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RIP 2014-15
Season
Sharks eliminated from playoffs before 5-1
loss
Entering Monday night's game with the Dallas Stars,
The Sharks and Stars were both mathematically eligible for the Stanley Cup
Playoffs. By the 10 minute mark of the 1st period, both teams had been
eliminated. Only one team chose to continue to play. That team wasn't the
Sharks. San Jose elected to pack it in on Fan Appreciation Night, rolling over
to the Stars who took the opportunity to sour an already bitter evening en
route to a 5-1 win over the Sharks at SAP Center.
For those in
attendance it probably felt like the Sharks had thrown in the towel as the
opening puck was falling to the ice. Dallas used all of 28 seconds to put a
puck past Alex Stalock to grab a lead they would never relinquish. The Stars
used an offense unfamiliar to most Sharks fans, that being the placement of two
forwards in front of the opposing net. Former Sharks defenseman Jason Demers
threw a long shot at Stalock, which bounced off the netminder, right to Colton
Sceviour who gathered the rebound and snapped it past Stalock without a
defender in sight.
Mike Brown convinced Antoine Roussel to pound his
head in at the next puck drop, removing both players from the actual game for
the next 5 minutes.
The rest of the period was an exercise in peculiar
penalty distribution. Melker Karlsson was sent off for a phantom trip of
Patrick Eaves, then Brown earned another trip to the sin bin for allegedly
charging Trevor Daly. Shawn Horcoff put the Sharks on the power play at 14:32
for holding Taylor Fedun's stick, but by that time word had likely matriculated
to the Sharks bench, because the intensity dropped like a stone.
Barclay Goodrow laid out Tyler Seguin with what appeared to be a clean open ice
hit, but he was deemed to have used an elbow. The Stars would finally
capitalize on their 3rd power play of the period, when Eaves kicked in a pass
from Benn that fluttered through the crease. The on-ice officials who were so
quick to assume the elbowing penalty, didn't spend a second reviewing Eaves
soccer goal.
Dallas built on their 2-0 lead after the Sharks got in
more penalty trouble in the 2nd period. Brent Burns followed Joe Pavelski to
the penalty box 1:15 after the Sharks forward was sent off for hooking.
Jamie Benn scored his 31st goal of the season on the ensuing 2-man
advantage, roofing a cross ice pass from Seguin while parked outside the right
post. There was little Stalock could do as the Stars connected on 5 quick
passes as the Sharks chased the puck.
Horcoff took an interference
penalty 4 minutes later to setup the Sharks lone goal of the night. Joe
Thornton took a drop pass form Chris Tierney at the blueline then took two
strides and fired a shot as his young linemate headed for the net to create a
distraction. Thornton's shot squeezed between Stars goaltender Jhonas Enroth's
pads for his 16th goal of the season.
Benn and Ryan Garbuth tacked on goals in the 3rd
period to rub a little salt into the sellout crowd's wound. Benn's was one of
the easiest he would score this season, tapping home a Seguin pass from the
doorstep after the Sharks defense left him to roam free through the slot.
Garbuth scored on a breakaway after exiting the penalty box. He had
elbowed Matt Irwin 2 minutes earlier, but turned his infraction into a plus by
sneaking past the Sharks defense and sliding the puck between Stalock's pads.
The capacity crowd had whittled down to a few pockets of spectators by
that time. When the final horn sounded, Sharks quickly changed into the jerseys
they raffle off to those in attendance. After a few words by Pavelski, the
Sharks passed out their jerseys to the lucky few who won them, then the players
finally showed off their skating skills, high-tailing it off the ice faster
than any play during the actual game.
The ice cleared, and the 2014-15
home season was no more. Mercifully, no more.
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think of this story? Post your comments on the
Feeder Forums |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| DAL |
2 |
1 |
2 |
5 |
| SJ |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
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| 1st period - 1, DAL,
Sceviour 9 (Demers, Fiddler), 0:28. 2, DAL, Eaves 12 (Benn, Spezza), 17:32,
(pp). |
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| 2nd period - 3, DAL,
Benn 31 (Seguin, Spezza), 7:53, (pp). 4, SJ, Thornton 16 (Tierney), 13:27,
(pp). |
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| 3rd period - 5, DAL,
Benn 32 (Seguin), 15:08. 6, DAL, Garbutt 8 (Daley), 18:00. |
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| 1st period - Rousel, DAL
(fighting major), 0:28; Brown, SJ (fighting major), 0:28; Karlsson, SJ
(tripping), 4:03; Brown, SJ (charging), 9:51; Horcoff, DAL (holding the stick),
14:21; Goodrow, SJ (elbowing), 17:10. |
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| 2nd period - Pavelski,
SJ (hooking), 6:12; Burns, SJ (slashing), 7:27; Horcoff, DAL (interference),
11:29. |
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| 3rd period - Eakin, DAL
(holding), 4:23; Wingels, SJ (boarding), 9:15; Garbutt, DAL (elbowing), 15:52;
Horcoff, DAL (goaltender interference), 19:22. |
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Shots |
Saves |
| DAL - Enroth |
24 |
23 |
| SJ - Stalock |
25 |
20 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| DAL |
10 |
10 |
5 |
25 |
| SJ |
9 |
6 |
9 |
24 |
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| Referees: Furlatt,
Charron. Linesmen: Cameron, Pancich. |
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