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Road weary Sharks stumble in
Anaheim
Ducks take 2-1 shootout win
The road weary Sharks showed a little of the
fatigue that goes with 9 consecutive games away from home ice. Throw in a
modified training camp that was held in Arizona, and the Sharks may not even
remember where they live. They forgot where the opposing net was on Saturday
night, dropping a 2-1 shootout loss to the Anaheim Ducks at Honda Center after
scoring off the opening faceoff.
San Jose salvaged a point in the
standings, which is a probably the silver lining for a game that had little to
feel positive about. The Ducks looked beatable, but the Sharks just didn't have
the jolt of energy required to take the 2 points. They played a mediocre game
against a mediocre team and it cost them.
The Sharks wasted no time
grabbing a lead, jumping on veteran goaltender Ryan Miller just 11 seconds into
the game. Couture bagged his 5th goal of the season in similar fashion to his
goal on Friday night against John Gibson. The Sharks captain was lurking in
front of the net, where he punched home a rebound after Evander Kane forced a
shot on net on a wrap-around chance on the right post. The puck kicked out to
Mario Ferraro for a put back chance prior to Couture's deposit to earn the
primary assist, but it was Kane who applied the pressure that put Miller on
tilt.
Devyn Dubnyk helped the Sharks hold their slim lead by stopping
all 12 shots he faced in the opening 20 minutes. He would make 32 saves in the
game, but it wasn't enough to secure his first victory as a Shark.
The
Sharks entered play a -12 in the 2nd period this season, which was magnified by
a horrific middle frame in Friday night's win that saw the Ducks put 3 goals
past MArtin Jones. You could call the outcome of that middle 20 minutes in this
game an improvement, even though they surrendered a single goal.
Anaheim tied the game 5:42 into the period when Isac Lundestrom deflected a
Hampus Lindholm shot from the slot area. Lundestrom jumped up in the air,
thinking the shot might catch him in the lower half, but he extended his stick
out to deflect the stick back down to the ice and past Dubnyk.
San
Jose then made things difficult for themselves by taking penalties at 7: 44 and
12:24 of the period. Tomas Hertl was whistled for tripping less than a minute
after Lundestrom scored to make things extremely precarious for the Sharks.
They would kill the penalty but Timo Meier was sent off less than 3 minutes
later.
Scoring wasn't a priority for the Sharks in that middle period,
but holding serve was. Dubnyk stopped 8 of 9 shots in the period to help that
cause.
Neither team could generate any scoring in the 3rd period, but
Anaheim held the advantage in puck possession. The Ducks out-shot San Jose 10-5
in the period, holding San Jose to a single shot for the first 15 minutes of
the period.
The overtime was all Anaheim. They controlled the puck
for more than 4 minutes in the extra 5 minute period. The Sharks came closest
when a Timo Meier shot rang off the crossbar. San Jose would record no official
shots in the overtime.
Dubnyk deserved better, but his inability to
stop the Ducks in the shootout cost him and the Sharks. Troy Terry and Max
Comtois put the first two chances past the Sharks netminder, and San Jose could
only respond with a Ryan Donato goal. Logan Couture and Kevin Labanc looked
lost in their chances to beat Miller.
Game Notes:
*
Rudolphs Balcers made his NHL debut, skating on the 4th line for San Jose.
* Patrick Marleau tied Jaromir Jagr for 3rd on the all-time games
played list with 1,733 contests.
* Logan Couture took yet another puck
to the mouth. The sharks captain has a habit of getting hit in the chops. He
lost several teeth in Nashville in March of 2017, costing him any shot at
making the People Magazine - Most Beautiful People edition.
* Ice time
is something coveted by NHL players, but the Sharks had too many guys extending
shifts well beyond the length which would return effective performances.
Evander Kane and Brent Burns were guilty of multiple shifts that provided
little benefit for San Jose.
* Erik Karlsson's primary role on the
Sharks is to generate offense from the back end, but his indecisiveness with
the puck cost San Jose. Karlsson recorded 2 shots on goal, but the Sharks
struggled to move the puck out of their own end most of the night. They need
Karlsson to quarterback breakouts, and to help open up the ice for his
forwards. That didn't happen on Saturday.
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think of this story? Post your comments on the
Feeder Forums |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
OT |
SO |
T |
| SJ |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
| ANA |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
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| 1st period - 1, SJ,
Couture 5 (Ferraro, Kane), 0:11. |
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| 2nd period - 2, ANA,
Lundestrom 1 (Lindholm, Shattenkirk), 5:42. |
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| Shootout- ANA: Terry
(goal), Comtois (goal), Shattenkirk (miss). SJ: Donato (goal), Couture (miss),
Labanc (miss). |
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| 1st period - Knyzhov, SJ
(hooking), 2:54; Bench, ANA (too many men), 14:37; Gambrell, SJ (roughing),
17:18; Comtois, ANA (roughing), 17:18. |
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| 2nd period - Simek, SJ
(roughing), 6:27; Henrique, ANA (roughing), 6:27; Hertl, SJ (tripping), 7:44;
Meier, SJ (hooking), 12:24. |
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Shots |
Saves |
| SJ - Dubnyk |
33 |
32 |
| ANA - Miller |
27 |
26 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
OT |
T |
| SJ |
10 |
12 |
5 |
0 |
27 |
| ANA |
12 |
9 |
10 |
2 |
33 |
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| Honda Center - attendance
unavailable |
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| Referees: Rehman,
StPierre. Linesmen: Gawryletz, Gibbons. |
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