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WCQF Game 4: No
answers
Sharks fall 5-0 to Vegas, find themselves on
the brink
Trailing the Vegas Golden Knights by a game
entering Game 4 of their Western Conference Quarter Final match-up, the Sharks
had a chance to draw even in the series. Instead, they rolled over and laid
down at the feet of their opponent. The game was over in the 1st period after
the Knights scored a pair of goals. San Jose had no answer in any of the three
periods, but it was the surrender in the 3rd period that will go down as the
point that stands out in one of the ugliest losses in franchise playoff
history.
Vegas would go on to score 5 goals, as Marc-Andre Fleury
stopped all 28 shots he faced to shutout San Jose, earning his 15th career
playoff shutout. Sharks head coach Peter DeBoer rolled the dice in starting
Martin Jones in net, which turned out to be the wrong choice. Jones lasted 20
minutes, stopping 5 of 7 shots.
Jones teammates let him and his
replacement, Aaron Dell, down with porous defense that allowed too many chance
from the front of the net, that would inevitably find the back of the net.
By the 3rd period, Vegas was essentially toying with Shark skaters,
baiting them into bad decisions and even worse play.
The Sharks extra
defensive preparation paid dividends in the game, as San Jose was able to keep
the puck out of the net in the first minute of the contest. It was the next 11
seconds that was the problem. Max Pacioretty gathered a loose puck in the high
slot and simply threw it at the net. Martin Jones surrendered his obligatory
early goal to stake the Knights to the 1-0 lead.
The Sharks
out-chances the Knights in power plays in the middle period with a 3 to 2
count, but San Jose's man-advantage has been AWOL the entire series. At least
when it mattered.
San Jose turned in the fictional "they outplayed the
opponent" effort for the next 18 minutes, out-shooting Vegas 18-7 in the frame.
The Knights 7th shot was another of the scoring variety.
Shea Theodore
took a Rile Smith in the high slot, that skated between Brendan Dillon and
Brent Burns before flipping the puck past Jones. Both Shark defenders tried to
stop Theodore with poke checks, that were neither effective or inspiring.
Theodore's goal came with 47 seconds left in the period and it effectively
broke the Sharks.
No matter what San Jose tried, it failed.
Sharks head coach Peter De Boer decided he had enough of Jones sub-par
performance and yanked him in favor of Aaron Dell. Remarkably, Dell managed to
keep the puck awy from his own goal for several minutes.
Brendan Dillon took a boneheaded high sticking penalty
at 11:51, and the Knights made San Jose pay.
Pacioretty snapped a shot
from the slot 43 seconds into the ensuing power play.
Alex Tuch made
it 4-0 at the 6:37 mark of the 3rd period, when he raced around a stationary
Erik Karlsson en route to the Sharks net for his first deposit of the playoffs.
The goal could not have been a better example of how a professional hockey
player should attempt to defend a play. Evander Kane took a half-hearted
approach to covering Tuch, and Karlsson's reaction indicated that his groin is
still nowhere to being healed.
Things began to unravel for San Jose
midway through the period when Evander Kane elected to start settling scores.
The Sharks forward added to his penalty minute total by taking a cross checking
minor, to go with a roughing infraction and a 10 minute misconduct. It was a
penalty parade from there.
One of those was a holding penalty to
Barclay Goodrow that resulted in a Jonathan Marchessault power play goal at
16:24 to make it a 5-0 game. Nate Schmidt sent a pass through Justin Braun's
skates from the left wing boards to Marchessault on the right post. The Knights
forward beat Dillon to the spot for the tap in goal.
If the final
score wasn't proof that the Sharks gave up, they mustered a paltry 2 shots in
that pivotal 3rd period.
Game Notes:
* T-Mobile Arena
has proven to be a personal house of horrors for the Sharks. They been shutout
there 4 times in 12 losses, by a combined score of 61-24.
* The
shutout marked the 4th time they've been shutout in the playoffs. It was the
second time that's happened to the Knights, who shutout San Jose 7-0 last
season.
* The Stone-Pacioretty-Stastny line has been a one line
wrecking crew this series. the trio has accounted for 12 goals and 16 assists
(28 points).
* The Knights went 2-for-9 on the power play. San Jose
was 0-for-4.
* Marcus Sorensen and Lukas Radil were a perfect 1-for-1
on faceoffs. It was literally the only positive the Sharks took away from the
Game 4 smack down.
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Feeder Forums |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| SJ |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| VGK |
2 |
1 |
2 |
5 |
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| 1st period - 1, VGK,
Pacioretty 3 (Stone), 1:11. 2, VGK, Theodore 1 (Pacioretty), 19:13. |
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| 2nd period - 3, VGK,
Pacioretty 4 (Stone, Theodore), 12:33, (pp). |
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| 3rd period - 4, VGK,
Tuch 1 (Schmidt, Pacioretty), 6:37. 5, VGK, Marchessault 1 (Schmidt, Smith),
16:24, (pp). |
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| 1st period - Tuch, VGK
(tripping), 3:04; Kane, SJ (slashing), 4:52; Braun, SJ (tripping), 7:36; Eakin,
VGK (interference), 8:55; Theodore, VGK (slashing), 14:06. |
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| 2nd period - Dillon, SJ
(high sticking), 11:51; Carrier, VGK (tripping), 13:36. |
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| 3rd period - Pavelski,
SJ (interference), 3:06; Kane, SJ (cross checking), 9:20; Kane, SJ (roughing),
9:20; Kane, SJ (10 min misconduct), 9:20; Meier, SJ (unsportmanlike conduct),
11:54; Goodrow, SJ (holding), 15:12; Meier, SJ (roughing), 16:37; Meier, SJ (10
min misconduct), 16:37. |
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Shots |
Saves |
| SJ - Jones |
7 |
5 |
| SJ - Dell |
20 |
17 |
| VGK - Fleury |
28 |
28 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| SJ |
18 |
8 |
2 |
28 |
| VGK |
7 |
7 |
13 |
27 |
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| Referees: Peel,
O'Rourke. Linesmen: Devorski, Murchison. |
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