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Sharks put up 5 spot on
Panthers Rebound win for San Jose
The on again, off again Sharks clicked on Thursday
night to rebound from their abysmal loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets with a
5-2 win over the Florida Panthers at SAP Center on Thursday night. Five
different players tallied goals for San Jose and backup goaltender Alex Stalock
made 31 saves to earn his first win of the season. Rookie Joonas Donskoi had
arguably his best game as an NHLer, scoring a goal, and adding what should have
been a highlight reel tally if not for an offside challenge that negated a gem
of a play by the youngster.
Florida was a team the Sharks needed to
beat if they want to keep pace in the Western Conference, which is stocked with
teams that never seem to lose. The road weary Panthers were coming off a shoot
out loss to the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday night, and limped into San Jose with
a mediocre 5-4-3 record.
"I liked our energy," said Sharks head coach
Peter DeBoer. "We had a good jump right from the start. We got the first two
goals which was key. We wanted a good start and we did a lot of good things.
Our special teams are still a work in progress. All that said, I really liked
how we played."
The Sharks built an early lead then kept the Panthers
at bay. Brent Burns opened the games scoring with a blast from the right point
that beat Panthers goaltender Al Montoya. The goal was Burns' 4th of the
season, but more importantly it gave San Jose the game's first goal, breaking a
streak that has plagued the Sharks during their topsy-turvy October.
Donskoi scored his 2nd of the season 3 minutes later on a wild scrum in front
of the Panthers net. The young foward tipped a Joe Pavelski shot that Montoya
stopped, then followed up on a flurry of misses as bodies were flying around
the crease by crashing the net and get his stick on the puck to punch it home.
"You fall behind 2-0 and then try to catch up," lamented Panthers head
coach Gerard Gallant. "We didn't play our game tonight. We played a loose game
and gave them too many opportunities. They could have had more than five
goals."
Vincent Trocheck converted off a faceoff 88 seconds later
grabbing a loose puck in the slot and whip the puck past a sprawling Stalock to
cut the Sharks lead in half.
Patrick Marleau pushed the Sharks lead
back to a pair of goals early in the 2nd period with a goal that was Bobby
Orr-esque. Marleau grabbed a loose puck at center ice before storming in to the
Panthers zone. The Sharks forward zipped around defenseman Alex Petrovic on the
left side before cutting back across the slot and whipping a shot past
Montoya's left pad. Marleau went completely horizontal as Petrovi tried to haul
him down, but it wasn't enough to stop the goal reminiscent of Orr's famous
Stanley Cup winning goal against the St Louis Blues.
The one big bruise on the Sharks evening was yet
another goal allowed on special teams. Donskoi was sent off for interference at
13:26 of the period and Brandon Pirri capitalized with a power play goal. The
Panthers centerman ripped a Brian Campbell feed with a one-time chance that got
past Stalock in the blink of an eye.
"They have two good power-play
units and you saw how quickly they can work," said Stalock. "They get the puck
to the net in a hurry. We knew we needed to tighten up on our defensive zone
draws. We did a great job with that in the third period and you saw the
result."
Donskoi appeared to bag his second goal of the night late in
the period, but it was overturned after the Panthers challenged and won on an
offside infraction by Joe Thornton.
The Sharks answered with a little
bit of resiliency by scoring moments later, when Nikolay Goldobin threaded a
needle with a pass through the slot to Marc-Edouard Vlasic on the left side for
a one-time chance that beat Montoya top shelf. The goal was Vlasic's second of
the season, but the play was made by Goldobin's pass. That goal also came with
a minute left in the period. It essentially buried the Panthers, who could
muster nothing in the 3rd period.
Stalock was the model of
consistency, by stopping 10 shots in each of the first two periods, then
finishing things off with a perfect 11-fof-11 in the save department in the 3rd
period. It was a moment of redemption for the netminder who had struggled in
his two previous starts.
Florida had their opportunities in the 3rd
period, aided by a pair of Sharks penalties early in the frame. The Sharks
special teams held on to preserve the two-goal lead until the Panthers elected
to pull Montoya with 2:50 to play in regulation.
Joe Thornton whiffed
on a wide open chance on an empty-net opportunity, but Chris Tierney followed
up with a shot from outside the blueline to push the Sharks 5th puck across the
goal line.
"We looked like a very young hockey team tonight, not a
mature hockey club, added Panthers captain Willie Mitchell. "San Jose has been
to the playoffs a number of years. Teams like San Jose put pucks in the right
places. It enables you to get a good forecheck. The result is you get yourself
out of your own end."
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What did you
think of this story? Post your comments on the Feeder Forums |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
FLA |
1 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
SJ |
2 |
2 |
1 |
5 |
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1st period - 1, SJ,
Burns 4 (unassisted), 6:37. 2, SJ, Donskoi 2 (Pavelski, Thornton), 9:26. 3,
FLA, Trocheck 5 (unassisted), 10:54. |
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2nd period - 4, SJ,
Marleau 4 (Ward, Hertl), 3:46. 5, FLA, Pirri 2 (Campbell, Jokinen), 14:06,
(pp). 6, SJ, Vlasic 1 (Goldobin, Wingels), 19:00. |
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3rd period - 7, SJ,
Tierney 2 (Thornton, Burns), 18:54, (en). |
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1st period - Thonrnton,
FLA (fighting major), 2:48; Haley, SJ (fighting major), 2:48. |
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2nd period - Kulikov,
FLA (slashing), 10:47; Donskoi, SJ (interference), 13:26. |
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3rd period - Wingels, SJ
(roughing), 1:33; Ekblad, FLA (hooking), 3:56; Dillon, SJ (tripping),
12:20. |
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Shots |
Saves |
FLA - Montoya |
31 |
27 |
FLA - empty net |
1 |
0 |
SJ - Stalock |
33 |
31 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
FLA |
11 |
11 |
11 |
33 |
SJ |
11 |
11 |
10 |
32 |
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Referees: Walsh,
Chmielewski. Linesmen: Gibbs, Heyer. |
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