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So-Cal
Checkmate?
Sharks surrender 5 goals for 2nd
consecutive game
The end may be near. That is, if the Sharks
continue to surrender 5 goals per game. With the Sharks on the outside looking
in on the playoff seeds, San Jose allowed another division opponent to put a
5-spot up on the scoreboard. 24 hours after dropping a 5-3 stinker to the
Anaheim Ducks, the Sharks gagged up a 5-2 loss to the Los Angeles Kings. A 3rd
period comedy of errors doomed the Sharks to their 8th loss in the last 11
games.
With nine games remaining in the regular season, the Sharks are
starting to run out of time. They now trail Los Angeles for the last playoff
spot by two points. The Kings also own the first tie breaker, non-shootout
wins.
The lackadaisical performance on Tuesday night doesn't give the
impression that the Sharks will be playing in April. Simple mistakes ended up
in their net, and an absence of urgency made the Sharks appear as if they were
being hunted.
A slow opening period was capped with a pair of quick
goals in the final 5 minutes after Anze Kopitar was sent off for running Sharks
goaltender Antti Niemi. With Kopitar in the box, the Kings got a jump on
defenseman Dan Boyle after a puck kicked out of the Los Angeles zone. Mike
Richards raced up ice and put a puck on net that Niemi partially blocked, but
it deflected off his glove and fluttered over the goal line.
Luckily
for San Jose, Martin Havlat continues to wield a hot hand. The Sharks best goal
scorer the last week deposited his own rebound after the Sharks pressed and
pushed bodies to the net. Havlat's success has been attributed to his
willingness to stick his nose around the crease, which has been absent from his
most of his teammates game this season.
San Jose went into a defensive
mode, content to try and flip pucks out of their own end, without applying any
defensive pressure on the Kings. That approach would finally cost them with
4:11 remaining in the period. Alec Martinez put a one-timer past Niemi off a
feed from Kopitar who skated freely behind the Sharks net.
Torrey
Mitchell severely hindered his team's chance of coming back by taking a double
minor for high sticking 2 minutes into the 3rd period. Andrew Desjardins then
added to the sharks misery by following that up with another high stick less
than a minute later. Jeff Carter was called for a ticky-tack interference
penalty to make the 5-on-3 power play a 4-on-3.
That did little to stop the Kings, who pushed their
lead to 3-1 on Kopitar's 24th goal of the season. Kopitar pumped a shot past
Niemi from the right circle after the Kings worked the puck down low.
Dan Boyle answered three minutes later, scoring on the back end of a
tic-tac-toe passing sequence. Havlat started the puck-moving clinic with a pass
from the slot to Logan Couture on the left wing. Couture saw Boyle pinching on
the weak aide and hit him with a pass through the slot. Boyle buried it with a
top shelf delivery as Jonathan Quick tried diving to cutoff the angle.
Dustin Penner ended the Sharks evening with his 8th goal of the season after
Ryane Clowe tried forcing a pass in the neutral zone that was picked off by
Slava Voynov. Penner took a feed from Vono as he skated up the left wing boards
before ripping a shot just under Niemi's glove hand.
San Jose was
forced to pull Niemi with more than 2 minutes remaining in regulation.
Jeff Carter tacked on a meaningless empty-net goal to rub a little salt in the
wound. =
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Feeder Forums |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| SJ |
1 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
| LA |
1 |
1 |
3 |
5 |
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| 1st period - 1, LA,
Richards 16 (Mitchell), 15:26, (sh). 2, SJ, Havlat 6 (Burns), 15:48, (pp). |
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| 2nd period - 3, LA,
MArtinz 4 (Kopitar, Williams), 15:49. |
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| 3rd period - 3, LA,
Kopitar 24 (Richardson, Brown), 4:00, (pp). 5, SJ, Boyle 7 (Couture, Havlat),
6:56. 6, LA, Penner 8 (Voynov), 15:54. 7, LA, Carter 21 (Richards, Kopitar),
19:44, (en). |
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| 1st period - Kopitar, LA
(goaltender interference), 14:34; Moore, SJ (cross checking), 16:03. |
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| 3rd period - Mitchell,
SJ (high sticking - double minor), 1:53; Desjardins, SJ (high sticking), 2:41;
Carter, LA (interference), 2:59; Burns, SJ (holding), 4:00. |
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Shots |
Saves |
| SJ - Niemi |
41 |
37 |
| SJ - empty net |
1 |
0 |
| LA - Quick |
22 |
20 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| SJ |
8 |
5 |
9 |
22 |
| LA |
12 |
16 |
14 |
42 |
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| Referees: Hebert,
Leggo. Linesmen: Henderson, Nelson. |
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