San Jose Sharks force Game 7 with a thrilling win on the road

The San Jose Sharks have done the impossible by coming all the way back to tie this best of seven series at three apiece, and Sharks fans are sure happy that there will be a Game 7 at SAP Center on Tuesday night.

Take a deep breath San Jose Sharks fans, the game is over and we can now say that the San Jose Sharks and the Vegas Golden Knights will play a Game 7 on Tuesday night at SAP Center.

After the Sharks went down in the series 3-1, many Sharks fans thought that the team had dug themselves a hole that they may not could be able to dig out of. Well, they did come out and now they have the opportunity to eliminate the Golden Knights on their home ice.

The Sharks had many opportunities early in the series but only managed to win one game and that was the first game. A few games later, the Sharks were down 3-1 and seemed to have an impossible task at hand, but have now managed to tie the series at three.

Two primary reasons for that, are Tomas Hertl and Martin Jones.

Jones had a few games that did not go his way and a lot of people, including myself, were not too happy with his play. It was evident that Jones was not right and they needed to make a change and a lot of us were calling for backup goaltender Aaron Dell to be in net.

In many ways, we are all now thankful that Pete DeBoer stuck with Jones after those rough few games, as he now is back to himself and has brought the Sharks all the way back in this series. He has come up big for two games in a row and Sunday night’s Game 6 showed how great he can be when he is right.

He made 58 saves in five periods of play and let up just one goal. The Golden Knights ended up outshooting the Sharks by a total of 44-20 through the third period. If the Jones was not right, the Sharks would not be talking about a Game 7 at home.

The reason the Sharks were down 3-1 in this series was because of Jones, but now the reason they are tied 3-3 is because of that same once-struggling netminder. In the last two games, he has made 88 saves while letting up just three goals.

If the Jones we have seen these last two games comes to play on Tuesday, you can bet that the Sharks will be moving on to Round 2 of the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Both teams will be tremendously exhausted as they will only have one day off before hitting the ice once again.

Sunday night it was the first game that not only went into overtime but the first game where they went two periods without a goal. Not only did it go one overtime period, but it took almost two full overtime periods until Hertl called game.

Not only was his goal a game-winning goal, but it was also a shorthanded goal as the Sharks were just put on the penalty kill. In the last two games, Hertl has been without a doubt the best Sharks player as he has three goals over that timespan. He has come up big when the Sharks have needed him the most and we all expect it once again come Tuesday.

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Hertl has been a big reason for the Sharks success but at the end of the day, it has been a full team effort. Tonight was a big example of that as if one were to look at the stats, you can see that some big-name players logged some hefty minutes and it’s tough to do that while keeping your concentration.

Most noticeable on the timesheet is Brent Burns who logged over 40 minutes in Sunday night’s game. Both teams will be happy with the day off plus an optional practice on the way. For now, the Sharks will celebrate this win for a short period of time, until they return home and get ready for the best type of game in all of sports.

A Game 7 at home.

On the other side of the ice, the Golden Knights will try to figure out what is happening and how to fix it before it is too late. Game 7, as always, is sure not to disappoint as both teams are now facing elimination and will have to bring their A-game to make sure they are not on the losing end of the scoreboard.

This is not the only series that will be heading into an all elimination as the Boston Bruins and the Toronto Maple Leafs will once again be heading into a Game 7. It will be an exciting couple of days of hockey as there is truly nothing better than a Game 7.

Especially with a win which all San Jose Sharks fans will be looking for.