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Vlasic's magic strikes
again
Defenseman wins 2nd straight game for
SJ
Marc-Edouard Vlasic said he asked to be on the ice
during the last minute of overtime on Tuesday night as the Sharks squared off
against the host Minnesota Wild in Minneapolis. 24 hours after scoring a
dramatic last second goal to beat Winnipeg on Monday night, Vlasic wanted a
chance to deliver once again. He did exactly that. The Sharks top defenseman
got offensive for a second game in a row, scoring the game winning goal with 2
minutes left in overtime to help San Jose take the first two games of their
current 3-game road trip.
San Jose overcame a pair of 1st period
errors that had them staring at a 2-0 deficit after 20 minutes. They halved
that lead in the 2nd period, then grabbed a 3-2 lead on 3rd period goals by Joe
Pavelski and Tommy Wingels. Jason Zucker salvaged a point in the standings for
Minnesota by the scoring the seond of his two goals with 7:48 left in
regulation to get the game to the overtime before Vlasic's heroics ended
things.
Vlasic ended the game with a blast from the top of the left
circle as he exchanged passes with Justin Braun on a give-and-go at the Wild
blueline. The Sharks defenseman had just bobbled the puck out of the Wild zone
before resetting and attacking the Minnesota goal. Vlasic wound up an unimpeded
slap shot squeezed between Wild goaltender Darcy Kuemper, clipping the nearside
post and catching the back of the net for the 4-3 win.
Minnesota
native Alex Stalock opposed Kuemper in net, playing before several friends and
family as the sharks tried to snap a 7-game losing streak at the Xcel Energy
Center. Stalock put himself into a hole late in the 1st period when he
misplayed the puck from the trapezoid. After a would be icing was waved off,
Stalock scooped up the puck from the left side of the net. With two Wild
players descending on him, Stalock elected to play the puck up the middle of
the ice, rather than dumping it to the corner. Zucker intercepted Stalock's
clearing attempt then promptly flipped it past the Sharks netminder for his
13th goal of the season.
Jared Spurgeon pushed the Wild lead to 2-0
just 2 minutes later after Zucker carried the puck around the back of the net
and fed the defenseman who pinched from the right point. Tommy Wingels tried
chasing Zucker behind the net and when Patrick Marleau was late to occupy the
right side of the net, Spurgeon one-timed Zucker's feed without any
interference.
Rookie Melker Karlsson scored in consecutive games for
the first time in his career, after a dump in by Brent Burns kicked off a
stanchion and bounced out to the front of the net. Chasing the dump in,
Karlsson was in the right place at the right time, when the puck landed right
on his stick in the slot. The young Swede deeked Kuemper with a move to his
left before backhanding home his 4th goal of the season.
Pavelski tied
the game at 2-2 at 6:21 of the 3rd period, by snapping a shot from the left
circle after Logan Couture won a faceoff and pulled it back to his linemate.
Pavelski gathered the shot and placed it perfectly past Kuemper, catching the
top left side of the Wild goal for his 21st tally of the season.
San
Jose took the 3-2 lead 74 seconds later when Wingels gathered his own rebound
and lifted a shot past Kuemper. The Sharks forward whipped a shot from the left
side, but defenseman Jonas Brodin partially deflected the puck forcing Kuemper
to make a kick save. The puck kicked off Kuemper's left pad right back out to
Wingels for the put back.
Zucker knotted the game at 3-3 with 7:48 to play in
regulation by tapping home acharlie Coyle feed from the right side. Skating up
the right wing boards, Coyle whipped a pass to the front of the net with
Brenden Dillon draped all over him. Zucker beat Braun to the spot where the
pass was headed to complete the pretty scoring play.
With the win, the
Sharks lep-frogged the Kings and Jets into 6th place in the Western Conference,
and into a virtual tie with the Vancouver Canucks. The Wild sit 8 points behind
the Sharks, but have three games in hand to narrow the gap. Every other team in
the Conference has a game or more in hand on San Jose except for Edmonton and
Anaheim.
San Jose will finish the home stand by traveling to St Louis
on Thursday where they will have an opportunity to avenge the 7-2 shellacking
they took at the hands of the Blues last Saturday night.
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think of this story? Post your comments on the
Feeder Forums |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
OT |
T |
| SJ |
0 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
4 |
| MIN |
2 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
3 |
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| 1st period - 1, MIN,
Zucker 13 (Pominville), 15:21. 2, MIN, Spurgeon 5 (Zucker, Pominville),
17:22. |
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| 2nd period - 3, SJ,
Karlsson 4 (Burns, Pavelski), 10:54. |
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| 3rd period - 4, SJ,
Pavelski 21 (Couture), 6:21. 5, SJ, Wingels 10 (Sheppard, Burns), 7:35. 6, MIN,
Zucker 14 (Coyle), 12:12. |
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| Overtime - 7, SJ, Vlasic
6 (Braun), 3:08. |
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| 1st period - Goodrow, SJ
(closing hand on puck), 9:47; Falk, MIN (hooking), 18:00. |
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| 2nd period - Tennyson,
SJ (interference), 1:55; Koivu, MIN (tripping), 4:12; Couture, SJ
(embellishment), 11:01; Koivu, SJ (tripping), 11:01; Vanek, MIN (hooking),
13:09. |
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| 3rd period - Vanek, MIN
(interference), 17:58. |
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Shots |
Saves |
| SJ - Stalock |
31 |
28 |
| MIN - Kuemper |
26 |
22 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
OT |
T |
| SJ |
8 |
6 |
10 |
2 |
26 |
| MIN |
10 |
6 |
12 |
3 |
31 |
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| Referees: Pochmara,
O'Rourke. Linesmen: Cvik, Galloway. |
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