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WCQF Game1: Sharks open series
with win
San Jose dominates Golden Knights to take
1-0 series lead
If the rest of the Sharks Western Conference
Quarter Finals Series with the Vegas Golden Knights is like Game 1, we're in
for a humdinger of a match up. Wednesday night's series opener had a little bit
of everything that you'd expect in a playoff hockey game. When the smoke
cleared, the Sharks had themselves a well earned 5-2 victory to take a 1-0 lead
in the best-of-seven series. Five different Sharks recorded goals, including
defensemen Brent Burns and Marc-Edouard Vlasic.
It was an about face
from the 7-0 pummeling that the Knights laid on the Sharks a year ago in their
second round playoff series that served as a stepping stone for Vegas as they
made their way to the Stanley Cup Finals. The Sharks didn't forget that series,
and it showed.
San Jose was all over the Knights from the opening
faceoff. A year ago, Vegas used its superior team speed to overwhelm the
Sharks. That wasn't the case on Wednesday night. It was the Sharks who looked
like the faster team, and the they were committed to pressuring Vegas
goaltedner Marc-Andre Fleury all night.
Fleury was opposed by Martin
Jones who was committed to prevent the Knights from taking the early lead. One
of the biggest holes in Jones game this season has been the ability to keep the
opposition off the scoreboard in the first 5 minutes of the game. Jones was
aided by a defense that prevented the puck from making its way to Jones most of
the night.
Pierre-Edouard Bellemare put the Knights in a hole at the
13:35 mark when he tripped Micheal Haley. San Jose turned to the tandem of
Burns and captain Joe Pavelski for one of their patented point shot -
deflection jobs to put the puck past Fleury. Only the deflection came off of
Pavelski's face rather then his stick. Burns shot hit defenseman Nick Holden,
then deflected up toward Pavelski's face. The shot caught him square in the
mouth, before changing direction on Fleury for the series' first goal.
It was a tough way to score. Pavelski immediately dropped his stick and made
his way to the locker room for medical treatment.
Timo Meier joined
Pavelski in the infirmary at the end of the period when he took a Jon Merrill
elbow off the noggin. Meier was floored by the hit as both skaters pursued a
puck behind the Vegas net.
Meier may have been in a feisty move after
making his return to the ice to start the 2nd period. The Sharks forward was
called for tripping 20 seconds into the second frame to put the Knights on the
early power play. San Jose killed the penalty, but more importantly, they kept
the puck from challenging Jones.
Pavelski made his return to the ice
in the 2nd period with a face shield to help guard his swollen mouth, but he
was greeted with a tripping penalty at 6:25, which followed offsetting
penalties to the two teams and a Derek Engelland hooking penalty. Without his
deflection partner Pavelski int he penalty box, Burns took matters into his own
hands at 6:59. After taking an Erik Karlsson drop pass as they crossed just
inside the blueline, Burns turned right and headed toward the net before
snapping a shot from the top of the left dot, beating Fleury to make it 2-0.
Burns used Nate Schmidt to screen his shot, blocking it from Fleury for the
4-on-4 goal.
Still buzzing from the Burns goal, the Sharks kept the
heat on Vegas, and pushed their lead to 3-0 just 45 seconds later when Vlasic
lifted a shot past Fleury. The sharks worked the puck to the back of the net
where Joe Thornton collected it and fed Fleury who was sliding down the slot.
Merrill was positioned in front of his goaltender, who may have lost sight of
the shot with his teammate impeding his sight line.
With Pavelski
still in the box, the Knights held a brief power play, which contributed to
first goal of the evening for Vegas. Max Pacioretty fired a shot to the front
of the net right as Pavelski's penalty was ending, but Jones made the initial
stop. Mark Stone was parked on the left post and easily jammed it home to make
it a 3-1 game.
San Jose re-extended their lead to three goals when
Erik Karlsson whipped the puck to the front of the net as Evander Kane was
cutting through the slot from left to right. Kane got his stick blade on
Karlsson's shot, lifting it past Fleury for the 4-1 lead.
Things got
chippy in the 3rd period, as the Knights tried to find a way to get to Jones.
Vegas took three minor penalties in the period and San Jose matched them with a
trifecta of minors themselves.
One of those was a Kevin Labanc hooking
infraction that allowed Stone to score his second goal of the game, cutting the
Sharks lead to 4-2. Stone gathered a Shea Theodore feed while parked on the
left dot, before whipping a shot that caught the right post.
The Shark
would have been content to just run out the clock, but Knights head coach
Gerard Gallant pulled Fleury with 2:30 to play.
Tomas Hertl suppressed
any notion of a Knights comeback when he sent a shot from the midline into the
Vegas net for the empty net goal.
Tomas Nosek took some liberties on a
late shot that Jones handled, slashing Jones in an attempt to free the gloved
puck. Kane took exception and voiced his displeasure with his stick. The
sellout crowd sheered in glee as Kane and Ryan Reaves locked horns as the final
horn sounded.
Game Notes:
* With the primary assist on
Marc-Edouard Vlasic's goal, Joe Thornton tied Jean Beliveau, Ron Francis and
Marian Hossa for 24th all time with 97 career playoff assists.
* San
Jose recorded 42 hits in the game, which was indicative of the intensity of the
game. By comparison, their highest hit total during the regular season was 40,
also against the Vegas Golden Knights.
* With a goal and an assist,
Brent Burns recorded his 13th career multi-point playoff game. Burns had 3
shots on goal and 2 hits in the game.
* Tomas Hertl had a goal and an
assist, was a +3, and recorded 3 shots on goal a hit, and was 10 for 21 in the
faceoff circle.
* Giatns first baseman Brandon Belt opened the locker
room door. The Sharks started the tradition of having a Bay Area celebrity open
the door before the Sharks hit the ice to start the game.
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think of this story? Post your comments on the
Feeder Forums |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| VGK |
0 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
| SJ |
1 |
3 |
1 |
5 |
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| 1st period - 1, SJ,
Pavelski 1 (Burns), 14:42, (pp). |
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| 2nd period - 2, SJ,
Burns 1 (E. Karlsson, Hertl), 6:59. 3, SJ, Vlasic 1 (Thornton, Kane), 7:44. 4,
VGK, Stone 1 (Stastny, Pacioretty), 8:32. 5, SJ, Kane 1 (E. Karlsson, Nyquist),
19:42. |
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| 3rd period - 6, VGK,
Stone 2 (Theodore, Pacioretty), 15:26, (pp). 7, SJ, Hertl 1 (Couture, Vlasic),
18:11, (en). |
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| 1st period - Bellemare,
VGK (tripping), 13:35. |
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| 2nd period - Meier, SJ
(tripping), 0:20; Marchessault, VGK (unsportsmanlike conduct), 5:02; Dillon, SJ
(roughing), 5:02; Engelland, VGK (hooking), 5:48; Pavelski, SJ (tripping),
6:25; Carrier, VGK (tripping), 8:55. |
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| 3rd period - Holden, VGK
(slashing), 1:33; Stastny, VGK (roughing), 5:31; Haley, SJ (roughing), 5:31;
McNabb, VGK (cross checking), 9:05; Goodrow, SJ (slashing), 11:44; Labanc, SJ
(hooking), 15:11; Nosek, VGK (10 min misconduct), 19:31; Reaves, VGK (10 min
misconduct), 19:31; Kane, SJ (10 min misconduct), 19:31. |
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Shots |
Saves |
| VGK - Fleury |
32 |
28 |
| VGK - empty net |
1 |
0 |
| SJ - Jones |
26 |
24 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| VGK |
5 |
5 |
16 |
26 |
| SJ |
8 |
14 |
11 |
33 |
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| Referees: Rooney,
Rehman. Linesmen: Miller, Gibbons. |
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