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Sharks lay down to league's
worst
Edmonton Oilers stymie Sharks in
Alberta
The 4-game winning streak went down in flames on
Sunday night. The Sharks strutted into Edmonton to play the worst team in the
NHL, and limped out a 2-1 loser. The Oilers had not won a single game against a
Western Conference team this season (0-12-4) and had lost their 11 games before
the NHL's version of life support rolled into town. All the good vibes San Jose
had built over the course of the last week were obliterated with the flick of
David Perron's twig.
To say this was a morale crushing loss would
typically be an understatement, but the Sharks have lost to so many cellar
dwellers this season, it's almost to be expected. The Oilers join the Sabres,
Hurricanes, Blue Jackets and Panthers as teams vying for the league's worst
record that have beat the Sharks this season.
It was also a chance to
gain ground on the teams all sitting in playoff spots ahead of them. The
Winnipeg Jets hold the 8th seed in the Western Conference, but their overtime
loss to the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday gave the Sharks a chance to leap frog them
for that last playoff spot. Instead, the Sharks turned in one of their worst
performances of the season.
Every loss against a dish rag turns out to
be the worst loss of the season, but San Jose somehow figures out how to top
themselves.
The slow starts, the lack of offense, and bad luck bounces
seem to be the script San Jose consistently repeats in all of their
underachieving performances.
San Jose generated 2 shots on goal in the
1st period, which is a number you'd expect from the Oilers. Having put 24 shots
on goal in a period last week, it's simply ludicrous that this team could only
generate a pair of shots on Oilers goaltender Ben Scrivens in a 20 minute span.
The offense should have been flogged in the locker room during the
first intermission. Half of them should have been ordered back on the team bus
because they weren't contributing at all on the ice.
Not surprisingly,
the Oilers did nothing in the scoring department in that opening 20 minute
span, but they did muster 11 shots on Alex Stalock. The Sharks was making his
first start in a month after sustaining an injury in early November.
Sharks defenseman Brenden Dillon was brought in to shake up the Sharks defense
when he was acquired from the Dallas Stars two weeks ago, but his presence on
Sunday night favored the Oilers. Dillon was sent off for holding 7:36 into the
2nd period, setting up an Oilers power play. Nail Yakupov was then the
benefactor of more Justin Braun antics, when he punched home a Jordan Eberle
feed after Braun fell on top of his goaltender. Yakupov had a wide open net to
shoot at as Stalock sat pinned outside the left post.
Tye McGinn evened things up 2 minutes later on a nasty
feed from Patrick Marleau from the leftside end boards. Marleau chased a puck
down as it skipped past the left post, then sent a blind backhand pass through
the slot to McGinn who was cutting down the right wing. McGinn tapped the feed
past Scrivens for the 1-1 tie.
San Jose had a pair of opportunities to
grab the lead early in the 3rd period when Boyd Gordon and Steven Pinizotto
were whistled for penalties 5 minutes apart. The Sharks 3rd ranked power play
did nothing with either opportunity. It was a tailor made chance for the
Sharks. Highly ranked power play with two chances against a team almost
programmed to lose, but nobody in a Shark sweater put in the work required to
convert the chances.
Perron put the Oilers up 2-1 with a bank shot
that once again involved Dillon. The shot came from the rights side, hitting
Dillon in the stomach, banking it into the goal. Stalock was in the proper
position to cutoff any attempt on the net, except for the fluky deflection off
his own defenseman's abdomen.
Even with the Perron goal, San Jose had
time to comeback, but there was no fight in this dog. Scrivens faced 10 shots
in the period but only 4 after Perron's goal. So with 9 plus minutes to play in
the regulation and the game on the line, the Sharks petered home with 4 shots
on goal. That included a 1:34 span with an extra skater after Stalock was
pulled.
Another head scratching performance from the Sharks.
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think of this story? Post your comments on the
Feeder Forums |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| SJ |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
| EDM |
0 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
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| 2nd period - Yakupov,
EDM (Eberle, Petry), 7:45, (pp). 2, SJ, McGinn 1 (Marleau, Burns), 9:51. |
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| 3rd period - 3, EDM,
Perron 4 (unassisted), 10:26. |
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| 1st period - Mueller, SJ
(delay of game - puck over glass), 14:42. |
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| 2nd period - Sheppard,
SJ (roughing), 6:18; Sheppard, SJ (fighting major), 6:18; Aulie, EDM
(boarding), 6:18; Aulie, EDM (fighting major), 6:18; Dillon, SJ (holding),
7:36. |
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| 3rd period - Gordon, EDM
(high sticking), 0:11; Pinizotto, EDM (roughing), 5:30. |
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Shots |
Saves |
| SJ - Stalock |
24 |
22 |
| EDM - Scrivens |
21 |
20 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| SJ |
2 |
9 |
10 |
21 |
| EDM |
11 |
7 |
6 |
24 |
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| Referees: Martell,
Pollock. Linesmen: Wheler, Murchison. |
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