Sometimes the stats line doesn't tell the
whole story. On a night when the Sharks out-shoot their opponent 38 to 11, it's
unrealistic to this they won by a big margin. that wasn't the case on
Thanksgiving-eve as they dropped a 4-3 decision to the Otawa Senators at SAP
Center. The Sharks haven't been great at keeping the opposing shot totals low,
but they held Ottawa to single digit shot counts in each period. Those limited
shots all seemed to be meaningful though as the Sharks couldn't build off their
big win on Monday night over Los Angeles.
Falling behind early has
been the new point of development for San Jose as once again they fell behind
an opponent.
The Sharks would accomplish one thing in the opening
period, which was to limit the amount of rubber thrown at Mackenzie Blackwood.
They limited the Senators to only 4 shots in that opening frame, but 2 of them
would find a way past the Sharks goaltender.
Ottawa's first shot on
goal didn't come until the 4:33 mark off the stick of Tim Stutzle. Their second
came an instant later when Adam Gaudette redirected Stutzle's shot for his 10th
goal of the season. Ty Dellandrea was late to tie up Gaudette, which allowed
the Senators forward to establish inside position on the play.
What
San Jose didn't accomplish was winning the special teams battle in the period.
They were awarded a power play 1:50 into the game off a Ridley Greig
interference infraction, but did nothing to get on the scoreboard.
A
Klim Kostin high sticking penalty at 13:14 led to a Senators power play goal to
push their lead to 2-0. Josh Norris converted on the man-advantage after
Dellandrea whiffed on a clearing attempt. As has been the case all too often
this season, the failure to complete a play ended up in the Sharks net. Once
again Stuzle was in on the play, stripping Dellandrea before feeding Drake
Batherson along the left wing boards. Batherson skated toward the Sharks net
before sending a pass through the slot to Norris on the off wing.
San
Jose out-shot 12-4 in the period, but with the Senators scoring on 50% of their
shots, it was the Sharks who found themselves with a big 2-0 hole to dig out
of.
Mario Ferraro cut into that lead with his 1st goal of the season
midway through the 2nd period. San Jose moved the puck into the Senators zone,
then moved it across the width of the rink twice with tic-tac-toe passing from
Klim Kostin to Will Smith to Ferraro who buried an 18 foot shot from the left
side.
San Jose continued to ring up the shots on Senators
goaltender Linus Ullmark, but once again it was Ottawa that made the most of a
paltry shot count.
R Tyler Klevin made it a 3-1 Senators lead at 15:22
with a slapper that beat Blackwood between the pads. The Sharks aided Ottawa by
committing their umpteenth neutral zone turnover this season, but Blackwood
didn't help matters by giving up a soft goal to help Ottawa regain a 20goal
lead.
Macklin Celebrini gave the Sharks life 4:48 into the 3rd period
with his 7th goal of the season. The play was setup masterfully by linemate
William Eklund who carried the puck through the slot from left to right with a
defender draped on him, then dropped the puck back toward the left post where
Celebrini was trailing. The goal deposit from that point was rudimentary with
Ullmark pulled over to the right side by Eklund.
Shane Pinto took a
big tripping penalty with 9:20 left in regulation to setup the Sharks 2nd power
play opportunity of the game.
Gaudette put the Senators back in front
with 4:12 to play after the Sharks coughed up the puck in the neutral zone.
Stuzle sent a shot to the front of the net where Gaudette was there to tip it
past Blackwood.
It would be the only shot recorded by Ottawa in the
period.
San Jose pulled Blackwood with 2 minutes to play, which setup
a number of scoring chances, but Ullmark denied them.
Game
Notes: * Mikael Granlund missed his 2nd consecutive game as he
nurses an upper body injury.
* The Sharks made to personnel moves on
Tuesday, sending goaltender Yaroslav Askarov back to the Barracuda and
recalling defenseman Jack Thompson. Thompson had been assigned to the Barracuda
on Monday.
* Macklin Celebrini was hit in the face with a puck as
Thomas Chabot tried clearing it out of the Senators zone. The rookie wiped off
the blood during a timeout and got right back out there.
* Mackenzie
Blackwood's final line: 11 shots against, 7 saves. That's a 4.14 GAA and .636
save percentage. Linus Ullmark stops 35 of 38 shots for a .921 save percentage.
* Celebrini's stat line on the game: 3 shots, 1 goal, 2 attempts
blocked, 1 missed shot, 1 hit, 1 giveaway, 1 takeaway, 1 blocked shot, 11 of 20
in faceoffs (55%).
