Written by Curtis Pashelka at San Jose Mercury News.com
The Sharks signed Joel Ward as a free agent last offseason for a handful of reasons. The biggest was because they knew he could deliver the type of game he played Friday night.
Ward assisted on a tying power play goal by Tomas Hertl early in the third period and scored the go-ahead goal with 8:11 to go in regulation time as the Sharks roared back with five goals in the final 20 minutes to beat the Nashville Predators 5-2 and take Game 1 of the Western Conference second-round series.
Logan Couture scored the winner, also on the power play, with 4:20 to go in the third period and put things away with an empty- net goal with 1:29 to go. Tommy Wingels also added an empty net goal, as the Sharks slowly shook off the rust after a week-long layoff. Game 2 is Sunday.
“We went out in the third and started to play the way we wanted to play,” Sharks coach Pete DeBoer said. “We created some speed and get on the forecheck and win some battles. It resulted in drawing some penalties and power-play goals and took the game over.”
Ward, who had four assists for the Sharks in their first-round win over the Los Angeles Kings, put the Sharks ahead to stay as he scored one of the prettiest goals of the postseason.
After taking a pass from Joonas Donskoi, Ward came into the Predators zone, faked a wrist shot to freeze Predators goalie Pekka Rinne, then held onto the puck long enough to tuck it in the net after Rinne went down to the ice.
“I looked up to shoot and there wasn’t really much for me to look at,” Ward said. “I thought I could have a chance if I just went around him, and I think it kind of froze him a little bit and had an opening.”
Ward, who signed a three-year contract with the Sharks last July, now has 41 points in 59 career playoff games. He had 43 points in 79 regular-season games for the Sharks.
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