LAS VEGAS — It looked like it was going to be so easy.
The expansion Vegas Golden Knights swept their first-ever playoff series with the Los Angeles Kings Thurman Thomas Jersey , then opened the second round of the Western Conference playoffs with a stunningly lopsided 7-0 victory over the San Jose Sharks.
But the Sharks won Game 2 in double overtime 4-3, and bounced back from a 4-3 overtime loss in Game 3 to blank the Golden Knights 4-0 on Wednesday night to even the best-of-seven series at 2-2.
Still, Vegas coach Gerard Gallant said it’s no time to push the panic button heading into Friday night’s Game 5 at T-Mobile Arena.
“We’re 2-2 and we’ve got home ice,” Gallant said Thursday afternoon. “It’s best two out of three. There’s no panic. We get ready to play.”
Vegas is 32-11-2 on its home ice this season. However, San Jose won the last meeting there and comes in with momentum, winning two of the last three games in the series.
“We’re playing in the second round of the playoffs,” Vegas forward Pierre-Edouard Bellemare said. “We’re playing a good team. It’s how we handle it. We had times in (Wednesday night’s shutout loss) that we played better in the game, but for 60 minutes they were the better team.”
Gallant took it one step further, questioning the effort of a few of his players in the loss.
“It’s about playing fast,” Gallant said. “When you don’t play fast, you give San Jose a chance to break out and that’s what happens. They played fast last night and we didn’t have a chance to break out. It all goes hand-in-hand.
“When our forecheck is good we play a real good game. … When 10 to 15 percent of the guys don’t show up and forecheck like all the other guys, that makes the biggest difference in the world. San Jose had 20 guys competing and playing hard last night Kevin White Jersey , and that’s why they were the better team.”
One thing is for certain. The Sharks have adjusted to the speed of the Golden Knights after the Game 1 blowout and put a premium on forechecking. They’re an overtime loss in Game 3 away from leading the series, 3-1.
“There’s a bunch of pieces that go into that,” San Jose coach Peter DeBoer said of slowing down the Vegas attack. “Puck management is a big part of it. They feed off turnovers and transition as quickly as any team in the league. That’s obviously a huge part of it. Your attention to detail through the neutral zone, top of the circles in your end to top of the circles in the other end, has to be really good to handle that.”
“When we make them come through us, 200 feet through all five guys, we’re a lot tougher team to play against,” Sharks goalie Martin Jones said.
Jones, yanked after allowing five goals on 13 shots in the opener, bounced back to garner his sixth career playoff shutout on Wednesday night, stopping 34 shots in the process. San Jose also was a perfect 5-of-5 on the penalty kill.
“We’ve done a better job of not forcing plays through the neutral zone,” Sharks forward Logan Couture said. “If you don’t have it Jamison Crowder Jersey , just chip it and forecheck. That at least gives our defensemen a chance to get their guy and step up on them so they’re not flying through the neutral zone.”
Still, San Jose must find a way to win at least one more time at T-Mobile Arena, where a Game 7 would be played if needed on Tuesday, to advance to the Western Conference finals.
“It’s nothing to worry about,” Vegas center Cody Eakin said of Wednesday night’s loss. “It’s 2-2. Two of the (remaining) three are at home. We have the advantage.”
Marcus Mariota has shown flashes of brilliance during his brief NFL career.
He had a perfect passer rating in his NFL debut and led a 19-point comeback for his first playoff victory.
Now Mariota heads into his fourth season with only his fifth-year option on his contract guaranteed.
It's time for Mariota to consistently show what he can do, especially after the Titans hired a new coach in January to put the quarterback into an offense that better fits both his arm and legs.
"I don't focus on trying to prove anything," Mariota said Wednesday. "I've just got to go out there and do my job."
Before the Titans make a long-term commitment with a much larger contract, Mariota starts a window Sunday in the season opener in Miami to show if he really is their franchise quarterback. Even though he has had to learn his third offense in four years, that hurdle may not help get him beyond the $20.9 million he is due in 2019.
Mariota already has won 20 games, most by any quarterback in his first three years with the franchise since George Blanda won 28 in this team's first three seasons. He also has a chance to become the franchise's first quarterback to lead the team to the playoffs in back-to-back years since Steve McNair in 2002 and 2003.
But Mariota is coming off a season where he had more interceptions (15) than touchdowns (13) for the first time in his career. He also has yet to play in all 16 games in a regular season.
The Titans hired Mike Vrabel to replace Mike Mularkey in January , and Vrabel hired Matt LaFleur as his offensive coordinator and Pat O'Hara as quarterbacks coach. They worked with Mariota on widening his stance and tweaking his passing mechanics during the offseason to give him more balance when throwing, hoping that leads to improved accuracy.
Mariota is ready to go. He missed last year's trip to Miami, a 16-10 loss, with an injury.
"This is what you work hard for," Mariota said. "Everything that you've done this offseason, you have an opportunity to go out there and kind of show what you've done. I'm excited. I'm excited for this team and I look forward to the challenge."
Dolphins coach Adam Gase has the challenge of preparing for Mariota in a new offense with the Titans tipping nothing in the preseason.
"It is difficult because there are a lot of options that can take place to where it could be just normal drop-back pass., it could be zone read, it could be play-action where if we're not really doing a good job with our rush lanes and something opens up, he takes off," Mariota said.
Teammates insist Mariota has nothing to prove to them. This is the quarterback who threw a block for Derrick Henry in their comeback victory in Kansas City, a game where he also scored after catching his own pass.
"I think Marcus is always cool and collected," three-time Pro Bowl tight end Delanie Walker said. "He's going to go out there and play his game. Again Jordan Mills Jersey , we're paid to make our quarterback look good. He's going to need our help for that. We just need everybody to make plays, and Marcus will be all right."
Two-time Pro Bowl left tackle Taylor Lewan said Mariota already has shown plenty.
"I think the confidence as never swayed anywhere other than we have full confidence in Marcus," Lewan said. "He's our quarterback. We're very lucky to have him."
Vrabel takes a slightly different approach. The coach said every player and coach should be trying to prove his value every day.
"That's just the approach we have to take," Vrabel said. "Every day we're trying to prove our value to the team. If Marcus didn't come to work tomorrow, everybody would notice. You never want to be a guy that when you didn't show up for work or you were late, nobody really noticed."
NOTES: S Kendrick Lewis (foot) was the only player not to practice Wednesday. Even RT Jack Conklin (left knee) was among four Titans limited at practice, including LB Derrick Morgan (knee), LB Rashaan Evans (hamstring) and LB Harold Landry (ankle).
Hilfe Engel - Forum
Thema drucken
26.09.2018 03:56
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