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Sharks look lost in loss to
Oilers
SJ surrenders 3rd period lead to fall to 3rd
in Pacific
The Sharks true colors are starting to show at the
worst possible time. With home ice in the first round of the playoffs on the
line, San Jose rolled over in a 3rd period meltdown that ended in a 4-2 loss to
the Edmonton Oilers at SAP Center on Thursday night. The Sharks blew a 2-1 lead
in the 3rd period on three Milan Lucic goals and are simply absent of any
answers.
San Jose had the luxury of beating up on the Vancouver
Canucks their two previous games, but when the playoff bound Oilers came in to
the picture, the Sharks simply rolled over in crunch time.
The Oilers
brushed aside the Sharks feeble one-goal lead in the third period by going to
work and blowing the Sharks out of the water. Lucic didn't bulldog his way to a
natural hat trick, he simply deposited pucks with Shark defenders out of
position or out of the picture altogether.
The disaster that is the
Sharks special teams, failed yet again. San Jose's power play unit was 0-for-4,
and the penalty kill surrendered a pair of goals on five chances. Rookie
forward Marcus Sorensen was awarded a penalty shot 2:19 into the 3rd period
that would have pushed the Sharks lead to two goals had he converted the
chance.
He didn't of course, because details like penalty shots and
special teams are things the Sharks seemingly can't be bothered with. They
certainly don't seem to work on those details, because their conversion rates
are near the worst in the league.
Sorensen's missed opportunity was
simply foreshadowing a Sharks performance that would inevitably end in defeat.
It was the ninth loss in their last twelve games. With one regular season game
left and the playoff on the horizon, things look don't look very promising for
this band of underachievers. Their Western Conference Championship seems like a
distant memory.
Joe Ward and Brent Burns scored for the Sharks, but
two goals don't mean much when you give up 4. Ward's tally came via a
deflection. Burns was a point shot that slipped past Cam Talbot, who was
screened by traffic.
After those two converted, the Sharks packed it in.
Captain Joe Pavelski was a no-show all night. Patrick Marleau took a pair of
penalties in the offensive zone in the 3rd period as the Sharks trailed. It was
the perfect example of a team that has no direction right now. They're lost and
don't appear to be poised to figure it out before the playoffs start next week.
If Thursday night was any indicator, the playoffs are going to be a
short affair for San Jose this season.
Game Notes:
*
the assist Marc-EDouard Vlasic recorded on the Joel Ward goal was the 200th of
his NHL career.
* The Sharks were held to 15 shots on goal, their
fewest at home since March 4, 2000 vs Carolina, when they had 13 in a 5-2
loss.
* In addition to his hat trick, Milan Lucic also whipped Micheal
Haley in a fight early in the game.
* The game was announced as a
sellout, but there were considerable empty seats, which has been the norm for
mid-week games at the Tank this season.
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| EDM |
0 |
1 |
3 |
4 |
| SJ |
1 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
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| 1st period - 1, SJ, Ward
10 (Schlemko, Vlasic), 6:08. |
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| 2nd period - 2, EDM,
McDavid 30 (Klefbom, Larsson), 4:40. 3, SJ, Burns 29 (Hertl), 12:30. |
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| 3rd period - Penalty
Shot, Sorensen, SJ (2:19), missed. 4, EDM, Lucic 21 (Klefbom, McDavid), 4:26,
(pp). 5, EDM, Lucic 22 (Klefbom, Eberle), 7:57. 6, EDM, Lucic 23 (Letestu,
Klefbom), 16:31, (pp). |
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| 1st period - Bench, EDM
(too many men), 0:44; Desharnais, EDM (slashing), 4:04; Lucic, EDM (fighting
major), 16:34; Haley, SJ (unsporstmanlike conduct), 16:34; Haley, SJ (fighting
major), 16:34. |
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| 2nd period - Maroon, EDM
(roughing), 1:00; Braun, SJ (hooking), 7:03; Larsson, EDM (tripping),
15:08. |
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| 3rd period - Benning,
EDM (penalty shot - hooking on breakaway), 2:19; Bench, SJ (too many men),
4:18; Marleau, SJ (hooking), 15:34; Marleau, SJ (tripping), 18:11. |
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Shots |
Saves |
| EDM - Talbot |
15 |
13 |
| SJ - Jones |
32 |
28 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| EDM |
10 |
11 |
11 |
32 |
| SJ |
5 |
5 |
5 |
15 |
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| Referees:
Skilliter, Pollock. Linesmen: Nowak, Murchison. |
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