San Jose got back to work the day after
Thanksgiving with a matinee affair with the Vancouver Canucks at SAP Center on
Friday. The Sharks came back from a 2-1 deficit with a pair of 2nd period
goals, then held off a flurry of crazy penalties late in the game to win 3-2.
Yaroslav Askarov made 32 saves to earn his 9th win of the season.
There were 5 goals in the game, but the real entertainment came late in the
contest when 7 minor penalties were issued in the last 4:23 of the
game.
Referee Garrett Rank was the ring leader of the circus of
penalties called in the 1-goal game. First Dmitry Orlov was called for tripping
with Drew O'Connor went down like a ton of bricks on a light brush by Orlov.
The real head scratcher came at 18:36 when Macklin Celebrini was
called for cross checking Filip Hronek while a scrum of players were working a
puck pinned against the boards. Celebrini and the 17,435 all felt Hronek went
down too easily, but Rank could only penalize Celebrini for the vocal
objection, earning an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for good measure.
After pulling goaltender Nikita Tolopilo, the Canucks skated with a
6-on-4 advantage for the remainder of the game. After a faceoff in the Sharks
zone, the puck kicked out to the right corner where a scrum of players convened
on it. Barclay Goodrow stormed in and blew up Kiefer Sherwood to kick off a
donnybrook between the majority of the skaters on the ice. Goodrow, Ty
Dellandrea and Elias Petterson were all issued penalties with 1.9 seconds left
in the contest.
The next faceoff looked as if it would moved outside
the Sharks zone, but Rank conferred with the desk and then announced it would
be moved back into the San Jose zone, providing the Canucks with a glimmer of
hope. Shrks head coach Ryan Warsofsky was as bewildered as everyone else in the
building, but his objections fell on deaf ears.
It was all moot as the
Sharks won the faceoff and kept it away from any potential prayer shot from the
Canucks.
It was another solid response following a loss. After being
pummeled by Colorado on Tuesday, the Sharks responded with a gritty comeback.
Brock Boeser staked the Canucks to the 1-0 lead 4:28 into the game on
a simple wheel route to the slot, where he snapped a shot past Askarov for his
9th goal of the season. The Canucks held the Sharks zone, working the puck over
to the right side when Conor Garland spotted Boeser skating out of the left
corner. Boeser skated to the spot between the circles then put the puck past
Akskarov.
A Quinn Hughes interference penalty put the Sharks
on the power play for the first of 5 man advantage chances on the day. Will
Smith punched home his 8th goal of the season at 9:25 after Alex Wennberg sent
a second chance pass to the young forward. Macklin Celebrini fed Wennberg to
earn one of his 2 assists on the day, setting up his power play mate just
outside the right post. Wennberg tried to move the puck to Smith on the off
wing, but the puck hit a skate out front, kicking the puck right back to him.
His next attempt hit Smith on the tape.
Pettersson scored a highlight
reel goal 3:04 into the 2nd period, collecting an Evander Kane feed just inside
the right circle. Pettersson floated through the slot, then was checked by
Celebrini, knocking him off his skates. Problem is, Pettersson was able to get
a shot off as he was falling to the ice. The puck hit Askarov into the skate
and deflected into the Sharks goal for the 2-1 lead.
San Jose would
reclaim the lead on a weird combination of events. First, Hughes was sent off
for unsportsmanlike conduct after jawing at referee Garrett Rank on a no call.
On the power play, Celebrini was tripped by Pettersson to give the Sharks a
2-man advantage for 1:17.
Willian Eklund converted on the 5-on-3 at
14:03, punching home a Celebrini feed from the right side near the bottom of
the circle. That left the Sharks with more than a minute of 5-on-4 power play
time.
They would not convert on the second power play, but Adam
Gaudette made a play on net 6 seconds after it expired that required Canucks
goaltender Nikita Tolopilo to make a play against the right pipe.
The
officials went to a video review and judged that Tolopilo had the puck in his
glove and the glove was completely in the net. That meant Gaudette's 6th goal
of the season.
Game Notes: * The Sharks tied a
franchise record for 8 home wins in a calendar month. They have achieved that
accomplishment 6 times in team history.
* Yaroslav Askarov tied Evgeny
Nabokov's franchise record for wins by a rookie with his 8th victory of the
month. Askarov has compiled a .947 save percentage in those 8 starts.
* Will Smith and Macklin Celebrini have combined to record a point on the same
goal 19 times this season, which is tops in the league.
* Adam
Gaudette and Tyler Toffoli combined for 9 of the Sharks 24 shots in the game.
* The Sharks bucked the trend and dominated in the faceoff circle,
winning 40 of 66 draws for a 61% win percentage. San Jose's 48.1% faceoff win
rate is 22nd in the league.
