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Sharks shelled on Veteran's
Day
San Jose endures second straight
thumping
South Florida is where old people, devoid of energy
and life, go to retire. The Sharks got in on that act on Tuesday night,
checking their dentures at the door and turning in early in a lethargic 4-1
loss to the host Florida Panthers at BB&T Center. The only thing missing
from this game was craft hour and pudding for dessert. The Sharks coasted for
60 minutes and ended up getting beat by a bad hockey team in a mausoleum that
held a tick over 8,000 paying customers.
After getting pounded in
Chicago two nights earlier, the Sharks needed to turn things out with an up
tempo performance. They played exactly the opposite. Defensive lapses and
players caught out of position resulted in 4 Panther goals before the Sharks
even registered a pulse in this game.
San Jose didn't register a shot
on Panthers goaltender Roberto Luongo until the 4:07 mark of the opening
period. Of the 5 shots registered in the period by San Jose, not a single one
was taken inside of 20 feet. San Jose took three shots inside 20 feet the whole
night, and one of those was Joe Thornton swatting a deflection out of the air.
Thornton's shot was the only one taken inside of 15 feet the entire game.
Luongo just sat back and gloved the long range attempts that had
little chance of ever finding twine.
Antti Niemi wasn't so lucky.
The Panthers no-name offense put 10 shots on goal in each of the three
periods and converted in each 20 minute segment. Florida put a pair of 1st
period goals that provided the Panthers with all the offense they would need.
Jimmy Hayes scored the 1st goal of the game 10:56 into the opening
period, after Brent Burns turned the puck over deep in his own end. Jussi
Jokinen picked Burns pocket in the left corner before sliding the puck over to
Vincent Trocheck at the bottom of the left circle. Rathern than shooting,
Trocheck saw Hayes cutting in from the right side, so he slid the puck across
the slot for the easy deposit.
Aleksander Barkov put Florida up 2-0
less than 2 minutes later, flipping a Scottie Upshall drop pass past Niemi.
Niemi was tracking Upshall, who circled behind the Sharks net. Shifting his
focus from one post to the other, Niemi didn't see Upshall's backhand drop to
Barkov for the shot into an exposed net.
A late penalty to Erik
Gudbranson put the Sharks on the first of their two power plays, but San Jose
couldn't muster any serious scoring chance.
Derek MacKenzie made it
3-0 6:37 into the 2nd period, depositing a rebound after Aaron Ekblad bounced a
shot off Niemi from the right point. MacKenzie was loitering in the slot
unattended when the puck deflected right to his stick for the quick put back.
The Sharks were well out of the contest by that point,
but even the hockey gods were frowning down on them. Matt Irwin ripped a shot
later in the period that beat Luongo, but clanked off the cross bar. Burns
ripped a shot with 4 seconds left in the period that slipped between Luongo's
pads but it changed direction and again bounced off the post.
Tomas
Fleischmann put the icing on the cake for Florida, scoring an inexcusable goal
3 minutes into the 3rd period. Fleischmann out-muscled Adam Burish for position
at the top of the Sharks crease, tapping home a Shawn Thornton feed from the
doorstep. The lack of attention paid to Fleischmann was indicative of the
Sharks defensive woes. Little details continue to bite them.
Thornton
scored his goal with 9:25 to play, swatting home a Burns shot that hit Luongo
and bounced over his right shoulder. Thornton was in foreign territory, cutting
across the slot when Burns shot evaded Luongo.
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Feeder Forums |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| SJ |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
| FLA |
2 |
1 |
1 |
4 |
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| 1st period - 1, FLA,
Hayes 2 (Trocheck, Jokinen), 10:56. 2, FLA, Barkov 2 (Upshall, Kopecky),
12:18. |
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| 2nd period - 3, FLA,
Mackenzie 2 (Ekblad), 6:37. |
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| 3rd period - 4, FLA,
Fleischmann 1 (Thornton), 3:01. 5, SJ, Thornton 5 (Burns), 10:35. |
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| 1st period - Gudbranson,
FLA (holding), 19:05. |
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| 2nd period - Ekblad, FLA
(hooking), 9:45; Hertl, SJ (roughing), 13:29. |
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| 3rd period - Burish, SJ
(closing hand on puck), 5:11. |
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Shots |
Saves |
| SJ - Niemi |
30 |
26 |
| FLA - Luongo |
22 |
21 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| SJ |
5 |
7 |
10 |
22 |
| FLA |
10 |
10 |
10 |
30 |
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| Referees: L'Ecuyer,
Martell. Linesmen: Kovachik, Nowak. |
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