|
|
Young goaltender learns a tough
lesson
San Jose rolls with 7 goals against
Canucks
There's not stopping the Sharks right now. If you
could bottle the Sharks current hot streak, it would be a big seller. San Jose
continued to roll on Monday night, winning their 6th game in a row, with a
lop-sided 7-2 victory over the host Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena. With the
win, San Jose leap-frogged past the Calgary Flames for the top spot in the
Western Conference. Evander Kane led the Sharks with a pair of goals in the big
win.
San Jose took advantage of rookie goaltender Mikey DiPietro, who
made his first NHL start, after getting plucked out of Juniors by the Canucks.
DiPietro's inexperience was evident from the get go. The first shot he faced
from an NHL opponent slipped past him.
That opponent was Timo Meier,
who punched a one-time change from the slot past Dipietro after Logan Couture
fished the puck out of a scrum behind the Vancouver net. Couture grabbed the
puck and flipped it out to Meier, who was flanked by three Canuck defenders.
The visions of his first NHL start probably did include the next goal,
which was scored two minutes later. The Sharks were buzzing in the Canucks
zone, but Evander Kane was trying to keep the puck from clearing the blueline
when he lofted a puck on net from the right point. DiPietro tried to deflect
the puck with his blocker as it floated over his head, but he ended up knocking
into his own net for the 2-0 Sharks lead.
The netminder's evening went
from bad to worse when Melker Karlsson deflected a Brent Burns shot into the
Canucks net at the 8:48 mark of the opening period. DiPietro finally settled
down, but the damage was done. It was a deficit that the Canucks would not
overcome.
Bo Horvat scored the first of two Canucks goals with 7
seconds left in the period. The Canucks forward one-timed a cross ice feed from
Elias Pettersson, who whipped a pass from the outside of the left circle to his
linemate on the right side.
The Sharks kept the pressure on Dipietro
in the 2nd period where they would score three more goals. Kane used a more
conventional method to score snapping a shot from just on top of the left dot
after he and Tomas Hertl skated the puck up ice.
Hertl got in on the
scoring action at the 11 minute mark of the period. Joonas Donskoi setup the
goal with a pretty backhand flip that split two Canuck defenders as Hertl got a
stop on the two. Hertl gathered Donskoi's feed as he raced in on the left side
and lifted a shot past DiPietro for his 26th goal of the season.
Kevin
Labanc followed up his big hat trick performance against Edmonton on Saturday
night with his 10 goal of the season at 17:30. The young forward skated up the
left wing before one-timing a cross ice feed from Joe Thornton.
Derrick Pouliot scored his 3rd goal of the season
12:06 into the 3rd period to cut the Sharks lead to 6-2, but there was no
chance of a comeback. To the Canucks credit, the young team continued to
battle.
It was a lousy consolation prize.
Joe Pavelski tacked
on a 7th goal for San Jose with 6 minutes to play, deflecting a Brendan Dillon
shot. Pavelski was lurking in front of the Vancouver net when Dillon sent a
puck that would have sailed wide left, but the Sharks captain got his stick in
the path. The goal was Pavelski's 30th of the season.
DiPietro
finished the game with 17 saves on 24 shots. Martin Jones made 25 saves for the
Sharks, who won their 34th game of the season.
They will return home
on Thursday to take on the defending Stanley Cup Champion Washington Capitals.
The Sharks beat the Capitals 7-6 in their stunning come from behind overtime
win on January 22nd.
Game Notes:
* Joe Thornton had a
busy night. Thornton passed Gordie Howe for sole possession of 9th on the NHL's
all-time assist list, tied Teemu Selanne for 15th on NHL's all-time points
list, and passed Shane Doan and Jeff Bucyk for sole possession of 15th on the
NHL's all-time games played list.
* The Sharks became the 6th team in
NHL history to sweep four Western Canadian Teams in consecutive games.
* Even with the 7 goal output, four Shark skaters finished the game with a
negative plus/minus for the game. Joe Thornton, Marcus Sorensen, Marc-Edouard
Vlasic and Kevin Labanc all finished the game a minus-1.
* Evander
Kane recorded 5 of the Sharks 24 shots on goal.
* The Sharks elected
on to retaliate after Tyler Motte leveled Joonas Donskoi with a hit from behind
late in the game. The two teams will square off on Saturday, so there could be
some retribution then.
 |
|
| 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 |
| SJ |
3 |
3 |
1 |
7 |
| VAN |
1 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
|
|
| 1st period - 1, SJ,
Meier 20 (Couture, Pavelski), 1:04. 2, Kane 25 (Couture, Braun), 3:22. 3, SJ,
M. Karlsson 9 (Burns, Goodrow), 8:48. 4, VAN, Horvat 20 (Pettersson, Stecher),
19:53. |
|
|
| 2nd period - 5, SJ, Kane
26 (M. Karlsson, Hertl), 4:36. 6, SJ, Hertl 26 (Donskoi, Burns), 11:00. 7, SJ,
Labanc 10 (Thornton), 17:30. |
|
|
| 3rd period - 8, VAN,
Pouliot 3 (Macewen, Goldobin), 12:00. 9, SJ, Pavelski 30 (Dillon, Heed), 14:05.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 1st period - Kane, SJ
(double minor - roughing), 15:41; Stecher, VAN (roughing), 15:41. |
|
|
| 2nd period - Tanev, VAN
(hooking), 13:51. |
|
|
| 3rd period - Braun, SJ
(tripping), 0:45; Boesner, VAN (slashing), 1:38. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Shots |
Saves |
| SJ - Jones |
27 |
25 |
| VAN - DiPietro |
24 |
17 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| SJ |
10 |
5 |
9 |
24 |
| VAN |
9 |
13 |
5 |
27 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Referees:
Joannette, Hebert. Linesmen: Alphonso, Cameron. |
|
|
|
|
|
