Penguins' 'hard hockey' wearing down Sharks

When San Jose Sharks centre Patrick Marleau took a nifty pass from Logan Couture for a breakaway early in the third period of Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final, Marleau shot meekly into the glove of Pittsburgh Penguins rookie goalie Matt Murray.

Maybe Marleau was surprised to find himself in alone because grade-A scoring chances have been rare for Marleau and his teammates, who trail the best-of-seven series three games to one after Monday's 3-1 loss on home ice.

Unless the Sharks figure something out over the next 48 hours leading up to Game 5 in Pittsburgh, the Penguins will celebrate the franchise's fourth Stanley Cup championship and the first won on home ice after taking the prized chalice for victory laps in Minnesota in 1991, Chicago in 1992 and Detroit in 2009. 

The Penguins have done a magnificent job defensively so far in this series. They not only have held San Jose to seven goals in four games, but have limited Joe Pavelski and company to 24.5 shots per game.

Pittsburgh also has blocked 93 shots, compared to the Sharks' 74.

When the two teams arrived for the final last week, the Sharks were humming offensively. They had scored a league-best 63 goals in 18 playoff games.

Many of the Sharks' scoring plays had been initiated from point shots and finished by the tipping prowess of players like Pavelski. The Penguins identified this trend and made a commitment to block shots, something Murray doesn't mind at all.

"I think that's a huge part of their offence, trying to get pucks through from the point with shots and tips," said the 22-year-old Murray, who now has 14 wins in this playoff run. "The more we can stop the puck from getting to our net front, I think the better chance we're going to have."

This isn't simply a case of the Penguins' best players outshining the Sharks' best players through four games. But if the Sharks want to extend this series, they made need a Joe Thornton, a Pavelski or a Marleau to step up in Game 5 in Pittsburgh on Thursday.

Here is the shots-on-goal breakdown for star players through four games in this series:

San Jose                

Brent Burns — 12

Patrick Marleau — 10

Joe Pavelski — 9

Logan Couture — 8

Joe Thornton — 8

Tomas Hertl — 5 (2 games)

Pittsburgh

Phil Kessel — 18

Patric Hornqvist — 13

Kris Letang — 12

Evgeni Malkin — 10

Sidney Crosby — 9

Chris Kunitz — 9

'The hardest hockey I've witnessed'

The Penguins hold a 3-1 series lead in part because Murray has been better than San Jose goalie Martin Jones while Pittsburgh's blue-line has made fewer mistakes and some unheralded players like Conor Sheary, Bryan Rust and Ian Cole have contributed timely goals.

It's difficult at this time of the year for star players to score. Of the Penguins' 10 goals, the only big names to score have been Malkin, Kessel and Hornqvist.

For San Jose, the big names to score have been Marleau and Hertl, who has missed the past two games with a knee injury, and according to a report in a Czech paper will miss the rest of the series.

"It doesn't surprise me that goals are hard to come by because both teams are making a sincere commitment to playing away from the puck," Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said. "When I say I think it's the hardest hockey that I've witnessed in this league, it seems like both teams have to fight for every inch out there. That's just the type of hockey that it's become. 

"It's not an easy environment. It's hard hockey. I think both teams have played extremely hard. We certainly have a lot of respect for San Jose and how good they are. But we couldn't be more proud of our players and the way we're playing."

Teams that have taken a 3-1 series lead in the Stanley Cup Final have gone on to claim the championship on 31 of 32 occasions. The exception was the Toronto Maple Leafs, who  overcame a 3-0 deficit against the Detroit Red Wings in 1942.

Sharks head coach Peter DeBoer knows this challenge well because his New Jersey Devils trailed 3-1 and eventually lost to the Los Angeles Kings in six games.