Was Game 7 the greatest moment in San Jose Sharks history?
By Josh Hill
A team habitually cursed in the playoffs might have just delivered the best moment in franchise history.
The soul-sucking disappointment of being a San Jose Sharks fan got a reprieve Tuesday night.
San Jose has been to the Stanley Cup Playoffs 18 times in the last two decades, missing the cut only twice. In all of that, they’ve been to the Conference Finals four times and the Stanley Cup once. When there’s an opportunity for the Sharks to suck the soul out of the body of fans watching, that opportunity has been seized.
That’s what makes the miracle of Game 7 so miraculous. The Sharks erased a three-goal deficit in five minutes to take a 4-3 lead. The comeback was so incredible that the game ending with a series-clinching overtime goal is merely a footnote.
This was the greatest moment in San Jose Sharks history. Full Stop.
It was all spurred by a five-minute major penalty after Joe Pavelski was cross-checked in the face causing his head to slam into the ice. The bloody aftermath was visceral enough to draw a major penalty for Cody Eakin — one that the Knights took issue with after the game.
Here are all four goals scored. Watch it a few times because it’s absolutely bonkers.
Replay this moment at high volume, projected on the largest screen possible. It belongs in The Louvre.
This is more than just a stunning turn of events or a fantastic feat. Damian Lillard drained a series-clinching three-pointer up the coast from San Jose around the same time all of this was going down. That was just a freak display of cold-blooded athleticism, something that we’ve seen before and will probably see again in these playoffs.
San Jose storming back the way it did is not only uniquely fantastical, but it’s also aided by the context of just how big a letdown they’ve been for years. This is up there with the Minneapolis Miracle in terms of cathartic plot-twists with incredible payoffs.
Just like the Minneapolis Miracle, the Sharks haven’t won anything other than a series. Three teams still stand between San Jose and its first Stanley Cup win in franchise history. But even if the Sharks once again fail to win a title, theses playoffs still provided the greatest moment fans have ever witnessed — and that’ll be enough to live off of while the wait continues.