The Turning Point

At 1:30 of the above video, everything changed.

From the drop of the puck, the Sharks were scrambling. Sure, they had managed to get a lucky bouncer past Tim Thomas. But they were outshot 13-7 after the 1st and had to rely on Nabokov and his stacked pads to keep them competitive. Not much changed through 10 minutes of the 2nd.

But then, in the middle of the ice in the middle of the game, Douglas Murray lit up an opposing Bruin and changed the course of the game.

From that moment on, the ice began to tilt in San Jose's favor. The Sharks managed to outshoot the Bruins in the 2nd and gain a bit of momentum heading into the 3rd, despite still being down by a goal.

The ice tilt that started in the 2nd became a full scale avalanche towards the Boston goal in the 3rd. San Jose simply would not be denied. Fruitless momentum gave way to game-tying, lead-capturing, and finally game-sealing goals. They weren't the prettiest scores but they were hard work scores - big hits, long cycles in the Boston zone, and a constant barrage of rubber towards the goal. Fittingly, two Sharks with Beantown connections got the final two goals they more than deserved - Joe Thornton and Mike Grier.

It's hard to describe what this game means to San Jose; Detroit's W kept the West race the same. To me, it confirmed a chain of logic:

You might be able to out shoot the Sharks...

You might be able to out hit the Sharks...

You might be able to shut down the Shark offense...

But can you do all 3?

Very few teams can. Those that can might do it for 20 minutes. They might do it for 40 minutes. But shutting down the San Jose Sharks for a 60 minute hockey game has proven damn near impossible - just 7 regulation losses in 51 games.

So how could a team shut down the Sharks in a 7 game series?