The Sharks faced off against the number 4 seed New Jersey Titans in the first round of the East Division playoffs and they come out on top and advance to Round 2!
The first game went to the Sharks in overtime. The Sharks welcomed back Brendon Dalton after being sidelined with an injury and he opened the scoring for the Sharks in the first. The Titans tied it up in the second and with the game locked at one after regulation, the game went into overtime. Just about 3 minutes into overtime, Brendan Dalton found the back of the net to give the Sharks a victory.
Game two was in New Jersey and the Sharks fell short. The Titans came out hot and scored three goals in the first period. Eli McCarthy added a goal in the second but that wouldn’t be enough. The Sharks fell to the Titans by a score of 3-1 to stay alive.
Game three was back in Long Beach and it was do or die for the Sharks. The Sharks managed to find the back of the net three times in the first period. Payton Hauge got the Sharks on the board first, followed by goals by captain Jay Montgomery and James Steinberg. But the Titans were not going to give up that easily. The Titans got on the board in the second and added goal number two early in the third. The 3-2 score was too close for comfort but as time wound down, the Titans pulled their goalie for the extra attacker. The Sharks were able to capitalize by adding two empty net goals, the first Jace Tourtillott and Gustav Martinsson. The Sharks went on to win game three by a score on 5-2 and advance to round two against the New Hampshire Jr. Mountain Kings.
Will Zinnen was between the pipes for all three games with an impressive .947 save percentage for the series.
