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Sharks grab 2-0 series
lead Another road win gives Sharks
leverage
The league's best road team did it again on
Saturday night. With Game 1 already in the win column, the Sharks turned in
another gritty performance at Staples Center in Los Angeles to take Game 2 with
a 2-1 win over the host Kings. The Sharks took advantage of their chances, and
held the Kings offense in check for most of the evening to grab a 2-0 lead in
the best of 7 series.
Martin Jones led the charge with another
fantastic performance in net. The Sharks goaltender turned aside 26 shots and
simply outplayed his former teammate Jonathan Quick. The Kings couldn't solve
Jones even strength, and only scored with 5 minutes remaining in regulation.
The Sharks made things a bit easier on their goaltender by grabbing a
lead 3:37 into the game. Joe Pavelski staked the Sharks to that lead by scoring
his 3rd goal of the series with a shot from the right dot. The Sharks captain
saw the puck working along the right wing boards, and parked himself in an open
spot and waiting for Brent Burns to slide him a pass. Pavelski gathered that
pass and whipped a shot the split defenseman Drew Doughty's skates, sailing it
over Quick's shoulder.
Quick may have been screened by Doughty on the
shot, never flinching as it snapped past him. Doughty slammed his stick to the
ice in disgust with the goal.
The Kings tried to respond sooner than
later.
Los Angeles made it a point to try and get the puck to the net,
skating with more urgency in the opening moments of the game than in the
opening contest of the series. A Chris Tierney holding penalty 4:42 into the
contest provided some added motivation for Los Angeles, but the Sharks penalty
killers suppressed the Kings from getting the puck to Jones.
When the
tables were turned later in the period, San Jose made Quick work for every
save. Luke Schenn took an interference penalty at 7:55 of the opening frame
that turned into a shooting gallery opportunity for the Sharks. Quick was under
siege for a majority of the 2 minutes excursion, but he managed to keep the
puck out of his own net.
The Kings survived the penalty, but it was
clear that head coach Darryl Sutter had a problem on his hands. He also didn't
have an answer for the Sharks higher tempo attack. He tried responding by
shuffling his lines throughout the game.
A lack of discipline bit the
Kings in the middle period, when Tyler Toffoli and Milan Lucic took
simultaneous penalties. Toffoli got tangled up with Sharks defenseman Paul
Martin in front of the Sharks net as the puck was being played on the other end
of the ice. The decision to crosscheck Martin resulted in a roughing penalty
just as Lucic tried laying out Melker Karlsson. Lucic joined Toffoli in the box
for charging, setting up a full 2-minute 5-on-3 power play.
Logan
Couture made the Kings pay, scoring his 1st goal of the playoffs at 8:44 of the
period. The Sharks moved the puck around the perimeter from right to left where
Pavelski fired a shot on net. Quick slid to his right to shut the door on the
Sharks captain, but the puck kicked out to Couture out in front for a follow up
shot that was deposited into a wide open net.
The Staples Center crowd
erupted in chants chiding the referees for the calls that put the Kings down a
pair of skaters, but that did nothing to affect the Sharks 2-goal lead.
Those two goals turned out to be crucial as the Sharks went into
lockdown mode with the intent of keeping Los Angeles as far away from Jones as
possible. That plan forked for the most part, except for a slashing penalty
that Karlsson took with just under 6 minutes to play in regulation.
A wild scrum in front of the Sharks net ensued, with
just about everyone on the ice touching the puck at one point or another. After
bouncing off everyone within two strides of the goal mouth, the puck slid over
to the right side of the crease where Vincent Lecavalier was stationed. The
former Tampa Bay Lighting captain gathered it up and stuffed it into the goal
as Jones sat on his posterior.
The goal woke up the Staples Center
crowd, but the Kings would be hard pressed to do any more scoring. Even after
pulling Quick with 1:36 left in regulation, Jones would not allow any more
rubber to cross his goal line.
Rather than press for the empty-net
goal, the Sharks stuck to moving the puck out of their own zone to kill clock.
That strategy worked as the Kings couldn't generate anything in terms of a
scoring chance, even though they played with the extra attacker.
When
the final horn sounded, the Sharks found themselves sitting in the drivers seat
of this best-of-seven series, holding a commanding 2-0 lead.
Game
Notes:
* Much like Game 1, there was no shortage of hitting. Both
teams combined for 87 hits.
* The Kings played without defenseman Alec
Martinez, who left Game 1 with an unspecified injury.
* Marion Gaborik
returned to the lineup for Los Angeles after missing Game 1. Gaborik added some
offensive bite that was missing in the initial meeting between the two teams.
* After making his return to the ice after a two week hiatus to wok
through an injury, Marc-Edouard Vlasic logged the second most minutes for San
Jose (22:17), trailing only Brent Burns (24:06). Drew Doughty has been forced
to double shift much of the game. The Kings defenseman skated a game-high
29:15.
* One problem area that the Sharks need to clean up is in the
faceoff circle. San Jose lost 60% of the draws in the game. Patrick Marleau
lost 1f of 15 draws and Logan Couture lost 9 of 11.
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
SJ |
1 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
LA |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
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1st period - 1, SJ,
Pavelski 3 (Burns, Thornton), 3:37. |
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2nd period - 2, SJ,
Couture 1 (Pavelski, Marleau), 8:44, (pp). |
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3rd period - 3, LA,
Lecavalier 1 (Toffoli, Pearson), 14:59, (pp). |
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1st period - Tierney, SJ
(holding), 4:42; Schenn, LA (interference), 7:55; King, LA (roughing),
17:45. |
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2nd period - Toffoli, LA
(roughing), 8:14; Lucic, LA (charging), 8:14; Nieto, SJ (hooking), 12:18;
Spaling, SJ (holding), 18:17. |
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3rd period - Spaling, SJ
(tripping), 10:59; Carter, LA (slashing), 11:28; Karlsson, SJ (slashing),
14:06. |
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Shots |
Saves |
SJ - Jones |
26 |
25 |
LA - Quick |
23 |
21 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
SJ |
7 |
9 |
7 |
23 |
LA |
5 |
9 |
12 |
26 |
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Referees: L'Ecuyer,
Watson. Linesmen: Cherrey, Sharrers. |
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