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Sharks roll craps in loss to
Vegas
SJ drops first game in Vegas 5-4
Twenty-six years ago the Sharks were a struggling
expansion team that lost much more than they lost. They played like an
expansion team in the first 30 minutes of their first visit to Vegas to take on
the Golden Knights at T-Mobile Center. That dismal play put them in a 4-1 hole
against the expansion knights. They would battle back to time the game, and
appeared to take the lead with a 3rd period goal, but a suspect ruling stole
that goal away. the Knights would take advantage of a series of lucky events in
overtime to beat the Sharks 5-4.
Vegas' puck luck aside, the Sharks
had no business allowing an expansion team scoring 5 goals on them. The opening
half of the game was a circus for the Sharks. No flow, no coordination and
seemingly no game plan. They appeared to be overmatched by a faster team that
seems to be a common theme night after night.
The Knights opened the
game's scoring 2:33 into the contest when defenseman Shea Theodore picked up a
deflection as he was activating from the right point. The defenseman skated to
the right dot before sending a long shot past Martin Jones. The shot beat Jones
just inside the right post, finding a crack between Jones and iron.
Justin Braun setup a Knights power play goal 9 minutes later after he hooked
Brendan Leipsic. James Neal found a seam between Jones and the left post after
Erik Haula deflected a pass over to the veteran forward on the left side. As
was the case on the first goal, Jones failed to seal off the near side. The
goal was Neal's 12th of the season.
Tomas Hertl halved the deficit
with just under 3 minutes remaining in the period, when he cut down the slot
and took a blind feed from Joonas Donskoi and whipped a shot past Knights
goaltender Maxime Legace. Donskoi was parked outside the left post and had his
back to the goal, but he caught Hertl skating in toward the slot. The winger
sent a backhand feed between Theodore's skates to Hertl.
Joe
Pavelski's idea of leadership was to take a boneheaded slashing penalty late in
the period, which carried over to the 2nd period. San Jose's penalty kill was
as ill-prepared on their second penalty kill as the first. William Karlsson
deposited his 11th goal of the season 10 seconds into the period to push the
Knights lead back to a 2-goal margin.
Jones was immediately pulled in
favor of Aaron Dell.
Karlsson made it a 4-1 Knights lead when he
converted at 6:55 of the period.
Brent Burns finally made an
appearance on the stat sheet, scoring his 1st goal of the season 1:13 later.
The Sharks defenseman rifled a shot from the right point that Legace either
never picked up or was screened.
Christ Tierney made it a one-goal
lead at 15:34, tapping home a long pass from Justin Braun from the right point.
Tierney was lurking outside the left post, and when Braun sent his 80 foot pass
to the left post, the Sharks forward slipped underneath Legace for the tap in.
Mikkel Boedker tied the game with 50 seconds left in
the period, after Cody Eakin was sent off for interference. The Sharks forward
was fighting off a defender in the high slot when a Brent Burns pass found its
way to Boedker's stick. Boedker whipped a shot past Legace for his 3rd goal of
the season.
San Jose appeared to take the lead early in the 3rd period
when Logan Couture whipped a shot past Malcolm Subban, who replaced Legace to
start the period. Couture sent the puck into a wide open net from the left
side, but Vegas challenged the score for goaltender interference. The goal
would be overturned, negating a 4th San Jose score in the last week.
Tomas Hertl was called for a baffling interference penalty. after Jonathan
Marchessault essentially threw him to the ice. The Knights power play carried
over into the overtime period, but it would not factor into the game.
A broken stick in overtime would factor in the decision. It was a perfect storm
in the last few seconds of the game. Burns broke his stick with the puck in the
Sharks zone and he elected to retrieve a stick on his bench, which allowed
Marchessault to line up a shot from the left side. That shot hit Joe Thornton
in the skate a deflected into the net for the sudden death goal.
Game Notes:
* Timo Meier's interference penalty came as a result
of him running into David Perron. The contact appeared to be inadvertent as
Meier was looking away from the Knights forward. Perron crumpled to the ice and
did not return for the remainder of the game. Perron suffered a concussion as a
result of a Joe Thornton hit three seasons ago.
* The Sharks lost just
about every statistical category, including shots, missed shots, hits, blocked
shots and face off wins.
* The game marked Brent Burns 900th careen
NHL contest.
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1 |
2 |
3 |
OT |
T |
| SJ |
1 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
| VGK |
2 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
5 |
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| 1st period - 1, VGK,
Theodore 1 (Eakin, Leipsic), 2:33. 2, VGK, Neal 12 (Haula, Marchessault),
11:16, (pp). 3, SJ, Hertl 4 (Donskoi, Vlasic), 17:08. |
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| 2nd period - 4, VGK,
Karlsson 11 (Tuch, Smith), 0:10, (pp). 5, VGK, Karlsson 12 (Marchessault),
6:55. 6, SJ, Burns 1 (Thornton), 8:08. 7, SJ, Tierney 5 (Braun, Ward), 15:34.
8, SJ, Boedker 3 (Pavelski, Thornton), 19:10, (pp). |
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| Overtime - 9, VGK,
Marchessault 7 (Thoedore, Neal), 1:21. |
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| 1st period - Braun, SJ
(hooking), 10:15; Pavelski, SJ (slashing), 18:43. |
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| 2nd period - Meier, SJ
(interfernee), 0:59; Smith, VGK (hooking), 12:53; Eakin, VGK (interference),
17:46. |
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| 3rd period - Hertl, SJ
(interference), 18:07. |
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Shots |
Saves |
| SJ - Jones |
14 |
11 |
| SJ - Dell |
19 |
17 |
| VGK - Legace |
23 |
19 |
| VGK - Subban |
3 |
3 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
OT |
T |
| SJ |
8 |
15 |
3 |
0 |
26 |
| VGK |
12 |
10 |
9 |
2 |
33 |
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| Referees: Brenk,
Jackson. Linesmen: Barton, Cherrey. |
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