Stephen Curry put on yet another dazzling display of basketball as he lit up the New Orleans Pelicans for 53 points, leading the way for a 134-120 victory by the Golden State Warriors on the road Saturday night.
Twenty-eight of Curry’s points came in the third quarter, where the Warriors outscored the Pelicans 41-26 (yes, Curry outscored the Pelicans by himself) and pulled away.
The Warriors actually trailed 65-64 at halftime before Curry, who had 15 at the half, went off. Three-pointers, scoop layups, four-point plays, fancy dribbling — Curry simply took over and would not let the Warriors lose.
By the end of the third quarter, the Warriors led 105-91 and cruised in the fourth to a double-digit win.
Draymond Green chipped in 21 points, making a few crucial threes in the second half. Klay Thompson got on track for the first time this season with 19 points.
The Warriors shot 54.8 percent from the field and a blistering 56.7 percent (17-of-30) from beyond-the-arc, a dazzling display of offense.
Golden State advances to 3-0 while New Orleans drops to 0-3. The Warriors fly home to take on the Grizzlies on Monday.
AP photo of Antoine Roussel scoring third period goal on Sat
The San Jose Sharks lost on the road to the Dallas Stars 5-3 on Saturday. Special teams overshadowed even strength play: power plays and penalty kills were central to scoring, though not always in the usual fashion. A wide array of power play and penalty kill results were on display from both teams. Sharks goals were scored by Joe Pavelski, Matt Nieto and Joel Ward. Alex Stalock made 20 saves on 24 shots. Dallas goals were scored by Vernon Fiddler, Patrick Sharp, Jason Demers, Antoine Roussel and Tyler Seguin. Antti Niemi made 26 saves on 29 shots for the win.
It was a good challenge for the Sharks, as the Stars were 8-2-0 before Saturday’s win. The Sharks’ only win in the last five games came against the struggling Carolina Hurricanes. The Sharks had their chances on Saturday but were disappointed again, for the fourth time in five games. After the game, Sharks captain Joe Pavelski said:
We were right there, we had our chances, power plays right at the end. It definitely was better, gave us that chance. Special teams too. It was there for us, but it’s been there for us, the last few games, throughout this little bit of losing streak we’ve had, games have been there. We’ve got to get a little bit more, out of each and every guy. We’ve got to win these games or… It’s what the league is. You play so many one goal games and you’re in tight spots and teams are good. You gotta find yourself on the right side.
The Sharks faced two former teammates, goalie Antti Niemi and defenseman Jason Demers. Sharks’ defenseman Brenden Dillon was also facing former teammates, as he came to the Sharks in a trade from Dallas for Jason Demers. The game was also a chance for Sharks goalie Alex Stalock to face Antti Niemi.
The first period began with an early goal from Stars forward Patrick Sharp. Stalock stopped an intial shot from Jason Demers, but he could not cover the puck before Sharp got a stick on it and put it over Stalock’s outstretched pad. Tyler Seguin was part of the four on three that set up the goal, and his pass found Demers right in the slot. Assists went to Demers and Seguin.
The first penalty of the game went to the Sharks, for too many men on the ice. This pitted San Jose’s 16th ranked penalty kill against Dallas’ 2nd ranked power play. Several short-handed chances for the Sharks turned those rankings on their heads. The Sharks penalty killers were successful in that first try and the next, when Joonas Donskoi went to the box for interference late in the period. The Sharks finished the period down by a goal but not by a power play goal. The Sharks also looked pretty good on the shot clock, trailing Dallas just 10-9, despite the power plays.
The second period expanded on those special team numbers. The Sharks’ first power play of the game came early in the second, when Jordie Benn went to the box for holding Tommy Wingels. Where the Sharks penalty kill had over-achieved, their power play did not look ready to do the same. They could not get organized to begin, and only managed one shot on goal during the man advantage. The Sharks got another chance a couple of minutes later when Alex Goligoski went to the box for interference on Marc-Edouard Vlasic. The second power play started even less well, with an odd man rush against and a short-handed goal by Stars defenseman, ex-Shark Jason Demers. Assists went to Antoine Roussel and Vernon Fiddler. It was Demers’ first NHL short-handed goal.
The power play was not yet over, and not done behaving unpredictably. The Sharks finally got on the board with a goal from Joe Pavelksi. Brent Burns took a couple of shots from the point and on his second try he hit Pavelski’s moving stick just perfectly for a deflection. Antii Niemi did not see it coming because Patrick Marleau was right in his eyes.
The next penalty went to Justin Braun not long after that goal, for closing his hand on the puck. The Sharks did a good job of clogging up the neutral zone against the Stars attackers, and made some space for a short-handed attack by Tommy Wingels and Matt Nieto. Wingels stripped the puck from Jason Spezza and only John Klingberg was able to get back to defend. Wingels made a slick pass under Klingberg’s stick to Nieto. Niemi could not get across in time and Nieto shot it into the far corner of the net. It was Nieto’s second goal of the season. An assist went to Wingels.
The Sharks killed off the rest of the penalty. The score was tied 2-2, and so were the shots at 15 apiece.
With five minutes left in the period, Vernon Fiddler gave the Stars another lead. Brent Burns fell with some help from Roussel and slid behind the net. Fiddler escaped ahead of the wreck with the puck and Sharks defenseman Brenden Dillon was trapped behind Burns, unable to pursue Fiddler as he went around the net and roofed it for his first goal of the year. A well-deserved assist went to Roussel.
The Sharks answered a couple of minutes later with a power play goal. After several seconds to warm their power play up during a delayed call, the Sharks tied the game again. A Thornton pass from the side boards was sent to the net by Patrick Marleau. Joel Ward’s stick stopped the puck in front of Niemi, then pulled it to him and popped it into place. Assists went to Marleau and Thornton.
Tomas Hertl drew another penalty for the Sharks. On what could have been called a breakaway, Hertl was hooked by Stars defenseman Jyrki Jokipaka. The Sharks only had 45 seconds of the second period left.
The Sharks did not score on that power play, in either the second or third periods. Where the second period had been littered with whistles, the third period did not see a penalty called for the first 15 minutes. It did see the Stars take back the lead, again, when three Stars crashed the net. Antoine Roussel got the goal, with assists to Klingberg and Fiddler.
The Sharks opted to challenge the goal using the offside option. It looked very close but the call on the ice stood up and the Stars had a 4-3 lead with 6:27 left in the game.
The first penalty of the period went against the Sharks with just 1:49 left. The penalty was against Brent Burns for interference. DeBoer pulled Stalock to even it up. A long shot from Tyler Seguin missed the net but seconds later, he tried again from the blue line. His shot went between Vlasic’s legs and in to give the Stars a 5-3 lead.
To make matters worse, Chris Tierney was called for holding before the Burns penalty was up.
The Sharks next play in Denver against the Colorado Avalanche on Sunday at 11:30 PT.
Sacramento – The circus came to town on Friday night in the form of the Los Angeles Lakers. The Lakers might not see the Kings as their archrivals, but Kings fans see the purple and gold as an enemy that needs to conquered.
The Kings conquered the Lakers on Friday night 132-114 in a game that was not a close as the score would indicate. Sacramento dominated the game from the opening tip. The Lakers had only one lead in the game – 4 to2 at the 10:40 mark in the first quarter. Los Angeles never came close to a lead after that.
The Kings scored 40 points in the first quarter and 34 more in the second period. They held a 74-50 lead at halftime. The only question was how would the Kings respond coming out of halftime?
There was a bit of a letdown as the Lakers outscored the Kings 33-28 in the third and 31-30 in the fourth quarter. The Lakers tried to make a run in the fourth quarter but the game outcome was never in question.
Preseason prognosticators predicted the Kings would finish three to five places ahead of the Lakers in the NBA Western Conference. After the game on Friday, you can see why those predictions are accurate. The Kings are an improved team while the Lakers are young and not very good at this point. The Lakers have potential, but it is going to be painful while that potential develops into a winning basketball team.
Kings
George Karl was unhappy with the Kings pace in the first quarter of the game with the Clippers. In his pregame press conference he made it clear that wanted his to play defense from the opening tip with the Lakers.
Karl even changed his starting lineup in order to achieve his goals. Rookie center Willie Cauley-Stein made his first NBA start on Friday night versus the Lakers. Karl said he liked the match ups with Cauley-Stein in the lineup.
Cauley-Stein did not let his coach down. The Kings newest big man played 30-plus minutes, scored 17 points, grabbed nine rebounds and had three blocked shots. He also took care of the ball making only two turnovers during his time on the floor.
Rajon Rondo had a breakout game for Sacramento. He scored 21 points and dished out eight assists in just 23 minutes of playing time. Rondo was very much the floor general the Kings want him to be on Friday.
DeMarcus Cousins put together another double-double night. He scored 21 points and pulled down 11 rebounds. Cousins also had three assists and two blocked shots. He shot 11-for-14 from the free throw line.
Rudy Gay also had a big night for the Kings. He put up 19 points shooting 8-for-12 from the floor. Gay also had three assists and two steals.
The Kings second unit had a productive night as well. Darren Collison scored 14 points, Omri Casspi 12, Kosta Koufos 8 and Marco Belinelli six.
The Kings shot .515 (52-for-101) from the floor. That is not a typographical error. Sacramento took 101 shots in the game.
If there was a disappointment in the game, it was the Kings 3-point shooting. They shot just .273 (6-for-22) from beyond the 3-point line.
Sacramento was also an improved team from the free throw line. They were 22-for-30 (.733) from the stripe. The 30 attempts were a vast improvement over the mere 18 chances they had against the Clippers. The Kings were driving the ball to basket versus the Lakers.
The Kings exceeded George Karl’s goal for 25 assists per game by dishing out 26 assists.
The also took better care of the basketball cutting their turnovers down to just 14 and giving up just 10 points off those mistakes.
The Kings scored 80 points in the paint to just 38 for the Lakers. Just another example of the team’s complete domination of Los Angeles in the game.
Lakers
Guard Jordan Clarkson led the scoring for the Lakers with 22 points. He shot 10-for-15 from the floor and 2-for-3 from beyond the 3-point arc.
Nick Young was productive off the bench for Los Angeles putting up 17 points in his 21-plus minutes on the floor.
D’Angelo Russell – the Lakers number one draft pick – scored 13 points shooting 5-for-10 from the field. He also dished out two assists as he alternated with Clarkson at point guard.
Kobe Bryant played 22 minutes in the game putting up 13 points, recording three assists and hauling in four rebounds. Bryant moved into fifth place on the NBA’s all-time career list for the most field goals made, passing Shaquille O’Neal (11,330).
As a team, the Lakers shot .461 (41-for-89) for the game. They shot a very respectable .324 (11-for-34) from 3-point land.
Turnovers were a major problem for the Lakers. They gave up 30 points to the Kings off 19 turnovers.
The Lakers used all 13 of their active players in game Friday night. Metta World Peace and Larry Nance Jr. were inactive for the Lakers.
What they said after the game
“I think we challenged them to play defense,” said George Karl. “Our pressure took the offense away and forced them into a lot of jump shots. We ran into a different team in the second half. I wasn’t really happy with the defensive performance in the second half. Learning how to play 48 minutes fast is not always as easy as people think it is. I thought tonight they did a good job for the most part, there were some muddy moments where the ball got sticky and we got a little selfish.”
When asked if he had a good time in first start, Willie Cauley-Stein said, “Yeah, it was a great time. A lot of fun – definitely – a lot of fun. We were sharing the ball really well so that made it a lot more fun. Sharing the ball and not having ball stoppers – that is vital to us. If we want to be a good team, we’ve got to share the ball like that.”
Up next
The Kings play the Clippers in Los Angeles on Saturday night. Playing the very tough Clippers on the second night of back-to-back games will be no easy task. After the Saturday night game, the Kings will not face another Los Angeles team until January 2016.
The Lakers will return to action on Sunday night when they host the Dallas Mavericks at Staple’s Center.
In their first meeting of the 2015 NBA season, Steph Curry gave James Harden a first-hand demonstration as to why he was voted the leagues MVP over the disgruntled Rockets player, dropping 25 points while leading his team to a 112-92 victory on Friday.
The league MVP and NBA Champion shot an efficient 9-of-15 from the field, including 4-of-9 from beyond the arc, while also dishing out six assists and grabbing seven rebounds in 27 minutes of play. Curry’s MVP challenger struggled for the second straight game, shooting just 4-for-18 for 16 points on the night in a losing effort.
Harrison Barnes, Klay Thompson, Marreese Speights and Andre Iguodala all finished in double-digits for Golden State, with Speights leading the group with 14 points on the night.
The contest was tight and physical through the first quarter, with Golden State holding on to just a one point lead at the end of the first quarter. But a posterizing dunk from Barnes on Houston center Dwight Howard seemed to energize the team and swing the match in their favor, as they jumped out to a comfortable 57-44 lead at the half.
Golden state would continue to expand upon their lead as the game went on, cruising their way to a 20 point victory by the games end. The team worked their way into a 2-0 record, while denying Houston their first win of the season.
Houston was led by Montrezl Harrell’s 17 points off the bench, followed by Harden’s 16. Even without C Andrew Bogut, Golden State was able to limit Dwight Howard’s impact on the game, holding him to just nine points on 4-of-11 shooting and seven rebounds.
The Western conference runner ups were clearly frustrated by being steadily handled by the reigning NBA champions, as both Harrell and Houston coach Kevin McHale were called for technical fouls during the night’s contest. The team suffered a 4-1 series exit at the hands of Golden State before the team moved on to the NBA Finals last season.
The team will now move on to continue their win streak with their second game of the season against the New Orleans Pelicans on the road on Saturday, their first back-to-back games of the season.
Craig Lee SF Chronicle photo of Tadich Grill in SF
OAKLAND–Hundreds of Oakland Raiders fans who crammed the Paramount Theatre on Thursday night to plead with NFL officials to try and do everything they can to try and stop the Raiders from moving to Carson Calif in the Southland. The Raiders owner Mark Davis and Oakland mayor Libby Schaaf were also attending the meeting with NFL representatives Chris Hardart, Eric Grubman, Cynthia Hogan and Jay Bauman.
Schaaf said she can fund $90 million to $120 million in infrastructure costs that would include road alignments around the Coliseum. It won’t be enough as fans tried to get creative in generating money for a new stadium like using a fan sourcing program to raise monies to build the stadium. It’s a huge project to ask the fans to raise that kind of money, “I don’t think it would be fair for us to ask you to do that” said NFL rep Grubman.
Cecil Upshaw’s sons and grandfather Tadich Grill owner Steve Buich: Former Tadich Grill owner Steve Buich said that it was about character and never about race why he banished his daughter out of the family. That he didn’t like former Raider Upshaw’s character. Upshaw had an upstanding career in the NFL and with the Raiders also he led the NFL Players Association for years until he passed away from cancer in 2008.
Buich’s daughter Terri said that it was because she married a black man Upshaw as the reason for the banishment. The shameful part about all of this is Terri’s children can’t see their grandfather at all as Buich will not permit Terri or his grandchildren to see him. What kind of a grandfather will not see his own grandchildren?
You know what would be ironic poetic justice if Terri and her kids someday could buy Tadich Grill and can own and run the business themselves. Right now Tadich Grill in San Francisco is being ran by Terri’s brother.
SANTA CLARA–All the criticism that San Francisco 49ers CEO Jed York is receiving from the media is fair. Whatever that was going on behind the scenes and let’s be perfectly honest he has never revealed what went on between him and former head coach Jim Harbaugh, and team general manager Trent Baalke and what led to Harbaugh’s dismissal.
There’s speculation but we know what we saw on the field that Harbaugh got results and gets wins something that’s in short supply in Santa Clara. More importantly the problem with York at the bare minimum is that he’s in this for the money and he really doesn’t care much about the product on the field.
York used the success of Harbaugh as leverage and the stadium in Santa Clara and when the stadium was built he didn’t have much use for Harbaugh because he had the money making machine of the stadium. Once Harbaugh gave him a reason or York created a reason he got rid of him as quick as he could to get a cheaper coach, a cheaper staff, get someone whose more cooperative. York doesn’t care what the product is on the field all he cares about is if the money is rolling in.
The 49ers are coming off of another loss at Levi’s Stadium this season where they managed to put up only three points. After getting last weekend off, they returned to the team’s facilities on Monday morning to a controversy surrounding Colin Kaepernick and his likability in the locker room. Multiple reports came out claiming the locker room is divided and that no one likes Kaepernick within the 49ers’ organization.
The frustration is at its boiling point on the season and the team that was in the Super Bowl just two seasons ago is now at its breaking point. Many are already calling the season a loss with the 2-5 record for the red and gold. With the Cardinals looking like the dominant team in the NFC West, the 49ers slight chance at the post season appears to be over. However, pride is still involved, and the 49ers are at the cellar of the league.
This week the 49ers will square up against the (3-3) St. Louis Rams. The Rams are surprisingly in second place in the NFC West and have lots to play for as they remain in the hunt to catch Arizona. The Rams are favored by 9.5 points on Thursday entering the contest, as San Francisco has yet to find the win column on the road in 2015. This week doesn’t look too promising either, as the Rams took care of the Cardinals a few weeks back 24-22, a team that blew out the 49ers.
Look for potential offensive rookie of the year, Todd Gurley to have another explosive day for the Rams as he was just awarded the rookie of the month for October with 442 yards on the season for two touchdowns. The Rams new quarterback Nick Foles has thrown for 1119 yards on the season and without safety Antone Bethea he’ll look to torch the San Francisco secondary. His primary target has been Kenny Britt with 442 yards and two touchdowns. The Rams like to spread the ball around a lot with five receivers all over 165 catching yards.
St. Louis also has a stingy rush defense allowing only 649 yards on the year.
It’s going to be another long day for the 49ers offense if they play similar to last week. The inconsistency this year is one of the main effects to their poor play.
Having zero trust in the offense against a division rival, prediction: Rams 27 49ers 3
OAKLAND — As October comes to an end and November begins in the National Football League, the playoff puzzle starts to take shape and the Raiders are hoping to be a major factor this year.
After boat-racing the Chargers 37-29 last Sunday behind an offensive onslaught led by quarterback Derek Carr’s 24 of 31 completions for 289 yards three touchdowns, Oakland (3-3) faces a tough pass defense when the Silver and Black host the New York Jets Sunday at 1:05 p.m. PT.
Rookie wide receiver Amari Cooper has been absolutely dynamite this season and is by far the odds on favorite to win the rookie of the year award.
Cooper torched the Chargers’ shaky pass defense for five catches and 133 yards, including a 52-yard catch and run touchdown that put Oakland ahead 30-6 shortly before halftime.
The former Alabama star leads all rookies with 33 catches for 519 yards and three touchdowns and became the first rookie to have three 100-yard efforts in his first six games since tight end Mike Ditka in 1961. Both Cooper and former San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Michael Crabtree are on pace to have 1,000-yard receiving seasons, which Oakland hasn’t had since Randy Moss’s 1,005 yards in 2005.
But the Jets (4-2) aren’t the San Diego Chargers and New York’s cornerback tandem of Darrelle Revis and Antonio Cromartie. It can be expected that first-year Jets head coach Todd Bowles will have Revis following Cooper all day to prevent Cooper’s explosive play-making ability.
New York squandered a 20-16 lead at AFC East-leading New England last week with 13 minutes to go, before falling 30-23 to the Patriots. The Jets, who sacked Patriots quarterback Tom Brady three times, comes into the game with seven sacks over their last three games.
Stud defensive tackle Muhammed Wilkerson leads the team with five sacks, while Oakland’s offensive line has protected Carr all season just yielding seven sacks.
Gang Green leads the league in stopping the opposition’s running game, surrendering just 71.5 yards per game. New York held New England to 16 rushing yards, their fourth-lowest total in franchise history.
Oakland has given up 303.8 yards per game this season, but has registered seven interceptions in the last five games after picking off Philip Rivers twice last week.
Raiders safety Charles Woodson, who was named AFC defensive player of the month for October, continues to be a marvel at age 39. It’s the fifth time Woodson has won defensive player of the month after recording three interceptions in three games in October.
Chris Ivory is the Jets’ bellcow, is dealing with a hamstring injury and his status for Sunday remains uncertain. Ivory mustered just 41 yards on 17 carries against New England.
In last season’s 19-14 victory over Oakland at MetLife Stadium last year, Ivory wore down Oakland with 102 rushing yards and a touchdown. Given the hamstring injury to Ivory, Oakland maybe better suited to stopping the Jets’ ground attack as the Silver and Black are third against the run this season allowing just 84.3 yards per game.
If Oakland is able to win this game against the Jets, it will give Oakland the head-to-head advantage in any tiebreaker situations for a playoff spot.
After Sunday’s game, Oakland travels to 4-3 Pittsburgh, in another tough game with possible playoff implications for both.
Sacramento – The Sacramento Kings opened their final season in the Sleep Train Arena with a loss to the Los Angeles Clippers 111-104 on Wednesday night. The Clippers – led by forward Blake Griffin – appeared to be headed to a relatively easy victory until the Kings fought their way back into the game in the fourth quarter.
The Kings trailed the Clippers by as many as 15 points in the game. The Kings took their first lead in the game with 6:51 to play on a Rudy Gay jump shot. The lead seasawed back and forth until Los Angeles went on a “mini” six point run that put the game out of reach for the Kings.
The game took on a playoff atmosphere as the sellout crowd did all they could to urge their team to an opening night victory. In the end, the Kings began their run too late to overcome the very talented Clippers squad.
Kings
The Kings were expected to rely more on outside shooting under the leadership of George Karl. Instead, the game became a battle in the paint in the first half. It continued to be a game dominated by play in the paint until the Kings began to find their outside shooting range in the fourth quarter. Sacramento scored 48 points in the paint to just 36 for the Clippers.
The Kings finished the game shooting .436 from the floor (41-for-94). Sacramento shot just .350 from the field in the first quarter.
Sacramento shot .458 (11-for-24) from beyond the 3-point arc with eight of those 3-pointers coming in the second half.
The team did not shoot well from the free throw line which is surprising because the Kings are known as an excellent shooting team from the stripe. The Kings went 11-for-18 (.611) from the free throw line. The limited number of trips to the foul line may also be of concern to coach George Karl.
It appeared that the Kings might do themselves in with turnovers. They committed 10 turnovers in the first half. The team tightened up its play and committed just six turnovers in the second half.
Sacramento finished the game with 24 assists – just one off the goal George Karl has set for the team of 25 per game.
The Kings out-rebounded the Clippers 49-42.
DeMarcus Cousins led the Kings in scoring with 32 points. Cousins also grabbed 13 rebounds to make it a double-double performance.
Rudy Gay scored 16 points. Darren Collison put up 13 points to go with six assists. Kosta Koufos scored 10 points, Marco Belinelli recored nine points, Omri Casspi scored 5 and Rajon Rondo 5.
Belinelli dished out seven assists while Rondo added four of his own.
Coach Karl used 11 players in the game in varying configurations. Several times the Kings went with a three guard look.
Clippers
The key the Los Angeles victory was their shooting. The Clippers shot .525 (42-for-80) from the field and .316 (6-for-19) from beyond the 3-point line.
The Clippers were led by Blake Griffin’s 33 points. Griffin seemed to be able to score at will in the first half. He scored 20 of his 33 points in the first half.
Guards Chris Paul and JJ Redick combined for 33 points. Paul scored 18 and made it a double-double night by adding in 11 assists. Redick put up 15 points shooting 5-for-11 in the game.
Center DeAndre Jordan played much of the game in foul trouble but managed to score eight points and grab 12 rebounds. Jordan also added in four blocked shots.
Jamal Crawford (11 points) and Paul Pierce (12 points) played significant minutes coming off the bench.
What they had to say after the game
“I liked the flow of the whole game except for the first quarter,” said Kings head coach George Karl. “The first quarter we had seven turnovers and not much pace. They are a very good basketball team that knows how to win close games.”
“We didn’t play great,” explained Clippers head coach Doc Rivers. “We made a lot of turnovers, unforced errors, but it was like a team win. We bring Paul (Pierce) in, he makes a shot. We take him out. We put Austin (Rivers) in, he makes a steal. Come out of a timeout and DJ (DeAndre Jordan) gets the dunk. That’s how you want to win really. Execution is very important and we did that tonight.”
“I think it was a good thing for us. We talked about it a lot and that we still got to figure some things out. We have to figure out our identity, the new faces and stuff like that but at the end of the day you have to win and figure it out at the same time,” said Clippers guard Chris Paul.
Up next
The Clippers traveled back to Los Angeles where they will play their home opener on Thursday night versus the Dallas Mavericks.
The Kings have Thursday off and will return to action on Friday night when they host the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Kings and Clippers will face off again on Saturday night in Los Angeles.
SAN JOSE, Calif. – The San Jose Sharks hoped having a pair of forwards return to the line-up Wednesday night might bring about scoring depth, especially at home where coach Pete DeBoer had final change and a chance at exploiting mismatches. Despite the returns of Joonas Donskoi and Ben Smith, the Sharks (5-4-0) scoring woes continued in a 2-1loss to the visiting Nashville Predators (7-1-1). Pekka Rinne held the Sharks to a lone goal, a goal by center Joe Pavelski, on 21 shots.
“He’s a good goalie,” said Pavelski. “He’s one of the better ones in the league. With all the goalies you have to get traffic. If they see it, they stop it.”
The Finn shut down San Jose to one goal or less for the fourth time in the last six games. In those games, the Sharks are 1-3-0, topping the New Jersey Devils 2-1 in the shootout for the sole victory on October 16th.
Nashville winger Eric Nystrom baffled Jones early, unleashing a dart from the left circle that beat the San Jose netminder to his stick side at the 3:22 mark of the 1st.
“You need a save there,” said Jones. “Early in the game you need a save there. It’s tough to come back from. That’s a tough defensive team with a good goalie.”
The Sharks held a 9-7 advantage in shots on goal after the period, but goalie Pekka Rinne and the Predators withstood a San Jose power play to get the home team off the stat sheet after 20 minutes.
It took 15 shots, but the Sharks final snuck a puck past Rinne in the 3rd period, with the Sharks captain tying the game 1:28 into the frame. Pavelski pounced on a rebound in the crease off a Matt Tennyson shot for his fourth of the season. Matt Nieto, taking a turn on the top line after playing the majority of the game on the third forward unit, also picked up an assist.
“It feels good to score,” said Pavelski. “But that’s that moment, then you move on for the next one. They got the next one. It takes away from it.”
Calle Jarnkrok gave Nashville that next one halfway through the period, taking a Gabriel Bourque pass and ripping it over Jones’ glove for his first goal of the season, the game winner Wednesday.
“The difference tonight was that their fourth line had two goals,” said Sharks coach Peter DeBoer. “That was the difference in the game. Everyone else cancelled each other out.”
In total, Nashville scored on 2 of 24 shots against Jones.
“They didn’t have much,” said Pavelski of the Predators offensive chances on the night. “We didn’t have much. That’s how it is against those guys. The power play has to start putting one in.”
The Sharks special teams was 0-2 on the night, extending a scoreless streak to six straight opportunities with the man advantage. They also went 2-2 on the penalty kill.
“The special teams battle was even tonight,” said DeBoer. “They didn’t get one either. We need to start scoring there for sure. We had some great looks. Eventually something is going to go in.”
The Sharks will be looking for some treats from their nearly-whole lines and power play unit on Halloween when they visit the Dallas Stars Saturday before continuing the road trip with a pit stop in Colorado. After that, the team returns to SAP for four-straight home contests.
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