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Ryan's big night leads to
comeback win
Sharks overcome tough 2nd period to
beat Edmonton
The Sharks defensive woes have been spotlighted the
past few games and Saturday's match up with the Edmonton Oilers was not devoid
of errors that led to goals, but the Sharks found a way to bookend those
mistakes with bushels of goals in a 6-4 win at SAP Center. San Jose came out of
the gate like gang busters, grabbing a 3-0 lead, only to watch that lead turn
into a deficit. Rather than roll over, the Sharks countered with three goals in
a wild 3rd period that help them knock off their division rivals from Alberta.
The man of the hour was rookie defenseman Joakim Ryan who scored a
pair of goals, including his first career NHL tally. Both goal were significant
in that the first opened the game's scoring, and the second proved to be the
game winner.
Ryan opened the game's scoring just 75 second into the
contest, when he ripped a shot from the left point that eluded Oilers
goaltender Al Montoya. Defenseman Darnell Nurse tried bull-dogging Joe Pavelski
away from the front of the net, but by doing so he may have crossed into
Montoya's line of sight. It was Ryan's first goal as an NHLer, but it would not
be his last.
The Sharks defenseman scored his second career goal with
2:27 left in the contest with both teams deadlocked at 4-4. Ryan pinched on a
play after Timo Meier stopped short of the right circle and fed the defenseman
as he drove down the high slot. The Sharks rookie snapped a shot from 18 feet
out that Montoya stopped, but the rebound kicked right back out to Ryan who
gathered it and cut to his left before sliding home the go-ahead goal.
San Jose closed out the opening period with a two goal lead after the Oilers
committed their own defensive gaff. Nurse tried to wind the puck behind his own
goal out of the right corner, but his backhand attempt hooked toward the goal,
hitting it in the side before bouncing back out to Pavelski who was pursuing it
along the end line. All Pavelski had to do was poke at the puck to put it past
Montoya, who was unprepared for a shot as he assumed it was well past the back
of his own goal.
Jannik Hansen has been a frequent scratch of late,
but he returned to the Sharks lineup after Joel Ward was injured on Thursday.
Hansen made the most of his opportunity by carrying a puck into the Oilers zone
and recognizing that two defenders were collapsing on him. He elected to drop
the puck to a trailing Barclay Good, who put a shot past Montoya for the 3-0
lead.
The wheels began to fall off for San Jose six minutes later.
Mikkel Boedker tried feeding Joonas Donskoi from deep in the Oilers zone with a
pass out of the right corner but his attempt banked off the sideboards past
Donskoi. Zack Kassian was sitting on the Sharks blueline after a change attempt
by the Oilers which worked in Edmonton's favor. Kassian collected the puck and
skated up ice on Sharks goaltender Aaron Dell before puttting a shot on goal.
Dell made the initial save, but the rebound flipped right to Kassian for the
put back.
Kassian made it a 3-2 game 5 minutes later when an
errant pass by Oilers defenseman Yohann Auvitu missed his intended target Leon
Draisaitl and bounced off the right wing boards as Kassian was cutting across
the Sharks blueline. Kassian gathered the puck before skating past Brent Burns
and parking a shot for his 6th goal of the season.
Draisaitl tied the
game with 1:58 left in the middle period by gathering an Oscar Klefbom rebound
and sliding a shot under Dell's pads. The Oilers forward parked himself in the
slot and was in the perfect position to gather a juicy rebound with no Shark
defender in the vicinity.
Brandon Davidson stunned the sellout crowd
1:21 into the 3rd period when he deposited a shot past Dell from the left side.
Draisaitl grabbed a Mike Cammalleri whiff near the right corner and turned in
on the goal before trying to snap a shot from the end line. The puck hit
Donsoki in the skate, deflecting it perfectly to Davidson for the put back shot
that potted the Oiler forward his 3rd goal of the season.
San Jose
still had plenty of time, and they put it to good use. Tomas Hertl answered
Davidson's goal two minutes later after he roofed a shot from the doorstep.
Kevin Labanc muscled a puck off the left side boards to Logan Couture at the
left dot. Couture waved at the puck with a single hand on his stick, poking it
to Hertl who was skating out of the left corner. The Sharks forward cut toward
the front of the net, drawing the puck to his left to draw Montoya into a set
position before pulling back to his right and lifting it to the right corner of
the net.
Things got dicey for San Jose when Couture was whistled for
goaltender interference at 12:22. The NHL's second best penalty kill took care
of Couture's infraction, but not before Burns was whistled for playing with a
broken stick. Once again, the penalty went to work and snuffed out any chance
for another a setback by keeping the puck away from Dell.
Ryan worked
his magic with just under 3 minutes to play to give the Sharks the lead, then
Pavelski capped a 4-point night by scoring an empty-net goal to cap the game's
scoring.
Game Notes:
* 11 Sharks skaters recorded point
on Saturday night, led by Pavelski's 4 points. Ryan was the only other Shark
with a multi-point night on his two-goal game.
* Mikkel Boedker was
the only Sharks who finished the game with a negative plus/minus.
*
Pavelski led all skaters with 6 shots on goal. Edmonton's Milan Lucic recorded
5 shots, but did not factor into any of the Oilers scoring.
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think of this story? Post your comments on the
Feeder Forums |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| EDM |
0 |
3 |
1 |
4 |
| SJ |
2 |
1 |
3 |
6 |
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| 1st period - 1, SJ, Ryan
1 (Donskoi, Pavelski), 1:15. 2, SJ, Pavelski 13 (unassisted), 7:21. |
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| 2nd period - 3, SJ,
Goodrow 5 (Hansen), 2:30. 4, EDM, Kassian 5 (unassisted), 8:49. 5, EDM, Kassian
6 (Auvitu, Russell), 14:20. 6, EDM, Draisaitl 15 (Klefbom, Cammalleri), 18:02.
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| 3rd period - 7, EDM,
Davidson 3 (Draisaitl, Cammalleri), 1:21. 8, SJ, Hertl 15 (Couture, Labanc),
3:41. 9, SJ, Ryan 2 (Meier, Pavelski), 17:33. 10, SJ, Pavelski 14 (Tierney,
Karlsson), 18:48, (en). |
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| 1st period - Meier, SJ
(hooking), 3:19. |
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| 2nd period - Khaira, EDM
(holding), 9:46. |
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| 3rd period - Couture, SJ
(goaltdner interference), 12:22; Burns, SJ (broken stick), 14:15. |
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Shots |
Saves |
| EDM - Montoya |
29 |
24 |
| EDM - empty net |
1 |
0 |
| SJ - Dell |
41 |
27 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| EDM |
9 |
9 |
13 |
31 |
| SJ |
14 |
5 |
11 |
30 |
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| Referees: Peel,
Kozari. Linesmen: Brisebois, Amell. |
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