Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Pavelski hurt, Eakin ejected, Sharks steal lead on huge Game 7 power play

uVWG7AkBat0g
Joe Pavelski goes down awkwardly and gets up bloody after taking a high stick after a face off from Cody Eakin. Eakin gets a five minute major penalty along with an ejection.

At one point, the crowd in San Jose was “you can hear a pin drop” quiet in Game 7, as the Golden Knights built what looked like a suffocating 3-0 lead. Fittingly in a back-and-forth series and a generally wild Round 1, the hockey world should have expected the unexpected.

Update: Then more unexpected happened in Game 7, as the Golden Knights kept pushing after the Sharks built that unlikely 4-3 lead, with Vegas scoring a 4-4 goal to send it to OT. The Sharks then won 5-4 in OT via a goal by Barclay Goodrow. Check out this recap for the rundown of Game 7, while Vegas reacted to the penalty call here. The Buzzer covers Tuesday’s two Game 7 matchups.

It sounds like Joe Pavelski might be OK.

In a startling series of events:


  • Joe Pavelski was hurt, possibly badly, on an awkward-looking hit, which drew a five-minute major penalty on Cody Eakin. Video will be added soon, but here it is in GIF form:
  • That was a frightening sight, and the officials responded by ejecting Eakin and charging him with a major penalty. This came after the Sharks began Game 7 going 0-for-4 on the power play.
  • The Sharks took advantage of that five-minute major, and the fact that it doesn’t end when you score a power-play goal. San Jose scored a ridiculous four goals on that major penalty to take a stunning lead.

Here are the goals in video form:

Was this the right call, or did Eakin draw a major penalty because of the optics of Pavelski’s scary injury? That’s a debate that could linger, but the bottom line is that the Sharks are now, somehow, up 4-3 with little time remaining in the third period.

James O’Brien is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @cyclelikesedins.