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Donskoi wows with shootout
winner
SJ upends rival Ducks with 2-1 shootout
victory
The didn't really deserve to win, but they found a
way on Saturday night. Given that it was a division game against the rival
Anaheim Ducks, San Jose will take the two points, but they need to count their
lucky stars. Facing a Ducks team that should have been more fatigued after
dropping a 5-3 decision to the Nashville Predators 24 hours earlier, the Sharks
got a late goal to tie the game and a nifty score in the shootout to dispatch
Anaheim 2-1 at SAP Center.
It wasn't as if the Sharks were tentative
with the puck, they just couldn't get one past Ducks goaltender Ryan Miller.
The Ducks backup goaltender has been limited in his appearances this season,
but he turned in one of the best goaltending performances for Anaheim this
season.
The Sharks threw 45 shots at Miller, and only one got past
him.
If Anaheim had any semblance of an offense, Miller might have
stolen one from the Sharks. Corey Perry staked the Ducks to a 1st period lead
after Derek Grant sprung him with a long lead pass that created a breakaway
chance that burned Sharks goaltender Martin Jones. Perry skated in and snapped
a shot that hit the inside of Jones' pad and skittered across the goal line
just inside the right post.
That goal stood for 40 minutes as San Jose
fell short on more than 30 shot attempts.
Joel Ward finally got the
Sharks on the board with a goal at 11:57 of the 3rd period. Ward and Goodrow
skated up ice on a 2-on-1 that ended with Ward tapping home a deflection off
Miller. Ward fed Goodrow on the left wing, but Miller stopped the initial shot.
He didn't contain it though, which allowed Ward to swoop in and poke the puck
into the open net for his 2nd goal of the season.
Neither team could
muster any more scoring in regulation, so the game went to the extra session.
The 3-on-3 format opened up the ice and gave both teams quality chances, but
San Jose was the only club credited with a shot on goal. The Sharks put 4 on
Miller, who saved his team bacon by stopping those chances.
Miller
stoned Pavelski in the overtime on a cross ice feed from Joe Thornton midway
through the 5-minute period. Perry just missed on another breakaway chance with
less than 30 seconds left in the overtime period.
The shootout lasted six rounds, commencing with a goal
from Pavelski on wrist shot. Rickard Rakell put a backhand chance past Jones in
the 3rd round to extend things.
Joonas Donskoi gave a clinic in how to
win shootouts, with a left-right move that undressed Miller to put the Sharks
up a goal. Jones stuffed Brandon Montour on the Ducks last chance to send the
Sharks to their 4th straight win.
Game Notes:
* Dylan
DeMelo returned to the lineup, taking Marc-Edouard Vlasic's spot while the
defenseman nurses the head injury he sustained against Nashville on Wednesday.
DeMelo had been scratched several games with the emergence of rookie defenders
Joakim Ryan and Tim Heed. DeMelo skated 17 shifts, logging 13:22 of ice time.
He was a +1 and took the only Sharks penalty in the game.
* Tomas
Hertl led the Sharks with 7 shots, but he was denied on a pair of breakaway
chances which would have prevented the overtime had he finished. It was a tough
night for Hertl, who had several chances to bury pucks, but fell short all.
* The only Sharks who failed to record a shot on goal were Joe
Thornton, Joakim Ryan, Dylan DeMelo and Mikkel Boedker.
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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 |
| ANA |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
| SJ |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
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| 1st period - 1, ANA,
Perry 3 (Grant, Rakell), 6:23. |
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| 3rd period - 2, SJ, Ward
2 (Goodrow), 11:57. |
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| Shootout - SJ: Pavelski
(goal), Couture (miss), Heed (miss), Burns (miss), Labanc (miss), Donskoi
(goal). ANA: Perry (miss), Rakell (goal), Kase (miss), Silfverberg (miss),
Ritchie (miss), Montour (miss). |
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| 1st period - Vermette,
ANA (holding), 8:29; Ritchie, ANA (slashing) 18:57. |
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| 3rd period - Megna, ANA
(hooking), 3:57; demelo, SJ (cross checking), 9:56. |
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Shots |
Saves |
| ANA - Miller |
45 |
44 |
| SJ - Jones |
26 |
25 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
OT |
T |
| ANA |
7 |
14 |
5 |
0 |
26 |
| SJ |
12 |
17 |
11 |
4 |
44 |
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| Referees: Rehman,
Peel. Linesmen: Nansen, Knorr. |
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