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Nappy New Year
Sharks sleep through another loss to Kings
If your 2016 ended with that bloated, half hung
over feeling, then you know what the Sharks felt like. They kicked off 2017 by
ringing in the new year with fully hung over, gouty kind of bloat that resulted
in a second consecutive loss to the Los Angeles Kings. Yes, those same Kings
who have been bringing up the rear of the Pacific Division most of the season
with their perennial backup goaltender Petr Budaj holding down the fort while
Jonathan Quick mends.
The man-eating, defending Western Conference
Champion Sharks turned in another head scratching performance, blowing a 3rd
period lead before losing to the Kings in overtime on a Tanner Pearson goal.
The Sharks played like they enjoyed a two martini lunch before hitting
the ice. No fire. No inspiration. They certainly had no leadership. Anyone with
a letter on their sweater was a no show. Joe Pavelski led the charge of
passivity. The Sharks captain was hardly even noticeable.
The only
reason you noticed Joe Thornton, is because he's taller than everyone else.
Other than that, he floated around the ice for 63 minutes doing a whole lot of
nothing, except get bullied by the shorter Kings.
Los Angeles had
their way with San Jose for most of the night, outplaying the Sharks, who took
one on in the chin in Southern California three days ago. San Jose's response
was a Logan Couture goal 11:56 into the 2nd period. And that was it.
The Sharks curled up and prayed the lone goal would stand up. It didn't of
course. Brent Burns helped that out by taking a pair of lazy penalties that put
his already slumping teammates in a hole. Burns second penalty seemed to spark
the Kings.
Marion Gaborik appeared to score on the ensuing power play
when a shot deflected off him at the top of the crease. A video review negated
the tally when it was determined that the Kings forward batted the puck into
the goal with his glove.
That simply delayed the Kings. Jeff Carter
scored his 21st goal of the season 3:03 into the 3rd period after Justin Braun
took a lazy hooking penalty early in. Carter tipped a Jake Muzzin shot while
parked at the top of the Sharks crease. Sharks goaltender Martin Jones made a
valiant attempt at holding off the Kings for most of the night, but his team's
inability to generate any offense doomed him.
Brendan Dillon rang a
shot off the left cross bar with 3:30 left in regulation, but that's as close
as San Jose would get to putting anything else past Budaj.
Drew
Doughty hit the post 30 seconds later, but Jones and the iron got the Sharks to
the extra session.
Kevin Labanc has been Mr. dependable when games have
extended beyond regulation this season, but his errant pass in the Lings zone
led to a 2-on-1 break led by Carter up the right wing. The Kings forward zipped
a pass across the slot to Pearson for the one-timer deposit into the wide open
net to beat San Jose for the second time in three days.
Game
Notes:
* Mikkel Boedker continues to play himself out of the
lineup. Boedker was limited to one even strength shift in the 3rd period. Only
Micheal Haley had less ice time in the game than Boedker.
* Mirco
Mueller was also limited in his appearances on the ice, but the defenseman
didn't look completely lost out there. Mueller was recalled from the Barracuda
after MArc-Edouard Vlasic took a puck to the face last week.
* Paul
Martin had one of his more forgettable games. The Defenseman coughed up the
puck all night long, and led the Sharks with 4 giveaways.
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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 |
T |
| LA |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
| SJ |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
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| 2nd period - 1, SJ,
Couture 12 (Labanc, Martin), 11:56. |
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| 3rd period - 2, LA,
Carter 21 (Muzzin, Kopitar), 3:03. |
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| Overtime - 3, LA,
Pearson 10 (Carter), 0:58. |
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| 1st period - Burns, SJ
(interference), 7:35; Clifford, LA (interference), 13:46. |
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| 2nd period - Burns, SJ
(holding), 13:18; Gaborik, LA (cross checking), 17:46. |
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| 3rd period - Braun, SJ
(hooking), 1:48; Dowd, LA (high sticking), 10:06. |
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Shots |
Saves |
| LA - Budaj |
27 |
26 |
| SJ - Jones |
35 |
33 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
OT |
T |
| LA |
16 |
8 |
10 |
1 |
35 |
| SJ |
6 |
7 |
13 |
1 |
27 |
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| Referees: Luxmore,
Pochmara. Linesmen: Heyer, Daisy. |
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