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Sharks start trip with a
bang
SJ knocks off Penguins with convincing 4-0
win
The Sharks kicked off a four-game road trip on
Thursday, with a commanding 4-0 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins at the PPG
Paints Arena in Pennsylvania. Tomas Hertl scored a pair of goal and Martin
Jones made 26 saves to lead San Jose. The Sharks scored three goals on the
power play and added another short-handed. San Jose man-handled the Penguins
throughout the night, starting their longest remaining road trip on the
schedule.
After suffering their tough 5-4 loss to the Boston Bruins in
overtime on Monday night, the Sharks seemed focused to turn in a good
performance. They were firing on all cylinders from the get go.
A Jack
Johnson tripping penalty 56 seconds into the game, netted the Sharks their
first goal of the game. Tomas Hertl deposited his 27th goal of the season after
he scooped up a rebound in front of the net and skated to the left side before
lifting a shot past netminder Casey DeSmith. Brent Burns created the rebound
with a one-time chance from the blueline that DeSmith stopped but could not
control.
Brendan Dillon setup the Penguins with their first power play
at 8:37 after he was whistled for cross-checking Zach Aston-Reese. San Jose
turned the tables on the Pittsburgh when Burns poked the puck off of Phil
Kessel's stick as the Penguin forward tried to gain the Sharks zone. Evander
Kane picked up the puck then raced up ice unimpeded and slipped a backhand
chance past DeSmith for his 28th of the season.
Aston-Reese committed
another Penguins tripping penalty at 11:55, putting the Sharks back on the
power play. Hertl converted his on his second of the game when he tapped home a
Kevin Labanc feed into a wide open net. Labanc drew DeSmith and over to the
right side, before dropping it back to the top of the crease where Hertl had
nothing but daylight between him and the back of the Penguins net. Matt Cullen
tried diving to cutoff Labanc, but by doing so, he left Hertl unattended in
front of the net.
The scoring calmed down in the middle period, but
the Sharks still looked like the superior team. San Jose and Pittsburgh matched
each other in shots at 9 apiece, but San Jose out chanced the Penguins.
Evgeni Malkin was sent off for hooking at 4:50 of the period, but San
Jose could not rework the special teams magic that they enjoyed in the opening
period. Pittsburgh was gifted a breakaway chance right after Malkin's penalty
expired, but Joe Thornton hustled back to break up the chance. It was a site to
see the Sharks senior statesman hustle to stop the scoring chance, bad knees
and all.
Aston-Reese took his second penalty of the game, but once
again the Sharks failed to convert.
Evander Kane was called for tripping with 20
seconds left in the frame. The penalty carried over to start the 3rd period,
but San Jose denied the Penguins.
San Jose suppressed any notion of a
comeback by killing the penalty. They then went into lockdown mode from that
point forward. keeping the puck away from Jones, and controlling the neutral
zone.
Down 3-0, the Penguins took exception to Kane peeking over at a
coaches white board during a television timeout with just under 5 minutes left
in regulation. The Penguins players on the ice started jawing with Kane, then
some animated touching turned into several fights on the ice.
When the
smoke cleared, four players were tossed from the game, and Kane and Pearson
were sent off for fighting. Even Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan earned an
early shower by letting the referees have it verbally.
Phil Kessel
made an appearance on the score sheet when he clipped Erik Karlsson on the side
of this head with a high stick. Kris Letang followed him to the box 30 seconds
later for cross cchecking Hertl.
The Sharks rubbed a little more salt
in to the wound when Burns snapped a one time chance past DeSmith on the 5-on-3
advantage.
Game Notes:
* Micheal Haley made his debut
for the Sharks, 24 hours after being claimed off waivers from the Florida
Panthers. Haley skated 12 shifts and recorded a hit and a blocked shot. His
biggest contribution came during the donnybrook at the end of the game.
* Sydney Crosby was kept in check all night. The Penguins captain
recorded 3 shots on goal, but never factored into any serious scoring threats.
He was 8 of 20 on draws.
* The two teams combined for 80 penalty
minutes. The Sharks took full advantage of their man-advantage chances, scoring
on 3-of-6 power play opportunities. In contrast, the Penguins were 0-for-2 on
the power play and surrendered a shirt-handed goal.
* Burns finished
with a goal and 2 assists. Kevin Labanc recorded assists on the Sharks first
two power play goals.
* Sharks head coach Peter DeBoer thought better
of keeping Erik Karlsson on the ice after Phil Kessel went after his prize
defenseman with a high stick late in the game. Karlsson never saw the ice after
the bush league move by the Penguins.
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| SJ |
3 |
0 |
1 |
4 |
| PIT |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
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| 1st period - 1, SJ,
Hertl 27 (Burns, Labanc), 0:57, (pp). 2, SJ, Kane 27 (Burns), 10:01, (sh). 3,
SJ, Hertl 28 (Labanc, Pavelski), 13:19, (pp). |
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| 3rd period - 4, SJ,
Burns 12 (E. Karlsson, Thornton), 16:51, (pp). |
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| 1st period - Johnson,
PIT (tripping), 0:56; Dillon, SJ (cross checking), 8:37; Aston-Reese, PIT
(tripping), 11:55. |
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| 2nd period - Malkin, PIT
(hooking), 4:50; Aston-Reese, PIT (holding), 14:39; Kane, SJ (tripping), 19:39.
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| 3rd period - Hertl, SJ
(roughing), 2:20; Pearson, PIT (roughing). 2:20; Haley, SJ (10 min misconduct),
15:24; Dillon, SJ (10 min misconduct), 15:24; Kane, SJ (fighting major), 15:24;
Pettersson, PIT (10 min misconduct), 15:24; Crosby, PIT (10 min misconduct),
15:24; Pearson, PIT (fighting major). 15:24; Kessel, PIT (high sticking),
16:26; Letang, PIT (cross checking), 15:24; Sullivan, PIT (Game misconduct -
head coach), 15:24; Malkin, PIT (10 min misconduct), 18:47. |
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Shots |
Saves |
| SJ - Jones |
26 |
26 |
| PIT - DeSmith |
33 |
29 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| SJ |
12 |
9 |
12 |
33 |
| PIT |
9 |
9 |
8 |
26 |
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| PPG Paints Arena - 18,362 |
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| Referees: Dwyer,
Lambert. Linesmen: Baker, Mach. |
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