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Sharks open season with win in
LA
6 months too late
The San Jose Sharks had a little motivation to kick
off the 2014-15 NHL season. After getting kicked in the teeth by the Los
Angeles Kings last spring, the NHL spit on the Sharks by scheduling their
regular season opener in Southern California to partake in the Kings
Championship banner raising ceremony. If that didn't spark a reaction from the
Sharks, nothing would. San Jose responded with a solid 4-0 win on opening night
at Staples Center.
Tommy Wingels apparently understood Doug Wilson's
point about taking charge, by scoring a pair of goals to lead San Jose. After
spending the beginning of his career as a support player, Wingels seized the
moment and provided the Sharks with more offense than they would need.
Wingels performance was a bit of a salve, applied to a very open wound that
won't fully heal until the Sharks do something meaningful in the playoffs. This
is October, so San Jose will need more guys than just Wingels to take a
leadership role this year.
Wingels opened the season with the Sharks
first goal of 2014, finding a hole in Jonathan Quick 5:43 into the game for the
1-0 lead. Tye McGinn sent a blind backhand pass from behind the Kings net to
Wingels in the left corner, setting up a shot from along the goal line that
found a seam. Quick looked dumbstruck at the fact that the puck found its way
to the goal.
Antti Niemi took a step toward exercising some of his own
demons by turning in a 34-save night to earn his 28th career shutout.
Niemi made a big save on a Jeff Carter wrap around chance early in the 2nd
period to ground his game. Carter sliced behind the net from right to left,
putting a shot on goal that seemed destined for the back of the net. Niemi
stuck his right pad out toward the left post to cut off the would-be goal.
Kyle Cliffords' tripping penalty 2:46 into the period setup the Sharks
2nd goal of the season. Brent Burns sent a puck down the slot from the
blueline, were Patrick Marleau deflected it over Jonathan Quick's left shoulder
with a flick of the stick blade. The goal came on San Jose's 4th power play of
the night.
San Jose busted things open with just over 4 minutes left
in the 2nd period. Wingels potted his 2nd goal of the game on a breakaway after
Brent Burns chipped a puck up ice. Wingels split Drew Doughty and Brayden
McNabb on his way to the Kings goal, then undressed Quick with a move to his
left that opened up the Los Angeles goal.
Matt Nieto made it 4-0 San
Jose just 14 seconds later, punching home a Marleau feed form behind the net.
Quick was caught out of his net on the play, which gift wrapped the goal for
Nieto who had a wide open net to play with.
The Sharks spent the final 20 minutes of the contest
diverting the puck from the front of their own net. The Kings outshot San Jose
10-3 in the final frame in an attempt to generate any kind of offense on a
night that was more about celebrating their accomplishments of the previous
season, than kicking off another Stanley Cup run. The Kings were flat most of
the evening, lacking any of the spark that vaulted them past San Jose last
spring.
Two Sharks made their NHL debuts, and didn't embarrass
themselves. Chris Tierney made his debut centering San Jose's 4th line, skating
17 shifts and finisghing with a +2, and 3 shots on goal. Mirco Mueller logged
17:54 of ice time on the Sharks blueline, which included 2:47 on the power
play. Mueller was a +1 with a pair of blocked shots.
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Feeder Forums |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| SJ |
1 |
3 |
0 |
4 |
| LA |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
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| 1st period - 1, SJ,
Wingels 1 (McGinn, Demers), 5:43. |
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| 2nd period - 2, SJ,
Marleau 1 (Burns, Vlasic), 3:20, (pp). 3, SJ, Wingels 2 (Burns), 15:50. 4, SJ,
Nieto 1 (Marleau), 16:04. |
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| 1st period - Marleau, SJ
(interference), 3:18; Brown, SJ (fighting major), 11:21; Clifford, LA (fighting
major), 11:21; Stoll, LA (slashing), 12:03; Doughty, LA (boarding), 16:47. |
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| 2nd period - Clifford,
LA (tripping), 2:46; Richards, LA (boarding), 4:53; Couture, SJ (holding),
11:36. |
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| 3rd period - Nieto, SJ
(hooking), 10:15; Braun, SJ (tripping), 18:53; Brown, SJ (boarding),
18:53. |
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Shots |
Saves |
| SJ - Niemi |
34 |
34 |
| LA - Quick |
27 |
23 |
| LA - Jones |
3 |
3 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| SJ |
15 |
12 |
3 |
30 |
| LA |
11 |
13 |
10 |
34 |
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| Referees:
O'Halloran, O'Rourke. Linesmen: Lazarowich, Wheler. |
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