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Season begins to
spiral
Ottawa the latest to knock off
Sharks
When the Los Angeles Kings knocked the Sharks out
of the playoffs last season, the world saw a defeated team. Given that the
roster hasn't changed much, that defeated team has manifested into something
more hopeless after the Sharks coughed up their second straight 3rd period lead
to lose a game they should have won. The Ottawa Senators rallied from a 2-1
deficit with 3 goals in the 3rd period on Saturday night to confirm that the
Sharks are a broken team.
The Sharks dropped their 8th consecutive
game at home, going winless at home in the month of February. The team that
should have cleaned house last summer may get another chance over the next 36
hours with the NHL trade deadline looming. Several players are unrestricted
free agents at the end of the season, so it makes sense to try and obtain some
value for them rather than lose them for nothing. Goaltender Antti Niemi is at
the top of that list.
The Sharks got off to the start they needed when
Tommy Wingels jammed home a shot from inside the Senators crease after San Jose
did a nice job of working the puck to the front of the ice after a strong
forecheck. The goal broke rookie goaltender Andrew Hammond's California shutout
streak, after the Senators knocked off both Los Angeles and Anaheim with goose
eggs.
Ottawa turned up the heat late in the period, just missing on a
goal with under 15 seconds left in the frame. Niemi made a spectacular kick
save before following it up with a rejection with his paddle as the Senators
threw multiple shots at him from point blank range.
San Jose got into
penalty trouble to open the 2nd period. Wingels was sent off for hooking at
2:24, then Brent Burns took a questionable interference penalty that setup an
Ottawa goal. Senators captain Erik Karlsson pumped a shot between Niemi's pads
after a shot kicked off the end boards, caroming to the Senators defenseman.
Logan Couture was sent off moments later after
leveling Mark Stone with a legal hip check. Referee Ian Walsh somehow saw it as
a trip. Luckily for San Jose, Stone could keep his cool and went after Couture
with a cross check to earn an offsetting penalty.
Colin Greening took
a legitimate penalty when he sent Wingels into the boards head first from
behind. The boarding penalty setup a Patrick Marleau goal 9 seconds into the
power play. The sharks forward was lurking in front of the net when a shot
kicked out to the left post for the easy put back. The goal was MArleau's 3rd
in the last 4 games.
As if on cue, the Sharks allowed Ottawa to tie
the game in the 3rd period on a less than stellar play by Niemi. Stone fired a
shot from the slot that Niemi allowed to kick back out to the Senators forward
for a follow up chance that found the back of the net at 3:52 of the frame. It
was yet another blown 3rd period lead by the Sharks this season.
Brendan Dillon would follow that up with a tripping penalty after the Senators
created a partial break. That resulted in the go-ahead goal after Mike Hoffman
deposited his 22nd goal of the season on the ensuing power play.
Ottawa added an empty net goal after Melker Karlsson elected to send a blind
backhand pass back up the slot rather than shoot from the right circle. It was
text book Sharks. Rather than put the puck on net, they try to setup a pretty
pass away from the net.
Game Notes:
* With the NHL
trade deadline on Monday, the following unrestricted free agents will have the
biggest targets on their backs: Niemi, Matt Irwin, Scott Hannan, Tyler Kennedy,
James Sheppard, Andrew Desjardins, and John Scott.
* Marleau's goal
was his 14th of the season. With the goal, Marleau now has 451 goals in his
career, good for 57th place on the NHL's All-Time Goals List.
* The
loss marked eh fist time in franshise history that the team lost back to back
games after blowing 3rd period leads.
* The Sharks penalty kill is now
ranked 25th in the league (79.5%)
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What did you
think of this story? Post your comments on the
Feeder Forums |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
OT |
SO |
T |
| OTT |
0 |
1 |
2 |
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| SJ |
1 |
1 |
0 |
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| 1st period - 1, SJ,
Wingels 13 (Irwin, Nieto), 2:27. |
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| 2nd period - 2, OTT,
Karlsson 15 (Turris, Hoffman), 7:29, (pp). 3, SJ, Marleau 14 ( Pavelski,
Burns), 13:19, (pp). |
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| 3rd period - 4, OTT,
Stone 15 (Turris), 3:52. 5, OTT, Hoffman 22 (Zibanejad, Karlsson), 7:59,
(pp). |
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| Shootout - SJ:
(goal/miss), (goal/miss), (goal/miss). OTT: (goal/miss), (goal/miss),
(goal/miss). |
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| 2nd period - Wingels, SJ
(hooking), 2:24; Burns, SJ (interference), 6:05; Stone, OTT (cross checking),
9:10; Couture, SJ (tripping), 9:10; Greening, OTT (boarding), 12:57; Turris,
OTT (holding), 14:18. |
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| 3rd period - Dillon, SJ
(tripping), 7:17. |
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Shots |
Saves |
| OTT - Hammond |
23 |
21 |
| OTT - empty net |
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| SJ - Niemi |
22 |
21 |
| SJ - empty net |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
OT |
T |
| OTT |
10 |
12 |
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| SJ |
12 |
11 |
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| Referees: Watson,
Walsh. Linesmen: Heyer, Mach. |
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