Los Angeles // The Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the Sharks 3-1 in San Jose on Monday to move within one victory of capturing their fourth Stanley Cup championship.
The Penguins used their suffocating speed to overcome the Sharks, taking a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven NHL championship series.
“This is the hardest hockey I’ve witnessed in all the years I’ve been in this league,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. “You’ve got to work for every inch of ice.”
Pittsburgh will have a chance to seal the title when they host game five on Thursday, while the Sharks will be battling to force a game six.
Related: Sharks strike late in Game 3 to claw back into Stanley Cup series: 'Just keep sticking, that's how we want to play'
Read also: 'They were better than us': Penguins edge Sharks to take Game 1 of NHL Stanley Cup finals
The Penguins opened the scoring for the fourth straight game, when defenseman Ian Cole threw a Phil Kessel rebound past Sharks goalie Martin Jones at 7:36 of the opening period.
The goal not only was Cole’s first of the playoffs, but his first in 105 games, including regular season and playoffs.
Pittsburgh’s Evgeni Malkin scored his first goal of the series and fifth of the playoffs nine seconds after Melker Karlsson of the Sharks was sent off for interference at 2:28 of the second period.
Malkin had an easy tap-in as he slipped behind the Sharks defense on the far post, where teammate Phil Kessel hit him with a perfect feed from above the left circle.
“Malkin’s overall game was really good, at both ends of rink,” Sullivan said. “(He’s) so hard to defend. The puck follows him. It’s one of his strongest games.”
Karlsson spoiled Pittsburgh goalie Matt Murray’s shutout bid with his fourth goal of the playoffs, picking up a rebound of Brenden Dillon’s blocked shot and beating Murray to make it 2-1 at 8:07 of the third.
But Murray finished with 23 saves and Eric Fehr scored his third goal of the playoffs for the Penguins at 17:58 of the final frame to send Pittsburgh home with a commanding series lead.
The Penguins are well aware, however, that their lead is not insurmountable. They built a 3-1 edge over Tampa Bay in the first round of the playoffs in 2011 only to lose the next three games, and did the same against the New York Rangers in the second round in 2014.
“We’ve earned an opportunity, and that’s it,” Pittsburgh forward Matt Cullen said. “We haven’t done anything yet and it’s easy to get far ahead of yourself.”
Sharks coach Peter DeBoer said the Penguins’ quick starts were putting San Jose under pressure and he again shuffled personnel on his forward lines.
“When you have the lead, you can play differently and feel more comfortable getting into a four-line rhythm,” DeBoer said. “You can put your guys out there, trust them, because there’s not that pressure we have to create a chance and score a goal.”
Sharks forward Chris Tierney said San Jose must be quicker off the mark if they want to have a chance to rally in the series.
“We’ve got to get the first goal,” Tierney said. “It’s huge. We’re good when we have the lead and they’re good when they have the lead.”
But Tierney insisted the Sharks have plenty of fight left.
“This group doesn’t get too frustrated,” he said. “We just have to keep going.”
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The National Archives, Abu Dhabi
Founded over 50 years ago, the National Archives collects valuable historical material relating to the UAE, and is the oldest and richest archive relating to the Arabian Gulf.
Much of the material can be viewed on line at the Arabian Gulf Digital Archive - https://www.agda.ae/en
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
GOLF’S RAHMBO
- 5 wins in 22 months as pro
- Three wins in past 10 starts
- 45 pro starts worldwide: 5 wins, 17 top 5s
- Ranked 551th in world on debut, now No 4 (was No 2 earlier this year)
- 5th player in last 30 years to win 3 European Tour and 2 PGA Tour titles before age 24 (Woods, Garcia, McIlroy, Spieth)
