SAN JOSE, Calif. _ It might have been the poorest game the San Jose Sharks had played in its opening-round playoff series against the Anaheim Ducks. Gone was the discipline, some of their attention to detail, most of their odd-man rushes.
The one constant was the play of goalie Martin Jones, who almost single-handedly helped the Sharks finish off the Ducks with a four-game sweep.
Jones made 27 saves before he allowed a goal to Ducks forward Andrew Cogliano at the 7:53 mark of the third period. Just 76 seconds later, though, Tomas Hertl redirected a Marc-Edouard Vlasic shot from the point past Ducks goalie John Gibson for the winning goal, as the Sharks beat the Ducks 2-1 on Wednesday at SAP Center to complete the second sweep in franchise history.
Marcus Sorensen also scored for San Jose and Jones finished with 30 saves, as the Sharks advanced to face the expansion Vegas Golden Knights in the second round of the playoffs. Vegas swept the Los Angeles Kings in its first-round series.
A potentially critical moment came 27 seconds into the third period as the Sharks were killing a penalty to Eric Fehr, when Rickard Rakell scored a power play goal to tie the game. The Sharks challenged the play, though, believing the play was offside. Sure enough, after video review, it was determined that both Rakell and Corey Perry were offside prior to the goal.
Fehr's penalty was one of three the Sharks took in the first two-plus periods. But the Sharks killed all three, continuing a theme all series long.
Jones made 10 saves in the first period and 14 more in the second as the Sharks were getting dominated territorially, going without a shot on goal for almost 12 minutes in one stretch.
He absolutely robbed Corey Perry on a rebound try as the Sharks were killing Fehr's hooking penalty in the final minute of the second. After Jones stopped a shot from the point by Rakell, the rebound came to Perry, who tried to backhand in for what would have been his first goal of the series. Instead, Jones stuck his right leg out and blocked the shot to preserve the Sharks' one goal lead.
"It's not just the saves, it's the timing of the saves," DeBoer said earlier this week. "Saves at the key times or saves at the right time of games."
