Sharks historic comeback gives them 2-1 series lead..

[Upton]

Devin Setoguchi might have known something special could happen Tuesday night after watching a Stanley Cup Playoff commercial on television before his San Jose Sharks met the Los Angeles Kings at the Staples Center.

"It's crazy, but before the game I was looking at the TV," he said. "‘History will be made.' It was about the Kings coming back from 5-0 (in the Miracle on Manchester game against Edmonton in 1982), so it was kind of ironic that we came back from 4-0."

Setoguchi helped the Sharks make some history when he scored at 3:09 of overtime to cap a comeback from a four-goal deficit for a 6-5 win and a 2-1 lead in the Western Conference quarterfinal series with Game 4 set for here Thursday night.

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The Sharks became just the fourth team in playoff history to overcome a deficit of four or more goals –the first since Minnesota rallied to beat Chicago 5-4 on April 28, 1985.

http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030163&navid=DL|NHL|home

The Sharks scored all 5 of their regulation goals in the second period. The 5 goals in one period are a franchise playoff record.

Other teams to overcome at least a 4 goal deficit in the NHL playoffs:

Minnesota 5, Chicago 4 (OT) on April 28, 1985.
Los Angeles 6, Edmonton 5 (OT) on April 10, 1982.
Montreal 7, Boston 5 on April 8, 1971.

[Forkboy]

1. Best game of the playoffs so far.

I almost went to bed after the first period, but figured, hey, it's the Sharks, they can get three goals in a game pretty easily. So of course, L.A. comes out in the 2nd and immediately makes it 4-0. Now I'm bed bound, but I had to do something real quick first. In the time it took me to do that quick thing the Sharks scored, so I figured I'd watch a bit more. Once they made it 4-2 I was staying up for the duration, and I'm glad I did.

[Upton]

2. It was a great game for sure..

particularly the outcome. If the Sharks had lost after such a great comeback, it would have been a severe letdown.

I thought here we go again after LA scored twice in the first 3 minutes. Then I actually stopped paying attention after it became 3-0 through one period...and the Giants were playing anyway. I switched it back on right before Couture's goal cut it to 4-3, but when Ryan Smythe scored seconds later for the big momentum swing, I was thinking..well, that's probably the end of that. Right then though, the Sharks showed more of the kind of resiliency they've been exhibiting the entire second half of the season..they were just all over the Kings the last few minutes of the period..

I'm a little concerned about Niemi. He needs to be at his best for the Sharks to advance even past this series. And the Sharks have to pick up their play...like in playing a FULL game. Both their wins have been in OT, they could very easily be down 3-0 or 2-1..It will be interesting to see how the two teams respond in game 4 after last night..

[Forkboy]

3. Niemi is really the only question mark they have for me.

But I said the same thing about him last year with Chicago, and that turned out ok.

We'll find out just how much character the Kings have in the next game. That was a brutal loss to have to rebound from, and I can see that as a back breaking type of defeat.

I agree the Sharks need to play a full game. That's the only thing that gets them into any real trouble. Talent wise they can compete with anyone, but Detroit and Vancouver ALWAYS play 60 minutes, so the Sharks will have to do the same to get past them. I think there's a great chance that the Western Conference Finals will be better than the Cup series ends up being.