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A new low for
Sharks San Jose drops 6th straight
The Sharks were looking for a perfect road trip
and after Sunday nights 5-1 loss to the cellar-dwelling Edmonton Oilers,
theyre one loss from a pristine 0 and 6 run. The story remained the same.
Fall behind early, and provide no answer to an inferior opponent that mutated
into world beaters against a hapless Sharks roster that has no answers. Evgeni
Nabokov gave up 5 even-strength goals to drop his 24th decision of the season.
With the Phoenix Coyotes shootout win over the Dallas Stars, the
Sharks also fell out of the division lead, dropping to 4th place in the Western
Conference. The Coyotes incredible 9-game winning streak, combined with the
Sharks 6th consecutive loss has resulted in an 11-point swing in the standings.
San Jose held a comfortable lead in the division ten days ago, but that
evaporated in the blink of an eye.
The one positive for the Sharks was the return of
defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic, who has been shelved with a knee injury since
the end of January. Vlasics return was stymied by his presence on the ice
for the Oilers first two goals.
Losing to a team that has won 7 times
in it last 39 games isnt the way the Sharks had planned on snapping out
of their current funk.
The disturbing trend of giving up the
games first goal continued for San Jose , who once again looked lifeless
in the opening period. The two teams were skating 4-on-4 when Joe Thornton
coughed the puck up at his own blueline. Robert Nilsson scooped up the puck and
raced up ice before sliding a shot around Evgeni Nabokovs right skate.
Edmonton made it 2-0 just 1:33 later. Ryan Potulny put a shot on goal
from the right dot that Nabokov stopped, but the rebound landed right on Dustin
Penners stick in the slot. Defenseman Rob Blake was late to get back,
allowing Penner to sweep the puck into the Sharks net.
Things
didnt get much better for San Jose in the 2nd period. Fernando Pisani
scored only his 4th goal of the season at 10:14. Shawn Horcoff carried the puck
around the back of the Sharks net before sending a centering pass into the slot
to Tom Gilbert. Sharks defensemen Dan Boyle and Douglas Murray both tried to
collapse on Gilbert who put a shot on net that Nabokov stopped with his leg
pad, but the puck deflected to Pisani just off the right post. With the front
of the net vacated by the defense, Pisani had an easy go of depositing the puck
past Nabokov.
An Aaron Johnson penalty at the end of the 2nd period
gave the Sharks 1:50 of power play time to open the 3rd, but the lethargy was
spread across every line for San Jose . Patrick Marleau came closest to
scoring, clipping the crossbar with a 25-foot slap shot.
If things
couldnt get any worse, San Jose failed to draw a penalty after Torrey
Mitchell was checked face-first into the glass from behind with 7:30 to play.
As he hobbled back to the bench, Edmonton countered and scored when Horcoff
deposited an Eathan Moreau pass through the slot. As become all too common, the
Sharks were out of position defensively.
Johnson was the beneficiary
of a deflection off Joe Pavelski two minutes later, when his shot from the
blueline split Nabokovs pads to make it 5-0.
Oilers goaltender
Devan Dubnyk celebrated his first career NHL victory on Friday night, and came
within 3:02 of his first career shutout, but Ryane Close slipped a rebound past
the lanky netminder for this 18th goal of the season.
Game
Notes:
Defenseman Jay Leach was the odd man out with Vlasic making
his return to the lineup. Both Leach and Jed Ortmeyer were scratches, although
Ortmeyer was injury related.
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What did you
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
SJ |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
EDM |
2 |
1 |
2 |
5 |
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1st period - 1, EDM,
Nilsson 10 (unassisted), 11:10. 2, EDM, Penner 27 (Potulny, Pouliot),
12:33. |
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2nd period - 3, EDM,
Pisani 4 (Gilbert, Horcoff), 10:14; Johnson, EDM (hooking), 19:50. |
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3rd period - 4, EDM
Horcoff 12 (Moreau, Pisani), 12:52. 5, EDM, Johnson 4 (Penner, Cogliano),
15:05. 6, SJ, Clowe 18 (Boyle, Thornton), 16:58. |
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1st period - Staubitz,
SJ (fighting major), 5:58; Stortini, EDM (fighting major), 5:58; McGinn, SJ
(roughing), 9:38; Potulny, EDM (roughing), 9:38. |
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2nd period -
Clowe, SJ (slashing), 4:22; Chorney, EDM (holding), 11:26. |
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3rd period -
Murray, SJ (interference), 13:55; Gilbert, EDM (tripping), 14:37; Murray, SJ
(fighting major), 17:00; Stortini, EDM (fighting major), 17:00; Nichol, SJ
(fighting major), 17:15; Comrie, EDM (fighting major), 17:15; Cogliano, EDM
(high sticking), 18:17; Clowe, SJ (roughing), 20:00; Strudwick, EDM (slashing),
20:00. |
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Shots |
Saves |
SJ - Nabokov |
25 |
20 |
EDM - Dubnyk |
28 |
27 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
SJ |
13 |
8 |
7 |
28 |
EDM |
8 |
11 |
6 |
25 |
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Referees:
Marouelli, Joannette. Linesmen: Heyer, Cvik. |
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