Around the NHL: Sharks force Game 6 in San Jose

Thursday night marked Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final and the hockey season is not quite over just yet.

The San Jose Sharks claimed a 4-2 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins, forcing a Game 6 in San Jose on Sunday night.

Scoring came quickly for both teams in this game. The Sharks jumped out to a 2-0 lead on goals by Brent Burns and Logan Couture just 2:53 in. The goals were separated by 1:49.

The Penguins answered with two goals just 22 seconds apart. Evgeni Malkin struck for a power-play goal and Carl Hagelin scored on a deflection moments later to even things up.

The Sharks regained the lead late in the first as Melker Karlsson scored at 14:47 of the period to give San Jose a 3-2 lead.

That lead held all the way through the second period and a majority of the third. Joe Pavelski scored an empty-net goal with 1:20 to play to officially for one more game at least.

While the goaltending didn't look particularly good early on, it became quite the show for netminders Matt Murray and Martin Jones. Murray had been stealing the show early in the series, but Jones had his finest hour in Game 5, making 43 saves in the win.

Game 5 also marked important games for Burns and Couture, who had been relatively quiet in the first four games of the series. The Sharks found themselves in a 3-1 deficit in the series in large part to a tremendous defensive effort by the Penguins to eliminate the Sharks stars from the offense. If Thursday's game gets those two going, Game 6 could force a best of one on Wednesday night next week.

For now, the hockey season continues and the Sharks and Penguins play on to a crucial Game 6. The Cup is still on the line for the Penguins, but the Sharks now have the chance to force a winner-takes-all Game 7. Game 6 begins at 8 p.m. on Sunday.

Kevin Durso is managing editor for Flyerdelphia. Follow him on Twitter @Kevin_Durso.