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Hutton beats former
team
Sharks float through another home
loss
The Nashville Predators are poised to do some
damage in the Stanley Cup Playoffs in a few days. Oh wait, no the Predators
will be playing golf in 9 days when the regular season ends, but don't tell the
Sharks that. San Jose was got beat by a team that looked like playoff
contenders on Saturday night, shutting out San Jose 3-0 in another loss to a
pretender. Nashville swept the Sharks in the season series, winning all three
meeting this season in regulation.
* The Predators were led by Vezina
candidate Carter Hutton, who made 35 saves en route to his first career
shutout. Oh sorry, Hutton isn't a Vezina candidate, he just played one on
Saturday night, showing up his former employers with a layman's performance
that was gift wrapped for him by a lethargic Sharks offense.
* San
Jose padded their shot totals with 19 shot in the 3rd period, which skewed the
way the game may look on stat sheet. San Jose threw lots of long range rubber
at Hutton, which didn't really challenge the Sharks former farmhand.
*
The morass that is Nashville Predator hockey trapped the Sharks in the opening
period, limiting any scoring chances, keeping the Sharks off the scoreboard.
The equation is nothing new, but San Jose has yet to figure out how to beat the
system. Nashville simply beat the Sharks on both the forecheck and backcheck
and then waited them out.
* Nashville had all the real excuses, having
played against Anaheim on Friday night. The Sharks napped on Friday and forgot
to set their alarm clocks.
* Patrick Hornqvist finally did something
noticeable on the ice, when he pushed a rebound past Antti Niemi 3:48 into the
2nd period. The Predators lulled the Sharks to sleep with their tar pit
approach to defense. Matt Cullen put a puck on net from the right side, putting
it into Niemi's pads, but the Sharks netminder couldn't corral it. Loitering in
the vicinity, Hornqvist lifted the puck between Niemi and the right post for
the 1-0 Predators lead.
* A Nick Spaling hooking penalty put the
Sharks on the power play a minute later. Brent Burns rang a shot off the right
post on the man-advantage. That's as close as the Sharks would come to
converting on the power play.
* Spaling exited the penalty box after
the Sharks two-minute nap, then promptly setup Hornqvist with a pass from the
end boards that resulted in the Predators 2nd goal of the evening. The power
play failure, followed by a Predator goal was indicative of the Sharks troubles
throughout the evening. Every time they were presented with an advantage, they
squandered it, then allowed the other team to benefit.
* Roman Josi made it 3-0 just 4 minutes later, but he
let Jason Demers do his dirty work. The Predators forward beat Demers to the
front of the net, but the puck kicked off the Shark defenseman's skate,
flipping over Niemi's right pad for the 3rd goal of the period for Nashville.
* Joe Thornton woke from his nap with 4 minutes to play in regulation,
throwing a punch at Hornqvist for cross checking him. If Thornton took as much
exception to Hornqvist putting pucks past his goaltender, then the Sharks
captain might be sitting in County lockup. Unfortunately for San Jose, their
captain set the pace for his teammates by sleepwalking through the game.
* Logan Couture told reporters after the game that the Sharks, "need
to play better in general." Couture also predicted that the sun would rise in
the morning. Too bad the sun is setting on San Jose's chances of catching
Anaheim in the standings.
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Feeder Forums |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| NSH |
0 |
3 |
0 |
3 |
| SJ |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
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| 2nd period - 1, NSH,
Hornqvist 19 (Cullen, Wilson), 3:48. 2, NSH, Hornqvist 20 (Spaling, Jarnkrok),
8:59. 3, NSH, Josi 12 (Weber), 13:16. |
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| 2nd period - Jarnkrok,
NSH (cross checking), 0:08; Spaling, NSH (hooking), 6:31; Brown, SJ
(interference), 14:13. |
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| 3rd period - Hornqvist,
NSH (cross checking), 16:04; Thornton, SJ (roughing), 16:04. |
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Shots |
Saves |
| NSH - Hutton |
35 |
35 |
| SJ - Niemi |
24 |
21 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| NSH |
5 |
12 |
7 |
24 |
| SJ |
9 |
7 |
19 |
35 |
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| Referees: Rehman,
Walsh. Linesmen: MacPherson, Wheler. |
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