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No confidence, no positive
results
Blues sweep season series for first time in
17 years
If confidence is really that relevant in the NHL,
then the Sharks have none right now. They also have no answer for the St Louis
Blues, who swept the season series with San Jose by dropping the Sharks 3-1 at
HP Pavilion on Saturday night. In the four games this season, San Jose combined
for a paltry three goals. They did little to challenge Blues goaltender
Jaroslav Halak, stifled by the Blues all night long. Fluke bounces, a lack of
discipline and an opponent that gave up little were all factors in the Sharks
11th loss in their last 15 games.
Sharks assistant coach Matt Shaw
summed it up best.
""Hockey is a physical game," said Shaw. "Their
compete level on one-on-one battles was dramatically better than ours. The
results were better and that translates to our lack of execution."
San
Jose's confidence issues weren't helped by the Blues first goal, which was
about as painful as they come. Skating on a power play, the Blues dumped the
puck into the Sharks zone. Sharks goaltender Antti Niemi skated behind his net
to play the puck, which then kicked off a stanchion and deflected to the front
of the net. Andy McDonald tapped in one of the easiest goals of his career as
he pursued the dump in.
Torrey Mitchell made an appearance in the goal
scoring section of the stat sheet for the first time in 20 games, throwing a
puck on net with 4:31 left in the opening period. The puck caught Halak's pad
as the Blue netminder went down to block the shot, flipping behind him and into
the net. It was Mitchell's 6th goal of the season.
Any momentum that
San Jose built off of Mitchell's was quickly erased as the Blues countered 20
seconds later. Carlo Colaiacovo threw a puck on net from the left point that
was deflected by T.J. Oshie. The puck was directed downward, bouncing off the
ice and over Niemi's left pad.
"We are obviously in a funk and we need
to get out of it," said Douglas Murray, who made his return to the lineup after
suffering a broken Adam's Apple. "We have to work hard, it is the same old
cliché, but we just have to get it going."
The power play
continued to haunt the Sharks, as they surrendered their second goal of the
game down a man. Justin Braun was called cross checking, one of five minor
penalties by the Sharks, before Kevin Shattenkirk flipped a shot between Niemi
and the left post for his 9th goal of the season.
San Jose had three
power play chances of their own, but poor decision making by their captain
negated their first opportunity. Valdimir Sobotka was sent off for cross
checking at 14:24, but Joe Thornton wiped the man-advantage away with a holding
infraction.
"They give up the fewest amount of shots in the league, we
knew we were only going to get six of seven great scoring chances," said
Thornton. "They block a lot of shots, that's the way they play. You knew you
weren't going to get a lot of chances."
An interference penalty by
Colaiacovo later in the period was met by the Sharks with a single shot on
goal. That shot was easily stopped by Halak and San Jose continued to search
for answers on how to get a puck past the Blues goaltender.
A third Sharks power play was even more fruitless. A
David Perron slashing penalty with just under 9 minutes left in regulation
should have been a a great chance for San Jose to make a run, but instead it
spawned a chorus of boos from the sellout crowd. The Sharks generated no shots
on goal on the power play.
Tommy Wingles magnified the Sharks
frustrating evening, when he failed to convert on a wide open net with 4
minutes left in the game. Wingles was hanging around the top of the Blues
crease when a deflected puck bounced right to his stick, but Shattenkirk tied
up his stick, denying the would be goal.
"It's unfortunate right now,"
said Logan Couture, who also returned to the lineup after missing the last two
games with a lower body injury. "We need to win our battles for pucks to create
some chances. They were the hungrier team tonight; they outshot us and
outplayed us."
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Feeder Forums |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| STL |
2 |
1 |
0 |
3 |
| SJ |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
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| 1st period - 1, STL,
McDonald 6 (Shattenkirk, Pietrangelo), 2:52, (pp). 2, SJ, Mitchell 6 (Moore,
Winnik), 15:29. 3, STL, Oshie 16 (Coliacovo, Sobotka), 15:49. |
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| 2nd period - 4, STL,
Shattenkirk 9 (Oshie, Pietrangelo), 12:38, (pp). |
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| 1st period - Galiardi,
SJ (high sticking), 2:27. |
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| 2nd period - Moore, SJ
(interference), 0:36; Braun, SJ (cross checking), 11:39; Sobotka, STL (cross
checking), 14:24; Thornton, SJ (holding), 15:39; Coliacovo, STL (interference),
18:27. |
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| 3rd period - Bench, SJ
(too many men), 5:32; Perron, STL (slashing), 12:11. |
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Shots |
Saves |
| STL - Halak |
19 |
18 |
| SJ - Niemi |
32 |
29 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| STL |
12 |
12 |
8 |
32 |
| SJ |
7 |
3 |
9 |
19 |
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| Referees: Watson,
L'Ecuyer. Linesmen: Heyer, Morin. |
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