Year of the Sharks?
Winning goal Wednesday just the latest break to go San Jose’s way.
Don’t tell San Jose coach Peter DeBoer his Sharks have gotten lucky in their playoff run.
“It irks me when you use words like that because this is a team that we’ve played four or five elimination games, not moments, games, 12 to 15 periods of elimination hockey against Vegas and Colorado,” DeBoer said. “I think it’s a ridiculous statement.”
Ridiculous or not, the Sharks have had their fair share of puck luck during their run.
The latest example came Wednesday night as part of the prelude to defenseman Erik Karlsson’s game-winning goal against St. Louis in overtime. The officials missed a hand pass by Timo Meier, who used his right hand to knock the loose puck toward the front of the net, where a quick pass set up Karlsson for his second goal of the game.
As a result, the Sharks will take a 2-1 lead into Game 4 Friday night of the best-ofseven Western Conference final.
Meier was given an assist on the play, although his stick never touched the puck.
“It’s a fast game,” Meier said. “I went down on the ice. I got cross-checked after the puck was in the air so I was on the ice, looked up and the puck was in the net and I saw the guys celebrating.”
For all the frustration among the Blues and their long-suffering fans, the play was not subject to review.
“Things happen so quickly on the ice, there’s so many bodies flying around, and there’s split-second decisions, and it’s easy when you guys sit there and look at a TV monitor and criticize and hold people accountable for errors that happen in milliseconds,” DeBoer said. “We’ve had calls go against us, we’ve had calls go for us and we’re still standing. For anybody to minimize that is disrespectful to our group and what we’ve done.”
In the first round, San Jose trailed Vegas, 3-0, in the third period of Game 7 before scoring four times
during a five-minute power play stemming from a controversial major penalty called against the Golden Knights. In the next round, a tying goal by Colorado was waved off in Game 7 on an offside challenge.
The call was so egregious that multiple sports books in Las Vegas offered refunds, called a “Good Karma Payout,” to betters who took the Blues Wednesday. “The combination of a clear hand pass and an unreviewable play made this a pretty easy decision,” PointsBet CEO Johnny Aitken said in a statement.
Predators
Nashville finally has the kind of security the former expansion franchise has been wanting for years after agreeing to a new 30-year arena lease that runs through 2049.
The Predators announced the agreement Thursday for Bridgestone Arena at a Metro Nashville Sports Authority meeting.
The sports authority’s vote is due in June.