After splitting games in San Jose the Knights returned to the fortress for the playoffs. The Knights Mark Stone wasted no time putting the first goal on the board just 16 seconds in! His goal was assisted by Nate Schmidt and Deryk Engelland. The Knights and the Sharks went back and forth until almost 10 minutes in Evander Kane was called for a delay of game for putting the puck over the glass and out of play. The Sharks killed off the penalty, but Kane was quick to go back to the box getting a double minor 36 seconds after getting back on to the ice. Kane was called for a high stick on William Carrier. The Knights capitalized on the PP 5 seconds in with a goal from Max Pacioretty assisted by Shea Theodore and Paul Stastny. The Sharks would kill off the second minor. With just 5 minutes left in the period Kevin Labanc would squeak one past MAF. The goal was challenged in a desperate attempt by Gallant and company to get the called back. Labanc was assisted by Sorensen and Thornton. The Sharks put pressure on the Knights for most of the remaining time of the period and the Knights held strong. The period ended 2-1 Knights up. The Knights had 20 shots on goal to the Sharks 12. The Sharks blocked 9 and the Knights with 6. Each team had 7 takeaways and 11 hit in the period. The Knights had 4 giveaways and Sharks none.
The Knights started the 2nd with a goal 21 seconds in. The goal was Paul Stastny's first goal of this years playoffs and it was assisted by line mates Stone and Pacioretty. 2 minutes and 25 seconds into the 2nd, Michael Haley left the game after blocking a shot from Shea Theodore that hit him in the ankle he did not return to the game. The Knights showed great discipline through out the beginning of the period by not engaging with the Sharks after play scuffles. About 9 minutes into the period, the utility went to work with some big hits Carrier hitting Thornton, Reaves laying a big hit on big Brett Burns and Carrier laying into Logan Couture all in the defensive zone. About a minute later Logan Couture hit Alex Tuch knocking his helmet off and Tuch retaliated losing and received an interference penalty. MAF came up with 4 saves during the Sharks PP and the Knights killed of the penalty. With just over 5 minutes left in the period Labanc was called for Interference on Ryan Reaves. The Knights went on the PP that didn't look so good. The Sharks got a break on goal and MAF shut it down. The Knights scored on the power play right before it would expire. Stastny got his second goal of the night that was assisted by Theodore and Stone. Almost 1 minute after the goal the Joe Thornton skated through Nosek with an illegal hit to the head putting the Knights back on the power play. About a minute left on the power play the Knights and the Sharks started fighting in front of the net as Stone and Pacioretty trying to get the puck past Jones. Pacioretty was called for slashing and Dillon for roughing in offsetting penalties. The Knights had 10 shots on goal to the Sharks 7 and the Knight had 5 to the sharks 8 on blocked shots. The Knights had 6 takeawys to the Sharks 2. The Knights had 2 giveaways to the Sharks 1. It was a really physical period as the Knights had 34 hits and the Sharks with 19.
The 3rd period the Knights came out again scoring right off the bat, Mark Stone got his second goal of the night assisted by Marchessault and Stastny. almost 4 minutes into the period William Karlsson was called for slashing which set up a Sharks PP goal from Couture assisted by Erik Karlsson and Martin Jones. The Knights Nosek and Burns threw some blows at each other both getting called for roughing. 39 seconds later the Sharks Meier scored a goal assisted by Nyquist. The Knights Carrier was called for a holding call holding and the Knights PK came through. The highlight of the came from Mark Stone with 6 minutes and 3 seconds left in the game. Stone would get his first career hat trick and the franchise first hattie in the playoffs. The hat trick goal was assisted by Stastny(3) and Theodore(3). Stastny and Stone registered 5 point games. Before the game closed out the Reaves and Kane finally got to throw down the gloves. Kane tried to tie up with Reaves as Reaves landed 2 punches. They squared up and Kane came in looking for the tie up again Reaves landed a couple of more and Kane got a couple lefts in with some missed rights and Reaves would land a couple of more. It was the true icing on the cake for Knights fans with no hats.
VGK-SJS
1st Period 2nd Period 3rd Period
SOG 20-12 10-7 10-9
Penalty 0-2 2-4 4-2
Pen Min 0-6 4-8 11-7
TA 7-7 6-2 6-5
GA 4-0 2-1 1-0
Hits 11-11 34-19 11-12
Blocks 6-9 5-8 2-0
3 STARS OF THE GAME
1st: Mark Stone 3(G) 2(A)
2nd Paul Stastny 2(G) 3(A)
3rd Max Pacioretty 1(G) 1(A)
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