nhl.com photo: The San Jose Sharks left winger Marcus Sorenson (20) gets hugged up from teammates center Eric Fehr (16) and center Melker Karlsson (68) as Sorenson scored against the Anaheim Ducks at SAP Center on Monday night in game three

By Matthew Harrington

SAN JOSE–The San Jose Sharks have been the faster, stronger, more composed team through three games of the opening round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and now they sit just one game away from a sweep of the Anaheim Ducks. San Jose dominated Anaheim 8-1 to win their first home game of the playoffs and put their SoCal rivals on the brink of elimination while setting a franchise record in goals scored in a playoff contest.

Eight different players scored for the Sharks and Martin Jones made and astounding 45 saves in the throttling of the Anaheim Ducks. San Jose used its speed to keep the Ducks on their heels, scoring four of their goals on rushes. Likewise, four goals were scored by San Jose’s power play unit, a group that went four for seven as a whole against an undisciplined Anaheim squad.

Logan Couture opened the scoring 3:44 into the first period after Mikkel Boedker skated the puck up the ice to Gibson’s left. The Dane drew the Ducks defenders to him, allowing for a pass across the crease to Couture. Couture buried the one-timer for his second goal of the series.

Rickard Rakell, the Ducks leading scoring in the regular season, finally found his way onto the score sheet with 6:20 left in the first period to tie the game on the power play.
San Jose ripped off four consecutive goals in the middle frame for the decisive edge. Evander Kane and Joonas Donskoi played give-and-go against the Ducks, with Donskoi finishing off the play to Gibson’s left 1:15 into the frame for his first of the series. Marcus Sorensen scored in a near-mirror image of Couture’s game for a goal and Evander Kane’s first career playoff goal in game 1, outwaiting an impatient Gibson before pulling the puck to the backhand in the crease for a 3-1 lead 3:41 into the second. Sorensen now has two goals in the series.

Eric Fehr scored his first Sharks playoff goal with 6:17 left in the second period after the Ducks took a lax approach to him on the rush. Fehr worked from the left wall in, firing a puck between Francois Beauchemin’s legs and under Gibson’s armpit for a 4-1 lead.

The Ducks showed their identity following the Sharks fourth goal, completing falling apart and trying to initiate extracurriculars following the whistle on a frozen puck by Jones. The Sharks drew a power play out of it, then went up a man after Beauchemin slashed Tomas Hertl on the man-advantage. The Sharks converted up a man, with Hertl beating Gibson for his second goal of the postseason.

San Jose lit the lamp three times in the final frame, with all goals in the final stanza coming on the power play. Joe Pavelski scored his first of the playoffs, Evander Kane kicked the extra point for his third goal in as many career playoff games and 21 year-old Timo Meier scored his first career Stanley Cup playoff goal. Anaheim committed a total of six penalties for 20 minutes in the final 20 minutes.

‘San Jose has a chance to eliminate the Ducks in game four of the series at the SAP Center Wednesday night. Other than Joe Thornton, the team enters the game relatively healthy after escaping Monday night unscathed. They’ll look to continue to receive strong play from netminder Jones who is 3-0 with a .970 save percentage this postseason and just locked down his 18th playoff victory.