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Power play goals spark
Sharks
Coyotes oblige with lots of
penalties
The league’s sixth ranked power play got a
chance to show its stuff on Thursday night as the Sharks converted on 3 of 7
power plays to knock off the visiting Phoenix Coyotes at HP Pavilion. San Jose
sputtered with the 2-man advantage, but when facing four defenders, they were
down right scary. Patrick Marleau also got back on track with a pair of goals
to pace the Sharks.
Heading into the Christmas break, the Sharks were
looking to maintain the momentum they built over the last three games. The win
would give them their first four-game winning streak of the season. San Jose
has been slowly chipping away at the Pacific Division lead, gaining another
point on Thursday after Dallas lost in the shootout to the Calgary Flames.
“ I think we are finding more consistency within our lines," said
Sharks head coach Todd McLellan. "I think our D is more active in the offense.
A lot of the things we whined and complained about in the beginning of the
season are starting to come with real good timing.”
The stat of
San Jose’s game was much like the start of their season. Quick out of the
gate, but inconsistent enough to be a middle of the pack performer.
The Sharks blew a fantastic chance to grab the early lead after Paul
Bissonnette and Ed Jovanovski took penalties 12 seconds apart. The Sharks used
the lengthy 5-on-3 to work on perimeter passing, rather than throwing the puck
at the net. Every pass seemed to jump over a stick or miss its mark, resulting
in a squandered opportunity.
San Jose would get another two man
advantage at the start of the 2nd period, albeit a shorter chance. Nonetheless,
the outcome was the same. San Jose failed to take advantage of a huge
opportunity.
Phoenix would parley their good fortune by showing San
Jose how to score on the power play. Ironically, it came at the hands of a
former Shark. The second Shark ever drafted for that matter. Ray Whitney, San
Jose’s 2nd pick in the 1991 NHL entry draft deposited his 5th goal of the
season off a crossing pass Keith Yandle at 7:50 of the period. Whitney sent the
pass under Antti Niemi’s left pad after the pass forced the Sharks
netminder to slide to his left.
The goal was Whitney’s 11th
against his former team.
San Jose would follow the Coyotes lead after
Shane Doan was sent off for roughing on the next shift after Whitney’s
goal. Dan Boyle would light the lamp with his 5th of the season with a shot
from the top of the left circle. His shot would slip past Coyotes netminder
Jason Labarbera, who was screened by Dany Heatley.
Lauri Korpikoski would take an interference penalty
two minutes later to put the Sharks back on the power play. San Jose would move
away from the static approach that failed them during their two 5-on-3 chances,
moving the puck while on the move. They would convert when Heatley sent a pass
through the slot to Joe Thornton, who was breaking to the net on the left wing.
Patrick Marleau would snap an 11-game goalless streak by putting a
backhand chance past Labarbera 2:53 into the 3rd period. Marleau was lurking on
the right side of the slot when Thornton Whiffed on a shot that slipped past
the Coyotes goaltender. The rebound kicked out to Marleau who lifted his shot
over Labarbera’s left shoulder for his 12th of the season.
Marleau would get in on the power play goal scoring with his second goal of the
game ten minutes later, after Derek Morris took an interference penalty.
Marleau took a Thornton feed at the blueline and slipped past the Coyote
defense before snapping a shot past Labarbera from just inside the right dot.
“We took some unfortunate penalties," said Coyotes head coach Dave
Tippett. "Some that were bad breaks. We took three that were shot over the
glass against a team that is waiting for us to commit those. They played a very
strong game there. A heavy game. And when you take those penalties you limit
your opportunities.”
Game Notes:
Douglas Murray
returned to the lineup for the first time in five games. Murray led the team
with three hits, logging 15:18 of ice time. With Murray's return, it marked the
first time the opening night defensive corps were all on the ice since November
13th.
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| PHO |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
| SJ |
0 |
2 |
2 |
4 |
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| 2nd period - 1, PHO,
Whitney 5 (Yandle, Doan), 7:52, (pp). 2, SJ, Boyle 5 (Marleau, Pavelski), 9:05,
(pp). 3, SJ, Thornton 8 (Heatley, Pavelski), 11:53, (pp). |
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| 3rd period - 4, SJ,
Marleau 12 (Thornton, Murray), 2:53. 5, SJ, Marleau 13 (Thornton, Demers),
12:18, (pp). |
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| 1st period - Clowe, SJ
(slashing), 8:21; Bissonnette, PHO (delay of game – puck over glass),
12:31; Jovanovski, PHO (interference), 12:43; Ferriero, SJ (slashing), 14:49;
Jovanovski, PHO (delay of game – puck over glass), 19:06. |
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| 2nd period - Korpikoski,
PHO (delay of game – puck over glass), 0:49; Setoguchi, SJ (holding),
6:41; Doan, PHO (roughing), 8:46; Korpikoski, PHO (interference), 11:06. |
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| 3rd period - Morris, PHO
(Interference), 11:50; Stempniak, PHO (goaltender interference), 15:43. |
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Shots |
Saves |
| PHO - Labarbera |
39 |
35 |
| SJ - Niemi |
25 |
24 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| PHO |
5 |
10 |
10 |
25 |
| SJ |
13 |
16 |
10 |
39 |
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| Referees: LaRue,
Rehman. Linesmen: Rody, Lazarowich. |
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