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Pavelski's hat trick paces
Sharks
San Jose overcomes sluggish start to snap
losing streak
If the Sharks are going to make a serious run at a
playoff spot this season, they need to take points from inferior teams that are
ripe for the picking. They did just that on Friday night, shaking off a
sluggish start to knock off the host Arizona Coyotes at Gila River Arena in
Glendale. Joe Pavelski powered a comeback from a 2-0 deficit with his 4th
career hat trick.
The win helped San Jose keep pace in the Western
Conference, which has a log jam for the final four playoff spots. San Jose
hop-scotched past Winnipeg and Vancouver for the 5th spot in the conference,
and 2nd place in the Pacific Division behind Anaheim. The Sharks would need a
significant push to catch the Ducks for the Division crown, so holding off the
likes of Vancouver, Calgary and Los Angeles is the team's priority.
Arizona sits 16 points out of a playoff spot, and have struggled to win at home
this season. Their 9 home wins ranks last in the league, so it was imperative
for the Sharks to capitalize on a prime opportunity to collect points in the
standings.
Things looked as if they would go in the opposite direction
for San Jose early in the game. Mark Arcobello wasted little time putting the
Sharks in to a hole, by scoring his 9th goal of the season just 1:42 into the
game. Arcobello took a Michael Stone pass up the right wing before snapping a
shot past Antti Niemi below the blocker.
Matt Tennyson put the Sharks
in a predicament with an interference penalty that put the Coyotes on their 1st
of two power plays on the night. The Sharks cam with 2 seconds of killing the
infraction, but when Brent Burns gloved a pass and tried sending a blind
backhand out of the zone, he ended up putting the puck Keith Yandle's stick.
Yandle worked the puck to Sam Gagner, who setup a Martin Erat shot that found
twine to make it 2-0 Coyotes.
The Sharks used the intermission to
regroup and came out of the locker room more committed to details. Pavelski in
particular was a one--man wrecking crew.
The centerman was the
beneficiary of a deflection off Oliver Ekman-Larsson's skate 27 seconds into
the 2nd period to get the Sharks on the board. Pavleski carried the puck along
the end line out of the right corner, spotting Melker Karlsson on the far side
of the net. Pavelski tried to loft a pass to Karlsson, but Ekman-Larsson tried
to block the pass by dropping his leg to the ice. The puck hit his skate and
deflected past Coyotes goaltender Mike Smith for his 29th goal of the season.
Pavelski tied the game at 2-2 at 13:09 with a power play goal after
the Coyotes took a pair of overlapping penalties at the mid-point of the
period. Logan Couture and Joe Thornton setup the goal by playing keep-away in
the Arizona zone until Pavelski setup to the right of the slot for a bag-bang
one-timer that beat Smith.
Barclay Goodrow gave the Sharks their first lead of
the game 6:23 into the 3rd period, after carrying the puck up the right wing
and snapping a shot from the bottom of the right circle for his 4th tally of
the season. Andrew Desjardins was tripped on the attack, but was able to join
the attack after Goodrow swooped in and gained control of the puck. With
Desjardins on his left, Goodrow elected to shoot, rather than try a pass to his
linemate. That decision proved fruitful as the puck slipped over Smith's left
shoulder for the 3-2 Sharks lead.
Pavelski completed his hat trick
with an empty net goal with 1:26 to play.
Game Notes:
*
The win was also head coach Todd McLellan's 300th career victory. McLellan
became the 2nd fastest to reach that mark, amassing the milestone in his 515th
game. Bruce Beaudreau did it in 496 games.
* Joe Thornton added 3
assists, pushing him to 1,244 career points. Thornton needs 23 points to
surpass Jean Ratelle for 35th on the all-time scoring list.
* Rookie
defenseman Mirco Mueller had a game high 4 blocked shots.
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Feeder Forums |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| SJ |
0 |
2 |
2 |
4 |
| ARI |
2 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
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| 1st period - 1, ARI,
Arcobello 9 (Stone), 1:42. 2, ARI, Erat 8 (Gagner, Yandle), 15:07, (pp). |
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| 2nd period - 3, SJ,
Pavelski 29 (Thornton, Hannan), 0:27. 4, SJ, Pavelski 30 (Couture, Thornton),
13:09, (pp). |
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| 3rd period - 5, SJ,
Goodrow 4 (Burns, Niemi), 6:23. 6, SJ, Pavelski 31 (Thornton), 18:34,
(en). |
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| 1st period - Arcobello,
ARI (holding the stick), 7:19; Tennyson, SJ (interference), 13:08. |
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| 2nd period - Dillon, SJ
(slashing), 5:37; Stone, ARI (hooking), 10:57; Ekman-Larsson, ARI (roughing),
12:47. |
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| 3rd period - Irwin, SJ
(roughing), 1:33; Shinnimin, ARI (roughing), 1:33. |
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Shots |
Saves |
| SJ - Niemi |
34 |
32 |
| ARI - Smith |
25 |
22 |
| - empty net |
1 |
0 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| SJ |
7 |
8 |
11 |
26 |
| ARI |
12 |
12 |
10 |
34 |
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| Referees: Pochmara,
Jackson. Linesmen: Henderson, Heyer. |
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