Patrick Marleau silences his critics with a goal that would be remembered in Sharks’ history
While San Jose Sharks’ fans were uncertain about the future of their cherished team as they let a 3-0 advantage slip, Patrick Marleau showed what he is made of and scored the winning goal of the game.
He was poor in the semifinal series against Detroit Red Wings that demanding quite a bit from him. Marleau didn’t score a single point in the first six games of the series and questions regarding his inclusion in the team started coming up.
He certainly had quite a lot to prove to the former Sharks’ players who called him gutless after the loss in Game 6 of the series.
Now that he scored the winning goal for Sharks that puts them in the Conference Finals, it is expected that he has surely silenced his critics.
Marleau certainly chose the occasion very well as he scored the goal in Game 7 of the series after Red Wings had won the last three games straight.
The goal was scored after a well worked move as Sharks was up 3 on 2.
The shot was initially fired on goal by Devin Setoguchi but rebounded back and Marleau pounced on the opportunity to score and put Sharks in the lead.
Sharks finally saw the performance that it is capable of coming up with consistently.
Logan Couture was also on the score-sheet, scoring a goal in his fourth consecutive game.
Although he faced a lot of criticism as he failed to do anything during the series, he didn’t let his confidence and concentration level drop that resulted in him scoring one of the most important goals for Sharks this season.
"It felt good to be on the scoresheet and be able to get the game-winner", Marleau said. "But we still have a long ways to go here and another month to play. We're just going to get better".
Regarding the criticism he had this to say, "It's all background noise," Marleau said. "You try to put it in the background and just focus on what I can control and what I need to do to get ready for the game. I still got better games ahead of me".
Things might get better as last time out he scored the goal against Red Wings that put Sharks in the Conference Finals.
Furthermore, he was brilliant against Chicago Blackhawks in the Conference Finals, scoring five goals and an assist even though Sharks lost the series in the end.
Talking to media about Marleau’s performance and the game winning goal, Sharks’ captain, Joe Thornton, said, "I'm sure it took a lot of weight off his shoulders, and now he's ready to go".
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