Saturday isn't officially a must-win game for the San Jose Sharks. Unofficially, it is.
Down 2-0 to the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Stanley Cup Final, with only three goals in two games, the club knows it needs to turn things up. Now.
"We've got another level and we're going to have to find it here," said captain Joe Pavelski, according to ESPN's Pierre LeBrun. "It goes to this next game. They've done their job at home, but we've got to go win the next one.
"I think we still have another level. They're playing at a pretty good pace right now, but we can definitely do better."
Game 3 is Saturday at 8 p.m. ET in the Bay Area, and the Sharks will no doubt be looking to feed off their crowd. It will be the first Cup Final game ever played in San Jose.
The message after Game 2 was simple, according to Marc-Edouard Vlasic.
"Let's go home and do what they did here."
The Sharks face a tough task, having to win four of five in order to secure the Stanley Cup. Goaltender Martin Jones lamented the lack of space in the offensive zone for his team's forwards, while Logan Couture says a lack of support is leading to far too many turnovers.
San Jose has two days to figure it out. And they're going to have to figure out a way to do it at five-on-five, because the Penguins are playing incredibly disciplined hockey.
No, it's not a must-win game, because it takes four games to win a series. But deep down, the Sharks must know that if they go down 3-0, they can kiss their Cup dreams goodbye.
