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Special teams costs Sharks in
Game 2 Oilers in with pair of short-handed
goals
The Sharks special teams play has been their
Achilles heel all season. It proved to be their soft underbelly on Friday
night, after dropping Game 2 of their Western Conference Quarter Final series
to the Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place. The Sharks went 0-for-6 on the power
play and allowed the Oilers to generate all their offense on a pair of
short-handed goals in a 2-0 decision in Alberta.
Neither team would
score even up, but the Oilers didn't need any conventional scoring after they
bagged a pair of tallies while the Sharks were flubbing the man advantage. San
Jose has converted on 1-of-12 power play chances in the series. It was a stark
contrast from their special teams output from last season's playoffs, which
vaulted them into the Stanley Cup Finals.
An 8% conversion rate isn't
going to equate to a return to the Finals, so the Sharks have their work cut
out for them. They return home with the home ice advantage after splitting with
the Oilers in the first two games of the series, but the Sharks have to be
kicking themselves for not capitalizing on all the chances the undisciplined
Oilers afforded them on Friday night.
The opening period was a tight
checking affair that saw the Oilers play a little more conservatively than in
Game 1, and the Sharks buttoning down defensively so as to not give up the
early lead.
Edmonton still tested Martin Jones throwing 9 shots at
him, but the Sharks goaltender was much sharper to start the game than in his
previous start. The Oilers were particularly interested in directing shots
toward Jones 5-hole, but the netminder settled in and denied 3 solid scoring
chances.
Zach Kassian energized the sellout crowd with a hit on Logan
Couture that ended with Kassian leaving his feet as he bull-dozed the Sharks
forward. No penalty was called on the play, which seemed to spark his club.
Both teams traded penalties in the period before Patrick Maroon took
an ill-advised cross checking penalty with 15 seconds remaining in the frame.
San Jose didn't do anything with in during the limited window to end the
period, then fumbled away the lead with some shoddy puck management early in
the 2nd.
Joe Pavelski tried handling the puck just inside the
Oilers blueline when he coughed it up to Kassian. The Oilers forward carried
the puck up ice uncontested and snapped a shot past Jones for his 1st career
playoff goal. the short-handed tally stung given all the positives the Sharks
worked to amass in the opening frame.
Edmonton was an equal
opportunity offender, taking a pair of penalties in each of the three periods.
Maroon's elbowing penalty at 7:02 of the 2nd was followed by a holding penalty
by Darnell Nurse 5 minutes later, but the Sharks did nothing with their
chances.
Nurse's infraction was a necessity as the Sharks were
knocking on the doorstep, and the Oilers made the right call, hauling down
Brent Burns in order to prevent a would be goal.
The 1-0 game was
still very much in San Jose's reach, and another pair of Oiler penalties set
the Sharks up nicely, but Edmonton's captain Connor McDavid had another idea.
The young star scooped up a turnover in his own zone then raced up the left
wing. Defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic had position on McDavid, but he failed to
get a stick in front of McDavid's shot from the outside of the left circle.
That shot beat Jones low stick side.
It was a stoppable shot, but par
for the course for San Jose. Mediocre defense and horrendous goal keeping was
all McDavid needed to record his first career playoff goal.
Perhaps
the Sharks will lean on their experience and will grab the series lead right
back. We'll find out on Sunday night when the series shifts to San Jose. The
6th seed Sharks will have 48 hours to figure out how to put together a special
teams unit that can score. Or not. Game Notes:
* Joe Thornton
was a scratch once again, as he continues to rehabilitate is injured knee.
* The Oilers leaned on physical play, out-hitting the Sharks 41-21.
The approach led to more penalties than the Oilers would have preferred, but if
the Sharks can't score on the power play, then it's a solid tactic.
*
Edmonton out-shot the Sharks 36-16. What was most concerning was the 3rd
period, which saw Edmonton throw 15 shots at Martin Jones, even tough the
Sharks had a pair of power plays in the period.
* Only 9 Shark skaters
recorded shots on goal in the game. Only 2 Oilers failed to record a shot on
Jones.
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
SJ |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
EDM |
0 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
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2nd period - 1, EDM,
Kassian 1 (Letestu), 0:42, (sh). |
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3rd period - 2, EDM,
McDavid 1 (unassisted), 10:31, (sh). |
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1st period - Martin, SJ
(slashing), 4:15; Kassian, EDM (roughing), 13:04; Maroon, EDM (cross checking),
19:15. |
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2nd period - Maroon, EDM
(elbowing), 7:02; Nurse, EDM (holding), 12:29. |
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3rd period - Dillon, SJ
(interference), 3:34; Larsson, EDM (high sticking), 6:03; Lucic, EDM (high
sticking), 8:52; Schlemko, SJ (holding), 13:11. |
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Shots |
Saves |
SJ - Jones |
36 |
34 |
EDM - Talbot |
16 |
16 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
SJ |
6 |
6 |
4 |
16 |
EDM |
9 |
12 |
15 |
36 |
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Referees: Lee,
Sutherland. Linesmen: Gibbons, Heyer. |
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