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Sharks finally open up
offense 6 different skaters score in 6-1 romp of
Oilers
Thats more like it. After a rough start to
the season, the Sharks finally opened up on an opponent. Fueled by a bushel of
goals from six different scorers, the Sharks stormed Rexall Place to roll the
host Edmonton Oilers 6-1 on Saturday night. San Jose looked impressive on both
5-on-5 and the power play, scoring three goals in both categories.
Special teams is typically the area that needs attention this early in the
season, but even strength goals have been harder to come by for the Sharks. San
Joses 2nd ranked power play unit has been generating much of the Sharks
offense, so the even strength goals by Logan Couture, Ryane Clowe and John
McCarthy were a refreshing change of pace.
The only area of special
teams that the Sharks needs polishing is keeping the puck out of their own net
with the man advantage. The Oilers converted a short-handed goal just 1:22 into
the contest, the third such occurrence in the last four games for San Jose.
Rookie Jordan Eberle scored a highlight reel goal with his team
short-handed after Sam Gagner was sent off for goaltender interference 53
seconds into the game. Shawn Horcoff started the play by making a nifty
back-handed centering pass to Eberle from deep in the Sharks zone. Eberle
skated up the left wing, before cutting across the slot and slipping a shot
past Sharks goaltender Antero Niittymaki. Patrick Marleau was shadowing Eberle
on the play but made a half-hearted attempt to stop the Oilers rookie.
San Jose would tie the game with 3:26 left in the period on a Dany Heatley
power play goal, after Gilbert Brule was sent off for hooking. Heatley employed
some nice hand-eye coordination on the play by tipping a thigh-high blast of
the stick of Joe Pavelski past Nikolai Khabibulin for this 2nd goal of the
season.
It was all Sharks from there.
San Jose would outshoot
Edmonton 13-7 in the middle period, jumping out to a 3-1 lead on goals by
Couture and Pavelski.
Couture single-handedly manufactured his goal,
by forcing a Jim Vandermeet turnover on a strong forecheck. He would strip the
puck from the Oilers defenseman behind the Edmonton net and slide a pass out to
the slot where Jamie McGinn tried jamming a shot home. Khabibulin would make
the initial stop, but Couture lifted a backhand shot over the Oiler
netminders right shoulder for the 2-1 lead.
Pavelski would make
it 3-1 with the Sharks 2nd power play score 69 seconds before the second
intermission. The Sharks forward would take a centering pass from Heatley in
the slot before whiffing on a shot that hit Khabibulin in the pad. The rebound
kicked right back out to him for the backhand put-back.
The Sharks would blow things open in the 3rd period.
Powered by more strong forechecking, Ryane Clowe would bag his 2nd goal of the
season at 4:29 of the period on a pass from Pavelski. San Jose would force a
turnover along the right wing boards, where Pavelski would scoop up the puck
and head to the net. Clowe was cutting on the left wing, where he tapped home
the short feed from his centerman.
Vandermeer would take a slashing
penalty 16 seconds later to put the Sharks on the power play for the 5th time,
setting up the Sharks 3rd goal on the man advantage. Dan Boyle wasted little
time scoring his 1st of the season with a blast from the point 4 seconds into
Vandermeers penalty. Heatley provided the interference in front of
Khabibulin, screening the Oilers goaltender.
The big lead allowed the
Sharks 4th line to see more ice time to close out the game. McCarthy would
record his first career NHL goal at 14:45 with a nice effort in front of the
Oilers net. Torrey Mitchell sent a shot in on net from the right circle,
creating a rebound chance for the Sharks rookie parked on top of the crease.
McCarthy flailed at the rebound with a backhand attempt that deposited the puck
in the goal.
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What did you
think of this game? Post your comments on the Feeder Forums |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
SJ |
1 |
2 |
3 |
6 |
EDM |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
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1st period - 1, EDM
Eberle 2 (Horcoff, Whitney), 1:22, (sh). 2, SJ, Heatley, 2 (Pavelski,
Thornton), 16:34, (pp). |
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2nd period - 3, SJ,
Couture 3 (McGinn), 12:46. 4, SJ, Pavelski 3 (Heatley, Thornton), 18:51, (pp).
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3rd period - 5, SJ,
Clowe 2 (Pavelski), 4:29. 6, SJ, Boyle, 1 (Thornton), 4:49, (pp). 7, SJ,
McCarthy 1 (Mitchell, Huskins), 14:45. |
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1st period - Gagner, EDM
(goaltender interferece), 0:53; Brule, EDM (hooking), 15:24; Demers, SJ (high
sticking), 17:19; Brule, EDM (holding), 17:19. |
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2nd period - Nichol, SJ
(interference), 3:03; Setoguchi, SJ (boarding), 5:17; Foster, EDM (slashing),
5:46; Wallin, SJ (hooking), 8:48; Mayers, SJ (instigator), 13:05; Mayers, SJ
(fighting major), 12:05; Mayers, SJ (10 min misconduct), 13:05; Stortini, EDM
(fighing major), 13:05; Hall, EDM (tripping), 18:12. |
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3rd period -
Vandermeer, EDM (slashing), 4:45; Demers, SJ (holding), 9:05. |
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Shots |
Saves |
SJ - Niittymaki |
22 |
21 |
EDM - Khabibulin |
34 |
28 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
SJ |
8 |
13 |
13 |
34 |
EDM |
6 |
7 |
9 |
22 |
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Referees: Rehman,
Kowal. Linesmen: Devorski, Rody. |
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