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Predators outclass
Sharks
SJ is the butt of toothless jokes in loss to
Nashville
With the NHL trade deadline just 4 days away, the
Sharks roster either played like they wanted to be traded or don't belong in
the NHL to begin with after dropping an embarrassing 7-1 loss to the Nashville
Predators in Tennessee on Wednesday night. The Sharks were awful from opening
faceoff to the final buzzer, after they were torched by a superior roster that
took them to task at Bridgestone Arena.
This was on par with the New
Year's Eve massacre in Dallas which saw the Sharks fall 6-0. The deficit was
the same, as San Jose lost by 6 goals, and the level of commitment and
intensity matched the abomination in Dallas. There wasn't a single Sharks
player who seemed interested in this game, and they paid dearly for it.
Nick Bonino gave the Predators a 1-0 lead just 1:55 into the game,
jamming home a shot off a Roman Josi feed form the doorstep. The Sharks looked
unprepared to deal with the Nashville pressure in the San Jose zone.
San Jose calmed down to keep things square for most of the remainder of the
period until Brendan Dillon took a foolish boarding penalty late. The Predators
converted after turning up the heat on the power play. Nashville didn't convert
on the man-advantage, but they forced the sharks to go into a defensive posture
that eventually led to a 2-on-1 break that ended with Bonino whipping a pass
across the ice to Scott Hartnell for the tap in goal.
Hartnell had
skated past Sharks captain Joe Pavelski, who looked perplexed that the
geriatric Hartnell could get past him in the first place. Not only did Hartnell
get position on Pavelski, but he deposited Bonino's pass for his 10th goal of
the year with 42.5 seconds left in the period.
Logan Couture cut the
Predators lead in half 8:37 into the 2nd period with a backhand prayer form the
right corner. Sometimes good things happen when you throw the puck at the net,
and nothing could have been more true on Couture's goal. Couture was behind the
end line skating out of the corner when he decided to simply slip it toward the
Predators net. The puck hit Pekka Rinne in the arm and rolled past him to
squeak through for Couture's 25th goal of the season.
Nashville
answered 7 minutes later when Dillon's night went from bad to worse. The
defenseman allowed a puck to skip over his stick, allowing Kevin Fiala to skate
up the right wing and slip the puck between Dell's pads for his 19th goal of
the season. Fiala shot was a bit of a fluke, as he tried to draw the puck from
his backhand to his forehand going right to left, but he lost control of the
puck. Dell expected the play to move to the left side of the net, and he never
saw Fiala loose control of the puck as it floated between his pads and over the
goal line.
The 3rd period was a bona fide disaster. San Jose
surrendered four goals in the period and didn't look like they cared one bit.
Owen Nolan's Sharks would have taken a blood sample from someone in a Nashville
sweater. Joe Pavelski's Sharks never even glanced at the scoreboard.
San Jose had actually started the period on a power
play, but that was simply one of five failed chances. The Predators used it as
a call to arms. Viktor Arvidsson punched home a rebound off a P.K. Subban blast
from the blueline while Timo Meier sat in the penalty box for hooking.
Ryan Johansen made it a 5-1 game after Roman Josi raced past Justin Braun on
the left wing and dropped teh puck back to his linemate in the slot. Johansen
one-timed Josi's feed past Dell as Tomas Hertl's soft defense allowed the
Predators forward to bag his 8th goal of the season.
Mattias Ekholm
got in on the act four and a half minutes later using almost the same play as
the Johansen goal, but from the right side. Filip Forsberg was a man on a
mission as he left the penalty box, thundering up the right side before
dropping the puck back to Ekholm for the one timer that eluded Dell.
Calle Jarnkrok capped the game's scoring at 17:51 on what can best be described
as a shooting gallery shot as the Sharks defenders simply stopped playing.
Jarnkrok took the third rebound of the sequence and pumped it past Dell for his
15th goal of the season.
Game Notes:
* Chris Tierney,
Mikkel Boedker and Jannik Hansen each finished the game with a minus 3. Not
surprisingly, but 13 Sharks finished the game with a minus rating.
*
Colton Sissons missed on a penalty shot late in the 3rd period, making him one
of five Predators who did not record a positive plus/minus rating.
*
The Sharks surrendered 19 shots in the 3rd period alone, and finished the game
allowing 46 shots on Dell. Add 11 misses and 12 blocked shots and Nashville
combined for 69 pucks that were destined for the Sharks net.
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| SJ |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
| NSH |
2 |
1 |
4 |
7 |
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| 1st period - 1, NSH,
Bonino 9 (Josi, Ellis), 1:55. 2, NSH, Hartnell 10 (Bonino, Jarnkrok), 19:17.
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| 2nd period - 3, SJ,
Couture 25 (Labanc, Braun), 8:37. 4, NSH, Fiala 19 (Subban, Johansen), 15:57.
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| 3rd period - 5, NSH,
Arvidsson 22 (Subban, Smith), 3:49, (pp). 6, NSH, Johansen 8 (Josi), 6:30. 7,
NSH, Ekholm 8 (Forsberg, Arvidsson), 11:00. NSH, Sissions (failed penalty
shot), 15:21. 8, NSH, Jarnkrok 15 (), 17:51. |
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| 1st period - Forsberg,
NSH (holding), 3:38; Dillon, SJ (boarding), 2:42. |
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| 2nd period - Salomaki,
NSH (high sticking), 4:41; Arvidsson, NSH (hooking), 19:06. |
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| 3rd period - Meier, SJ
(hooking), 2:13; Forsberg, NSH (interference), 8:53; Arvidsson, NSH (slashing),
14:46. |
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Shots |
Saves |
| SJ - Dell |
46 |
39 |
| NSH - Rinne |
34 |
33 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| SJ |
10 |
11 |
13 |
34 |
| NSH |
15 |
12 |
19 |
46 |
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| Bridgestone Arena - 17,354 |
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| Referees: McIsaac,
Charron. Linesmen: Rody, Suchanek. |
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