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Comedy of errors ends Sharks
win streak
Coyotes knock off Sharks again
The Sharks followed up one of their best games of
the season with undoubtedly one of their worst on Wednesday night. Playing on
back to back nights, San Jose had to fly to Phoenix late Tuesday night and play
less than 24 hours after knocking off the Pittsburgh Penguins at SAP Center.
The Sharks gave it a go, but several late gaffs cost them a chance at
overcoming a single goal deficit and would eventually fall 6-3 to the host
Coyotes.
The Sharks were staring at a 4-1 Coyotes lead at one point,
but a pair of goals, including a 3rd period tally by Logan Couture made it a
one-goal game with just under 5 minutes to play. Timo Meier flushed a comeback
down the drain when he took a selfish tripping penalty with 2:13 left.
Meier was upset that Oliver Ekman-Larsson checked him off a puck with a
shoulder to the head. Ekman-Larsson was not penalized, so Meier decided to take
measures into his own hands by spearing the Coyotes forward behind the knee.
To make a bad decision worse, the Sharks decided to pull goaltender
Aaron Dell while they held the puck behind their own net. When Erik Karlsson
was pressured behind his goal, he sent a weak pass up ice that ended up on Alex
Galchenyuk's stick in front of the meoty net. Galchenyuk buried the puck to end
it. Josh Archibald added another empty-net goal to cap the scoring, but it was
Meir's selfishness that started the snow ball that turned into a painful finish
for San Jose.
Dell's night started off rough and got worse. Lawson
Crouse staked the Coyotes to an early 1-0 lead on a simple shot from the left
dot 2:31 into the game. Dell should have gloved the shot, but his hand was too
low, which allowed the puck to pop out of the mitt and float over his shoulder
and into the goal.
A hooking penalty to Nicholas Hjalmarsson setup a
Sharks power play, but Brent Burns whiffed on a shot attempt on a stationary
puck that allowed Richard Panik to force a turnover. Panik raced up ice
uncontested and snapped a shot past Dell for the 2-0 lead. The two goals came
just over 2 minutes apart.
San Jose salvaged some of the period when
Kevin Labanc cut the Coyotes lead in half at 6:53. The Sharks forward accepted
a Brendan Dillon pass fro the point while he was stationed at the top of the
Coyotes crease with his back to the net. Labanc pivoted to his right and swept
a shot past Coyote goaltender Darcy Kuemper for his 5th goal of the season.
Christian Fischer pushed the Coyotes lead back to 2 goals 5:50 into
the 2nd period when his wraparound attempt his Erik Karlsson in the skate and
redirected it past Dell for his 11th goal of the season.
Oliver
Ekman-Larsson made it a 4-1 game at 7:50 when his shot from the top of the left
circle slipped past Dell. The Coyotes had traffic in front of the Sharks net,
but Dell didn't make any attempt to try and pick up the shot. Sharks head coach
Peter DeBoer foolishly challenged the goal for on an offside claim, but that
turned out to be a fruitless attempt.
Evander Kane scored his 17th goal of the season midway
through the period by taking a drop pass from Labanc in the high slot, then
ripping a 40-foot shot past Kuemper. The goal should have sparked the Sharks,
but they spent the last half of the period chasing their tails.
Things
got interesting with 4:52 to play when Logan Couture scored his 17th goal of
the season. The sharks forward ripped a shot from the top of the left circle,
beating Kuemper just inside the right post.
Meier killed any shot at a
comeback with his antics.
Game Notes:
* The Sharks will
finish the month with three more games on the road before the All Star Break.
San Jose travels to Tampa Bay where the Lightning will be waiting to avenge
their loss to San Jose on January 5th.
* Erik Karlsson was a -4 on the
night, but his turnover late in the game was the backbreaker.
* The
comedy of errors stemmed from defensive lapses that ballooned. The poor
goaltending was magnified by Burns turnover on the power play and Karlsson's
back breaking turnover in the game's waning moments.
* Every Coyotes
skater recorded a shot on goal except for defensemen Alex Golgoski and Ilya
Lyubushkin. Arizona combined for 41 shots in the game.
* Peter DeBoer
admitted that the offside challenge was ill advised, because the offside was
negated after the Sharks had cleared the puck of the zone.
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| SJ |
1 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
| ARI |
2 |
2 |
2 |
6 |
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| 1st period - 1, ARI,
Crouse 7 (Kempe), 2:31. 2, ARI, Panik 10 (unassisted), 4:39, (sh). 3, SJ,
Labanc 5 (Dillon, Braun), 6:53. |
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| 2nd period - 4, ARI,
Fischer 11 (Lyubushkin, Weal), 5:05. 5, ARI, Ekman-Larsson 6 (Keller, Fischer),
7:50. 6, SJ, Kane 17 (Labanc), 10:15. |
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| 3rd period - 7, SJ,
Couture 17 (E. Karlsson, Labanc), 15:08, (pp). 8, ARI, Galchenyuk 8
(unassisted), 18:02, (pp)(en). 9, ARI, Archibald 4 (Crouse), 19:11, (en). |
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| 1st period -
Hjalmarsson, ARI (hooking), 4:00; Donskoi, SJ (tripping), 13:26. |
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| 2nd period - Bench, SJ
(delay of game), 7:50. |
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| 3rd period - Goodrow, SJ
(slashing), 4:54; Fischer, ARI (slashing), 5:02; Panik, ARI (hooking), 14:48;
Meier, SJ (tripping), 17:47. |
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Shots |
Saves |
| SJ - Dell |
39 |
35 |
| SJ - empty net |
2 |
0 |
| ARI - Kuemper |
29 |
26 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| SJ |
13 |
8 |
8 |
29 |
| ARI |
17 |
12 |
12 |
41 |
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| Gila River Arena - 13,342 |
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| Referees:
Chmielewski, Peel. Linesmen: Shewchyk, Gibbons. |
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