|
|
Kings win special teams battle
and game
Sharks stumble after Christmas
break
If the overtime loss to the Anaheim Ducks right
before the Christmas break was supposed to light a fire, Todd McLellen may want
to gather some more kindling. Returning from their 5-day break, the Sharks
looked more like a team enjoying Christmas dinner than a team eager to get back
to winning. Perhaps Southern California has a numbing effect on the Sharks, who
stumbled through a lifeless 3-1 loss to the Los Angeles Kings at Staples
Center.
Back on opening night last October, the Sharks looked like a
team destined to overcome the embarrassing playoff performance that jettisoned
San Jose from the post season. The Sharks looked completely opposite on
Saturday night, and more like the team that dropped Game 7 of their playoff
series with the Kings last Spring.
Much like that Game 7, the Sharks
scored the 1st goal of the game, then rolled over to the Kings physical play.
Joe Pavelski put the Sharks up 1-0 just 2:39 into the game after Justin
Williams half-hearted clearing pass was deflected by Joe Thornton. As Williams
tried skating toward his own blueline, Pavelski was headed in the opposite
direction. The puck landed right on Pavelski's stick, before the Sharks forward
headed for the Kings net and fired a shot that caught Kings goaltender Jonathan
Quick in the left pad. The puck trickled over the Los Angeles goal line for
Pavelski's 17th goal of the season.
The Kings stepped up the
physicality and press in the Sharks zone. The tables began to turn midway
through the period as the Sharks fell back into a defensive posture.
Tyler Toffoli was the benefactor as the Sharks had all five skaters circling
their own net with just under 6 minutes to play. Toffoli put a shot off Antti
Niemi that wound around the end boards to the right point, where Jamie McBain
collected the puck and sent a pass through the slot back to Toffoli on the left
side. Toffoli one timed the pass into a wide open net after both Barclay
Goodrow and James Sheppard whiffed on McBain's pass.
The game turned
into a special team's battle that the Sharks flat out lost.
The Sharks
committed a pair of penalties in each of the next two periods, setting up four
separate power play chances for the Kings. The league's 8th ranked power play
carved up the Sharks, scoring a pair of goals.
Anze Kopitar scored his
8th goal of the year at 10:13 of the 2nd period after Sheppard was sent off for
tripping McBain. Marion Gaborik carried the puck in on net and tried firing a
shot from the left side, but the puck trickled past Niemi. Unfortunately for
San Jose, Kopitar was looming on the opposite side of the net, where he easily
deposited the puck as Scott Hannan went crashing into his own netminder.
Hannan was the goat in the 3rd period when Los Angeles
capitalized on his tripping penalty early in the period. Jake Muzzin held the
puck near the left dot before winding up for a big shot that caught Niemi in
the right shoulder before floating over the goal line. It was like shooting
fish in a barrel for Muzzin who had all day to line up his shot and wind up for
the big blast from in close.
That was in contrast to the Sharks power
play which continues to believe that they will find holes in opposing penalty
kills with long range shots that simply get blocked.
Not that the
Sharks were generating many shot to begin with, but holding penalty to Brayden
McNabb at the end of the middle period generated squadoosh in terms of pucks
directed at Quick.
A tripping penalty to Williams with 3:50 remaining
in regulation allowed the Sharks to pull their goaltender to try and generate
some offense, but once again, nothing materialized. It was simply a case of one
special teams unit being hands down more effective than their opponents.
 |
|
| What did you think of
this article? Post your comments on the Feeder Forums |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
 |
What did you
think of this story? Post your comments on the
Feeder Forums |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| SJ |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
| LA |
1 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
|
|
| 1st period - 1, SJ,
Pavelski 17 (Thornton), 2:39. 2, LA, Toffoli 11 (McBain, Lewis), 14:04. |
|
|
| 2nd period - 2, LA
Kopitar 8 (Gaborik, Carter), 10:13, (pp). |
|
|
| 3rd period - 4, LA,
Muzzin 4 (Doughty, Kopitar), 3:18, (pp). |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 2nd period - Desjardins,
SJ (hooking), 3:07; Sheppard, SJ (tripping), 9:25; McNabb, LA (holding),
18:51. |
|
|
| 3rd period - Hannan, SJ
(tripping), 2:25; Hannan, SJ (holding), 6:50; Williams, LA (tripping),
16:10. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Shots |
Saves |
| SJ - Niemi |
29 |
26 |
| LA - Quick |
22 |
21 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| SJ |
6 |
7 |
9 |
22 |
| LA |
12 |
12 |
5 |
29 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Referees: Leggo,
Hanson. Linesmen: Gibbs, Heyer. |
|
|
|
|
|
