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Ducks snap Sharks out of their
funk
Teams combine for 165 penalty minutes in SJ's
4-1 win
After losing four straight games, the Sharks needed
a swift kick in the pants to snap them out of their funk. What better than a
division rival known for their unwieldy ways. That rival was the Anaheim Ducks,
who obliged the Sharks with an invitation to the Fight Club, rather than a
hockey game. San Jose used the engagement to play solid team hockey and bond a
little as a team.
After jumping out to a 2-0 lead, Anaheim became
irritated and stopped playing hockey. San Jose took advantage by scoring two
more goals to seal their first win in over a week. Anaheim was more intent on
bruising their opponents than trying to score, but after it was clear that the
Sharks weren't going to buckle late as they had done in their prior four games,
the Ducks turned to their patented shenanigans.
Brent Burns staked the
Sharks to a 1-0 lead 8 minutes and change into the game with a shot from the
left point that eluded Ducks goaltender Frederik Andersen. There wasn't
anything special about the shot other than it hovered above the ice and tucked
just inside the left post. Andersen either didn't see the shot or he was late
to pick it up.
The Ducks enjoyed a pair of power play opportunities
later in the period, but the Sharks were able to diffuse the situations with
solid penalty killing. The Ducks made things interesting however with a series
of howitzer shots from in close. The Sharks benefitted from half those blasts
sailing side of the net.
Tim Jackman hauled down Matt Nieto on a
Sharks scoring chance that resulted in a hooking penalty for San Jose late in
the period. Joe Pavelski converted on the chance by deflecting a Joe Thornton
shot while parked on the Ducks doorstep. It was a perfect end to a period that
the Sharks desperately needed after their flat-footed performance 24 hours
earlier against Buffalo.
Anaheim's frustration began to manifest in
typical fashion when Ryan Getzlaf went after rookie defenseman Mirco Mueller.
Rather than fighting someone who's been around the block, Getzlaf went after
Mueller, who has less than 10 games of NHL experience. The kid didn't back
down, although his happy feet was entertaining to the Sharks bench, who shared
a few chuckles watching their young teammate.
Marc-Edouard Vlasic
answered for Mueller by slipping a puck 11 seconds after his teammate and
Getzlaf were sent off for unsportsmanlike conduct. Vlasic pinched on the rush,
taking a feed from Patrick Marleau then skated toward the net, before putting a
backhand shot between the Ducks pipes.
In an attempt to get his legs
back after returning from a knee injury, James Sheppard almost put the Sharks
up by a 4th goal late in the period, but his shot attempt crossed the goal line
after the horn sounded signifying the end of the period. Sheppard cut across
the slot with the puck and slipped a shot between Andersen's pads, but the shot
was clearly late. Getzlaf took exception to the late shot and went after
Sheppard who couldn't understand the hostility.
Facing the Sharks for
the first time as a Duck, Ryan Kessler had a chance to chip away at the sharks
lead early in the 3rd period, when he was setup with a one-time chance from
outside the left post. Kessler had Niemi dead to rights, but his shot sailed
wide right of the goal to keep San Jose's lead at three goals.
The
Ducks continued to express their displeasure with San Jose by trying to muscle
the Sharks up. Tim Jackman drew a double minor for his shenanigans then Ben
Jovejoy engaged Joe Pavelski at center ice while the officials tried dealing
with Jackman.
Tommy Wingels responded by scoring a power play goal to
push the Sharks lead to 4-0. That goal was all Anaheim needed to turn into a
bunch of vigilantes.
John Scott made himself relevant by jumping on the ice
to serve as Sheriff of Honda Center as the Ducks switched into head hunting
mode. Scott's patrol took all of one shift before hell broke loose. Scott and
Nate Thompson locked up at the end of a shift, but when a broader skirmish
broke out, there were a number of players locked up and things got extremely
difficult to track. That was evident in the subsequent set of penalties that
were handed out.
Scott was charged with leaving the bench, although he
was clearly skating with Thompson. He also earned an instigator penalty and a
fighting major even though no Duck was assessed a fighting major penalty at the
same time. After all of that, the Ducks had a power play.
The two teams
combined for 165 minutes in penalties.
Matt Belesky pushed a puck past
Antti Niemi on the subsequent man advantage, spoiling what was otherwise a
great performance. The Sharks netminder denied Anaheim on 6 other power play
chances to help propel his team. Niemi finished the evening with 33 saves.
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| SJ |
2 |
1 |
1 |
4 |
| ANA |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
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| 1st period - 1, SJ,
Burns 3 (Marleau), 8:25. 2, SJ, Pavelski 5 (Thornton, Couture), 19:39,
(pp). |
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| 2nd period - 3, SJ,
Vlasic 2 (Marleau, Couture), 10:03. |
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| 3rd period - 4, SJ,
Wingels 4 (Nieto, Hertl), 11:40, (pp). 5, ANA, Belesky 5 (Kesler, Fowler),
14:53, (pp). |
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| 1st period - Scott, SJ
(fighting major), 2:16; Jackman, ANA (fighting major), 2:16; Burish, SJ
(slashing), 12:53; Nieto, SJ (hooking), 15:38; Jackman, ANA (hooking),
18:38. |
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| 2nd period - Braun, SJ
(holding), 4:35; Hannan, SJ (high sticking), 9:40; Vatanen, ANA
(embellishment), 9:40; Mueller, SJ (unsportsmanlike conduct), 9:52; Getzlaf,
ANA (unsportsmanlike conduct), 9:52; Burish, SJ (faceoff violation), 15:23;
Wingels, SJ (fighting major), 18:57; Perry, ANA (fighting major), 18:57. |
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| 3rd period - Vatanen,
ANA (holding), 7:38; Wingels, SJ (fighting major), 10:18; Lovejoy, ANA
(fighting major), 10:18; Jackman, ANA (roughing), 10:18; Jackman, ANA
(roughing), 10:18; Braun, SJ (roughing), 12:58; Braun, SJ (10 min misconduct),
12:58; Perry, ANA (roughing), 12:58; Perry, ANA (10 min misconduct), 12:58;
Team, SJ (player leaves bench), 13:56; Scott, SJ (instigator), 13:56; Scott, SJ
(fighting major), 13:56; Scott, SJ (10 min misconduct), 13:56; Burish, SJ
(roughing), 13:56; Burish, SJ (10 min misconduct), 13:56; Jackman, ANA (10 min
misconduct), 13:56; Thompson, ANA (roughing), 13:56; Thompson, ANA (roughing),
13:56; Thompson, ANA (10 min misconduct), 13:56; Sheppard, SJ (fighting major),
16:54; Getzlaf, ANA (fighting major), 16:54; Karlsson, ANA (slashing), 16:54;
Belesky, ANA (10 min misconduct), 16:54; Kesler, ANA (10 min misconduct),
16:54. |
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Shots |
Saves |
| SJ - Niemi |
34 |
33 |
| ANA - Andersen |
37 |
33 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| SJ |
14 |
10 |
13 |
37 |
| ANA |
10 |
8 |
16 |
34 |
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| Referees: Peel,
Hanson. Linesmen: Cameron, Mach. |
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