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Sharks sweep Caps with big 3rd
period
SJ turn the tables on NHL's top
team
The best team in the NHL cruised into San Jose on
Saturday night, countering on a pair of Shark leads, but when push came to
shove, the home team finished the evening with a big 5-2 victory. The
Washington Capitals came to town looking to take advantage of the Sharks woes
on home ice, but San Jose dug deep in the 3rd period to score three goals to
break a 2-2 deadlock. Brenden Dillon, Joe Pavelski and Joe Thornton all
contributed a goal and an assist in the win.
The Sharks erupted for
their 5 goals against a solid defensive corps, but a penalty shot miss may have
been the play that decided the game. The Sharks were skating on a power play
late in the 2nd period, when Brent Burns was forced to slash Jay Beagle on a
breakaway chance.
Beagle was awarded a penalty shot, but Jones forced
Beagle to try and change directions, which resulted in the Capitals forward to
lose the handle on the puck. Washington's miss and the Sharks ability to
convert on that power play early in the 3rd period turned the game upside down.
Joe Pavelski pushed a backhand shot past Capitals goaltender Philipp
Grubauer from the outside the left post as the power play carried over into the
3rd. The goal was Pavelski's 32nd of the season, and it pushed the game's
momentum clearly in San Jose's favor.
Dillon scored 2 minutes later to
push the Sharks lead to a pair of goals. The Defenseman ripped a shot from the
blueline after taking a one-time feed from Chris Tierney from the right wing
boards. Dillon's shot wove through traffic, finding the important side of the
netting for the 4-2 lead.
The lead was one the Sharks wouldn't
relinquish.
That wasn't the case earlier in the game. Thornton staked
the Sharks to a 1-0 lead 9:16 into the contest when he fished a rebound away
from Grubauer in crease before flipping it home. Dillon fired a shot that the
Capitals netminder was able to stop, but Thornton's presence in front of the
net helped the Sharks strike gold.
A Nick Spaling high sticking
penalty at the end of the 1st period and a Burns delay of game penalty early in
the 2nd period setup a 2-man advantage for Washington. TJ Oshie's scored his
21st goal of the season as the Capitals put on a display of the league's top
ranked power play unit. Niklas Backstrom sent a 50 foot pass through the slot
to Oshie on the left side for a one-time shot from a severe angle. Jones never
had a chance on the shot, which snapped past him as he was still trying to get
over to cover the left side of the net.
A Joe Thornton boarding penalty put the Capitals back
on the power play 2 minute later, but Patrick Marleau and Joel Ward turned the
tables on Washington. Marc-Edouard Vlasic wound the puck out of the Sharks end,
hitting Marleau on the left wing. The Sharks veteran squeezed past Dmitry Orlav
and Justin Williams before pushing the puck up to Ward. The duo skated up ice
on a 2-on-none break that ended with Ward feeding the puck back to Marleau for
the deposit and a 2-1 lead.
Williams countered with a skilled goal 5
minutes later, swatting an Evgeny Kuznetsov pass out of the left corner as he
sat parked at the top of the crease. Kuznetsov's pass was shin high, but
Williams got his stick blade on the puck, forcing a 90-degree direction change
for his 20th goal of the season.
Pavelski and Dillon did their thing
in the 3rd period to sucker-punch the Capitals with their goals.
Burns
capped the scoring with an empty-net goal late to cap the scoring.
Game Notes:
* Defenseman Paul Martin took a puck off the throat
as he sat on the bench in the 3rd period. A deflection out in front of the
Sharks bench clipped Martin, dropping him behind the bench. Trainers jumped to
his aid, walking him to the locker room where he received treatment before
returning later in the game.
* The Sharks honored former goaltender
Evgeni Nabokov before the game as part of their 25th Anniversary celebration.
Ovechkin and Pavelski had a bit of fun with Nabokov, letting him wait at center
ice while the sellout crowd gave him a standing ovation.
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| WAS |
0 |
2 |
0 |
2 |
| SJ |
1 |
1 |
3 |
5 |
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| 1st period - 1, SJ,
Thornton 16 (Dillon, Hertl), 9:16. |
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| 2nd period - 2, WAS,
Oshie 21 (Backstrom, Ovechkin), 1:21, (pp). 3, SJ, Marleau 20 (Ward), 5:14
(sh). 4, WAS, Williams 20 (Kunetsov, Burakovsky), 10:12. WAS, Beagle
(unsuccessful penalty shot), 19:47. |
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| 3rd period - 5, SJ,
Pavelski 32 (Thornton, Burns), 0:49, (pp). 6, SJ, Dillon 2 (Tierney, Polak),
2:51. 7, SJ, Burns 25 (Pavelski, Spaling), 19:16, (en). |
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| 1st period - Chimera,
WAS (slashing), 5:02; Spaling, SJ (high sticking), 19:46. |
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| 2nd period - Burns, SJ
(delay of game), 0:20; Thornton, SJ (boarding), 3:39; Kuznetsov, WAS (hooking),
19:19; Burns, SJ (PS - slash on breakaway), 19:47. |
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Shots |
Saves |
| WAS - Grubauer |
27 |
23 |
| WAS - empty net |
1 |
0 |
| SJ - Jones |
25 |
23 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| WAS |
9 |
12 |
4 |
25 |
| SJ |
11 |
7 |
10 |
28 |
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| Referees: Kimmerly,
Leggo. Linesmen: Driscoll, Sharrers. |
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