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Rangers add to Sharks shootout
woes
Sharks let points slip through their
fingers
With the regular season down to a 13-game sprint,
the Sharks need to put away teams like the New York Rangers. San Jose came
within a shootout save of taking the two-points that were on the line Saturday
night at HP Pavilion. The Sharks had the advantage after Dan Boyle scored in
the 2nd round of the shootout, but former Phoenix Coyote Wojtek Wolski matched
Boyle's goal in the 3rd round and Brandon Dubinsky handed the Sharks their
second straight shootout loss in the 6th round with a goal.
The
Pacific Division leaders maintain a 4-point lead over the Dallas Stars for the
division crown, but a 7-point lead over the Anaheim Ducks and the division
basement. That's how tight things are this season. Giving up the extra point to
the Rangers after San Jose owned the 1st and 3rd periods is tough to swallow.
San Jose outplayed the Rangers for most of the evening, but shot
themselves in the foot with little mistakes that allowed the Rangers to hang
around.
Both teams played an up tempo game early in the contest. New
York was looking to rebound from a poor performance in Anaheim on Wednesday
night that displeased head coach John Tortarella. San Jose was looking to keep
the momentum of their wild performance on Thursday night going. The Sharks
jumped out to a big shot advantage early in the contest, but couldn't get
anything past Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist.
Brandon Prust and
Ben Eager dropped the gloves with 9 minutes remaining in the opening period,
turning in a lengthy battle that ended with both players too tired to throw any
more punches. Rangers defenseman Matt Gilroy took a hooking penalty at 12:19
and the Sharks would respond quickly. Ryane Clowe scored his 22nd goal of the
season after deflecting a shot off Marc Staal. Staal was caught with a high
stick that went uncalled on the faceoff preceding the goal, jarring the Rangers
defenseman. By the time he regained his wits, Clowe fired a shot that clipped
him, before changing direction on Lundqvist.
San Jose's dominance
through the first 15 minutes of the game would go by the wayside, when they let
their guard down late in the period. The Rangers tied things up at 1-1 when
Erik Christensen sent a one-time chance from the doorstep past Antti Niemi at
16:57. Defenseman Ian White made a nice play to control Vinnie Prospal behind
the Sharks net, but he received no help as the Rangers forward reversed course
and made the feed to Christensen from behind the Sharks net.
New York
would grab the lead early in the 2nd period, after Michael Sauer slid a shot
from the slot just inside the right post. White broke his stick his stick
moments earlier, so Clowe tried to assist his defenseman by giving him his
twig. That turned out to be the wrong decision, as the Sharks forward was the
only player near Sauer when the rookie defenseman swept his shot home form the
high slot.
Justin Braun saved Niemi's bacon with 8 min left in the
period after Rangers rookie scoring leader Derek Stepan pumped a shot that
trickled through the Shark netminder's pads. As the puck inched toward the
Sharks goal before the rookie defenseman swept it safely away for the San Jose
goal.
Staal laid out Kyle Wellwood with a questionable
open-ice hit at the 16 minute mark that sent the Sharks forward's helmet
sailing from between the circles to the boards. Wellwood was dazed by the hit,
so Ben Eager stepped on the ice in his place. That would work well for the
Sharks after Torrey Mitchell banked a shot off Eager and into the Rangers goal.
San Jose would outshoot New York 12-3 in the 3rd period, but Lundqvist
showed why he has the most road wins of any goaltender in the NHL This season.
He was forced to snare a one-tine chance by Jason Demers with 9 minutes left in
regulation after the Sharks worked the puck deep and setup the pretty one-time
chance from the slot.
The Sharks best chance to end things in
regulation came with 2:30 to play when Eager and Joe Pavelski created a 2-on-1
break. Eager rushed the chance and put a shot right in Lundqvists chest pad,
rather than try and draw the Rangers goaltender to the string side and make a
pass to his wide open linemate.
Pavalski would also miss on a chance
from the left side in the overtime period, when he pushed a shot over the
crossbar,
In the shootout, Boyle scored as the second shooter, but
Niemi couldn't make the stop on Wolski. The Sharks didn't help themselves when
Clowe, Pavelski and Logan Couture all tried to go five-hole on consecutive
chances that Lundqvist easily denied. Dany Heatley looked like he had the
Rangers netminder beat with a more t his forehand, but Lundqvist got his right
skate up against the post to deny the Sharks sniper.
Game
Notes:
Referee Bill McCreary was making his final appearance as an
on-ice official. The 26-year veteran plans to retire at the end of the season.
He received an ovation from the sellout crowd during a stoppage.
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1 |
2 |
3 |
OT |
SO |
T |
| NYR |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
3 |
| SJ |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
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| 1st period - 1st: 1, SJ,
Clowe 22 (Couture, Boyle), 12:30, (pp). 2, NYR, Christensen 10 (Prospal,
Gaborik), 16:57. |
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| 2nd period - 3, NYR,
Sauer 2 (Fedotenko, Prust), 1:16. 4, SJ, Eager 5 (Mitchell, Boyle), 16:26. |
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| Shootout - SJ: Marleau
(miss), Boyle (goal), Clowe (miss), Pavelski (miss), Couture (miss), Heatley
(miss). NYR: Christensen (miss), Zuccarello (miss), Wolski (goal), Anisimov
(miss), Callahan (miss), Dubinsky (goal). |
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| 1st period - Prust, NYR
(fighting major), 11:07; Eager, SJ (fighting major), 11:07; Gilroy, NYR
(hooking), 12:19; Couture, SJ (goaltender interference), 12:47. |
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| 2nd period - Callahan,
NYR (slashing), 7:59; Prust, NYR (unsportsmanlike conduct), 18:52; Eager, SJ
(unsportsmanlike conduct), 18:52. |
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| 3rd period - Callahan,
NYR (hooking), 6:27. |
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Shots |
Saves |
| NYR - Lundqvist |
33 |
31 |
| SJ - Niemi |
22 |
20 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
OT |
T |
| NYR |
11 |
6 |
3 |
2 |
22 |
| SJ |
9 |
9 |
12 |
3 |
33 |
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| Referees: Furlatt,
McCreary. Linesmen: Racicot, Schachte. |
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