Things looked bleak for the San Jose Sharks.
When Radek Faksa scored 7 minutes into the 2nd period, the Sharks had fallen
behind 3-0 to the best team in the Western Conference. Everyone expected San
Jose to roll over, but they didn't. After dropping a heartbreaker to the New
Jersey Devils on Monday and falling behind to the Dallas Stars, the Sharks
stormed back with 5 unanswered goals to stun Dallas 5-3 at SAP Center.
Erik Karlsson led the charge with a 4 point night. The defenseman scored a goal
and added 3 assists as San Jose won on home ice for only the 5th time this
season.
The Stars grabbed the 1-0 lead at 6:43 on a simple wrist shot
that eluded Sharks goaltender James Reimer. Ty Dellandrea, who had scored 1
goal in his last 22 games, carried the puck near the right dot before snapping
a simple shot that Reimer needed to stop. The shin-high shot slipped under
Reimer's glove for Dellandrea's 6th goal of the season.
Mikey
Eyssimont came closest to scoring for San Jose in the opening frame, when his
shot attempt hit the Stars crossbar. Dallas would carry a 10-6 advantage in
shots to the 1st intermission.
The Sharks killed a pair of Stars
penalties, including one that carried over into the 2nd period. San Jose was
then awarded a chance to tie the game on the man advantage when Jason Robertson
was whistled for hooking Matt Nieto on a Sharks break.
San Jose would
make 4 attempts at skating the puck into the Dallas zone, and each attempt was
quickly cleared. The Sharks near got the puck past the dots on the power play
opportunity.
Robertson would make the Sharks pay at 3:54, when he
gloved a floating Colin Miller pass as he sat parked in the slot. Robertson
immediately dropped the puck and chipped a shot past Reimer for his 30th goal
of the season.
San Jose fell victim to an unlucky deflection 3 minutes
later when Radek Faksa sent a shot that hit Timo Meier's skate, before changing
directions and slipping past Reimer.
Steven Lorentz finally got the
Sharks on the board at 9:41. After preserving the zone, Noah Gregor carried the
puck off the blueline and made a feed to Lorentz who split him and the Stars
goal. Lorentz turned to face the net and whipped a shot past Jake Oettinger for
his 5th tally of the season.
Nick Bonino made it a 3-2 game 2 minutes
later, one-timing a shot from the slot past Oettinger. Alexander Barabanov
circled behind the Stars net from left to right before finding Bonino cutting
down the middle.
Jamie Benn was sent off for hooking, but this time
the Sharks would take advantage of the power play opportunity. Timo Meier threw
the puck to the front of the net from the right wing boards. The puck hit Jani
Hakanpaa's stick and lifted past Oettinger for the power play goal.
San Jose was forced to kill an Eyssimont penalty that carried over 1:44 worth
of 5-on-4 time into the 3rd period. The Sharks penalty kill was perfect on the
night, going 3-for-3.
The Sharks would grab their first lead of the
night at 10:41 when Karlsson snapped a shot from the right dot, beating
Oettinger to the near side. The Stars goaltender tried to cut off the nearside
corner by leaping upwards, but he was too late to stop Karlsson's 15th goal of
the season.
Logan Couture added an empty netter, assisted by Karlsson
to cap the game's scoring.
Game Notes: * Sharks
assistant coach Ryan Warsofsky took a puck right above his left eyebrow toward
he end of the 1st period. He was sporting several stitches as he took his spot
on the bench to start the 2nd period.
* Stars head coach Peter DeBoer
and bench coach Steve Spott donned pins honoring former Sharks player and scout
Bryan Marchment. DeBoer and Spott worked with Marchment when the pair served in
similar positions with San Jose.
* The game marked the 6th time this
season that that Erik Karlsson recorded 3 points or more.
* Joe
Thornton was in attendance, sitting in the team box high above the ice.
* The Sharks now hi the road for 8 straight. The first 5 games come
before the All Star Break, followed by 3 games to wrap up the trip. Given their
home record, this isn't necessarily a bad thing.
