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Hertl puts a hurting on
Coyotes
Sharks pounce on Phoenix early then
coast
Sharks rookie Tomas Hertl had a night to remember
at SAP Center on Saturday evening. The young Czech forward scored his 1st NHL
goal in the opening minute of the Sharks division matchup with the Phoenix
Coyotes. Hertl would add another tally minutes later and all of a sudden, he's
leading all Sharks skaters in scoring. It was only San Jose's second game of
the season, but Hertl is quickly making his presence felt with the Sharks. San
Jose used Hertl's offensive outburst along with another pair of goals to
dispatch the Coyotes 4-1 in a shot-fest.
* Hertl didn't waste any
time, scoring his 1st career NHL game just 46 seconds into the game. The young
Czech took a lead pass from Marc-Edouard Vlasic just outside the blueline,
before splitting two Coyote defenders and lifting a backhand shot that beat
Phoenix goaltender Mike Smith.
* Hertl bagged his 2nd goal of the
night on the power play after Oliver Ekman-Larsson was sent off for holding.
Buzzing in the slot, Hertl redirected a Matt Irwin shot from the high slot. The
youngster just missed on a hat trick 5 minutes later.
* Mike Smith had
a tough opening period, but he limited the damage by denying Patrick Marleau on
a short-handed breakaway chance after Andrew Desjardins was sent off for a
faceoff violation at 7:54. Smith also stoned Joe Pavelski on a prime scoring
chance with 5 minutes to play in the opening frame.
* Marleau wouldn't
miss his next opportunity, scoring at 12:30 of the 1st period on another power
play chance after Kyle Chipchura was sent off for high sticking Joe Thornton.
Vlasic setup the goal by pouncing on a rebound outside the left post, and
sliding a pass to Marleau on the off post for the easy tap in goal.
*
Marleau led all skaters with 8 shots on goal. It was the 12th time in his
career that he recorded 8 shots or more.
* Speaking of shots, Smith
saw a truckload of them all night, facing 18, 16 and 17 in each period
respectively. It was the 9th time in team history that the Sharks put 50 or
more shots on an opponent.
* The only chink in the Sharks armor came
late in the 2nd period, when Ekman-Larsson turned what was another lop-sided
period in favor of San Jose, on its head with a goal late. The Coyotes
defenseman skated the puck into the Sharks zone up the right wing, then sent a
routine shot from the right dot. The puck slipped between Antti Niemi's pads to
cut San Jose's lead to two goals. Phoenix tried to press matters before the 2nd
intermission as the momentum was clearly shifting their way, but they ran out
of time.
* The Sharks took back control of the game in the 3rd period.
Andrew Desjardins and John McCarthy set the tone with point blank shots that
were denied by the right goal pipe, then Smith's stacked pads.
* Logan
Couture scored his first goal of the season, albeit of the empty-net variety
after Phoenix was forced to pull Smith for the extra attacker.
*
McCarthy was making his season debut for the Sharks. He recorded 4 shots and
was on the ice when Ekman-Larsson scored his goal.
* Joe Pavelski and Vlasic joined Hertl with two point
nights. Both had a pair of assists.
* Hertl is still working to polish
his English, but he was able to tell the sellout crowd that his girlfriend was
sitting in the stands and that it was her birthday.
Key Quotes
Todd McLellan (on Tomas Hertl's big game): "There is isn't a secret in
our dressing room by any means. We have a pretty good idea of what he can do
and he's lucky to be playing with a couple of pretty good players that
compliment him well. It's a big night for him, one that he'll remember for a
long time. More importantly, the group played really, really well."
Patrick Marleau (on Hertl): "It's great. You can see how he's having fun with
it and smiling a lot. He brings a lot of energy to this group, and it's fun to
see."
Coyotes head coach Dave Tippett : "After the first five
minutes-- we made a bad turnover on the first goal early on. Then we got
ourselves stabilized a little bit. But then we took that first penalty and it
was all downhill from there."
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think of this story? Post your comments on the
Feeder Forums |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| PHO |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
| SJ |
3 |
0 |
1 |
4 |
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| 1st period - 1, SJ,
Hertl 1 (Vlasic), 0:46. 2, SJ, Hertl 2 (Irwin, Burns), 7:23, (pp). 3, SJ,
Marleau 2 (Vlasic, Pavelski), 12:30, (pp). |
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| 2nd period - 4, PHO,
Ekman-Larsson 1 (Michalek), 16:47. |
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| 3rd period - 5, SJ,
Couture 1 (Pavelski), 19:35, (en). |
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| 1st period -
Ekman-Larsson, PHO (holding), 6:34; Desjardins, SJ (face-off violation), 7:54;
Chipchura, PHO (high sticking), 10:35. |
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| 3rd period - Smith, PHO
(delay of game - puck over glass), 8:09; Michalek, PHO (holding), 10:52. |
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Shots |
Saves |
| PHO - Smith |
50 |
47 |
| PHO - empty net |
1 |
0 |
| SJ - Niemi |
23 |
22 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| PHO |
8 |
9 |
6 |
23 |
| SJ |
18 |
16 |
17 |
51 |
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| Referees: Kowal,
Rehman. Linesmen: Miller, Racicot. |
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