The losing streak is over. After dropping
their first 11 games to open the season, the San Jose Sharks finally won a
game. It went down to the last second, but the Sharks pulled out a gritty 2-1
win over the Philadelphia Flyers at SAP Center on Tuesday night. MacKenzie
Blackwood stopped 38 shots to earn his first win in a teal sweater and San Jose
finally puts 2 points up in the standings.
Anthony Duclair gave the
Sharks a rare 1st period lead 1:43 into the contest on a shot from the bottom
of the left circle. Kevin Labanc gathered a Mikael Granlund feed before
carrying the puck up the right side and sliding a 25-foot pass through the slot
to Duclair on the off wing. Flyers goaltender Samue Ersson was late to slide
over to cover the left side of the net as Duclair's thigh-high shot caught
twine.
The Sharks were faced with their first test of the game at
15:34 when Travis Konecny bulldozed goaltender MacKenzie Blackwood. Kaapo
Kahkonen is sitting on the injured list after he was hit in the head against
Vancouver following one of the Canucks 10 goals. No Shark responded to the
Kahkonen play, but Luke Kunin was first to react to Koneckny's misdeed.
With Kahkonen on the shelf, the Sharks needed Blackwood to be on his A
game. He responded by denying all 13 shots he faced in the opening period.
The period ended with a Jan Rutta penalty and the penalty trend was
carried over to the 2nd period. A Mikael Granlund tripping penalty negated a
Sharks power play, but then Travis Sanheim countered with a holding penalty at
16:01.
William Eklund gave the Sharks their first 2-goal lead of the
season when he sniped a shot from the right dot with the Sharks on the 4-on-3
power play. Anthony Duclair was credited with the assist, giving him, 2 points
on the night.
The Flyers cut the Sharks lead in half 2:31 later when
Joel Farabee one-timed a shot from the right side. The initial goal on the ice
was that Blackwood made the save, but the play was reviewed and overturned when
it was judged that the puck crossed the goal line.
Mikael Granlund
would take his 2nd minor penalty of the game at 1:25 of the 3rd period to give
the Flyers their 4th power play chance of the night. San Jose was able to kill
the infraction, which seemed ripe for another heartbreaking 3rd period moment.
Blackwood stood on his head in the 3rd period,
stopping all 15 shots he faced. The game wasn't decided until the final second
ticked off the clock. Philadelphia pushed to avoid being the first team in the
league to fall to the sad sack Sharks, firing multiple shots on goal in the
final minute, including a shot with 2.4 seconds remaining.
Konecny was
frustrated enough to draw a 10 minute misconduct after time expired. He threw a
tantrum on the ice, going after rookie Nikita Okhutiak who didn't back down and
drew his own misconduct in response.
Nobody in teal could have cared
less about Konecny's antics, because they finally had a win. They had 2 points
in the standings.
Game Notes: * Referee Tom Chmielewski
worked his 500th NHL game.
* Philadelphia had gone more than 100
minutes without scoring a goal before Joel Farabee bagged his 2nd period tally.
* Even with the victory, the Sharks trail the second worst team in the
Western Conference, the Edmonton Oilers, by 2 points in the standings. They
will get the chance to match them on Thursday night as Edmonton comes
calling
* The two teams combined for 74 minutes in penalties on 12
minor penalties, 2 fighting majors and 4 10 minute misconducts.
* The
Flyers had 5 skaters with 4 or more shots each in the game.
