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Epic collapse in rematch with
Pens
Sharks blow 2-goal lead in 3rd
period
There are certain games you want to win at all
costs. Facing the team that crushed your Stanley Cup dreams for the first time
is one of those games. When San Jose entered the 3rd period with a 2-0 lead, it
looked as if that mission would be accomplished. The Stanley Cup Champion
Pittsburgh Penguins had other ideas, storming back with a 3-goal 3rd period to
stun the befuddled Sharks at PPG Paints Arena. While not the magnitude of a
Stanley Cup eliminating loss, it was a demoralizing defeat. It confirmed who
the better team was last spring when it counted most.
The Sharks had
this one in the bag. Two goal leads are insurmountable in the NHL. Just look to
the Penguins in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals for evidence of that. For a
team like San Jose to get caught up in a loss of momentum in a game like this
is just difficult to understand.
But then again it's not.
Pittsburgh played with the services of Sydney Crosby, Kris Letang and Connor
Sheery who were all on the shelf with injuries. The Sharks had every reason to
win this game.
The same defensive gaps in the Stanley Cup Finals
reared their ugly head in Thursday night's defeat. Too many players turned in
3rd period performances that were worthy of demotions. Standing and watching
was the order of business for a Sharks defense that you would have expected to
do nothing more than lay out punishing hits all night in retribution for last
Spring's treatment by the Penguins.
But that's not this team.
The Sharks are focused on playing the odds. Do things the same way, and good
things will happen. Except they didn't. The Sharks needed to match the Penguins
intensity in the 3rd period, but they failed. They failed miserably.
Evgeni Malkin even tried to gift wrap the win for San Jose by taking a tripping
penalty 4 minutes into the fateful 3rd. The passivity of the Sharks cost them
dearly. A Mikkel Boedker chance to stuff home a 3rd goal into an empty Penguins
net at the end of the power play went by the wayside, as did the game.
The Penguins roared to life after surviving the Malkin penalty and
systematically carved up the Sharks like a Thanksgiving turkey. Malkin cut the
Sharks lead in half with 13:13 to play after the Sharks bungled a defensive
sequence. First Chris Tierney left his feet in an attempt to sweep a puck away,
essentially taking himself out of the play. Then Paul Martin and Justin Braun
tried swatting a puck simultaneously out of the air with their gloves, but
ended up chipping the puck out front to Malkin. Joel Ward missed his
assignment, allowing Malkin to snipe from 10 feet out in the center of the
slot.
Scott Wilson tied the game less than three minutes later after
Patric Hornqvist laid a check on Brendon Dillon in the left corner, separating
the puck from the Sharks defenseman. Wilson swooped in to grab the puck and
then waltzed to the net as Martin stood watching in front of the right post.
Wilson flipped a backhand chance from 6-feet out, beating Martin Jones through
the 5-hole.
The Sharks survived a sloppy delay of game penalty by
Martin after he flipped the puck over the glass, but they shot themselves in
the foot moments after that penalty expired when Marc-Edouard Vlasic was sent
off for slashing Bryan Rust. Already on their heels, the penalty was a dagger
applied to the Sharks throats.
The penalty kill has been the Sharks
Achilles heel early in the season, and Vlasic's penalty queued the meltdown in
nightmarish fashion. The Penguins swarmed the front of the San Jose net like a
pack of wild dogs that could smell blood. Martin had a chance to clear the puck
and get a change, but he didn't get enough on his stick, turning it into a pass
to the point defenders. Hornqvist deposited the puck from the doorstep as
Martin and Brent Burns stood and watched.
Martin was on the ice for
all three Penguins goals. It was a fitting return for the defenseman that the
Penguins gave up on. It validated the decision to go with younger, more
energetic talent. The season veteran played more like a seasoned pot roast.
Pittsburgh's epic comeback made Tomas Hertl and Patrick Marleau's
goals in the 2nd period afterthoughts. Hertl staked the Sharks to a 1-0 lead
5:04 into the middle frame, following up a Joe Pavelski shot that was stopped
by Penguins goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury with a kick save. Hertl swooped in to
tap home the puck as it sat in front of the right post.
Marleau scored
his 2nd goal of the season after picking Brian Doumalin's pocket at he Penguins
blueline before exchanging passes with Logan Couture and slipping a shot
through Fleury's pads.
Game Notes:
* Marc-Edouard
Vlasic was assessed a game misconduct after the final horn, likely for voicing
his displeasure with referee Jake Brenk's slashing call that setup hornqvist's
game winner.
* Patrick Marleau, Brent Burns and Tomas Hertl had 5
shots a piece to lead San Jose. The Sharks recorded 34 shots on the night.
* Pittsburgh had recorded only 5 shots while playing 5-on-5 entering
the fateful 3rd period. The Penguins couldn't generate much in that first 40
minutes, which made the comeback all the more improbable. Two of their goals
came on only 5 shots.
* The Sharks road trip comes to an end with a
game in Detroit on Saturday night. San Jose returns to SAP Center on October
25th to kick off a 3-game homestand.
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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 |
T |
| SJ |
0 |
2 |
0 |
2 |
| PIT |
0 |
0 |
3 |
3 |
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| 2nd period - 1, SJ,
Hertl 2 (Pavelski, Burns), 5:04. 2, SJ, Marleau 2 (Couture), 16:15. |
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| 3rd period - 3, PIT,
Malkin 2 (unassisted), 6:47. 4, PIT, Wilson 1 (Cullen, Hornqvist), 9:01. 5,
PIT, Hornqvist 2 (Kessel, Malkin), 14:02, (pp). |
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| 1st period - Dillon, SJ
(high sticking), 13:17; Cole, PIT (interference), 18:20. |
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| 2nd period - Kunitz, PIT
(tripping), 0:56; Boedker, SJ (holding), 8:04; Schlemko, SJ (slashing),
12:48. |
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| 3rd period - Malkin, PIT
(tripping), 4:10; Martin, SJ (delay of game - puck over glass), 10:17; Vlasic,
SJ (slashing), 12:54; Vlasic, SJ (game misconduct), 20:00. |
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Shots |
Saves |
| SJ - Jones |
20 |
17 |
| PIT - Fleury |
34 |
32 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| SJ |
10 |
17 |
7 |
34 |
| PIT |
6 |
4 |
10 |
20 |
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| PPG Paints Arena - 18,511 |
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| Referees: Pollock,
Brenk. Linesmen: Grandt, Cameron. |
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