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Couture's OT winner gains
ground
Sharks chasing Knights for Pacific Division
crown
If the Sharks were going to make a run for the
Pacific Division title, they had to beat the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday
night. They did that, taking a thrilling 2-1 decision in overtime, but the fact
that they needed extra hockey may have cost them in the end. The extra session
resulted in two points in the standings for the Sharks, but by virtue of the
Knights recording a point for their overtime loss, San Jose still trails Vegas
by 7 points with 8 games to play.
San Jose will get another shot at
Vegas a week from Saturday, when they travel to Nevada to face the Knights for
the fourth and final time this regular season. Thursday night's game was a
tug-of-war between the two teams. Each traded goals in regulation before Logan
Couture put a backhand chance past Malcolm Subban 39 seconds into the overtime
period.
Couture carried a Marc-Edouard Vlasic feed up the left wing
and flipped his backhand shot on net as he cut from left to right across the
slot. The puck may have clipped David Perron's stick in mid-flight before
sailing past Subban's right shoulder. The goal was Couture's 31st of the
season.
What may be more important than the ground the Sharks gained
on Vegas is the space they put between the Los Angeles Kings and Anaheim Ducks.
Neither Southern California foe seems to be going away in the race for a
playoff spot in the Western Conference. Los Angeles beat the Colorado Avalanche
7-1 and Anaheim beat the Calgary Flames 4-0 24 hours earlier.
With the
win, San Jose maintained their 4 point lead over the Kings and a 5 point lead
over the Ducks.
The Knights match up with San Jose would make for one
heck of a playoff match up if Thursday's game is any indication of what's to be
expected.
The Knights took advantage of Justin Braun's biggest
deficiencies. That being the ability to stop opposing players from scoring,
which is an issue if you're an NHL defenseman. Former Detroit Red Wing Tomas
Tatar had the luxury of being defended by Braun, so he promptly dropped the
Shark defenseman and made a bee-line for the Sharks net. Jonathan Marchessault
hit Tatar in stride, before the Knights defenseman slipped the puck past Martin
Jones for his 19th goal of the season.
San Jose almost handed the
Knights a second goal when Melker Karlsson sent a pass to the slot from his own
zone. Alex Tuch intercepted it and promptly raced toward the Sharks net and
fired a shot that just missed wide right.
A pair of interference
penalties offset a Knights power play, but it allowed the Sharks to start
directing some pucks toward Knights goaltender Malcolm Subban.
San Jose tied the game 3:27 into the 2nd period when
Brent Burns ripped a shot from the blueline that found a seam. Subban wasn't
screened directly on the play, but the traffic in front of the net may have
distracted him enough to all Burns to pot his 11th goal of the season.
Defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic was almost decapitated by a Colin Miller high
stick, which resulted in a 4 minute power play on a double minor. San Jose did
nothing with the chance, and allowed a second short-handed breakaway while on
the man advantage. They gave up a similar short-handed chance to Vegas during
an Erik Haula penalty a period earlier.
San Jose's failure to
capitalize on the power play might inevitably the reason the Sharks miss out on
the division title. The Sharks enjoyed 6 chances to score on the man advantage
and they failed on every try.
Their disjointed approach seemed to
offer the opposition more offensive opportunity then their own. With the
playoffs on the horizon, San Jose needs to figure out how to start scoring on
the man advantage, or it's going to be a significant problem for them in the
NHL's second season.
Game Notes:
* Brent Burns led all
skaters with 10 shots on goal. Compare that to the 25 shots that Vegas
recorded, the Sharks defensman was a one-man wrecking crew.
* Mikkel
Boedker and Paul Martin were the only Sharks not to record a shot on goal. With
only three defensive pairs, Martin continues to be the odd man out when it
comes to playing time. He logged a mere 10:29 of ice time on 15 shifts.
* Even after going 8-2-0 in their last 10 games, the Sharks have only
gained 3 points on Vegas. The Knights have won 6 of 9 games to go along with
Thursday's overtime loss.
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What did you
think of this story? Post your comments on the
Feeder Forums |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
OT |
T |
| VGK |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
| SJ |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
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| 1st period - 1, VGK,
Tatar 19 (Marchessault, Theodore), 3:47. |
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| 2nd period - 2, SJ,
Burns 11 (Martin, Hansen), 3:27. |
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| Overtime - 3, SJ,
Couture 31 (Vlasic, Hertl), 0:39. |
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| 1st period - Couture, SJ
(interference), 15:12. Haula, VGK (interference), 16:25. |
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| 2nd period - Miller, VGK
(high sticking - double minor), 5:07; Perron, VGK (tripping), 18:53. |
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| 3rd period - McNabb, VGK
(throwing stick), 0:29; Labanc, SJ (interference), 5:44; Miller, VGK (cross
checking), 6:35. |
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Shots |
Saves |
| VGK - Subban |
44 |
42 |
| SJ - Jones |
25 |
24 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
OT |
T |
| VGK |
11 |
4 |
7 |
3 |
25 |
| SJ |
13 |
18 |
12 |
1 |
44 |
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| Referees: Hanson,
Lee. Linesmen: Nagy, Knorr. |
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