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NHL Road Warriors get off to
good start - sort of
Opener should have been won in
OT, but the win is nice
| 1/14/21 - By Paul Krill -
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The Sharks are looking like they could become the
NHL's version of the Port Ruppert Mundys, the fictional baseball team in
Phillip Roth's "The Great American Novel," who had to play all their games on
the road. Given the Covid-19 situation in Santa Clara County, we don't know
when or if the Sharks will be playing in the confines of SAP Center this
season.
Thus, they began the season on an eight-game road trip on
Thursday in Glendale, Ariz., pulling off a shootout win, 4-3, over the Arizona
Coyotes. Of course, we could very well end up with the Sharks, like the 49ers
before them, having to play "home" games on the road, too.
It all got
off to a rousing start Thursday, with the Sharks taking a 2-0 lead in the first
period and holding the Coyotes off the board until the second period. Evander
Kane, who already had two assists, scored a nice goal to put the Sharks up 3-1
with about eight-and-a-half minutes left.
Then, the Sharks did what we
have seen them do so often in recent years - they coughed up the lead, letting
in two goals, including one with about three seconds left. Sharks broadcaster
Curtis Brown pointed out that the third Coyotes goal should not have happened,
since all the Sharks needed to do was clear the crease - a two-minute penalty
of some sort with three seconds left wouldn't have mattered, anyway, if the
Coyotes didn't tie the score.
Then, the Sharks in the overtime get
what amounted to more than two minutes of a four-on-three advantage, but they
couldn't score. While goals by new Sharks Ryan Donato and Logan Couture sealed
the deal in the shootout, the game should never have gotten that far. The
Sharks should have finished the job in regulation. But it is what it is and
we'll take the two points.
I'm thinking that the Sharks could surprise some
people. With little to no expectations placed on them this season after last
season's disappointing campaign, they might turn out to be the surprise of the
league. We'll see. Regardless, it was nice to finally see some Sharks hockey
after 300+ days without it. The last time we saw the Sharks in March 2020, the
Covid-19 emergency was just being put in place.
The virus is still a
problem, obviously, and we might have to settle for the TV as far as seeing the
Sharks this year. (Can't believe I haven't been to the arena in more than 10
months. It just doesn't seem that long.) If the Sharks can get topnotch play
all season from players like Tomas Hertl (two goals on Thursday), Evander Kane,
and the rest, the Sharks could vault their way back into the upper echelon of
the league. Martin Jones' play in goal on Thursday also was encouraging. So,
let this shortened season continue on.
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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 |
OT |
SO |
T |
| SJ |
2 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
4 |
| ARI |
0 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
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| 1st period - 1, SJ,
Hertl 1 (Kane, Couture), 12:43, (pp). 2, SJ, Hertl 2 (Leonard, Kane), 16:51.
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| 2nd period - 3, ARI,
Brassard 1 (Garland), 15:46, (pp). |
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| 3rd period - 4, SJ, Kane
1 (Leonard, Hertl), 11:24. 5, ARI, Keller 1 (Garland, Chychrun), 16:30. 6, ARI,
Kessel 1 (Goligoski, Keller), 19:56. |
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| Shootout- ARI: Schmoltz
(goal), Garland (miss), Keller (miss). SJ: Donato (goal), Couture (goal). |
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| 1st period -
Hjalmarsson, ARI (hooking), 12:31; Chychrun, ARI (closing hand on puck), 12:58;
Burns, SJ (high sticking), 17:29. |
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| 2nd period - Burns, SJ
(cross checking), 4:33; Kellman, SJ (tripping), 15:05. |
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| 3rd period - Labanc, SJ
(tripping), 0:41; Ekman-Larsson, ARI (tripping), 5:13. |
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| Overtime - Keller, ARI
(tripping), 3:13. |
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Shots |
Saves |
| SJ - Jones |
37 |
34 |
| ARI - Kuemper |
35 |
32 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
OT |
T |
| SJ |
13 |
10 |
7 |
5 |
35 |
| ARI |
8 |
9 |
19 |
1 |
37 |
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| Referees: L'Ecuyer,
Peel. Linesmen: Gibbons, Nagy. |
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