Hertl and Couture each scored four goals in the final three games of the series with the Sharks facing elimination.
Hertl scored 1:16 into Game 5 for a 1-0 lead, scored shorthanded in double-overtime to win Game 6, and got the Sharks to within 3-2 in the third period of Game 7. Couture scored in the first period of Games 5 and 6, and scored twice in the third period of Game 7, including the first goal seven seconds into the five-minute major.
"You don't want to just lose after five games and go home because it can be like the last game of the season," Hertl said. "After tough losing (by) three (after the second period of Game 7), we still believed it in the locker room that we can do it and we did it."