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Implosion
Sharks fall flat on their faces
in 3rd period
If you thought two straight losses to the Los
Angeles Kings stank, then you may want to buy some air freshener. The Sharks
stank it up on Thursday night, blowing a 2-goal lead in the 3rd period to the
visiting Minnesota Wild, dropping their 3rd straight game. San Jose did about
everything possible to implode in a game they had in the bag. Minnesota scored
4 goals in the final 20 minutes after they failed to lockdown on a team that
has been red hot.
The most glaring hole was the lack of defensive
awareness in that 3rd period. On just about every Wild goal, there were black
jerseys standing around watching. The NHL rule book stipulates that the contest
is comprised of three 20 minute periods, but the Sharks decided that two
periods was sufficient.
It was an epic collapse.
Those first
20 minutes were solid, which is what makes the loss so bewildering. After
having their 12-game win streak snapped on Saturday, the Wild were expected to
fight to get back in the win column, but the Sharks had a choke hold on them
for the first 38 minutes of the contest.
San Jose didn't score in the
1st period, but the controlled the tempo of the game and held the Wild in
check. Minnesota only put 5 shots on the Sharks net in the opening frame.
Joonas Donskoi solved Wild goaltender Devin Dubnyk 8:22 into the 2nd
period, rifling a shot from the top of the right circle. Kevin Labanc took a
drop pass as the Sharks crossed the Wild blueline then slid a pass across the
high slot from the left side. Donskoi laid into the shot, beating Dubnyk high.
Joe Pavelski made it 2-0 Sharks 3 minutes later by punching home a
puck from the doorstep. Brent Burns fired a shot that was wide right, but
Pavelski got a stick blade on the puck, deflecting it on net. Dubnyk stopped
the redirect, but the puck dropped to the top of the crease. With Joe Thornton
parked in front of Dubnyk, the Wild netminder couldn't reach the puck. Pavelski
followed up by crashing the net and tipping it into the Minnesota net for his
13th goal of the season.
San Jose outplayed the Wild the entire
period, but a late interference penalty to Dylan Demelo setup a Wild power
play. The Sharks penalty kill has been an Achilles heel and the Demelo chance
allowed the Wild to cut the Sharks lead in half when Eric Staal knuckled a shot
from the high slot past Martin Jones. Logan Couture, Burns and Paul Martin were
all positioned in front of Staal but neither of the trio could get in front of
the shot, which seemed to handcuff Jones.
Defense went out the window in the 3rd period. The
Wild tied the game 2:08 into the period when Zach Parise punched home a rebound
from the left side after Nino Neiterreiter bounced a shot off Jones.
San Jose responded with a pair of quick goals to push their lead back to
2-goals. Joel Ward swept a deflection past Dubnyk after a shot hit him at the
top of the crease at 3:49. Ward gathered the puck with his back to the
Minnesota net, then wrapped the puck around Dubnyk's left pad for his first
goal in over a month.
Patrick Marleau made it 4-2 Sharks 32 seconds
later, snapping a shot from the left wing to beat Dubnyk through the 5-hole.
Ward setup the Sharks forward with a pass that Marleau uncorked from 15 feet
out.
Then the wheels fell off. All four wheels. And the chassis went
barreling down the highway.
Staal answered 45 seconds later after
Justin Braun failed to clear the puck fromt eh front of his net. The Wild
swooped in where Parise tried sweeping a shot on net from the slot. Jones made
the stop but Staal was perched outside the right post, easily pushing the puck
home for his 11th goal of the season.
Mikko Koivu tied the game at 4-4
at 8:23 when he beat Logan Couture to a deflection out in front of the net.
Koivu cut across the top of the crease from right to left, wiating out Jones
before sweeping the puck home. Couture decided to try and defend on the play by
diving at Koivu's ankles from behind the Wild captain, but he was two strides
short.
Couture was on the ice for 4 of the Wild's 5 goals.
Koivu scored the game winner on the very next shift, sniping a shot from the
right dot after the Wild moved the puck all over the Sharks zone as everyone in
black stood and watched.
Game Notes:
* Forward Matt
Nieto was claimed by the Colorado Avalanche before the game. The Sharks had
placed their former 2nd round draft pick on waivers on Wednesday.
*
Rookie Kevin Labanc had a tough night, accounting for two of the three Wild
goals with defensive lapses.
* Goaltender Martin Jones was
particularly sharp in net, as a large number of shops defended resulted in
juicy rebounds.
* Dylan Demelo struggled defensively, earning a pair
of trips to the penalty box including a penalty with 3:20 remaining in the game
with the Sharks trailing by a goal.
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Feeder Forums |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| MIN |
0 |
1 |
4 |
5 |
| SJ |
0 |
2 |
2 |
4 |
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| 2nd period - 1, SJ,
Donskoi 5 (Labanc, Dillon), 8:22. 2, SJ, Pavelski 13 (Burns, Couture), 11:27.
3, MIN, Staal 12 (Parise, Coyle), 18:59, (pp). |
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| 3rd period - 4, MIN,
Parise 7 (Niederreiter, Staal), 2:08. 5, SJ, Ward 3 (Marleau, Burns), 3:49. 6,
SJ, Marleau 11 (Ward, Tierney), 4:21. 7, MIN, Staal 13 (Parise), 5:06. 8, MIN,
Koivu 10 (Granlund, Zucker), 8:23. 9, MIN, Koivu 11 (Granlund, Zucker), 10:18.
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| 2nd period - Karlsson,
SJ (high sticking), 8:37; Dumba, MIN (holding), 11:23; Demelo, SJ
(interference), 18:37. |
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| 3rd period - Demelo, SJ
(holding), 16:40. |
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Shots |
Saves |
| MIN - Dubnyk |
34 |
30 |
| SJ - Jones |
26 |
21 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| MIN |
5 |
6 |
15 |
26 |
| SJ |
8 |
15 |
11 |
34 |
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| Referees: Luxmore,
Hanson. Linesmen: Murray, Gawryletz. |
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