The Sharks blew out the Anaheim Ducks on 8-1 Monday night to take a 3-0 lead in their first round series. Joonas Donskoi, Logan Couture (three points apiece), Evander Kane, Timo Meier, Joe Pavelski, and Marcus Sorensen (two) had multi-point nights as San Jose chased Anaheim starter John Gibson after scoring five goals in two periods.
Couture opened the scoring with his second of the postseason 3:44 into the contest, tapping in a Mikkel Boedker pass off of an odd-man opportunity. Boedker used his speed and shielded the puck from Ducks defenseman Hampus Lindholm, finding Couture alone in front of the net for the first of five goals off the rush.
Rickard Rakell tied the game on the power play a couple minutes past the midway point of the period. Rakell's goal, assisted by Brandon Montour and Ryan Getzlaf, was each player's first point of the series.
Anaheim largely outplayed San Jose for much of the second period, attempting 61.37 percent of the five-on-five shots in the middle frame. But the Sharks burned the Ducks in transition early, scoring two goals within the first four minutes of the second.
Joonas Donskoi finished a give-and-go with Evander Kane just 75 seconds into the period, while Donskoi set up Marcus Sorensen on another two-on-one 2:26 later. Two goals on the first three shots gave San Jose a two-goal lead, and the rout was on 10 minutes later.
Eric Fehr shook Andrew Cogliano, and snuck a shot past John Gibson to give the Sharks a three-goal lead with 6:17 remaining on the second. Tempers flared soon after, as Nick Ritchie took the extra minor following a scrum with Dylan DeMelo 45 seconds after Fehr's goal.
Francois Beauchemin put Anaheim down two men with a slash, and it appeared San Jose scored on the ensuing power play. Reviews showed the puck did not cross the line, but Tomas Hertl made the four-goal lead official soon after, completing a tic-tac-toe play with a one-timer from the slot.
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Ryan Miller took over for Gibson to start the third, and Ducks captain Ryan Getzlaf took two penalties on the same shift seven-and-a-half minutes in, and Sharks captain Joe Pavelski capitalized on the ensuing second power play to put his team up 6-1. Anaheim fully unraveled after Pavelski's goal, as Corey Perry cross-checked Kevin Labanc a little over a minute later, and Getzlaf hit the showers early with a misconduct.
Ryan Kesler joined the penalty parade with a slashing penalty with three-and-a-half minutes remaining in regulation, and Kane converted to give the Sharks a 7-1 lead. San Jose continued to pour it on with less than a minute to go, when Chris Tierney scored the eighth goal with Brandon Montour in the box for yet another penalty, sealing an 8-1 win.
13 of 18 Sharks finished the game with at least a point, and all but three had a shot on goal. Monday marked the first time in franchise history San Jose scored eight goals in a playoff game, and the first time since Oct. 8, 2013 overall.
