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Kings extend Sharks
woes
LA rebound from opening night loss
It's deja vu all over again in San Jose. Or Ground
Hog Day. Whatever you want to call it, it smells the same. Like last years hot
start, the Sharks ripped off 4 straight win, and followed that up with their
3rd straight loss on Thursday night. All the opening night hoopla they had
against the Los Angeles Kings seemed to get thrown out with the Sharks momentum
as San Jose played another lackluster game that ended with a 4-1 defeat.
The Sharks were flat from the drop of the puck and things got worse
from there. Logan Couture's absence was magnified by the fact that his team is
0-3 without him. Rather than seizing the opportunity, none of the players
recalled to backfill the hole created by Couture have stepped up. The Sharks
played a lifeless game that had the home fans booing by the middle of the 2nd
period. And it's only the 2nd home game of the season!
After flubbing
things out of the gate, the Kings have rebounded and pounced on a team they
seem to own psychologically.
It took half the opening period, but Los
Angeles lulled the Sharks into a trance then proceeded to bury San Jose. Tyler
Toffoli staked the Kings to a 1-0 lead at 11:37 of that opening period, by
using a little stick handling magic. Los Angeles chipped the puck up ice before
Toffoli scooped it up at the blueline and went backhand-forehand-backhand to
work the puck around Sharks goaltender Martin Jones. Brenden Dillon's
indecisiveness on who to cover left Jones dangling to defend against Toffoli
and a potential backdoor chance.
The Sharks looked poised to get out
of the period down a goal, but penalties and flat penalty kill changed those
plans.
Tommy Wingels took a penalty late in the period to setup the
Kings first power play of the evening. Former Sharks defenseman Chritian
Ehrhoff threw a puck on net from the blueline. Milan Lucic tipped Ehrhoff's
shot past Jones with 27.2 seconds left in the frame.
Rather than
respond to open the 2nd period, the defensive coverage went south, allowing the
Kings to add a 3rd goal at 3:46 of the middle frame. After assisting on the
game's first two goals, Jeff Carter raced up ice on a 2-on-1 break that ended
with a wrist shot that beat Jones through the 5-hole.
Sharks head
coach used his challenge to question Carter's goal, but replays showed that
Lucic was onside as Carter raced up ice on his right. By virtue of the failed
challenge, the Sharks lost their timeout.
Joel Ward scored the Sharks
only goal at 15:06 of the period by depositing a shot from 10 feet out. Joe
Pavelski raced around the back of the net, and slid a pass out to the slot
where Ward evaded defenseman Brayden McNabb.
Joe Thornton confused everyone in the building late in
the period when he fell awkwardly in the right corner as the Sharks tried
pressing in the Kings zone. Thornton tried to get up, but he wobbled twice
before gaining his feet. It appeared as if Thornton was having an issue with
his skate, but it turned out that the Sharks centerman hit his head on the ice
when he fell. Having rung his bell, Thornton was actually dazed as he tried to
get back to the Sharks bench.
Thornton would return later in the 3rd
period after passing the league's concussion protocol.
The training
staff should applied that test to the Sharks special teams unit, which failed
to capitalize on five power play chances throughout the evening. They also gave
up a pair of power play goals.
Mike Brown setup the Kings second power
play goal by taking an interference penalty at 9:33 of the 3rd period. Carter
recorded his 4th point of the evening by bouncing a shot off the end boards
that caromed back to the crease where it hit Jones before rolling across the
goal line.
Game Notes:
The Sharks recalled Bryan Lerg
before the game. Lerg was reassigned back to the Barracuda days earlier.
San Jose held their first Alumni Night, bringing former forward Scott
Thornton back to help celebrate the team's 25th anniversary in the South Bay.
The Sharks power play unit slipped to 22nd in the league with their
12.5% efficiency. The penalty kill also continued to slide, falling to 20th in
the league (80.0%).
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What did you
think of this story? Post your comments on the
Feeder Forums |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| LA |
2 |
1 |
1 |
4 |
| SJ |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
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| 1st period - 1, LA,
Toffoli 1 (Muzzin, Carter), 11:37. 2, LA, Lucic 1 (Ehrhoff, Carter), 19:32,
(pp). |
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| 2nd period - 3, LA,
Carter 1 (Doughty), 3:46. 4, SJ, Ward 2 (Pavelski, Dillon), 15:06. |
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| 3rd period - 5, LA,
Carter 2 (unassisted), 9:36, (pp). |
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| 1st period - Nolan, LA
(roughing), 12:15; Lucic, LA (roughing), 16:12; Wingels, SJ (hooking),
18:30. |
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| 2nd period - Bench, SJ
(too many men), 5:53; Wingels, SJ (hooking), 12:29; Martinez, LA (tripping),
12:56; McBain, LA (interference), 16:42; McNabb, LA (cross checking),
18:09. |
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| 3rd period - Brown, SJ
(interference), 9:33; Brown, LA (slashing), 11:15; Thornton, SJ (slashing),
11:15. |
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Shots |
Saves |
| LA - Enroth |
30 |
29 |
| SJ - Jones |
19 |
16 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| LA |
8 |
11 |
10 |
29 |
| SJ |
18 |
12 |
10 |
40 |
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| Referees:
O'Halloran, L'Ecuyer. Linesmen: Gibbs, Henderson. |
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