Back From Disappointment
On Thursday night the San Jose Sharks hosted the Florida Panthers, both teams were coming off disappointing losses and hungry for a win. The Sharks had fallen to the Columbus Blue Jackets in a five to two loss at home two nights earlier. From the post-game reactions, the players were embarrassed by their lack of effort late in the game.
The Panthers played the night before against the Anaheim Ducks and had a heart-wrenching loss. With just over five seconds left in the third period, the Panthers led the Ducks two to one when a rebound bounced off Dave Bolland, onto the stick of Corey Perry to tie the game and force overtime. Sadly, all non-Ducks fans can no longer taunt they have as many NHL goals as Perry this season.
Despite the pressure, and extremely close chances the Panthers had, they fell in the shoot out. On this night, both teams opted to start their backups. The Panthers started Al Montoya, since Roberto Luongo played the night before, and the Sharks gave Alex Stalock the nod.
As the game opened, the Panthers looked sluggish, and showed some wear and tear from the agonizing shoot-out loss from the prior night. The Sharks took advantage, as Brent Burns opened the scoring. At 6:37, he took a wrist shot from the point that found its way into the net. About three minutes later, Joonas Donskoi was able to make it two to nothing in favor of the Sharks, with assists from Joe Pavelski and Joe Thornton. It was after this second goal that the Panthers regrouped, and refocused to push back. Luckily for them it paid off, at 10:54 Vincent Trocheck was able to split the Sharks defenseman, and put the puck in the net. The Sharks’ lead was now two to one.
Fight Night
Of note, there was a fight in the opening three minutes of the first period. (Cue pacifists: Ermagod! What a disgrace!)
The Sharks Micheal Haley, a call up from their AHL-affiliate, the San Jose Barracudas, wanted to make an impression on head coach Peter DeBoer by throwing down. Shawn Thornton was all too happy to oblige. Despite the size, and vast experience of Thornton, Haley won that fight, and I am sure DeBoer took notice.
With the start of the second period, the Sharks took command as Patrick Marleau scored on a back-hand beauty, with assists from Joel Ward and Tomas Hertl. Marleau came down on Montoya’s left with Alex Petrovic on him. Montoya gave Marleau a poke check, and Petrovic froze, while Marleau came across to the right to put the puck just beyond Montoya’s skate into the net. The Sharks had reclaimed a two-goal lead against the Panthers with a score of three to one.
Just as in the first period, the Panthers pushed back after the Sharks scored. Florida started to regain some of their fight when they had to kill a penalty, as Dmitry Kulikov took a slashing call against Thornton.
Although the Sharks kept possession for the majority of the power play, the Panthers successfully fended them off, keeping them from capitalizing on the man-advantage. When Donskoi was serving a penalty for interference in the face-off circle against Jaromir Jagr, the Panthers continued to push, and were rewarded. At just over 14 minutes into the second period, Brandon Pirri scored a power play goal on a one-timer to beat Stalock with assists from Brian Campbell and Jussi Jokinen. This brought the Panthers within one.
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No Goal
However, the Panthers started to slack a bit, and the Sharks took advantage. At 17:27, Donskoi scored his second of the night, with assists from the Joes, Pavelski and Thornton, again. It was like a switch-a-roo. Thornton had the puck in front of the net, and Pavelski drew attention to his right, while Donskoi stood open at the left. Then, Gerard Gallant threw the flag for the coach’s challenge.
Okay, there was no flag, but he did challenge Donskoi’s goal for being offsides. Upon review, Thornton was about a stride or two ahead of Pavelski, who had the puck as they crossed the line. Therefore, the goal was rescinded, and the score reverted back to three to two with the Sharks maintaining the lead.
Instead of allowing the coach’s challenge to distract them, the Sharks seemed more determined to regain that goal. With a minute left in the second, Marc-Edouard Vlasic scored to make it four to two. Nikolay Goldobin came down on Montoya’s left, and sent a touch pass across to Vlasic for his first goal of the season. Tommy Wingels was also credited with the secondary assist.
Special Teams
Throughout the third period, the Panthers looked deflated, and tired. They had a few moments in which they rallied and gave great effort, but it was not enough to score. For example, at 1:33 the Panthers made a solid effort on a power play when Wingels took a roughing penalty against Rocco Grimaldi.
The Panthers were not as strong as they had been in the second when Pirri scored, but they did make a good push to try to narrow the Sharks’ lead. There were a few sparks for the Panthers again when they had to kill a penalty as Aaron Ekblad had taken a hooking penalty against Marleau. The Panthers were very effective at keeping the Sharks at bay.
The Panthers went on the power play for the second time during the third, as Brenden Dillon served a tripping penalty against Garrett Wilson. Florida put on some pressure, but the Sharks made some good clears to putting a stop to Panthers scoring chances. For the most part, the Panthers did enough to stem the Sharks from extending the lead, but they struggled to make a late come back.
In fact, it was not until there was a minute and a half left in the game that Montoya could be pulled despite the two-goal deficit. The Panthers simply could not take enough command to get the extra attacker onto the ice. However, it was not to be, as Chris Tierney scored an empty net goal to further stamp out the hopes of the Panthers. Thornton and Burns recorded the assists. The final score was five to two, giving the Sharks’ the victory. In this game, the Sharks played very well, and earned their redemption after the Blue Jackets game on Tuesday night.
Joonas Donskoi was a bright spot for the Sharks, even with his second goal discounted. It was especially fitting, as Donskoi was originally drafted by the Panthers but opted to stay in Sweden to further develop. He felt he was not ready to make the next step, so he never suited up for the Panthers. This was the first game in which he faced the team that originally drafted him.
This also marked Marleau’s 89th game-winning goal, as he climbs on the list of players who have scored in that category for a single team. After this game the Sharks are exactly one game above .500, and the team hopes to continue its upward trajectory. They will face the Ducks again on Saturday.
For the Panthers, this was a game in which they faced a tough team, and showed the physical toll back-to-back games can take on a team. They looked much faster, and sharper in their game against the Ducks on Wednesday night. This is the type of game that the team will have to push the reset button on, and refocus for their next game against the Los Angeles Kings, wrapping up their California trip.
Of interest, although Jagr did not make it onto the score sheet in this game, he has 33 points against the Sharks in 30 games in his career. He maintains his above a point per game average.