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Sinful effort dooms
Sharks
Golden Knights continue their dominance over
SJ
When the Sharks were eliminated from the playoffs
last spring by the Vegas Golden Knights, they should have circled November 24th
on their calendars. That was the day they would finally get a crack at exacting
some retribution on the Knights for the unceremonious exit. San Jose responded
on Saturday night by rolling over to the Knights in a 6-0 whipping. Much like
Game 1 of last springs playoff series with Vegas, the Sharks had no answer for
an opponent that ran roughshod over them.
Marc-Andre Fleury made back
to back starts after shutting out the Calgary Flames on Friday night. Aaron
Dell did the same for San Jose, but nobody would confuse their games in this
one. Fleury made 33 saves to shutout the Sharks, while Dell needed treatment on
his neck from his head spinning so often to follow all the pucks that got past
him.
The game was lost on the opening shift. Literally.
Vegas
wasted no time getting on the board when a Brayden McNabb shot deflected off
William Karlsson's shin guard and slipped through Aaron Dell's 5-hole just 14
seconds into the game. The goal was the fastest in team history for the Golden
Knights. The goal also broke a Sharks record for quickest goal allowed, which
was previously 17 seconds, set in 1999.
Defenseman Colin Miller tacked
on his 2nd goal of the season at the 4:40 mark on the Knights 4th shot of the
game. Dell'ss relatively light load on Friday night should not have left the
goaltender tired, but he looked slow to react and the Knights had a twp goal
lead before some of those in attendance even got to their seats.
Max
Pacioretty made it a 3-0 game at the 9:29 mark, scoring a power play goal after
Melker Karlsson was sent off for holding.
Pacioretty added his 8th
goal of the season with 3:32 left in the period, taking an Alex Tuch pass up
the left wing then lifting a shot that tucked between Dell and the left post.
The shot needed to be stopped in order to keep the Sharks within some semblance
of a striking distance, but Dell just wasn't up to the task.
In a
peculiar move between periods, Sharks head coach Peter DeBoer made his way to
the bench before the start of the 2nd period and sat there in the darkness
while the team was back in the dressing room. Perhaps DeBoer was letting the
players police themselves, and allowed them to deal with their sub-par opening
period themselves.
DeBoer's move did little to spark his team.
The Sharks missed on a scoring chance early in the period, then forgot
to play defense as William Carrier carried the puck up ice and slid a shot
under Dell's pads to make it a 5-0 game 3:27 into the period.
The
blitzkrieg broke a 21 year-old team record for fastest five goals allowed in a
game.
Evander Kane earned a jackpot in the penalty department with
4:19 left in the period. After laying a check, Kane was sent off for tripping
of all things. He blew his top on the ice and let referee Ian Walsh have it,
which earned an additional 2 minutes for unsportsmanlike conduct, 10 minutes
for abuse of an official and a game misconduct.
DeBoer followed Kane to the dressing room after
getting ejected himself. DeBoer parlayed a discussion he had with referee Kyle
Rehman before the start of the period into an early shower when he asked Rehman
if "it was worth it for tossing Evander Kane," after Jonathan Marchessault was
sent off for slashing.
DeBoer claims that he didn't swear, but was
agitated by the fact that Kane was tossed while the Sharks bench was short
after Logan Couture was injured earlier in the game.
Alex Tuch added
his 7th goal of the season after a Justin Braun pass missed its mark. Shea
Theodore scooped up Braun's blunder and fed Tuch for a one timer from the high
slot that beat Dell for the 6-0 lead.
The remainder of the game was
left to decide if Fleury would earn his 53rd career shutout. The Sharks made
little effort to try and break up the shutout. They put 8 shots on net, which
was a insufficient answer to the challenge.
Several Sharks took
exception to some liberties that Knigths players were taking in the game, which
resulted in plenty of scrums that slowed down the game, prolonging the Sharks
torment.
Game Notes:
* Evander Kane earned 26 penalty
minutes for his issue. San Jose racked up 44 penalty minutes in total.
* Vancouver Canucks epicurean specialist Antoine Roussel was fined $5000 by the
NHL for biting Marc-Edouard Vlasic on Friday night, but he received no
suspension.
* The Sharks get to lick their wounds and head to Buffalo,
which has historically served as their primary house of horrors. To make
matters worse, the Sabres have won their last 9 games in a row.
*
Logan Couture was injured in the 1st period when he took a shot off the foot.
He returned to the game in the 2nd period, but like his teammates, was not a
factor in the game.
* San Jose was credited with 33 shots in the game,
but that was a generous statistic dished out by the scorekeeper. San Jose did
little to threaten Fleury, but his statistics were inflated by the soft shot
count.
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| SJ |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| VGK |
4 |
1 |
1 |
6 |
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| 1st period - 1, VGK,
Karlsson 6 (McNabb, Marchessault), 0:14. 2, VGK, Miller 2 (Smith), 4:40. 3,
VGK, Pacioretty 7 (Smith, Miller), 9:29, (pp). 4, VGK, Pacioretty 8 (Tuch),
16:28. |
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| 2nd period - 5, SJ,
Carrier 4 (unassisted), 3:27. |
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| 3rd period - 6, VGK,
Tuch 7 (Theodore), 5:58. |
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| 1st period - M.
Karlsson, SJ (holding), 8:36. |
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| 2nd period - Carrier,
VGK (hooking), 6:46; Kane, SJ (high sticking), 13:06; Kane, SJ (tripping),
15:41; Kane, SJ (unsportsmanlike conduct), 15:41; Kane, SJ (10 min - abuse of
officials), 15:41; Kane, SJ (10 min - game misconduct), 15:41; Marchessault,
VGK (slashing), 16:34; DeBoer, SJ (game misconduct - head coach), 16:34. |
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| 3rd period - Hertl, SJ
(roughing), 4:30; Eakin, VGK (roughing), 4:30; Carrier, VGK (roughing), 7:14;
Goodrow, SJ (unsportsmanlike conduct), 9:43; Goodrow, SJ (10 min msconduct),
9:43; Braun, SJ (roughing), 17:14; Pacioretty, VGK (hooking), 18:25. |
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Shots |
Saves |
| SJ - Dell |
36 |
30 |
| VGK - Fleury |
33 |
33 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| SJ |
11 |
14 |
8 |
33 |
| VGK |
11 |
10 |
15 |
36 |
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| Referees: Rehman,
Walsh. Linesmen: Cameron, Shewchyk. |
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