Hertl lifts Sharks past Vegas 2-1 in 20T to force Game 7
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Tomas Hertl scored a short-handed goal 11:17 into the second overtime to lift the San Jose Sharks to a 2-1 win over the Vegas Golden Knights on Sunday night, forcing a Game 7 in their first-round playoff series.
Just 31 seconds after Barclay Goodrow was called for slashing Brayden McNabb, it was Hertl recovering the loose puck and skating in alone and beating Marc-Andre Fleury with a wrist shot to seal the win and force the deciding game Tuesday at San Jose.
Logan Couture also scored for the Sharks, and Martin Jones had a playoff career-high 58 saves. San Jose has won two straight after being forced to the brink of elimination to even the series.
Jonathan Marchessault scored for Vegas, and Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 27 shots.
Jones may have saved his best performance for Game 6, coming up with big saves to keep the Sharks in the game with huge saves while under rapid fire.
With Vegas carrying momentum over from Marchessault’s goal that tied the score with 8:40 left in the second period, and a penalty kill that carried into the third, Jones’ biggest save came against Reilly Smith, whose point-blank one-timer was stymied. Moments later Jones snuffed out Mark Stone’s slap shot from the circle.
The Sharks got on the board just before the end of the first period, when Vegas defenseman Deryk Engelland misplayed the puck in the neutral zone, and Couture gathered the puck, manuevered around Golden Knights defender Nate Schmidt and fired past Fleury glove side to give San Jose a 1-0 with 6.5 seconds left.
Marchessault tied it as he gathered a rebound off Shea Theodore’s shot from the point, and lifted the puck over Jones’ right pad with a swift backhand,. It gave Marchessault a goal in three consecutive games, and at least one point in four straight.
San Jose defenseman Brenden Dillon came up with a big play late in the game. Theodore caught Nosek in stride with long stretch pass, but Dillon did a good job of not taking a penalty while his swiping poke check kept Nosek from even making an attempt on Jones.
Both goalies came up with big saves during the first extra period, first with Fleury stopping Kevin Labanc just after the puck drop, and later when Jones stopped Max Pacioretty’s one-timer with 9:57 left. But the biggest moment came with roughly three minutes left in the first overtime, when Fleury and Vegas defensemen Jon Merrill and Colin Miller combined to make several saves and keep the game going.
NOTES: Hertl’s goal was the first short-handed winner in NHL history in a game that lasted more than one overtime. … The game marked Vegas’ second only Game 6 in its young history, as its only other appearance in a Game 6 was a 3-0 victory in San Jose during the Western Conference semifinals of the 2018 Stanley Cup Playoffs. … The teams received a rare two-day break between Games 5 and 6 because the Jordan Brand Classic high school all-star basketball game was already booked for Saturday at T-Mobile Arena.
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Game 7 is Tuesday night at San Jose.
