Recapping the historic first round and game 7 for the San Jose Sharks

It was a historic series and ending to the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the San Jose Sharks, now they have to get ready for Round 2.

When this first-round matchup began, everybody knew that it was going to be a hard-fought series that could go either way. Well almost two weeks later, this opening series has come to an end, and it did not disappoint one bit. It all started when the San Jose Sharks hosted the Vegas Golden Knights for game one.

The San Jose Sharks dominated that Game 1 as they beat the Knights by a score of 5-2. Just when we thought that the Sharks were going to continue that type of play and cruise to a series win, the Knights had other plans as just the next game, they showed that they had figured out what went wrong and were ready for the comeback.

The next few games showed that the Knights are not a team to be taken lightly. They dominated the Sharks for three straight contests and pushed the team to the brink of elimination as they took a 3-1 lead in the series.

Just like the Knights, the Sharks made adjustments and it was their turn for the comeback. In Game 5, it was Tomas Hertl who brought the energy and the start of this historic comeback. Hertl had an absolutely amazing series and he is one of the big reasons why they are now able to say that they are moving on to the second round.

Hertl in the opening series recorded six goals and two assists, but the more important thing is that he was the person who started the comeback in Game 5. His presence on the ice was felt every time he was on the ice. After Game 5, Hertl said that they would be back at SAP Center for a Game 7 due to the fact that they are a better team than they are.

Well, he certainly backed up his statement in Game 6.

The series turned back to the desert for Game 6 and it was a game that had a lot of fans worried as the Sharks have shown that it is a little difficult to beat the Knights at T-Mobile Arena. In that Game 6, the Knights were all over the Sharks as they put up a total of 58 shots on net in that game.

It was not looking good for the Sharks as they had very little puck control and were playing defense for most of the game. Logan Couture scored the first goal of the game but the Knights would tie it in the second period when Jonathan Marchessault scored. In the third period, there was no scoring and for the first time in the series, the game went into overtime. It did not take just one overtime period, it took almost two full overtime periods to complete this game.

For the Sharks, it was the man who semi-guaranteed that they would be back home for a Game 7. Tomas Hertl scored the game-winning goal for the Sharks halfway through the second overtime period of the game.

Not only was it a game-winning goal, but it was a shorthanded game-winning goal.

The Sharks were just put on the penalty kill and it seemed like that may have been the series. The series came back to San Jose for the most exciting game you can play, a Game 7. The city of San Jose was buzzing ever since Game 6 ended on Easter Sunday and it continued until the opening puck drop of Game 7.

Just like the series, the game was a hard-fought battle and it was one for the history books. SAP Center and all its fans knew that it was going to be a great game as both teams were fighting for their playoffs lives. The Sharks had been in this position for the past few games so they knew what it would take to win this one game.

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The Knights, on the other hand, had not been fighting for their lives and were new to this whole Game 7 situation. In fact, this was their first Game 7 of their short NHL history. When it comes to Game 7’s, anything can happen and this game showed that that statement holds true.

In this Game 7, it was the Knights who started out the early scoring. In the first period, it was William Karlsson who put the Knights on the board when he scored his second of the series. In the second it was Cody Eakin, and in the third and final period, it was Max Pacioretty.

After the second Vegas goal, I will admit that I had negative thoughts that the end of the season was near. They grew even more so when the Knights scored their third goal to extend their lead to 3-0. About halfway through the third period, the Sharks needed to get going and it all started when a scary scene took place on the ice inside of SAP Center.

Joe Pavelski, the Sharks captain, took a scary hit to the head after the faceoff that would not only send him to the locker room, but would quiet the crowd completely. Eakin put a nasty hit on Joe Pavelski that would have Pavelski lose his balance and land head first on the ice.

If one was to watch the replay, you can see his head bounce on the ice after the hit. His head bled on to the ice and it was in that exact moment the game became a “win it for the captain” moment.

Eakin got a five-minute major penalty and a game misconduct for the play, and that is when “The Tank” would go into a frenzy. On this five minute penalty, the Sharks began one of the greatest comebacks that the NHL has ever seen.

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It all started when Couture scored the first goal for the Sharks in the game and their first power play goal of the game after four previous failures. Just 40 seconds later, it was Hertl who scored and now the Sharks were right back in the game as they were only down by one with still plenty of time left on the power play.

A whole two minutes later, the comeback would be complete when Couture scored his second of the game and second in as many minutes to tie the game at three. The Sharks were not done there though, as Kevin LaBanc, who had been silently making an impact on the series, came up huge on the tail end of the power play.

LaBanc scored his second of the series and it finally gave the Sharks a lead in the game with about a minute remaining in the power play. At this point, “The Tank” was going crazy — many players talked about the fans and the energy in the building during their post-game interviews. With 47 seconds left in the third period, Marchessault scored to once again tie the game at four.

For the second game in a row, we went into overtime.

As the overtime period went on, everybody watching the game got more and more nervous every time somebody touched the puck. At 18:19 of the first overtime period, Barclay Goodrow would cap off the historic comeback when he ended the game with his second goal of the playoffs.

For the second time in two years, the Sharks and Golden Knights faced off in the playoffs and this year it was just as exciting as the first time but it came with a better result at the end of the series. Now for the Sharks, they will rest up for two days and get ready for their next matchup against the Colorado Avalanche in the second round of these 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs.