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Late heroics propel Sharks
after lethargic start
Timo Meier ties the game in
last minute
Sometimes you deserve to win a game and the result
falls short. The Sharks didn't deserve to win their game in Anaheim on Sunday
night, but they skated away with two points after stunning the host Ducks with
a tying goal late in regulation before stealing the win in the shootout. Timo
Meier helped the Sharks earn a point with his tying goal with 54 seconds left
in the 3rd period, before Joe Pavelski and Logan Couture buried their chances
in the shootout to seal the victory for San Jose.
San Jose stumbled
through the first 50 minutes of the game, falling behind to the more physical
Ducks by a pair of goals. Somehow they stood up to the bullies in black and
orange by knuckling up late in the contest.
San Jose fell behind early
in the game when Ondrej Kase threw a puck at Martin Jones that should have been
stopped, but a chink in the goaltender's armor allowed it to squeak past for
Kase's 15th tally of the season.
Anaheim's approach was simple from
that point forward. By hitting the Sharks at every opportunity, the tried to
wear down San Jose or at least plant the seed that the game was going to be
uncomfortable. The hit counter only registered 25 Ducks hits, but scorekeeper
was likely conservative given that every Anaheim player finished their checks.
That approach seemed as if it would be effective given the Sharks
inability to get the puck anywhere close to goaltender John Gibson. San Jose
did finish the game with 39 shots, but a majority of those were of the long
range variety that never challenged Gibson.
Barclay Goodrow tried to
light a fire under his bench by lining up Ducks winger J.T. Brown with a hit
behind the Ducks goal later in the 2nd period. That raised the ire of Brown,
who immediately went after Goodrow. The move didn't result in an instigator
penalty as it should have, but when Goodrow obliged by dropping the gloves, it
at least sent a message that someone in a teal sweater wasn't going to role
over.
Things looked bleak for San Jose 6:28 into the 3rd period when
Cam Fowler lifted a shot past Jones for his 7th goal of the season after Kase
put a shot in the vicinity of Jones. San Jose looked unmotivated throughout the
game and Fowler's goal seemed to exacerbate that sentiment.
Logan
Couture changed all of that when he scored his team leading 23rd goal of the
season at the 10:58 mark. Couture stepped into a Brent Burns feed out of the
left wing, ripping a shot that caught the upper right hand corner of the net.
Jannik Hansen may have disrupted Gibson's focus on the shot as he slid toward
the Ducks goal as he locked sticks with Hampus Lindholm.
Couture's
goal left the Sharks with 9 minutes to draw even with Anaheim, but they
couldn't get it done with five skaters on the ice. San Jose would pull Jones
with 2 minutes left in regulation, but was forced to stick him back in goal
after a stoppage. Jones would skate off a second time with a minute left, as
the Sharks setup the dramatic sequence that would extend the game.
San Jose would score that equalizer when Couture
ripped a shot from the right point, that Meier tipped home as he sat parked in
front of the Anaheim net. Three Ducks defenders looked to the rafters in
unison, all in disbelief that Meier was able to get a stick on the puck and
redirect it past Gibson.
In the overtime period, both teams traded a
trio of shots, but none was more hair raising than a Ducks chance that came
right at the final buzzer as it appeared that the Sharks would control it after
the extra 5-minute period expired.
In the shootout, Jones stopped Adam
Henrique's shot before Pavelski put a double move on Gibson to deposit his
chance. Richard Rakell appeared to beat Jones with a move to his right, but his
shot clanked off the right post to setup Couture for the game winner.
Couture would take care of business with a shot wrist shot that helped San Jose
steal two points.
Game Notes:
* Timo Meier's game tying
goal in the 3rd period was his 6th goal in the last 13 games.
* There
were nine games in the NHL on Sunday and all nine road teams, including the
Sharks, won their game. San Jose appeared to be the one team that would buck
the trend with their lethargic play, but their late heroics kept the stars
aligned.
* Every Shark skater recorded a shot on goal with the
exception of defensemen Brendan Dillon and Joakim Ryan. Joonas Donskoi and
Mikkel Boedker recorded 5 shots each.
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Feeder Forums |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
OT |
SO |
T |
| SJ |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
3 |
| ANA |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
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| 1st period - 1, ANA,
Kase 15 (Henrique, Ritchie), 2:39. |
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| 3rd period - 2, ANA,
Fowler 7 (Kase, Ritchie), 6:28. 3, SJ, Couture 23 (Hertl, Vlasic), 10:56. 4,
SJ, Meier 14 (Couture, Burns), 19:06. |
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| Shootout - ANA: Henrique
(miss), Rakell (miss). SJ: Pavelski (goal), Couture (goal). |
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| 1st period - Burns, SJ
(holding), 12:57; Labanc, SJ (hooking), 17:51. |
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| 2nd period - Montour,
ANA (tripping), 4:06; Goodrow, SJ (fighting major), 15:11; Brown, ANA (fighting
major), 15:11. |
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Shots |
Saves |
| SJ - Jones |
27 |
25 |
| ANA - Gibson |
39 |
37 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
OT |
T |
| SJ |
10 |
14 |
12 |
3 |
39 |
| ANA |
13 |
2 |
9 |
3 |
27 |
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| Referees:
Sutherland, StPierre. Linesmen: Amell, Cameron. |
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