|
|
Home ice meaningless against
Ducks
Anaheim sweeps all three games at HP this
season
Some things are just hard to understand. Faced with
the opportunity to jump from 9th place in the Western Conference to 3rd place
by virtue of having more points than every other team in the Pacific Division,
the Sharks laid an egg in a matchup with the cellar dwelling Anaheim Ducks on
Monday night in San Jose. The Sharks turned in a head scratching performance
after a big win over Detroit 48 hours earlier. The Ducks beat San Jose for the
fourth time in five tries this season, doing it with their backup goaltender
Jeff Deslauriers.
The flat performance was an about face to their
up-tempo win against the Red Wings, which made the loss that much more
frustrating. Anaheim out-shot the Sharks 40-30, which included a 20-shot 2nd
period. It was the most shots allowed by the Sharks in a period this season.
"Disappointed is a really good word," said Sharks head coach Todd
McLellan. "The lack of energy and jump that we had as a team is baffling. When
we're supposed to be as desperate as we are, apparently, I can't figure out why
we didn't have that jump. On some nights, if you don't have it, you have to
rely on your hockey sense and your brain to put you in a position to be
successful, and we didn't have that going either. We were the second place team
in a lot of areas tonight, and at the end of the night, on the score, too."
Defensive lapses continue to plague the Sharks, especially after San
Jose scored. The Sharks got to Deslauriers 6:24 into the contest when Martin
Havlat's hot hand continued to pay dividends. Havlat demonstrated what happens
when you go to the net on a power play, by taking a Brent Burns feed near the
left post, then sliding the puck past Deslauriers while cutting across the top
of the crease.
Anaheim answered less than a minute later when Bobby
Ryan tapped in a rebound after Kyle Palmieri drew netminder Antti Niemi, Joe
Thornton and Jason Demers away from the Sharks goal. Defenseman Justin Braun
also decided to stroll back to the front of the net as the puck kicked off
Niemi to the goal mouth. Ryan simply beat Braun to the puck and deposited his
27th goal of the season with the flip of his stick.
"I don't know why
it's happening, but it's a bad trend to get into," said Sharks captain Joe
Thornton. "Last game, we did the same thing. We grab some momentum, and then
next shift, they grab it right back. There's a line coming off after the goal
that definitely has to be prepared to win the faceoff. It's a big shift after
that."
Ryane Clowe put San Jose back on top at 9:20 of the period, one
timing a lateral feed from Havlat past Deslauriers from the slot. San Jose
managed to hold that lead for 12 minutes, until Brent Burns took a lazy
interference penalty late in the period.
Francois Beauchemin tied it
up at 2-2 with a tap in from the front of the net after former Sharks prospect
Nick Bonino fed the Ducks defenseman a puck from behind San Jose's net. Bonino
bit his former team with three assists on the night.
Even when the
Sharks do something right, they back it up with more mistakes. Ryan Getzlaf had
a breakaway in the opening minute of the 2nd period, but Niemi stood up the
Ducks captain by making a nice save. After making the save, Niemi's momentum
carried out of his crease, allowing the puck to sit unattended precariously in
front of the net. Corey Perry beat a sluggish Marc-Edouard Vlasic to the puck.
Perry punched home the puck for his 35th goal of the season.
Rookie
defenseman Nate Guenin pushed the Ducks lead to two goals with his 2nd tally of
the season. Guenin blasted a shot from the blueline that squeezed past Niemi
who was screened on the play.
"We had some early jump," McLellan
added. "I haven't complained about our starts lately. But you have to be able
to maintain it with four lines and six defensemen, and play solid all the way
through and we just didn't. We looked unorganized. We weren't handling passes,
so it made us slower. The frustration level went up, so it was not a good night
on our behalf."
Niemi was made the scapegoat for his team's lack of
defense and got the hook after the goal.
Joe Pavelski cut into the
Ducks lead by deflecting a Burns shot from the point at 17:29 of the period,
but San Jose flushed the momentum down the toilet 33 seconds later.
Anaheim countered before the public address announcer could even announce the
Pavelski goal. Palmieri deposited his own rebound on a shot from the right
corner after the Sharks turned the puck over at center ice.
"No, it's
not frustrating," said Vlasic. "Everybody knows after you score a goal, the
next shift is important. Tonight, every time we scored, we didn't come out with
a good effort on the next shift. We talked about it, but when you do it, it's
not frustrating. You've just got to do it. If you score a goal, you've got to
come out the next shift and try to score again."
Game Notes:
Pavelski's goal was his 26th of the season, setting a career high.
Dan Boyle became the third Sharks defenseman in franchise history to play in
300 games for San Jose.
 |
|
| What did you think of
this article? Post your comments on the Feeder Forums |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
 |
What did you
think of this story? Post your comments on the
Feeder Forums |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| ANA |
2 |
3 |
0 |
5 |
| SJ |
2 |
1 |
0 |
3 |
|
|
| 1st period - 1, SJ,
Havlat 5 (Burns, Clowe), 6:24, (pp). 2, ANA, Ryan 27 (Palmieri, Bonino), 7:15.
3, SJ, Clowe 13 (Havlat, Boyle), 9:20. 4, ANA, Beauchemin 8 (Bonino,
Visnovsky), 17:52, (pp). |
|
|
| 2nd period - 5, ANA,
Perry 35 (Getzlaf), 0:56. 6, ANA, Guenin 2 (Ryan, Bonino), 9:59. 7, SJ,
Pavelski 26 (Burns, Clowe), 17:29. 8, ANA, Palmieri 4 (Ryan, Visnovsky),
18:02. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 1st period - Winchester,
SJ (high sticking), 2:52; Palmieri, ANA (goaltender interference), 4:36; Burns,
SJ (interference), 16:05. |
|
|
| 2nd period - Parros, ANA
(fighting major), 2:22; Winchester, SJ (fighting major), 2:22. |
|
|
| 3rd period -
Smith-Pelly, ANA (high sticking), 12:50. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Shots |
Saves |
| ANA - Deslauriers |
30 |
27 |
| SJ - Niemi |
26 |
22 |
| SJ - Greiss |
14 |
13 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| ANA |
14 |
20 |
6 |
40 |
| SJ |
10 |
11 |
9 |
30 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Referees: Hebert,
Joanette. Linesmen: Sharrers, Lazarowich. |
|
|
|
|
|
