a drum all night? Does the Polak-Dillon pairing get taken off the HBK line? Peter DeBoer has some tough questions to answer, and it may mean going against his usual plan.
But there is reason for panic. Tonight will make or break the Sharks season. Down 3-0 against this Penguins team? Forget it.
The fact that both of these games have come down to the wire is good news for the Sharks. If they can strike first and get a multi-goal lead on home ice, they will rebound. But they have not been able to muster more than two goals in a game yet.
You’re never in trouble until you lose at home. And although I’ve been burned by picking the Sharks twice already, I believe they are not in trouble just yet.
Prediction: I’m hanging with my choice that this series is going to go long. Take the Sharks to get back in it. Play the under.
