Photo credit: @SanJoseSharks

By: Ana Kieu

CHICAGO — The San Jose Sharks somewhat proved they were lethal on the road as they carried a three-game winning streak to the Music City, but it came to an end in a 7-1 blowout by the Nashville Predators, who annihilated the visiting team at Bridgestone Arena Thursday night. The Sharks, however, brushed off the tough loss and traveled to the Windy City to play some Friday night hockey with the Chicago Blackhawks at the United Center.

Sharks goalie Martin Jones was a huge factor in the opening period as he made a lot of notable saves to keep the Blackhawks’ shots from entering the net. The period ended in a scoreless tie and the shots were 15-11 in favor of San Jose.

Hawks defenseman Jan Rutta broke open the scoreless deadlock with a goal–his sixth of the season–that was initially set up by left winger Anthony Duclair and center Nick Schmaltz at 5:46 of the second period.

Sharks defenseman Joakim Ryan was called for hooking late in the period. As a result, the Hawks received their first power play of the night. Unfortunately, Chicago was unable to capitalize with the man advantage.

The Hawks carried a 1-0 lead to the locker room after two periods of play. Shots were 25-24 in favor of San Jose.

Schmaltz gave the Hawks a 2-0 lead with his 17th goal of the season at 2:01 of the third period. Anthony Duclair picked up the lone assist.

The third period got fairly chippy for both teams. The rather negative action started as soon as an on-ice official was struck by a puck and was down on the ice in pain. Fortunately, the official was able to pick himself up off the ground after a brief moment of disbelief for the majority of fans. The Hawks received a penalty as Connor Murphy was called for interference at 5:33 of the period. The Sharks then received a penalty after defenseman Brent Burns was called for holding the stick just 32 seconds later. Unfortunately, neither team capitalized with the man advantage.

The Sharks managed to cut the lead in half as right winger Timo Meier scored his 15th goal of the season at the 12:09 mark of the period. Burns and captain Joe Pavelski provided the assists on Meier’s goal.

“It’s frustrating, just to lose,” said Burns. “When you bounce back after a tough night, it’s something…We didn’t win, so it’s tough.”

The Sharks pulled their goalie (Jones) for an extra attacker with 1:50 left in regulation. That, however, only made the situation worse. Hawks center Artem Anisimov scored his 17th goal of the season on the empty net with 31 seconds left. Rutta and Tomas Jurco provided the assists on Anisimov’s insurance goal.

The Sharks lost to the Hawks 3-1 on the road. J.F. Berube stopped 42 of 43 shots for Chicago. Jones made 33 of 35 saves in a losing effort for San Jose.

“We had the shots, we had the looks, but we didn’t have enough time to get bodies to the net,” said Pavelski. “But we’ve been addressing that (issue) lately.”

“We didn’t have the bounces that we should’ve,” Sharks right winger Kevin Labanc said. “I mean, every game from here on out is going to be a playoff type of hockey. You just gotta be good defensively on the power play…We gotta score. We gotta improve defensively.”

“Not enough to win,” Sharks head coach Peter DeBoer. “That’s the bottom line.”

Notes
Sharks’ starting lineup: Joe Pavelski (C), Joonas Donskoi, Timo Meier, Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Martin Jones.

Hawks’ starting lineup: Tomas Jurco, Artem Anisimov, Jan Rutta, Erik Gustafsson, Patrick Kane and J.F. Berube.

Tonight’s attendance was 21,906.

Up Next
The Sharks head to Minnesota to take on the Wild on Sunday night at 7 pm CT.