SAN JOSE – Desperation time came early for the Sharks on Monday at SAP Center, as coach Pete DeBoer was forced to shuffle his lines and defense pairs and shorten his bench just around the midway point of regulation of Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final.
It wasn’t enough to erase a two-goal deficit, and the Sharks now find themselves on the brink of losing their first-ever appearance in the NHL’s final round.
Ian Cole, Evgeni Malkin and Eric Fehr scored for the Penguins as they earned a split of the two games in San Jose, winning 3-1 to claim a three-games-to-one series lead.