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Trip starts strong in
Philadelphia
Sharks avenge opening night loss to
Flyers
Spending the next four games focusing on the road
schedule, the Sharks opened a swing along the Eastern seaboard with a 3-1 win
in Philadelphia on Tuesday night at the Wells Fargo Center. San Jose shook off
an early goal by the Flyers and played one of the best road games of the
season. They would score three straight goals, to take advantage of a Flyers
team that played into overtime on Monday night against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
San Jose kicked off the road trip without starting goaltender Martin
Jones, who traveled with the team, but is on the shelf, nursing an undisclosed
injury that he sustained in the Sharks win over Winnipeg on Saturday night.
Aaron Dell made the start for San Jose and turned in a 22 save performance to
earn his 3rd win of the season.
The netminder shook of an early
deficit and let the suddenly potent Sharks offense put goals past the
opposition.
The Sharks were caught napping in the opening minute of
the game, when Claude Giroux one-timed a Jakub Voracek pass past Aaron Dell
from just outside the left post. The Flyers pushed on the forecheck after
dumping the puck in the Sharks zone, then gained control after Sean Couturier
checked two defenders off the puck. Philadelphia moved the puck to the right
side of the zone, drawing three defenders before Voracek found Giroux all by
his lonesome with a cross-ice pass.
Dell denied another defensive gaff
on the next faceoff, when the Flyers skated in on him with a 2-on-1 break. The
Sharks backup made the save and then calmed down his teammates with solid play
to close out the period.
Chris Tierney answered 9 minutes later by
skating the puck into the zone before slowing at the top of the right circle
then snapping a wrist shot past Michal Neuvirth for his 6th goal of the season.
Tierney used Travis Sanheim as a screen as he stalled before taking the shot,
allowing Sanheim to slide in front of Neuvirth's line of sight.
Philadelphia found them selves in penalty trouble at the end of the period,
which setup the Sharks 2nd goal of the evening. Wayne Simmonds was sent off for
slashing at 16:51, followed by Michael Raffl, who lofted a puck over the glass
for a delay of game infraction.
Joe Thornton sent a shot on goal from
the bottom of the right circle on the 5-on-3, beating Neuvirth to the glove
side. Neuvirth may have guessed pass, rather than shot, playing the book on
Thornton, who has a penchant to dish the puck rather than put it on goal. He
guessed wrong.
Valteri Filppula took a bad holding the stick penalty
with 16 seconds left in the period to setup yet another Sharks power play. The
Flyers penalty kill subdued the Sharks, then got a chance themselves with the
man advantage after Brent Burns was sent off for slashing at 4:11 of the 2nd
period, but Voracek negated the advantage by tripping Tomas Hertl 9 seconds
into the Philadelphia power play.
Marc-Edouard Vlasic pushed the lead to 3-1 with a shot
at 16:04 that eluded Neuvirth. Vlasic sent a long wrist shot from the left
point while Justin Braun was tied up with a Flyers defender in front of the
Philadelphia goaltender. The shot slipped just under Neuvirth's left pad for
Vlasic's 2nd goal of the season.
The Sharks put the clamps on the
Flyers in the 3rd period. Philadelphia generated a single shot on goal through
the fist 17 minutes of the period. It wasn't until the Flyers pulled Neuvirth
with just under 3 minutes to play, that they would put the bulk of their shots
on goal. They finished the period with 5 shots and 23 total for the game.
Game Notes:
* Brent Burns rocked two of his teammates
with shots in the 2nd period on the Sharks last power play. First he drilled
Chris Tierney in the left skate, which ended with the forward hobbling off the
ice. Then he caught Joonas Donskoi with a shot in the abdomen which ended the
forward's evening. The Sharks announced that Donskoi was being evaluated, but
would not return after his 2nd period exit.
* Every Shark skater
recorded a shot on goal, with the exception of Melker Karlsson, Danny O'Regan
and Dylan DeMalo. All three of those players logged less than 13 minutes of ice
time. Karlsson was moved to the 4th line as he tries to play through a lower
body injury.
* With Martin Jones held out, the Sharks recalled
goaltender Antoine Bibeau, who has a 5-3-0 record this season with the San Jose
Barracuda. Bibeau's .925 save percentage and 2.04 goals against average leads
the Barracuda.
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think of this story? Post your comments on the
Feeder Forums |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| SJ |
2 |
1 |
0 |
3 |
| PHI |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
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| 1st period - 1, PHI,
Giroux 11 (Voracek, MacDonald), 0:48. 2, SJ, Tierney 6 (Burns, Dillon), 10:29.
3, SJ, Thornton 4 (Couture, Pavelski), 18:42, (pp). |
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| 2nd period - 4, SJ,
Vlasic, 2 (Couture, Braun), 16:04. |
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| 1st period - Hertl, SJ
(slashing), 4:00; Gostisbhere, PHI (roughing), 4:00; Simmonds, PHI (slashing),
16:51; Raffl, PHI (delay of game - puck over glass), 17:32; Filpulla, PHI
(holding the stikc), 19:44. |
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| 2nd period - Burns, SJ
(slashing), 4:11; Voracek, PHI (tripping), 4:20; Pavelski, SJ (boarding), 9:21;
Simmonds, PHI (tripping), 11:02. |
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Shots |
Saves |
| SJ - Dell |
23 |
22 |
| PHI - Neuvirth |
34 |
31 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| SJ |
12 |
17 |
5 |
34 |
| PHI |
8 |
10 |
5 |
23 |
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| Wells Fargo Center -
18,935 |
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| Referees: Morton,
Sutherland. Linesmen: Sericolo, Gawryletz. |
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