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Blues beat lifeless
Sharks
No jump or urgency in 4-2 home
loss
All the lessons the Sharks learned on Friday
night's loss to the Anaheim Ducks went ignored and it cost San Jose against the
perennial cellar-dwelling St Louis Blues on Saturday night. The Blues took
advantage of a lethargic San Jose lineup by putting three 3rd period goals past
goaltender Thomas Greiss to win 4-2 at HP Pavilion.
The vaunted
defense that was supposed to be the cornerstone of San Jose's lineup gave up
bad goals, and the offense failed to generate much of anything in a sputtering
performance that looked just plain awful.
The Sharks turned in a solid
twenty minutes in a 2nd period that resulted in a go-ahead goal, but that was
bookended by two terrible periods of hockey. The opening period was an
uninspired effort that was wrought with training camp type mistakes, and the
final period lacked the urgency necessary to beat teams that are gunning for
you.
Everything on the ice was a reminder of last season's poor start.
Sloppy passing cost the Sharks early. Defenseman Jason Demers made a
half-hearted pass from the left corner that was intercepted by Matt D'Agostini
in the high slot. D'Agostini skated right up the gut and put a backhand chance
past Thomas Greiss 2:37 into the game.
Sharks head coach Todd McLellan
used his timeout with 7:32 to play in the period in an attempt to wake his team
up. They would respond with a pair of penalties that dug a little deeper hole
for the home team, but a solid penalty kill diffused both threats.
Joe
Thornton forced David Backes into taking an interference penalty with just
under 3 minutes to play in the period, opening the door for the offense to get
on track. The power play unit cashed in when Michael Handzus lifted a backhand
chance from the top of the crease past Blues goaltender Brian Elliott. It was
Handzus' second goal on home ice in as many games.
More importantly,
it got the Sharks on track after a sloppy opening 20 minutes.
Things
began to pick up for San Jose in the 2nd period. Joe Pavelski set the tone by
creating a quality scoring chance early in the period after taking a feed in
the slot. The Sharks centerman was forced to pivot as he squared to the net,
but he got the puck on net, where it was stopped by Elliott.
Brent
Burns provided some offensive punch midway through the middle period, wristing
a puck that was deflected by Blues forward T.J. Oshie past Elliott. Burns first
goal as a Shark came from the right point and gave the Sharks the 2-1 lead. The
deflection fooled Elliott as it floated over his right shoulder. The Blues
netminder tried to reach back and grab the puck as it trickled over the goal
line, but was too late.
All that 2nd period work went out the door early in
the 3rd period when former Sharks defenseman Kent Huskins squeezed a puck
between two San Jose defenders, clanking a shot off the right post for the
equalizer. Andrew Desjardins was parked in front of Greiss, screening his
goaltender from see the shot that came from the left wing boards.
St
Louis would grab the lead less than 5 minutes later after Alex Steen finished
off a 3-on-2 break. Greiss overplayed Kevin Shattenkirk in the middle of the
ice, then was late to get over to his right to stop Steen's uncontested shot
from the left wing.
Chris Stewart tripped Burns to put the Sharks on
the power play for only the second time in the game. Dan Boyle appeared to have
Elliott caught out of position, but took a split second too long to settle the
puck before sending a shot on net. Elliott used the extra moment to get setup
and snare Boyle's 15-foot shot with a wave of the glove hand.
San Jose
could do nothing to put any more pressure on Elliott, and would surrender an
empty-net goal to David Backes late to ice the game.
Game
Notes:
Defenseman Jim Vandermeer made his Sharks debut, serving as
San Jose's 7th defenseman.
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Feeder Forums |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| STL |
1 |
0 |
3 |
4 |
| SJ |
1 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
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| 1st period - 1, STL,
D'Agostini 2 (unassisted), 2:37. 2, SJ, Handzus 2 (Clowe, Demers), 18:44,
(pp). |
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| 2nd period - 3, SJ,
Burns 1 (Clowe, Mitchell), 11:18. |
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| 3rd period - 4, STL,
Huskins 1 (unassisted), 4:33. 5, STL, Steen 2 (Shattenkirk, Arnott), 9:18. 6,
STL, Backes 1 (Lagenbrunner, Sobotka), 19:33, (en). |
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| 1st period - Jackman,
STL (elbowing), 1:56; Clowe, SJ (roughing), 1:56; A. Murray, SJ (hooking),
8:32; Winchester, SJ (holding the stick), 13:16; Backes, STL (interference),
17:04. |
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| 2nd period - Handzus, SJ
(delay of game - puck over glass), 16:01. |
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| 3rd period - Stewart,
STL (tripping), 13:51. |
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Shots |
Saves |
| STL - Elliott |
36 |
34 |
| SJ - Greiss |
19 |
16 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| STL |
4 |
8 |
8 |
20 |
| SJ |
10 |
13 |
13 |
36 |
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| Referees: LaRue,
Dwyer . Linesmen: McElman, Panich. |
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