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Sharks gag up another
loss
Doormat Kings score three 3rd period goals to
show up SJ
With 8 games left in the regular season, the Sharks
have to make a decision. Are they going to try and play for the 1st seed in the
Western Conference, or will they be content with a 2nd or 3rd seed. Sporting a
3-game losing streak, they were all set to get things headed in the right
direction with a date against West's worst team, the Los Angeles Kings. San
Jose responded by gagging up a lead and losing to the hapless Kings 4-2 at
Staples Center on Thursday night.
The Calgary Flames extended their
lead over the Sharks by winning 5-1 on Thursday and the Vegas Golden Knights
also won 5-0 to draw within 5 points of San Jose. Nobody in a Sharks jersey
seemed interested in playing hockey on Thursday night. There were simply too
many situations where players were out of position, or unwilling to be in
position.
The Kings on the other hand were playing for pride. The
Sharks were playing for shame. The Kings victory was only the 2nd of the season
when trailing after the 2nd period.
Los Angeles grabbed the early lead
5:19 into the game when Dustin Brown pivoted to his right near the left dot and
whipped a shot past Martin Jones for his 20th goal of the season. Jones was
screened by Alex Iafallo and never saw the shot, as is sailed past his right
shoulder.
Using some awful intelligence, Sharks head coach Peter
DeBoer decided to challenge the goal for goaltender interference, but replays
clearly showed that Iafallo never made contact with Jones. The Sharks
surrendered their timeout on the failed challenge.
The Sharks didn't
exactly tear it up in the opening period, but they did make things interesting
late. The Kings held San Jose to 3 shots on goal through the first 10 minutes
of play, but the Sharks turned up the pressure in the last 5 minutes.
Barclay Goodrow knotted the game at 1-1 with 2:27 left in the period when he
deflected a Marc-Edouard Vlasic shot past Jonathan Quick. Vlasic was setup on
the left point where he threw a long shot toward the front of the net. Goodrow
and Joonas Donskoi were jostling with a pair Kings defenders, which may have
also contributed to a lack of vision by Quick.
The Sharks struck early
in the 2nd period to grab their first lead of the evening. Brent Burns carried
the puck up the right wing, then dropped the puck back to Tomas Hertl for a
shot from just inside the right circle that evaded Quick. The goal was Hertl's
32nd tally of the season.
Timo Meier found himself on a breakaway with
11:40 to play in the middle frame, but Quick was able to stop a shot with a
save off the shaft of his stick.
San Jose played a little too
nonchalant early in the 3rd, allowing the Kings to hang around. They would pay
for that lack of urgency when the Kings scored a pair of goals.
Matt
Roy was credited with his 1st career NHL goal at 9:28. The defenseman blasted a
shot from the right point, beating Martin Jones who had Brown cut in front of
his sight line as Roy was releasing the shot.
Anze Kopitar pushed the Kings back out front two
minutes later sliding a loose puck past Jones after it deflected off several
players in a scrum in front of the Sharks net. The Sharks were simply
discombobulated defensively. Vlasic was closest to the blueline when Kopitar
scored.
Alec Martinez gifted the Sharks the perfect opportunity to get
back into the game with 3:02 to play by tossing the puck over the glass for a
delay of game penalty. San Jose turned a 5-on-4 power play into a 6-on-4 chance
by pulling Jones, but the Sharks power play was so disjointed that they could
not render any decent scoring chances.
Jeff Carter ended things when
he sent a backhand clearing attempt down the length of the ice and into the
Sharks net for the empty-netter.
Game Notes:
* Logan
Couture was scratched with flu like symptoms. The Kings scratched Dion Phaneuf
and Ilya Kovalchuk, allowing younger players to get a look.
* Scoring
machine Barclay Goodrow scored his 7th goal of the season, which matched his
goal output from last season.
* The Sharks let dishrag Dustin Brown
put 7 shots on net tonight.
* San Jose allowed the opposition to score
4 or more goals for the fourth consecutive game.
* Anze Kopitar was 18
of 26 in the faceoff circle (69%). Tomas Hertl was 5 of 23 (28%). San Jose was
36% collectively on draws.
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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 |
T |
| SJ |
1 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
| LA |
1 |
0 |
3 |
4 |
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| 1st period - 1, LA,
Brown 20 (Walker, Kempe), 5:19. 2, SJ, Goodrow 7 (Vlasic, Donskoi), 17:33.
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| 2nd period - 3, SJ,
Hertl, 32 (Burns), 3:45. |
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| 3rd period - 4, LA, Roy
1 (Iafallo, Kopitar), 9:28. 5, LA, Kopitar 21 (unassisted), 11:45. 6, LA,
Carter 11 (unassisted), 18:43, (sh) (en). |
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| 1st period - Dillon, SJ
(slashing), 18:47; Wagner, LA (slashing), 18:47. |
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| 2nd period - Carter, LA
(interference), 16:31. |
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| 3rd period - Martinz, LA
(delay of game - puck over glass), 16:58. |
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Shots |
Saves |
| SJ - Jones |
34 |
31 |
| SJ - empty net |
1 |
0 |
| LA - Quick |
25 |
23 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| SJ |
7 |
11 |
7 |
25 |
| LA |
15 |
11 |
9 |
35 |
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| Referees:
Sutherland, Joannette. Linesmen: Cameron, Sericolo. |
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