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Sharks grind out win in
Florida
SJ takes 2-1 shootout decision
The road warrior San Jose Sharks scratched and
clawed their way to a 2-1 shootout win in South Florida on Thursday night,
capturing their 20th road victory of the season. San Jose and the Florida
Panthers played one of the tightest games of the season, trading goals in the
3rd period in the low scoring affair. The Sharks beat Panthers goaltender Al
Montoya with a pair of goals in the shootout to beat the second best team in
the Eastern Conference.
The Panthers have vaulted to the top spot in
the Atlantic Division with physical play and a focus on quality defense. The
Sharks were exposed to both, generating little in the scoring chance department
through the first 49 minutes of the game. San Jose was limited to 7 shots in
each of the first two periods, do in part to Florida's smothering defense.
The Panthers did their homework, taking away the Sharks cycle with
coverage on trailing players throughout the game.
San Jose had a
single shot on goal in the 3rd period, but that shot found its way past
Montoya.
The Panthers had taken a 1-0 lead early in the 3rd period,
when Jaromir Jagr ent a put-back chance past Martin Jones. Vincent Trocheck
carried the puck up the left wing boards before cutting across the slot, with
Jagr overloading on the right side. Trocheck tried getting a shot off, but
Tomas Hertl blocked the shot with his stick blade. The puck kicked out to Jagr
who easily deposited his 18th goal of the season.
San Jose answered
with a textbook display of puck movement and vision. Joe Pavelski started a
tic-tac-toe sequence by hitting Joe Thornton behind the net from the right
corner. Thornton saw Logan Couture cutting across the slot from right to left,
hitting him with a touch pass from behind the right post. All Couture had to do
was receive the puck and whip it home, as Montoya failed at the shot with no
effect.
The Sharks 4th ranked power play unit had four chances to
convert on the evening, but they failed on each attempt. An interference
penalty to Panthers winger Garrett Wilson almost turned disastrous for San Jose
after the Sharks surrendered a pair of short-handed breakaway chances for the
Panthers.
Jones was solid on those chances, and came up even bigger in
the overtime when he stoned Trocheck on another breakaway chance up the right
wing. The Sharks netminder flashed the leather to keep the game knotted at 1-1.
The Sharks found their legs in the later half of the 3rd period, which
carried over into that overtime frame where they dominated Florida. Defenseman
Marc-Edouard Vlasic just missed ending the game with a shot that rang off the
crossbar in the fist minute of the extra session.
San Jose out-shot Florida 2-1 in the overtime, but
that statistic didn't do the Sharks justice. The Panthers had to do everything
to keep the puck out of their net as San Jose went on a tear.
Florida
wouldn't be as lucky in the shootout. Joonas Donskoi and Pavelski both slipped
pucks past Montoya via the five-hole. Nick Bjugstad snapped a shot past Jones,
but the Panthers failed on chances by Jonathan Huberdeau and Olli Jokinen.
Game Notes:
The Sharks lost Tommy Wingels to an
apparent injury midway through the 1st period when his skate was clipped,
sending him head first into the boards in front of the Panthers bench. The
Sharks winger skated off on his own power, but he did not return to the game.
Sharks head coach Peter DeBoer made a change in the 3rd period that
led to his team's only goal in regulation. DeBoer elected to stack his top line
with centers, moving Couture onto a line with Thornton and Pavelski. That moved
proved critical, as the Sharks got the tying goal that would eventually lead to
overtime and the shootout.
Defenseman Brendan Dillon was a scratch
once again as he nurses his upper body injury.
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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 |
OT |
SO |
T |
| SJ |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
| FLA |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
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| 3rd period - 1, FLA,
Jagr 18 (Trocheck, Smith), 2:23. 2, SJ, Couture 6 (Thornton, Pavelski), 8:56.
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| Shootout - FLA:
Huberdeau (miss), Bjugstad (goal), Jokinen (miss). SJ: Donskoi (goal), Pavelski
(goal). |
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| 1st period - Marleau, SJ
(interference), 18:16. |
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| 2nd period - Kampfer,
FLA (hooking), 4:51; Wilson, FLA (interference), 9:44; Kulikov, FLA (high
sticking), 18:45. |
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| Overtime - Trocheck, FLA
(slashing), 3:32. |
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Shots |
Saves |
| SJ - Jones |
20 |
19 |
| FLA - Montoya |
17 |
16 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
OT |
T |
| SJ |
7 |
7 |
1 |
2 |
17 |
| FLA |
11 |
4 |
3 |
2 |
20 |
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| Referees: Dwyer,
O'Halloran. Linesmen: Murchison, Racicot. |
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