|
|
Meier leads Sharks over
Devils
San Jose splits season series with New
Jersey
The Sharks had a score to settle with the New
Jersey Devils after gagging up a win on the East Coast back in October. San
Jose exacted some revenge on the Devils by grabbing a lead and holding it this
time in a 5-2 win at SAP Center. The Sharks blew a 3rd period lead the last
time these two teams played, but San Jose built on a 3rd period lead this time
around en route to their 16th win of the season.
A youth movement
helped San Jose on this night, getting scoring a slew of their younger players.
The Sharks were forced to play catch up early on. Getting out-shot 8-2 through
the first 12 minutes of the game will do that, but the Sharks overcame an early
deficit and battled back to grab a 1st period lead that they would not
relinquish.
Drew Stafford threw the puck on net from the right corner
at a severe angle, which resulted in a soft goal when Martin Jones failed to
seal off the right side of the net. The Sharks goaltender continued to sting
his own team with sub-par goaltending, on a shot that should have been handled
routinely.
Timo Meier tied the game with his 15th goal of the season
just under 4 minutes later by taking a Tomas Hertl feed up the right side and
snapping a wrist shot over Devils goaltender Keith Kinkaid's right shoulder.
Joe Pavelski made it a 2-1 Sharks lead with 1:57 left in the period,
by grabbing a rebound that dropped in front of Kinkaid and snapping home the
puck into a wide open net. Brendan Dillon earned the primary assist with a shot
from the point that hit Kinkaid in the chest. The netminder failed to cover it
up, allowing Pavelski to pull the puck away and fire it home.
Radim
Shimek pushed the Sharks lead to 3-1 at 7:19 of the middle period with his
first career NHL goal. The rookie defenseman ripped a shot from the blueline
that may have clipped a Devils defender on the way to the net. Lukas Radil
earned his first career NHL assist on the play, setting up Simek with the
primary assist.
Devils Captain Andy Greene cut the Sharks lead back to
a single goal less than 2 minutes later when Kyle Palmieri fed the puck out to
the front of the net. Palmieri out-muscled Marc-Edouard Vlasic as the two
jostled for the puck as they skated past the left post. Greene crashed in on
net as two Sharks defender's sat on each post as the puck split them, landing
on Greene' stick.
Meier made it a two-goal night just over 5 minutes
remaining in the period. The Sharks had just killed a Joonas Donskoi
interference penalty when the Sharks forward jumped on a Devils turnover in the
neutral zone. Donskoi moved the puck to Meier on the left wing and the Swiss
winger skated in on Kinkaid and scoped out his shot selection before whipping a
shot from inside the left dot that tucked just inside the right post.
Jones had a relatively routine evening the rest of the way out. His toughest
chance came with 5:45 left in regulation when Stafford charged in on net and
tried jamming a pair of chances from the doorstep.
The Sharks
netminder would finish the evening with 22 saves on 24 shots. Aside from
Stafford's goal, the goaltender was solid.
The Devils bench was called
for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty at 14:14 of the period, and Devils head
coach John Hynes was clearly perturbed by the call, and took a good three
minutes to discuss with referee Kevin Pollock. San Jose wasted no time cashing
in on the man advantage. Tomas Hertl whipped a shot from the slot past Kinkaid
for his 9th goal of the season.
Game Notes:
* In
addition to his fist career NHL goal, Radim Simek was also a +3 on the night.
The defenseman added a hit and a takeaway on 20 shifts.
* The Sharks
won 38 of 60 draws, converting at a 63% clip. Puck possession was clearly a
factor in the Sharks success. Every Shark to take a draw finished with a
faceoff percentage greater than 50% with the exception of Evander Kane and
Joonas Donskoi who were a combined 0-for-3.
* Erik Karlsson, Brent
Burns and Timo Meier combined for 14 of the Sharks 34 shots on goal.
*
The Devils were not a big hitting team, which is more favorable for San Jose.
The Devils only recorded 14 hits in the game. By comparison, the non-hitting
Sharks recorded 13 hits in the game.
* Defensemen Justin Braun and
Marc-Edouard Vlasic were the only Sharks to finish with a minus rating.
 |
|
| What did you think of
this article? Post your comments on the Feeder Forums |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
What did you
think of this story? Post your comments on the
Feeder Forums |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| NJ |
1 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
| SJ |
2 |
2 |
1 |
5 |
|
|
| 1st period - 1, NJ,
Stafford 1 (Severson, Greene), 12:05. 2, SJ, Meier 15 (Hertl), 15:51. 3, SJ,
Pavelski 20 (Dillon, E. Karlsson), 18:03. |
|
|
| 2nd period - 4, SJ,
Simek 1 (Radil, Burns), 7:19. 5, NJ, Greene 1 (Palmieri, Hischier), 8:59. 6,
Meier 16 (Donskoi), 14:52. |
|
|
| 3rd period - 7, SJ,
Hertl 9 (Labanc, Pavelski), 14:23, (pp). |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 1st period - Radil, SJ
(tripping), 5:39. |
|
|
| 2nd period - Seney, NJ
(slashing), 10:11; Donskoi, SJ (interfernece), 12:35. |
|
|
| 3rd period - Bench, NJ
(unsportsmanlink conduct), 14:14. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Shots |
Saves |
| NJ - Kinkaid |
34 |
29 |
| SJ - Jones |
24 |
22 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| NJ |
9 |
10 |
5 |
24 |
| SJ |
11 |
8 |
15 |
34 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Referees: Pollock,
Nicholson. Linesmen: Gibbons, Suchanek. |
|
|
|
|
|
