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Same sad SAP
story
Red Wings latest to beat Sharks on home
ice
The Sharks 25th season of futility continued on
Thursday night with the team's 12th loss in 17 games on home ice. The Sharks
played a tight coin flip kind of game, but once again came up short when it
counted. Justin Abdelkader scored a goal with 6:52 left in regulation to stake
the visiting Detroit Red Wings to a 2-1 win at SAP Center. The goal pushes the
Sharks to within a point of the Western Conference basement, leading only the
lowly Edmonton Oilers.
This one was supposed to be different though.
Five days after laying an egg against the Winipeg Jets, the Sharks were
supposed to rebound. They were supposed to show they cared after getting
man-handled by the Jets. Guess again.
The story was of the broken
record variety. Red Wings score first. Sharks keep it close. Sharks fade in the
3rd period. Lose at home.
It's a storyline that has become all to
familiar. It's a storyline that has even turned fans away from a Red Wings
game. It was impossible to land Red Wings tickets a few years ago. Now it's
just become another non-sellout for a team that continues to flounder.
Danny deKeyser applied the kiss of death by scoring the first goal on SAP
Center ice. Visitors who score that first goal simply don't lose in San Jose.
DeKeyser whipped around Justin Braun on the left side before lifting a shot
over Marin Jones' left shoulder. Braun's inability to track his defensive
assignments burned San Jose once again.
The Shark answered 1:41 later
when Joel Ward deflected a Brent Burns shot from the blueline. Ward was
floating through the slot area when he got his stick blade on Burns shot.
The issue with Ward's goal is that the Sharks tried leaning on that
form of offense for the majority of the game. They relied too heavily on long
range shots that Red Wings goaltender Peter Mrazek tracked the remainder of the
game.
The Sharks turned to the high volume shot approach, but they all
came from distance, which Mrazek handled with ease. Without an offensive threat
that can pound the net from inside 10 feet, San Jose was up against a tough
road to hoe.
Dtroit played the perfect road game, waiting out San Jose
and striking after the sharks failed ton convert off a flurry of shots on
Mrazek.
Abdlekader was in the right spot when a puck landed on
his stick while he cruised through the high slot. The Red Wings forward stepped
into a shot that beat Martin under the crossbar with his 13th goal of the
season.
Not that the Sharks showed any fight during the final 6
minutes of the game after Abdelkader's goal, but a questionable interference
penalty to Joe Pavelski sealed the Sharks fate. Pavelski was pursuing a puck
immediately after a faceoff, appearing to have a right to the puck, but he
crashed into Luke Glendening with 2:53 left in the game.
Rather than
fighting to tie the game, the Sharks were left to try and defend the Red Wings
power play unit. That unit kept the puck pinned in the Sharks zone to kill the
clock.
Something lit a fire under Joe Thornton at the final horn, as
he went after Glendening, landing a series of punches to the Red Wing's
shielded helmet. It was a meaningless show of emotion from a guy who has
disappeared this season. Thornton is a non-factor on most nights, yet suck up
valuable minutes on the ice. His outburst was a reminder that the game has
passed him up. The punches were a desperate and meaningless show of emotion
that would be better served when there is time on the clock.
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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 |
| DET |
1 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
| SJ |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
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| 1st period - 1, DET,
Dekeyser 3 (Zetterberg, Larkin), 9:16. 2, SJ, Ward 11 (Burns, Vlasic),
10:57. |
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| 3rd period - 3, DET,
Abdelkader 13 (Datsyuk, Ericsson), 13:08. |
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| 1st period - Glendening,
DET (high sticking), 14:28; Glendening, DET (holding), 18:09. |
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| 2nd period - Larkin, DET
(tripping), 3:02; Smith, DET (roughing), 14:47; Hertl, SJ (roughing), 14:47;
Zubrus, SJ (holding), 18:46. |
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| 3rd period - Pavelski,
SJ (interference), 17:07; Thornton, sJ (roughing), 20:00; Thornton, sJ
(roughing), 20:00; Thornton, sJ (10 min misconduct), 20:00. |
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Shots |
Saves |
| DET - Mrazek |
36 |
35 |
| SJ - Jones |
25 |
23 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| DET |
12 |
6 |
7 |
25 |
| SJ |
16 |
10 |
10 |
36 |
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| Referees: Rehmer,
Meier. Linesmen: Galloway, Gibbs. |
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