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Sharks continue to
struggle
Ducks take second straight against San
Jose
It's only four games into the new season, but the
Sharks should be worried. Having not learned the lessons of seasons past, slow
starts will take their toll as the year goes on. Three losses in four games
qualifies as a slow start, but as the losses mount all the lip service about a
fast start is beginning to ring hollow. For the second time in three games, the
Anaheim Ducks had their way with the Sharks and took two points from the
Pacific Division cellar dwellers via a 3-2 win at HP Pavilion.
The
flat offense wouldn't be so bad if the Sharks were playing defense, but even
that's not the case. Anaheim jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the opening period
then simply fended off the Sharks mundane offense.
Of the two goals
San Jose did score, one came courtesy of a redirect by a Ducks player and the
other came on a 2-man advantage. That aside, the top two lines have contributed
little in terms of offense.
The Sharks backed themselves into a bit of
a corner when Tommy Wingels and Dan Boyle took penalties 66 seconds apart.
Teemu Selanne missed on a slam duck on the 2-man advantage, but he heeled the
pass in front of goaltender Antti Niemi.
San Jose killed off the
5-on-3, but Andrew Desjardins flipped the puck over the glass to take another
penalty right before Boyle's penalty ended. The Ducks were the benefactors of
some bad luck for San Jose, when defenseman Douglas Murray was hobbled by a
blocked shot. Murray also lost his stick on the play, which prompted Michal
Handzus to surrender his. The stick-less Handzus couldn't create any
interference on Selanne's second chance, which roofed past Niemi for the 1-0
Ducks lead.
Selanne struck again 5 minutes later, lurking in front
of the Sharks net. Saku Koivu bounced a shot off Niemi, and an unchallenged
Selanne punched home the rebound from the top of the crease.
After
misfiring on the power play, the Sharks were the benefactors of a deflection
when a Marc-Edouard Vlassic flipped a puck back toward the blueline from a
severe angle. He puck hit Ducks forward Bobby Ryan in the skate before changing
direction and slipping between Dan Ellis' pads.
Any notion of a 3rd
period comeback were stymied by a pair of lazy plays that setup Anaheim's third
goal of the evening. Carrying the puck up ice, Joe Thornton got cute with a
drop pass that trailed Joe Pavelski, forcing the Sharks forward to lose all his
forward momentum. When he did regain control of the puck, he was carrying so
little speed through the neutral zone that Anaheim easily piked him and
countered up the ice.
Correy Perry swept up ice before looping at the
left dot and then roofing a shot that caught the top right corner of the net
for the 3-1 lead.
Anaheim helped the Sharks creep back into the game
by taking a pair of delay of game penalties when both Luca Sbisa and Maxim
Macenauer tossed pucks over the glass 47 seconds apart.
Brent Burns
converted on the 5-on-3 after the Ducks tried to change on a clearing attempt.
Joe Thornton dropped the puck to the big defenseman near the right circle for a
blast that beat Ellis at 11:01 of the period.
San Jose could only
flail at pucks the rest of the evening, generating lots of buzz, but no goals.
McLellan pulled Niemi with 1:35 to play, but the man-advantage was as
ineffective as it had been all night long. A mad scramble in front of the net
with 15 seconds left ended with Burns firing a shot into the side of the net.
That would be it. No equalizer. Another loss.
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| ANA |
2 |
0 |
1 |
3 |
| SJ |
0 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
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| 1st period - 1, ANA,
Selanne 1 (Koivu, Visnovsky), 9:42, (pp). 2, ANA, Selanne 2 (Koivu, McMillan),
14:33. |
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| 2nd period - 3, SJ,
Vlassic 1 (Mitchell), 6:39. |
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| 3rd period - 4, ANA,
Perry 2 (Lydman), 4:13. 5, SJ, Burns 2 (Thornton, Boyle), 11:02, (pp). |
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| 1st period - Macenauer,
ANA (high sticking), 2:30; Wingels, SJ (high sticking), 6:13; Boyle, SJ
(roughing), 7:19; Desjardins, SJ (delay of game - puck over glass), 9:17;
Beleskey, ANA (fighting major), 13:42; Desjardins, SJ (fighting major), 13:42;
Desjardins, SJ (10 min misconduct), 13:42. |
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| 2nd period - Perry, ANA
(high sticking), 3:47; Smith-Pelly, ANA (slashing), 13:57. |
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| 3rd period - Lydman, ANA
(high sticking), 7:16; Sbisa, ANA (delay of game - puck over glass), 9:18;
Macenauer, ANA (delay of game - puck over glass), 10:05. |
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Shots |
Saves |
| ANA - Ellis |
43 |
41 |
| SJ - Niemi |
22 |
19 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| ANA |
12 |
7 |
3 |
22 |
| SJ |
10 |
17 |
16 |
43 |
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| Referees: Kimmerly,
Jackson. Linesmen: Rody, Sharrers. |
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