Written by Sean Leahy at Yahoo Sports.com
Peter DeBoer wanted his San Jose Sharks team to respond in Game 5 facing elimination. Two early goals by Brent Burns and Logan Couture coupled with an outstanding goaltending performance by Martin Jones is the reason why they’ve extended their season by at least one more game.
Jones made 44 saves to help beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-2, including a stellar pad stop onNick Bonino late in the second period that could have tied the game.
“Kind of made life a little difficult for myself a few times tonight with a couple rebounds, but just tried to get over and take away the bottom of the net,” he said.
The Penguins dominated in every facet of the game except the final score. They out-shot and out-attempted the Sharks, but with each dangerous scoring chance Jones was there.
“He’s been doing it all year, not just tonight. He does it every game for us. He’s just a stud for us,” said Joe Thornton.
A lot has been made of Penguins goaltender Matt Murray’s play in the series and his chances to take the Conn Smythe Trophy should the Penguins win a fourth game. But Jones has been just as good for the Sharks with a .938 even strength save percentage in the series and his ability to keep San Jose in games. According to the NHL, the teams had been within one goal for 218:07 of 254:53 through four games entering Game 5.
“He was great. Made some big time saves,” said Logan Couture. “He’s been playing like this for a long time, regular season, playoffs. Lot of people unfortunately don’t get to see him, us being on the west coast. He’s been unbelievable for us.”
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