There's an old saying about the playoffs: A team is never really in trouble until it loses a home game. San Jose Sharks fans know the logic and wisdom in those words, but it still has to be troubling for them to see their team down two games to one in its first Stanley Cup Final.
Game 2 of the series went to overtime, with Sidney Crosby's set play being the difference. The talk between Games 2 and 3 generally centered on areas where the San Jose Sharks forwards were coming up short—namely turnovers, pressure and possession. San Jose's forwards were not getting enough zone time, and that was forcing the team's defensemen to deal with waves of Pittsburgh Penguins.
After two games, the Penguins had more shots (71 to 48), more goals and more wins than the Sharks. Pittsburgh was benefiting from great goaltending, timely shot blocks and an enormous number of turnovers on soft plays by San Jose.
In order to turn the series around, the Sharks needed to be more aggressive on the forecheck, worry less about the home-run pass and work toward getting the first lead in the series. Without it, San Jose would be down three games to none, and the series wo ...
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Article written by Allan Mitchell
Penguins vs. Sharks: The Biggest Takeaways from Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final
June 5th, 2016 by Allan Mitchell Leave a reply »
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