Through the first four games, the Stanley Cup Final followed a predictable script.

The Pittsburgh Penguins, continuing to account for a larger slab of total shots, were duly rewarded with three wins to one loss. They asserted themselves, and implemented their scheme more effectively than the San Jose Sharks, and the series' scoreboard reflected as such. Plain and painfully simple.

With an upshot apropos, pundits and onlookers didn't need to pay heed to the work of those between the pipes - a fact that in itself deviates from the norm. Because they didn't have to.

Matt Murray was winning games for the Penguins, not stealing them. And Martin Jones couldn't be blamed for the losses that were added to his record. This was about one team breaking down another, not two goaltenders. And for this, the end result seemed inevitable. Until it wasn't.

Jones derailed the narrative Thursday in Game 5 with perhaps the greatest individual performance of these playoffs. And for his work, he supplied a much-needed jolt to the Stanley Cup Final, and perhaps kick-started the process of turning the NHL's championship series on its head.

Jones survived an all-out blitzkrieg from the Penguins, who so desperately wanted to celebrate a world championship in front of their fans inside the Consol Energy Center, and tens of thousands more waiting outside.

"He's been doing this all year," Joe Thornton said of his goaltender, via NBCSN. "He's the backbone to our team."

Jones made 44 stops, or more than any netminder has when facing elimination in nearly a half century, on 46 shots. In addition to that, he loaded up for 76 total shot attempts, made double-digit total saves in each period, and survived 19 high-danger scoring chances at even strength, or the most a Sharks team has allowed in the post-lockout era.

"He's always tapping us on the pads, saying we did a good job, and he's usually the one bailing us out," defenseman Justin Braun said, according to Michael Russo of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.

On the other side of the rink, the rookie Murray, if but only for a period, finally showed his inexperience. He allowed three goals on seven shots, compared to the Pens' 15, in the opening frame, or a deficit that Jones would never let the Penguins crawl out of.

The 2016 Stanley Cup Final required something spectacular to shake it from its intended route.

We'll find out Sunday in San Jose if Jones can continue steering.

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Logan Couture is quietly having an excellent postseason.

With a goal and two assists in a Game 5 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins, Couture now sits on 29 points (nine goals, 20 assists) in 20 playoff games, six points ahead of teammates Brent Burns and Joe Pavelski and seven up on Phil Kessel.

"I haven't done too much this series," Couture told NBC's Pierre McGuire after the game. "You want to contribute. We knew what the series was at, what a loss would have meant to us, so wanted to try to force the game back in San Jose."

That's exactly what the Sharks were able to do, with Game 6 set for Sunday in California.

In the first four games of the series, Couture had recorded two assists, both of which were recorded in Pittsburgh. His three-point effort Thursday gives him at least one three-point game in each round of the playoffs.

Looking ahead, the extra game or two allows Couture the opportunity to build on his point total, which is already the fourth highest in the playoffs in the salary cap era. Since 2006, only Evgeni Malkin (36) and Sidney Crosby (31) in 2009, and Daniel Briere (30) in 2010 have been more productive in the postseason.

A couple more wins and Couture will put himself in the Conn Smythe conversation, with Martin Jones likely the front-runner if the Sharks are to win the Stanley Cup.

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After watching his team more than double the shots on goal of their opponent in a losing effort, head coach Mike Sullivan suggested his Pittsburgh Penguins just needed a little more luck to come away with a victory Thursday.

"It was just one of those nights where we couldn't find that goal," Sullivan said post-game. San Jose Sharks goalie Martin Jones would steal the show with 44 saves on the night while his team only sent 22 pucks towards Penguins starter Matt Murray.

Game 5 certainly didn't begin how the Penguins hoped as Brent Burns and Logan Couture both found the net for the Sharks in the opening three minutes, but Sullivan admits his team recovered nicely after the rough start.

"I thought our team as a whole was a little bit unsettled in the first part of the game but we settled in fast," he added, per Sam Werner of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "We knew it wasn't going to be easy. These are two really good teams playing against one another."

Among the players to recover nicely was Murray - who was solid after allowing three goals on five shots to start the game. Sullivan said he never considered pulling the rookie after the third goal, according to Wes Crosby of NHL.com.

The Penguins have now outshot the Sharks in four out of five games in the Final.

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PITTSBURGH (AP) - Martin Jones stopped everything.

The seemingly endless barrage of shots the Pittsburgh Penguins threw his way. Pittsburgh's long-awaited house party more than five decades in the making and - most importantly - his team's breakthrough season from serving as mere fodder to a coronation for Sidney Crosby and company.

The San Jose Sharks goaltender made 44 saves, including all 31 over the final two periods in a 4-2 victory in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final on Thursday night. Outplayed but not outscored, San Jose will host Game 6 on Sunday after jumping on Pittsburgh rookie Matt Murray early and holding on behind the spectacular Jones late.

''This team hasn't quit all year and we're not going to start now,'' Jones said. ''We still have a long way to go. It's still an uphill battle.''

Logan Couture had a goal and two assists in the first period for the Sharks. Brent Burns, Melker Karlsson and captain Joe Pavelski also scored for San Jose, which was outshot 46-22 but held firm after surviving a chaotic opening five minutes and playing capably after getting the lead in regulation for the first time in the series.

Evgeni Malkin and Carl Hagelin scored for Pittsburgh but the 22-year-old Murray, whose postseason play helped fuel Pittsburgh's return to the final after a seven-year break, faltered early and his high-profile teammates struggled to get to Jones.

San Jose coach Peter DeBoer preached patience with his team in a hole only one club in NHL history has climbed out of to raise the Cup. He pointed to the Sharks' own first-round collapse two years ago against Los Angeles - when a three-game lead became a 4-3 loss that took an entire season to get over - as proof of how quickly the tenor of a series can change.

The Penguins stressed the final step in the long slog from the tumult of December - when Mike Johnston was fired and replaced with Sullivan with the team languishing on the fringe of the playoff picture - would be the most difficult. Yet the prospect of celebrating the first title captured within the city limits in 56 years sent thousands into the streets around Consol Energy Center and ticket were going for more than $1,000.

Things were no different inside, with the largest crowd in the arena's brief history - a group that included Pirates Hall of Famer Bill Mazeroski, whose epic ninth-inning blast in Game 7 of the 1960 World Series at Forbes Field marked the last time a championship season ended in Pittsburgh - in a frenzy from the opening faceoff.

It took all of 64 seconds for the Sharks to quiet them and 2:53 to leave them stunned. Burns' first goal of the final, a wrist shot from the circle that didn't look unlike Joonas Donskoi's overtime winner in Game 3, put San Jose in front in regulation for the first time in the series. Couture doubled San Jose's advantage less than two minutes later with a redirect in front of the net.

The momentum evaporated nearly as quickly as it appeared. Malkin scored on the power play 4:44 into the first and Hagelin followed 22 seconds later to tie it, the fastest opening four-goal sequence in the history of the final.

Things settled down - at least a little - until Karlsson's shot from in front with just under five minutes left in the first, set up by a pretty backhand feed from Couture.

The advantage set the stage for Jones, who spent a large portion of the second period fending off one odd-man rush after another as Pittsburgh's relentless speed pinned the Sharks in their end for long stretches. Yet the goalie who watched as a backup behind Los Angeles star Jonathan Quick two years ago as the Kings roared back to stun San Jose on their way to a championship gave the Sharks the spark they needed to extend their season for at least three more days and keeping its slim hopes of raising the Cup alive.

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The San Jose Sharks didn't have half as many shots as the Pittsburgh Penguins midway through the second period, but Martin Jones - as he has done all series - is keeping his team in the game.

Nick Bonino looked to have a golden chance as a rebound bounced out to his backhand, but Jones robbed the Penguins forward with an incredible toe save.

The 26-year-old headed to his dressing room with 30 saves and a 3-2 lead heading into the second intermission.

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It's been a fairly civil Stanley Cup Final, but it might not remain that way if this sort of nasty is permitted.

San Jose Sharks defenseman Roman Polak escaped penalty after a clear, and outwardly reckless, shove through the back of Brian Dumoulin on a rare venture deep into the offensive zone.

Dumoulin picked himself up unscathed.

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Antonio Brown is supporting the Pittsburgh Penguins' Stanley Cup bid in style.

Brown sported an incredible fur coat to Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final, much to the delight of fans everywhere.

Brown's coat appeared to be well-received by his friends as well.

The Penguins can clinch the Stanley Cup with a Game 5 victory Thursday night, and Brown's attire can be described as championship-level swag.

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