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Sharks snap losing
streak
Special teams shines in 3-2 win
They're not dead yet. While it looked as if they
may throw another game out the window, the Sharks salvaged two points with a
goal early in the 3rd period and held on for a 3-2 win over the host Edmonton
Oilers at Rexall Place on Monday night. Logan Couture's deflection of a Dan
Boyle shot 38 seconds into the 3rd period to give the Sharks the goal they
would need to break their 5-game losing streak. The win doesn't even push the
Sharks into a playoff spot, but it inches them closer to the top eight teams in
the Western Conference.
By virtue of the Colorado Avalanche beating
Anaheim in overtime and the Phoenix Coyotes losing to the Nashville Predators
in the shootout, the Sharks sit in 9th place in the West, a point behind
Colorado, and two points behind the Coyotes. San Jose trails Pacific Division
leader Dallas by 4 points.
Scoreboard watching aside, the Sharks
accomplished some things they hadn't through the first 11 days of the month.
They won for starters. It was their first victory since February 28th against
the Philadelphia Flyers.
They also hadn't scored a power play goal in
six games. They doubled up on that feat, scoring a pair of goals on the
man-advantage against Edmonton.
San Jose opened the scoring with a
traditional 5-on-5 goal 67 seconds into the game. After cycling the puck in the
Oilers zone, Marc-Edouard Vlasic found himself with the puck at the point.
Vlasic fired a shot in on Oilers Devin Dubnyk, who knocked it down, but didn't
control it. Tommy Wingels took a stab at the loose puck sliding through the
crease from left to right, but the puck hit the right post. Torrey Mitchell
followed WIngles through the slot and whipped the rebound into the Oilers net
as Dubnyk was turned around trying to find Wingels shot.
Both teams
played back and forth hockey for most of the remainder of the period.
Off-setting minors to Daniel Winnik and Jeff Petry with 1:23 left in the period
setup a 4-on-4 situation that Edmonton exploited. Ryan Whitney carried the puck
up the left wing, then uncorked a blast from the left dot, beating Antti Niemi
with 50 seconds left in the period.
Special teams finally headed in
the right direction midway through the 2nd period after Taylor Hall was sent
off for tripping. Joe Thornton found himself in an unusual position, parked in
the slot, when Patrick Marleau sent a lateral feed form the left side. From
foreign territory, Thornton took a foreign approach to the situation, shooting
rather than passing. His chip shot from between the circles beat Dubnyk for his
15th goal of the season.
Hall converted three minutes later for the "here we go
again" moment of the game. Putting teams away has been a struggle for San Jose
of late, and Hall's 26th goal of the season was a turning point moment for San
Jose. The Sharks were buzzing Dubnyk when Brent Burns tried firing a shot from
the right point. Hall blocked the shot out into the neutral zone, then raced up
ice and fired a shot past Niemi.
Linus Omark closed out the period by
lifting a puck over the glass for a delay of game penalty that carried over to
the 3rd period. The Sharks took advantage of the help when Boyle's shot from
the high slot nicked Couture on the way to the net.
Niemi faced a
relatively light load, seeing only 22 shots total. His teammates buckled down
in the final 20 minutes, allowing only 6 shots to reach the net.
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think of this story? Post your comments on the
Feeder Forums |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| SJ |
1 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
| EDM |
1 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
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| 1st period - 1, SJ,
Mitchell 8 (Wingels, Vlasic), 1:07. 2, EDM, Whitney 3 (Schultz, Belanger),
19:10. |
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| 2nd period - 3, SJ,
Thornton 15 (Marleau, Pavelski), 11:36, (pp). 4, EDM, Hall 26 (unassisted),
14:54. |
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| 3rd period - 5, SJ,
Couture 28 (Boyle, Thornton), 0:38, (pp). |
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| 1st period - Winnik, SJ
(slashing), 18:37; Petry, EDM (slashing), 18:37. |
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| 2nd period - Murray, SJ
(holding), 5:24; Hall, EDM (tripping), 11:29; Omark, EDM (delay of game - puck
over glass), 19:12. |
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| 3rd period - Smyth, EDM
(10 min misconduct), 19:47. |
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Shots |
Saves |
| SJ - Niemi |
22 |
20 |
| EDM - Dubnyk |
33 |
30 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| SJ |
10 |
13 |
10 |
33 |
| EDM |
9 |
7 |
6 |
22 |
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| Referees: Kowal,
Walsh. Linesmen: Lazarowich, Wheler. |
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