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Last visit to Nassau
nauseating
Sharks lose in the shootout after blowing
3rd period lead
You can't win them all, but the fact that the
Sharks are giving up goals in the 3rd period is not something they should be
comfortable with. San Jose allowed their opponent to score a pair of 3rd period
goals for the second straight game, and were forced to take matters to the
shootout as they did in Washington D.C. on Tuesday night. The New York
Islanders were one shootout goal better than the Sharks on Thursday night,
taking a 4-3 win.
The loss marked the last time San Jose would drop a
game at Nassau Coliseum, barring a matchup between the two teams in a Stanley
Cup Final. That seems extremely unlikely if San Jose can't figure out how to
buckle down on defense late in games.
The Sharks didn't play poorly,
but they also weren't playing a perennial Stanley Cup contender. The Islanders
have struggled for years to build a nucleus that would return them to the
dynasty days of the early 80's, but doormat is a more likely moniker. The
Islanders entered Thursday night's action undefeated and extended that with
some timely scoring and a shootout squad that put the puck in the net in the
5th round to take 2 points in the standings.
San Jose held two
separate leads, but a 3rd period lapse cost them a point in the standings.
Brent Burns staked the Sharks to 1-0 lead 1:39 into the 2nd period, snapping a
one-timer from the left dot after Joe Thornton set him up with a pass through
the slot. Burns hobbled John Tavares with a shot moments earlier, opening up a
hole on the left side that allowed the unimpeded shot.
Nick Leddy tied
the game less than 3 minutes later with a seeing-eye shot that wove through
traffic, catching the top left corner of the net. Sharks goaltender Alex
Stalock never saw the puck, which found a hole as it passed 4 players.
San Jose only generated 6 shots on goal through the game's first 30 minutes,
but that 6th shot beat Jaroslav Halak when Patrick Marleau converted on the
Sharks lone power play of the game. Ryan Strome put the Sharks on the man
advantage by cross-checking rookie defenseman Mirco Mueller. Marleau snapped a
shot from the left point that found the upper right corner of the net.
Burns took one of the odder penalties you'll ever see when he tried scooping
the puck out of his own zone with a glove after breaking a stick 5:38 into the
3rd period. Kyle Okposo used 19 seconds of the subsequent power play to tie the
game. Frans Nielsen setup Okposo with apass to the slot after driving to the
left post and drawing a pair of Shark defenders into the vicinity. With a flick
of the wirst, Okposo bagged his 2nd goal of the year.
Josh Bailey gave
New York their first lead of the game 2:41 later. The Islanders forward
gathered a rebound in the slot, then had to pivot 270 degrees to his left
before lifting a shot over Stalock's right shoulder. San Jose had three
defenders in the area, but neither could get a body or stick on Bailey, who
scored his 2nd of the season.
Tomas Hertl re-tied the game at 3-3 with 8:44 left in
regulation, stuffing a shot past Halak from the just outside the right post.
Jason Demers made a three-line pass that Hertl gathered along the right wing
boards, allowing the young Czech to race in on Halak and tie the game.
Stalock made the save of the game with three minutes left in regulation, diving
to deny Leddy and Kyle Clutterbuck who had open looks at the net.
San
Jose generated almost a third of their shot total for the game in the 5-minute
overtime period. None of those shot s found twine, which sent the game to the
shootout for the second consecutive game for San Jose.
Logan Couture
scored in the 1st round of the shootout for San Jose, but Joe Pavelski, Hertl,
Burns and Thornton all missed. Okposo matched Couture's tally in the 3rd round
to extend the shootout, then Tavares ended things with a delayed shot that
lifted past Stalock.
The decision to use Thornton in the shootout's
5th round in a must-score situation was a peculiar one. Not one with a nose for
the net, Thornton failed to convert ending San Jose's night.
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think of this story? Post your comments on the
Feeder Forums |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
OT |
SO |
T |
| SJ |
0 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
| NYI |
0 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
4 |
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| 2nd period - 1, SJ,
Burns 1 (Thornton, Mueller), 1:39. 2, NYI, Leddy 2 (Tavares, Okposo), 4:05. 3,
SJ, Marleau 3 (Burns, Thornton), 9:14, (pp). |
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| 3rd period - 4, NYI,
Okposo 2 (Nielsen, Tavares), 5:57, (pp). 5, NYI, Bailey 2 Clutterbuck, Leddy),
8:38. 6, SJ, Hertl 2 (Demers, Irwin), 11:16. |
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| Shootout - NYI: Nielsen
(miss), Nelson (miss), Okposo (goal), Strome (miss), Tavares (goal). SJ:
Couture (goal), Pavelski (miss), Hertl (miss), Burns (miss), Thornton
(miss). |
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| 1st period - Vlasic, SJ
(interfernce), 15:43. |
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| 2nd period - Strome, NYI
(cross checking), 9:07. |
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| 3rd period - Burns, SJ
(delay of game - puck over glass), 5:38. |
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Shots |
Saves |
| SJ - Stalock |
45 |
42 |
| NYI - Halak |
23 |
20 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
OT |
T |
| SJ |
3 |
8 |
5 |
7 |
23 |
| NYI |
14 |
14 |
12 |
5 |
45 |
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| Referees: Devorski,
Martell. Linesmen: McElman, Brisebois. |
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