The Vegas Golden Knights are on the power play in Game 6 of the First Round in the 2019 Stanley Cup playoffs. T-Mobile Arena is rocking and everyone is hoping that the home team can close out the series. If there was ever a great time to move on to the Second Round, this was it.
Unfortunately, a current Golden Knight had other plans for that fateful evening. He was having fun "like it must be always" and forced a Game 7 for the San Jose Sharks. His name? Tomas Hertl.
Hertl darts down the ice and doesn't get pushed to the boards. He gets the puck, deters a defender with his big body, and fires a wrister past Marc-Andre Fleury for the game-winner. The Sharks have life and eventually move on to beat the Colorado Avalanche.
The funny thing is that people attribute the lost series to that Game 7. Cody Eakin gets called for a cross-checking major (that shouldn't have been a major) on Joe Pavelski, leading to four power play goals. Yet, there's an argument that Game 6 was the true moment that got away for the Golden Knights. Why, you ask?
You should never blow a power play and give up a game-winning shorthanded goal, which is what the Vegas Golden Knights learned the hard way
Now, there's an argument to be made that ex-Sharks goaltender Martin Jones was extraordinary in that Game 6. He stopped 58 of 59 shots in that game, keeping San Jose from being eliminated. However, Jones was also a great postseason netminder in his career, posting a GAA of 2.36 and a save percentage of .917 during his playoff career.
Still, he was mediocre during that 2019 playoff run for the Sharks, posting a GAA of 3.02 and a save percentage of .898. In fact, he was pulled in Game 2 after stopping four of seven shots against the Golden Knights. Not figuring out Jones and letting him settle in Game 7 was the team's ultimate death knell.
Also, no "major that should've been a minor" call will overcome the possibility of closing out the First Round if you don't cash in on the power play. While the unit did well in the series with a percentage of 27.6%, it also didn't score in five opportunities in the last two games. That's when you need your unit to step up and put the opponent away.
Instead, Hertl sped like the fastest turtle on the planet and gave the Sharks new life. In turn, they take the series and it's the beginning of the end for Gerard Gallant's tenure. Ironically, then-San Jose Sharks head coach Pete DeBoer would go on to replace him. Talk about a small world, eh?
Still, the Golden Knights faithful should point to the team not cashing in on a power play as a prime example of their downfall. The team couldn't close out the game in double overtime and let a newfound friend burn them. In turn, it created a playoff rivalry with a Pacific Division nemesis.
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