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Sharks not so inviting in
McLellan's return
San Jose takes 2-1 shootout
win
Former Sharks head coach Todd McLellan made his
return to San Jose on Thursday night. It's been eight months since McLellan and
the Sharks parted, but it was the former San Jose bench boss' first chance to
face Bay Area fans. Playing at SAP Center with his roster full of baby-faced
Oilers, McLellan just missed on a chance to go 2-0 against his former team. The
Sharks had to stretch things to the shootout in order to avenge an overtime
loss to the Oilers earrlier this season. Joe Pavelski and Joonas Donskoi buried
shots in the shootout to escape with a 2-1 win.
The Oilers haven't
exactly torn it up this season, but the rag-tag group of young players seemed
to rise to the occasion on their coach's behalf. After staking the Sharks to an
early 1-0 lead, Edmonton seemed to control the game.
A scoreless 3rd
period was a blessing for San Jose, who seemed to surrender the majority of
quality scoring chances. The overtime did not favor the Sharks, who aren't
blessed with much team speed. Edmonton's fresh legs had an advantage, but it
was goaltender Martin Jones who kept things close enough to steal two points.
Marc-Edouard Vlasic put the Sharks on the board 11:29 into the contest
with a 40-foot shot that caught the crossbar for the defenseman's 5th goal of
the season. Joe Thornton started the scoring sequence by skating the puck off
his own end boards and lifting a long pass to Melker Karlsson up the right
wing. Karlsson dished the puck to Vlasic on his left as the two skated up ice
on a 2-on-1. Vlasic elected to shoot the puck, rather than try to force a pass
back to Karlsson, floating it over Oilers goaltender Cam Talbot's right
shoulder.
San Jose seemed to have things under control, outshooting
the Oilers by a significant margin in the 2nd period, but Nail Yakuppov had
other ideas.
Skating in his first game after missing 22 contests with
an ankle injury, Yakupov deposited a Lauri Korpikoski pass off an Oilers 2-on-1
rush. Vlasic just missed on another chance from the slot, but his shot sailed
wide left. Justin Schultz cleared the puck off the corner glass, banking it
down the ice to Korpikoski who had only Justin Braun to deal with. Braun failed
to commit to either skater, and when he lifted his stick off the ice,
Korpikoski feathered a pass under it to Yakuof on the left side for the easy
deposit.
The Sharks whiffed on four power play opportunities,
including a delay of game penalty to Zack Kassian with 3:25 left in regulation.
After vaulting over a series of teams in the power play rankings in December,
the Sharks have suddenly gone cold with the man advantage. The Kassian penalty
setup what was a golden opportunity to take the two points without allowing the
Oilers to leave town with any points in the standings.
That's relevant, given that the Oilers sit only 7
points behind San Jose.
After a hair-raising overtime period that saw
both teams trade 4 shots in the extra frame, the Sharks didn't let the Oilers
hang around. Pavelski led off the shootout with a goal that beat Talbot,
staking San Jose with the early lead. Martin Jones stopped Eberle, setting up
Donskoi's goal on the other end.
Jones shut the door on Ryan
Nugent-Hopkins to wrap things up.
Talbot finished the evening with 36
saves, while Jones made 24 stops.
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think of this story? Post your comments on the
Feeder Forums |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
OT |
SO |
T |
| EDM |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
| SJ |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
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| 1st period - 1, SJ,
Vlasic 5 (Karlsson, Thornton), 11:29. |
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| 2nd period - 2, EDM,
Yakupov 3 (Korpikoski, Schultz), 8:02. |
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| Shootout - SJ: Pavelski
(goal), Donskoi (goal). EDM: Eberle (miss), Nugent-Hopkins (miss). |
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| 1st period - DeMelo, SJ
(tripping), 2:36; Gryba, EDM (holding), 9:01. |
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| 2nd period - Gryba, EDM
(interference), 2:26; Nugent-Hopkins, EDM (holding), 19:37. |
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| 3rd period - Kassian,
EDM (delay of game - puck over glass), 16:35. |
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Shots |
Saves |
| EDM - Talbot |
37 |
36 |
| SJ - Jones |
25 |
24 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
OT |
T |
| EDM |
6 |
7 |
8 |
4 |
25 |
| SJ |
7 |
15 |
11 |
4 |
37 |
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| Referees: L'Ecuyer,
McCauley. Linesmen: Mach, Knorr. |
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