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Giving one away, multiple
times
Sharks fumble many opportunities to win in
Dallas
The nightmare that is the second half of the season
got a little worse on Thursday night in Dallas. The Sharks gagged up a pair of
3rd period leads, failed to capitalize on a power play in overtime, then missed
on five shootout attempts en route to a 4-3 loss to the Stars. The division
loss was tempered by losses by the Coyotes and Kings, but dropped another point
behind Dallas, who leads the Pacific by 4 points. The loss was the Sharks 4th
in a row and second in the shootout.
The inability to put opponents
away has been a theme that has haunted the Sharks this season, but blowing two
leads in the 3rd took things to an extreme. There is no swagger in the Sharks
step right now, and Dallas took advantage late.
San Jose got off to a
slow start, but picked up the pace after Stars centerman Ryan Garbutt was
called sent off for roughing. San Jose immediately put five pucks on Kari
Lehtonen during the power play, including a Patrick Marleau chance that the
Stars netminder stopped with his left skate.
San Jose outshot Dallas
16-8 in that opening period, forcing Lehtonen to earn his paycheck in the
latter half of the stanza.
The Sharks pressed in deep against Lehtonen
with over 7 minutes to play, missing on a chance when Ryane Clowe pushed a shot
up against the goaltender's right pad. Dallas immediately countered for the
game's first goal. Michael Ryder took a Jake Dowell feed at center ice, then
undressed both Dan Boyle and Marc-Edouard Vlasic before sliding the puck past
Antti Niemi. Vlasic tried poke checking the puck from Ryder, but missed,
allowing the winger to split the two defenders on his way to the net.
Joe Pavelski was almost decapitated by Vern Fiddler with 2:44 left in the
period, but San Jose failed to do anything with the ensuing power play.
The Stars looked poised to take a 1-0 lead into the 2nd intermission,
but Torey Mitchell shocked the American Airlines Center crowd by scoring his
7th goal of the season with 1.2 seconds left in the period. Mitchell took a Joe
Thornton feed between the circles, before putting a pair of moves on Alex
Goligoski and backhanding a shot past Lehtonen.
Marleau answered
Jeremy Roenick's critique with his 27th goal of the season 25 seconds into the
3rd period. Roenick was critical of Marleau in an NHL.com article that was
posted on Thursday afternoon. Marleau cycled the puck into the right corner,
before dropping it to Joe Thornton who returned the puck for the a shot from
the slot.
Tommy Wingels was shaken up after getting hit into the glass
from behind on the next shift.
Goligoski rang a shot off the post to
put a scare into the Sharks, but the puck stayed clear of netting to preserve
the slim 2-1 lead.
Lehtonen kept the Stars close with a big save on
Andrew Desjardins 4:21 into the period, after the Sharks forward put a one-time
shot from 10 feet out on net.
Jamie Benn tied the game at 6:42 of the
period, sliding the puck past Niemi on a partial screen by Dan Boyle, who was
tripped up as the Stars collapsed on the San Jose net. The Sharks didn't do
themselves any favors by backing into their own zone, rather than standing Benn
and the Stars up at their own blueline.
Joe Pavelski put the Sharks back on top with 3:32 left
in regulation. Parked on the doorstep, Pavelski took a feed from Dan Boyle,
pivoted toward the goal mouth, and flipped the puck over Lehtonen's right pad
for his 24th goal of the season.
From the nothing comes easy
storyline, Dallas countered with a goal with 75 seconds left in regulation.
Tomas Vincour hacked at a puck after working himself inside of Boyle, that
fluttered past Niemi who had fallen backwards into the net. Referee Dan
Koharski lost site of the puck, and initially called no goal, but the play went
upstairs where the play was over ruled.
The game went to overtime,
where San Jose gagged on a gift from the penalty gods. Mike Ribeiro almost
ended things with a breakaway chance, but Marleau back checked to stop him.
Ryder was called for holding, giving the Sharks the 4-on-3 power play,
but San Jose just plain failed with the chance. The patty-cake approach burned
clock while Lehtonen sat back and enjoyed the two minute break. The Sharks did
nothing with the chance, forcing the fateful shootout.
Clowe,
Pavelski, Wingels, Dominic Moore and Logan Couture all failed to put a puck
past Lehtonen in the shootout. Vincour buried his chance with a backhand move
that sent the Sharks packing.
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1 |
2 |
3 |
OT |
SO |
T |
| SJ |
0 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
| DAL |
0 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
4 |
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| 2nd period - 1, DAL,
Ryder 29 (Dowell, Daley), 12:16. 2, SJ, Mitchell 7 (Thornton, Vlasic),
19:58. |
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| 3rd period - 2, SJ,
Marleau 27 (Thornton), 0:25. 4, DAL, Benn 20 (Burish, Robidas), 6:42. 5, SJ,
Pavelski 24 (Boyle, Thornton), 16:28. 6, DAL, Vincour 4 (), 18:45. |
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| Shootout - Dal: Benn
(miss), Eriksson (miss), Ribeiro (miss), Ryder (miss), Vincour (goal). SJ:
Clowe (miss), Pavelski (miss), Wingels (miss), Moore (miss), Couture
(miss). |
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| 1st period - Murray, SJ
(holding the stick), 5:29; Garbutt, DAL (roughing), 11:48. |
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| 2nd period - Fiddler,
DAL (high sticking), 17:16. |
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| 3rd period - Mitchell,
SJ (hooking), 7:30. |
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| Overtime - Ryder, DAL
(holding), 2:37. |
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Shots |
Saves |
| SJ - Niemi |
35 |
32 |
| DAL - Lehtonen |
48 |
45 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
OT |
T |
| SJ |
16 |
14 |
13 |
5 |
48 |
| DAL |
8 |
9 |
15 |
3 |
35 |
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| Referees: Devorski,
StLaurent. Linesmen: Cvik, Heyer. |
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