Author: smallforce

Photo credit: (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill) (The Associated Press)

~ By Pearl Allison Lo

~ LOS ANGELES– Los Angeles gave their fans a season series win over San Jose on Fan Appreciation Day with a 4-1 victory Saturday.

The Sharks were unable to avenge their Stadium Series loss in the teams’ regular season finale. The Kings had their Stadium Series jersey on during the game.

On playing out the season today, San Jose’s Joe Pavelski said, “It’s annoying,  but it is what it is. The game’s enjoyable, obviously. We love to play, but we love to play for something. We wanted to go in and play for the pride, but at the end of the day, it’s not quite the same. It’s just disappointing. ”

Regarding the actual finale, Sharks’ head coach Todd McLellan said, “It was really a game where you didn’t know what to expect. We didn’t know if the teams were just going to wander through or if it wasg going to be physical, and I saw phases of both..There was some physicality but then there were some moments of free play. I thought our back end actually held up pretty well for most of the night, but then they started to take over and then they ended up winning .”

Los Angeles scored three goals in the third to break the tie and outshot San Jose 17-5 in the final period.

The first and second period each had its evenness and feistiness, with three penalties, an altercation and a goal apiece.

The Sharks got an early power play and scored early on the power play. 13 seconds into the man advantage, Joe Pavelski fed Brent Burns, who scored his first goal since the last game against the Stadium Series. The goal came at 1:38 and Joe Thornton got the second assist. It was Thornton’s third assist of the season matchup.

The altercation after the boarding penalty by the San Jose’s John Scott at 5:54 did not end with a penalty.

The Sharks outblocked the Kings 10-1 in the opening period.

The second period saw a roughing penalty for both sides.

Los Angeles evened the game at 10:47 of the second. Tyler Toffoli scored, aided by Jarret Stoll. Andy Andreoff got his first NHL assist.

Less than a minute later though, San Jose got a power play opportunity. The Kings had a shorthanded opportunity but missed.

One second after a Sharks’ penalty expired in the third, Los Angeles scored at 6:03. Brayden McNabb’s shot hit the post, then the net, for his second goal of the year and the eventual game-winner . Drew Doughty and Jeff Carter helped, Carter with his third assist of the season series.

Marian Gaborik made it 3-1, assisted by Jake Muzzin and Justin Williams at 9:27. Gaborik also scored in the Stadium Series.

Then, with 43.5 seconds left, Andreoff added an empty netter to his resume, with his second career goal, aided by Toffoli.

With McLellan’s and other Sharks’ members’ future uncertain, Logan Couture said, “Todd is an incredible coach. He has my respect and I respect the whole coaching staff a massive amount. I’ve learned a lot from every single one of those guys. I wouldn’t be the player I am right now without them. I hope he’s back and the whole coaching staff is back,  but its not my call. Whatever happens, happens and I’ll always have a great deal of respect for all those guys on that coaching staff.”

Game notes: San Jose’s assists and points streak ended. Teammate John Scott played defense for San Jose for the first time with Justin Braun out sick. It was Sharks’ goalie Alex Stalock’s first start of the season series. Burns, Toffoli and Gaborik both had their second goals of the season matchup.

Photo credit: @SanJoseSharks twitter

~ By Pearl Allison Lo

~ San Jose switched the storyline on the Oilers and rookie goalie Laurent Brossoit with a 3-1 comeback win Thursday.

It was a much different game than the teams’ last game, which had goals in all but one-half period. However, it was another close game like the 13-round shootout.

The Sharks were only down one goal, but that was looking like enough for Edmonton to win, with the way Brossoit guarded the net in his first NHL game. Brossoit stopped 42 shots before one got past him, ending up with a total of 49 saves, an Oiler goalie debut record.

29-year-old Bryan Lerg for San Jose also had a game to remember. He got knocked up and had the game-winning goal in his first NHL game with eight shots on net being a record for a debut.

The knock up began when two of the first-time NHL players were involved in a five-minute incident. At 2:08, Curtis Hamilton got Lerg from behind on his first shift and Lerg’s head hit the boards. Hamilton got five-minutes for boarding.

It was not a very fruitful ensuing power play for the Sharks, even in terms of attempts.

In the first period, San Jose outshot Edmonton 19-7 and the Oilers blocked 13 to three Sharks’ shots.

San Jose held Edmonton without a shot on goal during their power play in the second period starting at 4:34.

The game’s deadlock finally broke at 12:30. On one end of the ice, Brossoit denied Tomas Hertl on a one-one-one five-hole attempt. Then on the other end, Nail Yakupov scored unassisted.

The Sharks had a rare 3-on-1 opportunity with about four minutes left in the period.

With Hertl’s second shot of the game, he hit the post with less than a minute left in the second.

In the third for San Jose, a 2-on-1 became a Joe Thornton 1-on-1 with 10:01 left in the third period. Thornton was denied.

Just over 30 seconds later though, Patrick Marleau broke the deadlock against Brossoit unassisted.

At 17:08, Lerg had a big smile as he scored, aided by Logan Couture and Taylor Fedun.

Matt Nieto ensured success for San Jose with an empty netter with 29 seconds left in the game. Nieto was helped by Tommy Wingels and Chris Tierney. With Tierney’s assist, he extended his point streak to five games.

The Sharks outshot the Oilers 19-6 in the third.

Game notes: San Jose won for the first time this season at Rexall Place as they clinched the season series. The Sharks’ John Scott played in place of Mike Brown. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins did not play for Edmonton. Hamilton ended with four hits and a blocked shot. San Jose will next try to avenge their Outdoor Game loss against the Kings, in the teams’ season finale Saturday at 12pm.

(AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

By Pearl Allison Lo

~ Though the Detroit Red Wings did score four goals, San Jose responded each time they were down, to earn a 6-4 win Thursday.

The Sharks ended a three-game losing streak with the help of special teams. They killed off at least one power play against the NHL’s #1 power play team in each period. Even more, San Jose held the Red Wings without a power play goal. Detroit has had 12 such goals in their last 13.

Other statistics in favor of the Sharks were faceoff wins (34-27), giveaways (5-12) and blocked shots (17-8).

San Jose has now won seven of the last eight in Detroit and 11 of the last 14 overall. Sharks’ goalie Antti Niemi has a record of 13-3-2 versus the Red Wings.

The end periods saw a whole bunch of action, with five goals in the first and four in the third.

The Sharks had two-goal leads three times, but they did not last too long until the end.

San Jose’s Marc-Edouard Vlasic scored 19 seconds into the game. It started with a turnover in Detroit’s end which Melker Karlsson recovered and Vlasic slapped in from the blue line. The goal marked Vlasic’s career-best ninth goal.

Matt Nieto then extended the Sharks’ lead at 9:14, helped by Chris Tierney and Justin Braun.

It did not take long for San Jose to experience the opposing team coming back again though.

Less than a minute later, Tomas Jurco cut the lead in half at 10:04, assisted by Drew Miller and Danny DeKeyser. The puck made a roundabout entrance into the net, as it hit several Sharks’ players before going over the line.

Then, just over a minute and a half later, Tomas Tatar made it 2-2, aided by DeKeyser. The scoring play also started with a turnover, this one in San Jose’s zone

This time, however, the Sharks were able to respond with a goal.

Tierney scored at 16:02 to make it 3-2, helped by Tommy Wingels and Mirco Mueller. It was Tierney’s second goal in as many games. He has three points in that span.

San Jose killed two power plays in the period.

The second period saw Red Wings’ goalie Jimmy Howard pulled for Petr Mrazek.

It was a see-saw third period. The  period started with another turnover and early goal, 31 seconds, as the Sharks got their first one past Mrazek. Logan Couture received credit, as the puck bounced off the left post into the net, to make it 4-2. Patrick Marleau got the assist.

Stephen Weiss continued the back-and-forth scoring as he used a rebound to get the puck past Niemi. Weiss was aided by Teemu Pulkkinen and Brendan Smith at 3:39.

Marleau then made it 5-3 less than half a minute later, helped by Brent Burns. The last time the teams met, Marleau also scored.

Next, Justin Abdelkader made it 5-4, assisted by Jonathan Ericsson and Niklas Kronwall at 12:33. The puck actually went off San Jose’s Scott Hannan, but Abdelkader was credited with his third goal in as many games, a total of five points in that span. Kronwall returned after missing Detroit’s last game.

Finally, Marleau made it 6-4 with his second goal of the night. He scored on an empty net at 18:43.

Game notes: The Red Wings’ Pavel Datsyuk was out for a fifth straight game. Detroit was also without Erik Cole. The Sharks announced the signings of recent college graduates, goaltender Joel Rumpel and defenseman Joakim Ryan. San Jose has an early game next, 10am on March 28 versus the Philadelphia Flyers.

Photo credit: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

By Pearl Allison Lo

~ It was lucky seven as Ottawa leapfrogged over the Boston Bruins into a playoff spot with their seventh straight win, and their rallying goalie Andrew Hammond got his seventh win on home ice, via a 5-2 win over the San Jose Sharks Monday.

Hammond is yet without a regulation loss in his career.

It was just the Senators’ third win in ten meetings versus the Sharks and ended a four-game San Jose win streak in Ottawa. The Sharks are still not mathematically out.

Shots and the score were pretty even until the third. San Jose was outshot 17-9 in the final frame with four unanswered goals.

The game scoring started with the Senators’ Mika Zibanejad putting the puck in off his knee, as he was aided by Mike Hoffman and Bobby Ryan at 14:09 of the first. There was a review after the goal, but the score was upheld.

Both second period scoring plays involved the Sharks’ Chris Tierney.

Less than 20 seconds after Tierney drew a penalty, Joe Pavelski tied the game on the power play. After Brent Burns’s shot went off Hammond, Pavelski put in his 18th power play goal as he went to his bottom. Patrick Marleau also helped at 12:47.

30 seconds later, Tierney scored on a 2-on-1 to make it 2-1. After a pass by Tommy Wingels, Tierney put the puck in with his backhand. Matt Nieto also assisted.

The trouble started in the third, just like the teams’ last game, with three unanswered goals.

Zibanejad struck again first, with Ryan getting the primary assist this time and Hoffman the secondary, for the game’s second tie at 2:19 of the third.

At 12:11, Ottawa regained the lead. Alex Chiasson scored, aided by Mark Stone and Cody Ceci.

The momentum increased when over a minute later, Jean-Gabriel Pageau, helped by Erik Karlsson, made it 4-2 on a 2-on-1. The goal resulted in the first hamburger on the ice and increasing crowd noise at 13:23.

Zibanejad had to leave after being hit by the puck. It looked almost like he was blocking Hoffman’s shot in front of San Jose goalie Antti Niemi.The similarity in the comeback ended when the Senators’ Kyle Turris missed on an empty net, but Hoffman scored later to make it 5-2.  Hoffman was assisted by David Legwand and Ryan. It would be Ryan’s third assist of the night.

Pavelski said post-game, “We’re just going to play. We can’t look ahead. It does us no good. We’ll try to keep working on things & see where it goes.”

Game notes: Ottawa won takeaways and blocked shots, 9-2 and 18-11 respectively. Since February 28 when the teams last met, the Senators have scored at least two goals in all but one game. They lost that game, versus Boston, and just had one other loss in the whole span, the game after they beat the Sharks. Other similarities in the latter game also consisted of a 1-0 score after the first, a player scoring two goals and the last goal being an empty netter. San Jose next plays Thursday, March 26 against the Detroit Red Wings at 4:30pm.

Photo credit: CANADIAN PRESS, NATHAN DENETTE AP PHOTO

By Pearl Allison Lo

San Jose scored four goals as they inched closer to at least the Los Angeles Kings, as the Sharks beat the Maple Leafs 4-1 Thursday.

The win ended a two-game losing streak for San Jose goalie Antti Niemi and the Sharks. Niemi recovered from his early exit Tuesday to stop 27 shots.

Meanwhile it was more of the same for the Toronto, who have lost four straight now, the last three games by the same score.

San Jose has now won five straight games in and versus Toronto.

The Sharks’ Logan Couture had a goal and assist and Joe Thornton had two assists, four in his past two games.

In the first period, San Jose outshot the Maple Leafs 21-8 despite being outhit 18-6. Both Thornton and Melker Karlsson had four shots apiece.

The only goal scored in the period was not on the power play as both teams went scoreless, 0-for-3 and 0-for-1.

The Sharks’ Chris Tierney skated behind and around the net and then passed to Tomas Hertl who was up front and scored 7:02 into the game. Vlasic also aided on the goal.

In the second period, Toronto outshot San Jose 14-10, but the Sharks broke through goalie Jonathan Bernier with three goals. Bernier has given up at least three goals for seven straight games.

Couture started the middle period scoring with a power play goal to double the lead at 2:06, helped by Brent Burns and Thornton. Couture skated backwards and angled the shot in between Bernier and Tim Erixon as Erixon slipped.

Jake Gardiner got the Maple Leafs on the board in between San Jose’s scoring at 8:54. Brandon Kozun hit Karlsson to get the puck and passed it Leo Komarov. Komarov then passed it to Gardiner, who scored from beyond the left faceoff circle to make it 2-1.

Thornton got his 900th assist on the 3-1 score at 10:10. From behind the net, Thornton passed to Karlsson, who moved into position from the side. Joe Pavelski also assisted.

The Sharks tacked on a fourth goal with 5.1 seconds left in the period. Eric Brewer tried to clear the puck around the boards but it went to Couture. Couture then passed across to Matt Nieto. Nieto shot the puck and it went off Tommy Wingels’ elbow and into the net.

Game notes: San Jose will play game three of their seven-game road trip at Montreal Saturday at 4pm.

Photo credit: THE CANADIAN PRESS, TREVOR HAGAN AP PHOTO

By Pearl Allison Lo

Ondrej Pavelec stopped 38 of 40 shots, as the Winnipeg Jets got back into a playoff spot with a 5-2 win over the San Jose Sharks Tuesday.

San Jose did not lose in effort, outshooting Winnipeg in the second and third with a games’ worth of shots, 33-12. It was the first game in a seven-game road trip as the Sharks fell six points behind the Jets. San Jose did not lose ground to Calgary though.

The two goals the Sharks’ managed to get came via Joe Pavelski. Joe Thornton had assists on both goals.

Blake Wheeler and Mark Scheifele led Winnipeg with three points apiece, two goals, one assist and one goal, two assists respectively.

Penalties and special teams made a big impact. The Jets scored on two of the three penalties San Jose committed. Conversely, the Sharks went 0-for-3 on the power play. San Jose’s John Scott left the game in the third at 14:22 with a game misconduct.

Winnipeg split their goals between the Sharks’ goalies.

The Jets first used an early goal and two power play goals to take out Antti Niemi in the first.

Adam Lowry scored first, 1:10 into the first period, aided by Andrew Ladd. Lowry was basically parallel to the net when he scored. Behind the net, Brent Burns was going for the puck off the boards but was hit by Lowry. Burns recovered but then lost the puck to Ladd, who passed it back to Lowry. Lowry was able to score with Scott Hannan defending in front of him.

Winnipeg then both doubled and tripled their lead with the man advantage, both goals about midway during each penalty.

Scheifele scored first, helped by Toby Enstrom and Wheeler at 9:39.

Ladd scored at 13:01, assisted by Jacob Trouba and Michael Frolik.

The 3-0 score brought in Andrew Stalock to replace Niemi.

San Jose was outhit 8-2 during the period.

Pavelski got a goal back in the second similar in time to Lowry’s. Pavelski scored at 1:06, aided by Thornton.

Burns had a one-on-one opportunity during the period, which he missed.

Then Wheeler worked on Stalock, who was perfect against the Jets with two shutouts.

Wheeler reestablished a three-goal lead at 7:05. He was helped by Drew Stafford and Scheifele who battled for the puck to Stalock’s left. Stafford eventually got the puck and was denied as he went behind the net to shoot it as he fell to the ground. Stalock made that initial save without his stick, but Wheeler was able to poke the puck through afterwards.

Wheeler, Stafford and Scheifele struck again when Wheeler hit the puck into the net. The puck came into the air after flying off the Sharks’ Justin Braun’s stick to make it 5-1 at 9:12.

Close chances in the third included Pavelec just getting his foot out in time to stop the puck and Burns’ shot ringing off the goalpost.

San Jose got their second goal at 17:35 as Pavelski deflected Burns’ shot.

Game notes: It was also the Sharks’ first loss at MTS Centre. Overall, the Jets had more hits and blocked shots, 23-11 and 23-13 respectively. Wheeler now has a five game point streak and goals in two straight games. San Jose’s road trip continues when they face the Toronto Maple Leafs, Thursday at 4:30pm.