SAN JOSE, Calif. _ An unforgettable game to decide an extraordinary playoff series came down to one moment Tuesday night.
Barclay Goodrow scored with 1:41 left in the first overtime to give the San Jose Sharks a wild 5-4 win over the Vegas Golden Knights in the decisive Game 7 of their opening round series at SAP Center.
Erik Karlsson assisted on the goal, as the Sharks came away with an incredibly hard-fought four-game-to-three series victory. The Sharks advance to play the Colorado Avalanche in the second round.
This one will be tough to top.
The game changed in the blink of an eye in the third period, after Joe Pavelski was injured. The back of his head hit the ice after he was hit just outside the faceoff dot, with his face bloodied from a high stick. He had to be helped off the ice.
Cody Eakin was given a five-minute major penalty for cross checking and a 10-minute game misconduct at the 9:13 mark of the third period.
What followed may have been the most amazing 4 minutes and one second in Sharks history.
Logan Couture scored twice, Tomas Hertl added one and Kevin Labanc completed one of the most improbable comebacks in recent NHL playoff history, as the Sharks scored four goals on the power play to take a 4-3 lead.
Jonathan Marchessault, though, spoiled the party, as he got open in front of the Sharks net, took a pass from Reilly Smith and snapped a shot over Martin Jones' left shoulder to tie the game with 47.0 seconds left.
It was the second straight game in the series that went to overtime. Hertl scored in the second overtime of Game 6 to give the Sharks a heart-stopping 2-1 win.
Tuesday, with the game looking all but over after Max Pacioretty gave Vegas a 3-0 lead 3:36 into the third period, Couture scored at the 10:09 mark, Hertl scored 49 seconds later and Couture tied the game at the 12:53 mark.
Labanc then put the Sharks ahead, carrying the puck toward the Golden Knights net and firing a wrist shot that beat Vegas goalie Marc-Andre Fleury with 6:39 left in regulation.
Vegas took the early lead.
After a faceoff deep in the Sharks' zone, Smith collected the puck near the half-wall and threw it at the net. The puck went off Marchessault, who was battling Erik Karlsson in front, but William Karlsson was left unchecked and tapped it past Martin Jones for a 1-0 Golden Knights lead at the 10:10 mark of the first period.
Vegas made it 2-0 midway through the second period, as Brayden McNabb put puck a puck toward the Sharks net that Eakin was able to redirect past Jones. The play was reviewed, but the NHL's situation room determined that Eakin's stick was at or below the cross bar when it made contact with the puck.
The Sharks' power play had been mediocre at best for the first six games of the series, and their frustrations continued through two periods Tuesday as they let every one of their four opportunities with the man advantage slip away.
The Sharks went 0-for-3 on the power play in the first period alone as Colin Miller and McNabb served penalties in the first 4:15. The Sharks put six shots in Fleury in 4:50 of power play time but came away empty, as Fleury saved all 11 shots he faced in the first 20 minutes.
The Sharks came into Game 7 with just four on 25 opportunities with the man advantage.
The Sharks won the first game of the series, lost the next three before they won games 5 and 6 to set up a deciding Game 7.
