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Hiller is latest to shutout
Sharks
San Jose's losing streak hits 4
straight
Head scratching performances continue to be the
theme for the Sharks in 2011. San Jose continued to play their ineffective game
and paid the price against division rival Anaheim, losing 1-0 at the Honda
Center in Southern California on Sunday night. 24 hours after dropping a
one-goal game to Nashville, the Sharks offense sputtered again and was shutout
for the 7th time this season third time in their last five games.
San
Jose has scored 4 goals in their last 15 periods of hockey, three of those
goals coming in a 4-3 loss to Vancouver last Monday. The loss drops them even
further in the Pacific Division standings. San Jose has fallen from 4th to 11th
place in the matter of 7 days.
San Jose would lean on the shot counter
to try and will a goal across the goal line, but as has been the case over the
4-game losing streak, shots are about as valuable as an ice maker to an Eskimo.
The Sharks threw 37 pucks on Jonas Hiller that did nothing more than make
Hiller's stats look heroic.
Few of those 37 shots challenged the Ducks
netminder who recorded his second consecutive shutout. After putting 15 shots
on the Anaheim net in the opening period, the Sharks would step things up in
the middle period.
The Ducks would take a pair of hooking penalties 5
minutes apart in the first quarter of the 2nd period, but the Sharks tried
attacking with players throwing long distance shot from the perimeter. With
little to no traffic in front of Hiller, the Ducks netminder was able to turn
aside everything thrown his way.
San Jose would finally get some
traffic in front of the net late in the middle period, which would turn into a
goal. Problem is it was in front of their own goal. Dan Boyle was trying to
fight off a Ducks forward, pinning his own goaltender, Antti Niemi, to the
right post as a Bobby Ryan shot sailed into the Sharks net.
Hiller
made two big stops with less than a minute remaining in the period. Ryan Clowe
came closest with a backhand chance from the slot that Hiller denied at the
beginning of a mad rush to close out the period. Clowe was denied right before
the buzzer, when a chance on a wide open net was denied when a Ducks defender
tied up his stick just outside the crease.
The Sharks shot themselves in the foot in the 3rd
period by taking a pair of penalties that killed any offensive momentum they
had built to close out the prior period. The absence of leadership by the
Sharks high priced forwards was magnified with the game on the line. With 8
minutes to play and the Sharks in desperate need of a goal, captain Joe
Thornton took a senseless cross checking penalty to put the Sharks down a man.
After killing off the Thornton penalty, San Jose had little in the
tank to get puck on net. Knowing the Sharks have had little luck in the scoring
department, all Anaheim had to do was sit back and chip pucks out of their own
zone with little motivation to add to their own score.
An extra
attacker couldn't even get on the ice late in the game because the Sharks
couldn't get the puck out of their own end of the ice.
"What you deal
with is doubt right now," said Sharks head coach Todd McLellen. "Without
scoring, doubt can creep in."
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think of this story? Post your comments on the
Feeder Forums |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| SJ |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| ANA |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
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| 2nd period - 1, ANA,
Ryan 18 (Lydman), 14:29. |
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| 2nd period - Beleskey,
ANA (hooking), 1:07; Blake, ANA (hooking), 6:36. |
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| 3rd period - Visnovsky,
ANA (holding), 2:53; Mayers, SJ (tripping), 9:49; Thornton, SJ (cross
checking), 12:06. |
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Shots |
Saves |
| SJ - Niemi |
28 |
27 |
| ANA - Hiller |
37 |
37 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| SJ |
12 |
15 |
10 |
37 |
| ANA |
8 |
12 |
8 |
28 |
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| Referees: Pochmara,
LaRue. Linesmen: Murphy, Rody. |
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