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Sharks outlast
Blues
Tomas Hertl's shootout tally wins it for
SJ
After stubbing their toes the last two games, the
Sharks looked to fix some things that consistently led to losses last season.
They used Wednesday night's contest in St Louis as a measuring stick, against a
team that was a year removed from a Stanley Cup Championship. San Jose clamped
down defensively on a very good hockey team, and waited them out to the
shootout, where Tomas Hertl was the only skater to deposit a shot in a 2-1 win
for the Sharks.
Solid goaltending for both clubs kept this one tight
all night, and it was appropriate for a single goal to be scored in the
shootout, which extended to 8 total shooters. Hertl kept things simple, taking
a straight line to the Blues goal and netminder Jordan Binnington, who stopped
34 shots on the night. The Sharks forward snapped a shot from between the
circles in the 4th round of the shootout to help the Sharks to a split in their
two-game stand in St Louis.
Neither team could get much going through
the first 20 minutes of the contest. with St Louis out-shooting San Jose 10-9
in the period. The absence of any offensive cohesion was rooted in sloppy play
and five penalties between the two teams.
The Sharks entered play have
been outscored 7-1 in the 2nd period through the first three games of the
season. That trend appeared to headed in the wrong direction when Brayden
Schenn scored his 2nd goal of the season at 4:27 of the period. The Blues
carried the puck up ice where ice fed Jordan Kyrou in the high slot. Kyrou slid
the puck forward to a dead spot, absent of any Sharks defender. Ryan Donato was
late to pick up Schenn, who cut through the slot from right to left before
lifting a wrist-shot past Martin Jones for the 1-0 Blues lead.
The
Sharks answered with 2:03 left in the period when Marcus Sorensen converted for
his 1st goal of the season. The Sharks forward swooped in from the right side
to poke home a deflection after Matt Nieto tried to pump a shot on Binnington
from the left side. Sorensen got his stick on the puck with defenseman Tory
Krug draped all over him, diving at it to generate enough lift to get the shot
over the Blues goaltender.
The inability for San Jose to establish
some offensive consistency was mired by four minor penalties by Evander Kane.
The Sharks forward was sent off for a pair of slashing penalties and two
tripping infractions.
Sorensen just missed on a short-handed chance during
Kane's final trip to the penalty box in the 3rd period. The Sharks forward just
missed on a tap in attempt from the right side that bounced off the right post.
San Jose out-shot St Louis 13-4 in the 3rd period, but Binnington
helped the Blues reach the bonus period and the shootout with clutch work in
net.
The Sharks thought they had won the game in overtime when a Nieto
shot found the back of the net, but the goal was waved off after Donato was
ruled to have made incidental contact with Binnington. The Sharks forward was
parked in the crease all by himself after Binnington had vacated the space to
make a save on the right side. Donato was simply standing in the crease, when
Binnington skated in behind him, drawing the contact that would negate San
Jose's would be game-winning goal.
The overturned goal would be moot
after Hertl took care of business in the shootout.
Game
Notes:
* Rookie John Leonard just missed bagging his first career
NHL goal in the 1st period when a rocket clipped the right post.
* The
Sharks finished the game a woeful 0-for-7 on the power play. The man advantage
play was one of the bright spots early in the season, but special teams play
could not muster a goal. St Louis was also 0-for-5 on the power play.
* Dylan Gambrell, Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Radim Simek were the only Sharks not
to record a shot on goal in the game. Timo Meier led all skaters with 6 shots
in the game. Kevin Labanc recrded 5 of the Sharks 34 shots.
* Not
typically a big hitting team, the Sharks matched the Blues with 13 hits in the
game. Patrick Marleau led the Sharks with 3 hits.
* Tomas Hertl took
23 of the Sharks 48 draws, winning 12 of them (52%).
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1 |
2 |
3 |
OT |
SO |
T |
| SJ |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
| STL |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
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| 2nd period - 1, STL,
Schenn 2 (Kyrou, Dunn), 4:27. 2, SJ, Sorensen 1 (Nieto, Ferraro), 17:57. |
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| Shootout- STL: Perron
(miss), O'Reilly (miss), Schenn (miss), Kyrou (miss). SJ: Donatp (miss),
Couture (miss), Labanc (miss), Hertl (goal). |
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| 1st period - Kane, SJ
(slashing), 4:07; Perron, STL (hooking), 7:45; Parayko, STL (delay of game -
puck over glass), 15:04; Kane, SJ (slashing), 16:59; Bench, STL (too many men),
17:13. |
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| 2nd period - Krug, STL
(holding), 8:29.; Sundqvist, STL (slashing), 10:09; Kane, SJ (tripping), 10:16.
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| 3rd period - Kane, SJ
(tripping), 3:39; Gunnarson, STL (slashing), 8:30; Parayko, STL (holding),
10:19. |
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| Overtime - Burns, SJ
(holding), 4:55. |
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Shots |
Saves |
| SJ - Jones |
24 |
23 |
| STL - Binnington |
35 |
34 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
OT |
T |
| SJ |
9 |
11 |
13 |
1 |
34 |
| STL |
10 |
10 |
4 |
0 |
24 |
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| Enterprise Center - attendance
not available |
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| Referees: McIsaac,
Hebert . Linesmen: Alphonso, Murray. |
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