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Sharks snooze through shutout
loss
Lowly Florida Panthers beat SJ 2-0 on SAP
ice
If you're wondering why the Sharks aren't selling
out many games these days, all you had to do was watch the abomination that
occurred on SAP Center ice on Thursday night. Facing the third worst team in
the NHL in the Florida Panthers, the Sharks played below their opposition,
mailing in a stinker of a performance. That performance netted them a 2-0
shutout loss to the dishrag Panthers. A lack of effort and motivation equated
to a poor loss against a poor team.
The 2 points the Sharks squandered
are too important to look past. The Sharks looked uninspired from the get go.
Both Florida's goals came as a result of Shark players not doing their jobs.
The absence of any Sharks scoring was a result of too many players
mailing it in, expecting the other guy to get the job done. Coming against a
team like Florida, it was frankly inexcusable.
After a lifeless 1st
period, the Panthers grabbed a 1-0 lead a minute into the 2nd period when
Colton Sceviour grabbed a puck along the end boards then swept to the left post
and jammed it past Martin Jones on a pair of jabs. Joe Thornton had the
responsibility of covering that side of the net, but he tried to get cute with
his stick and strip the Panthers forward. That failed, allowing Sceviour to
score his 4th goal of the season.
Tim Heed appeared to tie the game
three minutes later, but Florida challenged the play for offside. Video replay
showed the puck right on the blueline as Heed made contact with it, but it did
not seem conclusive. Referee Frederick L'Ecuyer announced that the play was
offside, negating Heed's tally.
Tomas Hertl pushed a puck across the Florida goal line
early in he 3rd period, but once again Florida head coach Bob Boehgner
challenged the play. Referee Tim Kowal vehemently signaled goal, and even came
over to discuss the play with Boehgner, before deferring to the video replay
officials. After a lengthy review the goal was overturned on the grounds that
Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Joonas Donskoi pushed Luongo's pad, forcing the puck
over the goal line.
The officiating team had an argument on Heed's
goal, but the Hertl goal was simply a head scratcher. Kowal was watching the
play from three feet away and his insistence on the ice seemed as if the tally
was a no-brainer, but decision making by the NHL will always be a mystery.
Nick Bjugstad made the overturned goal irrelevant when he deposited
his 4th goal of the season past Jones at 12:23 of the period. Former Shark
Jamie McGinn picked rookie defenseman Tim Heed's pocket in the left corner,
then sent a centering pass to a cutting Bjugstad as three Shark defenders
trailed 20 feet behind the Panthers winger. The play epitomized the Sharks
night. A mistake, followed by a lack of effort, resulted in bad things for San
Jose.
Game Notes:
* Timo Meier was credited with 7
shots in the game, but none of them even remotely challenged Panthers
goaltender Roberto Luongo. Brent Burns added 6 of the Sharks 35 total shots.
* Logan Couture sustained an injury to this left arm in the 2nd period
when he was checked into the boards and had the arm extended. The forward
continued to play, but was a non-factor most of the game.
* The league
either halted their crackdown on slashing in the game, or referees Frederick
L'Ecuyer and Tom Kowal didn't get the memo. The most obvious miss was in the
2nd period when Joel Ward has his stick slashed out of his hands as he tried to
gather a puck in front of the Florida net.
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Feeder Forums |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| FLA |
0 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
| SJ |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
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| 2nd period - 1, FLA,
Sceviour 4 (unassisted), 1:00. |
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| 3rd period - 2, FLA,
Bjugstad 4 (McGinn, Vrbata), 12:23. |
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| 2nd period - Karlsson,
hooking), 9:37; Pysyk, FLA (tripping), 18:27. |
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| 3rd period - Matheson,
FLA (hooking), 3:18. |
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Shots |
Saves |
| FLA - Luongo |
35 |
35 |
| SJ - Jones |
28 |
26 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| FLA |
9 |
14 |
5 |
23 |
| SJ |
10 |
8 |
17 |
35 |
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| Referees: L'Ecuyer,
Kowal. Linesmen: Gawryletz, MacPherson. |
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