Tomas Hertl Leads His Sharks, Came Back From Behind to Beat Avalanche in Game 5, 2-1

San Jose Sharks have defeated Colorado Avalanche in Game 5 and took the edge in their series. Tonight’s 2-1 win at the Shark Tank lifted the home team to a 3-2 lead, and pushed the boys from Colorado on the brink of the elimination.

For many people at the SAP Center, the noise during the third period when Joe Pavelski came out of the tunnel was something loudest they have heard in their life.

“No one knew he was going to do that. That was as loud as this building gets,” said Logan Couture Sharks’ center. “I had goosebumps on the ice.”

Joe Pavelski comes out in a suit to fire up the San Jose crowd pic.twitter.com/3vhKk86Kx7

— CJ Fogler account may or may not be notable (@cjzero) May 5, 2019

His appearance fired up the crowd and added a boosted the morale of the home team, who were fighting to keep the lead they created just a minute earlier.

Pavelski’s show outside the ice was overshadowed with Tomas Hertl’s two goals, which decided this contest. For the home team’s coach, Peter DeBoer, an effort he provided was one of the key factors why San Jose posted a win.

“I thought [Hertl] was a horse tonight,” Sharks coach Peter DeBoer said. “I thought him and Logan Couture were fantastic for us.”

Hertl’s goal overcame the deficit San Jose had at one moment. Tyson Jost brought the lead to the Avalanche some three minutes before the end of the second period. It was a lucky turn of events because Brent Burns attempt to clear the puck ended up deflecting off Jost’s skate entering the goal.

But 20 seconds before the end of the same sequence Hertl tied the result. Sharks’ center changed the path of Logan Couture’s shot, and the puck ended behind Grubauer’s backs.

At 6:26 of the final period Hertl scored a tiebreaker. Marc-Edouard Vlasic tried to beat Philipp Grubauer, but the guests’ goalie denied that shot. The puck went off of his glove, and Hertl was there to collect it and execute.

After the match, the 26-year old didn’t want to put himself under the spotlights but pointed out that if it weren’t for Martin Jones, his team wouldn’t have won tonight’s match.

“Jones was again amazing. He made some great saves again, and we take over this game, Hertl stated.”

Jones was excellent, and there were a couple of situations when he stopped what should have been a certain goal. He ended the night with 21 saves, which is not that many, but the majority of them were big time.

On the other side of the ice, Philipp Grubauer stopped 37 of 39 Sharks’ shots, posting an amazing performance, but that wasn’t enough for the guests to get away with a better result.

Coach Jared Bednar pointed out that the effort of his players didn’t meet the expectations, and that they need to be much better in Game 6 in order to win. Bednar also stated that Grubauer was the best one among his players.

“There are areas of our game tonight… where we have to check harder than we did. So we gave up too much. Our best player was our goalie, no question about it.”

#Avs coach Jared Bednar after 2-1 loss at San Jose in Game 5 pic.twitter.com/Rd4OwQoxpI

— Mike Chambers (@MikeChambers) May 5, 2019

Nathan MacKinnon was out of the game and didn’t play at his usual level. For the first time after eight matches during which he posted at least one point, Avalanche center failed to do the same.

MacKinnon played almost 23 minutes and managed to take just one shot on goal. Four others were blocked by Sharks’ players, and that might give you a picture of how good the home team did their job of stopping one of the best players in the playoffs.

Game 6 is set for Monday, at the Pepsi Center. IT will start at 10 p.m. ET.

Colorado is facing the eliminations, and they don’t have much choice in this situation. Victory is the only option Bednar’s boys have.

“I expect Game 6 to be at a level of desperation which hasn’t been seen yet. We wouldn’t expect anything less,” said Ian Cole their defenseman.