NHL Network presents: Game 3 2011 WCQF: Sharks vs. Kings

All summer long, NHL Network will be replaying the 2011 Stanley Cup Playoffs -- from every jaw-dropping goal to every highlight-reel save to every crushing defeat.

Each game of the postseason -- spanning the more than two-month period from the opening round to Boston's Game 7 clincher of the Stanley Cup Final -- will be shown on the Network throughout the offseason.

Fans can tune in at 8 p.m. ET nightly for a different game -- and different chance to re-live history. A complete program schedule can be found on NHLNetwork.com.

In the years to come, Game 3 of this first-round series between the San Jose Sharks and Los Angeles Kings might be the best-remembered game from the 2011 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
 
In the early stages, the Kings brought the momentum gained from a dominant Game 2 win back to L.A. with them. Willie Mitchell opened the scoring just 2:26 into the contest, and Kyle Clifford tallied 13 seconds later to give L.A. an early 2-0 advantage. Later in the first, Michal Handzus notched his first goal of the postseason, and the Kings looked well on their way to taking a 2-1 series lead. That outcome seemed even more probable when Brad Richardson scored just 44 seconds into the second, putting the Kings ahead 4-0 -- the same score they won by in Game 2.

From that point on, history was made. After Antero Niittymaki replaced Antti Niemi in goal, Patrick Marleau started the Sharks on the comeback trail with a nifty redirection goal. Less than four minutes later, Ryane Clowe scored on the power play, and Logan Couture followed that with a one-time goal to cut the Kings’ lead to 4-3. A goal by Ryan Smyth just 15 seconds later put the Kings back on top by two and held San Jose at bay for the moment. But in the final two minutes of the period, Clowe and Joe Pavelski scored 54 seconds apart to pull the Sharks even at 5-5 after they had faced a four-goal deficit just 19 minutes earlier.

With the game suddenly tied after 40 minutes, the third period featured much more cautious play than the previous two. San Jose registered nine shots to L.A.’s five, and after a scoreless 20 minutes, Game 3 went into overtime. If the Kings had scored, letting a 4-0 lead slip away would have been forgiven. Instead, San Jose’s epic comeback -- and the Kings’ just-as-epic collapse -- was capped off when Devin Setoguchi’s wrister from the slot soared past Jonathan Quick at 3:09 of OT. The Sharks had stolen all the momentum away from the Kings, as well as the lead in the series. In the process, they also became just the fourth team in playoff history to overcome a deficit of four or more goals, and the first team to accomplish the feat since Minnesota rallied to beat Chicago 5-4 on April 28, 1985.