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Sharks break Hurricanes losing
streak Sub-par performance lets soft team take 2
points
The Sharks returned to home ice for the first time
in a month, but failed to bring their A game in what amounted to another failed
opportunity to capitalize on a much weaker team. San Jose did just enough to
lose against the Eastern Conference underachiever Carolina Hurricanes. The
visiting Hurricanes snapped a 5-game losing streak which has them perched
firmly out of playoff contention, by holding serve and winning the game in
overtime.
* After a grueling 60 minutes of mud-bog hockey, Hurricanes
defenseman Jay Harrison punched home a blind backhand feed from rookie Elias
Lindholm with 42 seconds left in the overtime period. Lindholm drew two
defenders to the left side of the Sharks net before whipping his pass to the
front of the goal where Harrison was there to deposit the puck into a wide open
net. The goal allowed the Hurricanes to sweep the season series with San Jose.
Carolina beat the Sharks 5-3 back in December in a game that saw the Sharks gag
up 4 goals in the 3rd period to drop a 5-3 decision.
* Given the
Hurricanes position in the NHL ecosystem, this was yet another cupcake opponent
that ended up dictating the game and stole a point from a Sharks team that was
neither inspired or prepared for a weaker team. Hard to make excuses for a
performance that should have ended much differently.
* Jiri Tlusty
opened the game's scoring with his 10th tally of the season with a partial
breakaway chance that he backhanded past Stalock. Tlusty found a crease in the
Sharks defense at the San Jose blueline, after Alex Semin hit him with a long
pass from deep in the Hurricanes zone. Jason Demers was standing stationary as
the last line of defense and got caught flat footed after Tlusty took the Semin
feed and darted up the slot on his way to the Sharks net.
* San Jose
took all of 58 seconds to respond to the Tlusty goal, when Martin Havlat poked
hom e a rebound at 13:05. Tyler Kennedy fired a shot on Hurricanes goaltender
Anton Khudobin from the right side, forcing a rebound to the far side where
Havlat was there to clean things up for his 5th goal of the season.
*
The Sharks 3rd line made the most of a chance late in the period, forcing a
turnover behind the Carolina net with a strong forecheck. James Sheppard picked
up the puck along the end boards and kicked it out to the front of the goal
where Raffi Torres scooped it up. Torres' momentum was carrying him from left
to right through the slot, so he dropped a pass for Brent Burns who came
barreling down the lane. Burns leaned into a heavy slat shot that beat Khudobin
for his 15th goal of the season. It was Burns first goal in 20 games.
* A coverage issue in the defensive zone cost San Jose 4 minutes into the 2nd
period when Lindholm one timed an Eric Staal feed from behind the net past
Stalock.
* Sheppard was sent to the box for what referee Dan
O'Halloran thought was an illegal check to the head of Hurricanes captain
Staal. Replays clearly showed that the hit was shoulder to shoulder. San Jose
killed the penalty to avoid a more severe penalty for the poor officiating.
*Burns had a golden chance to put the sharks up with 12 minutes left
in regulation, but Khudobin stoned him on a rush across the top of the Carolina
crease.
* San Jose out-shot Carolina 16-7 in the 3rd period,
but they couldn't get another puck past Khudobin. That failure to capitalize on
numerous scoring chance committed San Jose to doom.
* The game would
go to overtime where Harrison did his thing. San Jose was out-shot 4-1 in the
extra session and never had any momentum in the frame. Carolina controlled the
puck for most of the period as was evident in the shot count. More importantly,
the Hurricanes held the puck the last two minutes of the contest, owning the
Sharks zone. Andrew Desjardins and Joe Thornton failed to maintain any puck
possession on the final shift, which eventually ended up in the Sharks net.
* San Jose has not defeated the Hurricanes in San Jose since 2005.
* Jason Demers, Patrick Marleau, Logan Couture and Tommy Wingels all
-2 on Tuesday night. Couture was also 8 of 23 in the faceoff circle (35%).
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What did you
think of this story? Post your comments on the Feeder Forums |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
OT |
T |
CAR |
1 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
3 |
SJ |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
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1st period - 1, CAR,
Tlusty 10 (Semin, Liles), 12:07. 2, SJ, Havlat 5 (Kennedy, Desjardins), 13:05.
3, SJ, Burns 15 (Torres, Sheppard), 19:32. |
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2nd period - 4, CAR,
Lindholm 5 (E. Staal, Sekera), 4:16. |
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Overtime - 5, CAR,
Harrison 3 (Lindholm, Sekera), 4:18. |
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1st period - Boyle, SJ
(slashing), 3:52; E. Staal, CAR (interference), 4:12. |
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2nd period - Sheppard,
SJ (illegal check to head), 5:30. |
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Shots |
Saves |
CAR - Khudobin |
37 |
35 |
SJ - Stalock |
35 |
32 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
OT |
T |
CAR |
16 |
8 |
7 |
4 |
35 |
SJ |
11 |
9 |
16 |
1 |
37 |
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Referees:
O'Halloran, McCauley. Linesmen: Gibbs, Wheler. |
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