Category: NHL

San Jose Sharks podcast with Mary Lisa Walsh: Sharks enjoying the lamp finding the back of the net more often

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Sharks podcast with Mary Lisa Walsh

photo credit: bingimages.com San Jose Sharks Joonas Donskoi who scored one of the seven goals against Toronto last Saturday

On the podcast: Wins have been in such supply and the San Jose Sharks seemed to be coming through now. With a win over Toronto at SAP Center on Saturday 7-0 and the one goal win over the Calgary Flames on Monday night at the Sadddledome 5-4.

The Sharks got goal scoring help in these last two games from players like Joel Ward, Joonas Donskoi, Melker Karlsson, Joe Pavelski and Tomas Hertl contributed with two goals in Saturday’s game. They all seemed to be back in good form.

Unfortunately Sharks Tommy Wingels got into a collision with Donskoi and will be sidelined and hopefully the Sharks are looking for his full recovery. The Sharks seemed to be firing on all cylinders in the game against Calgary Monday night which was quite different from the game with Toronto.

Toronto was making some glaring errors and it was a good sign the Sharks can take advantage of those errors. Calgary was really ready for San Jose and the Flames pushed back and their known as the come back kids for a good reason.

Mary Lisa Walsh is the Sharks beat writer and does the weekly podcast covering the Sharks at http://www.sportsradioservice.com listen to the podcast below

 

Sharks outlast Flames

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(Photo: Sergei Belski, USA TODAY Sports)

By Pearl Allison Lo

~ In the race to the regulation finish line, San Jose worked their way past a quick Calgary Flames comeback, in a 5-4 win Monday.

The two point lead, in a tight Pacific division battle, seemed destined, as the Sharks leapfrogged over the Flames to fourth place, keeping pace with the third-place Vancouver Canucks.

San Jose had a two goal lead three times in the game.

All of the three goals in the first were pretty evenly spaced apart.

The Sharks started where they left off, outscoring their opponent 9-0 in the last two games before they retaliated.

Joe Thornton got the takeaway and the goal as he exchanged passes with Joe Pavelski in between. He scored far side at 5:07.

San Jose would have had a power play but instead, Joonas Donskoi made it 2-0 when Chris Tierney passed the puck cross ice to Brendon Dillon at the blue line. At 9:27, Donskoi then tipped in Dillon’s shot.

Things intensified before Calgary’s goal. Two of Mikael Backlund’s attempts were saved and the Flames had a 2-on-1 shot blocked. Right after the latter, on the other end, the Flames scored. There was a rebound off Johnny Gaudreau’s shot. Micheal Ferland got the puck and Sean Monahan put it through the net at 13:45, after the Sharks were looking around.

San Jose reasserted their two goal lead, when Logan Couture began the second with his first goal of the season at 1:53.

Things remained in the Sharks’ favor until the second half of a double minor to Mike Brown, after he drew blood with a high stick.

Brent Burns was called for tripping, setting up a Calgary 5-on-3.

Within fifteen seconds, the Flames tied the game with back-to-back goals on back-to-back shots.

Dennis Wideman was aided by Gaudreau and Mark Giordano at 11:12. Giordano now has a five game point streak.

Sam Bennett was helped by Backlund and TJ Brodie.

In the third, San Jose’s Justin Braun got hit twice, the second time in the visor when he was already down, and had to leave the game. Couture said after the game, ““It’s scary anytime you see that much blood coming out that quick.”

The Sharks managed not to lose steam and went back up with a power play goal at 5:12. Burns scored just over 30 seconds in, assisted by Patrick Marleau and Thornton. Burns now has a seven game point streak. Marleau played in his 500th straight game.

Joel Ward then scored the game winner, as his pass turned into a goal. The assist went to Burns. Ward also had the game winner in the first of the season matchup between the teams.

Braun came back into the game.

Dillon was called for a penalty at 15:42 and Calgary pulled goalie Karri Ramo. It paid off, as the Flames pulled to within one. Ferland was aided by Backland and Dougie Hamilton.

Game notes: San Jose ended up outshot 35-18, outhit 22-9 and lost faceoffs by a 44-29 margin. The Sharks’ Tommy Wingels, who had a collision with Donskoi, left and came back during the first and then remained out. He is questionable with an upper body injury, for the 5pm matchup against the Winnipeg Jets Tuesday.

 

Barracuda Lose to Rampage in OT

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By Mary Walsh

photo credit: San Jose Barrcuda-San Antonio Rampage take San Jose Barracuda to OT and win it 1-0

SAN JOSE– The San Jose Barracuda have quietly turned into a winning team in the AHL’s Pacific Division. They may not mean to be quiet about it, perhaps the deafening noise from their parent team’s struggles has just drowned them out. In any case, they now sit second in their division and, more impressively, had won five in a row before Sunday, and seven of their last ten games. An overtime loss, by a score of 1-0, did not change any of that.

Sunday’s match was the second of back to back meetings with the San Antonio Rampage. Saturday night’s game ended 6-4 in San Jose’s favor, so they faced a motivated opponent Sunday afternoon.

San Jose started the game well, at both ends of the ice. They were rewarded with a power play when San Antonio’s Duncan Siemens was called for holding at 2:35. The Barracuda did not score and had another chance at 6:16 when San Antonio goaltender Spencer Martin was called for tripping. The power play started out fairly well but just as the second minute started ticking down, the Rampage found a deflected puck and attacked the Baracuda net two on one. The shooter was unlucky and hit the post. The pair had a second chance and shot again. This time, Aaron Dell’s quick glove sent the puck over the net. San Jose did not score on the power play but they scaped unscathed.

A few minutes later, the Barracuda had to kill their own penalty: a hooking call to John McCarthy. Not long after that one expired, the Barracuda were penalized again, this time to Langlois, also for hooking. They killed these all off, and despite a lot of zone time for the Rampage, the Barracuda skaters kept opposing shots to a bare minimum. The penalties kept coming, and the Barracuda finished the period on another power play, a slashing call to Nikita Zadarov.

By the end of the period, the shots were 9-6 San Jose.

The Rampage started the second by killing off the last of the Barracuda’s third power play, and then evening up the shot count at 9-9 before the five minute mark.

The next penalty went to the Barracuda, this time a kneeing call on Alex Gallant at 8:58. The kill was very efficient, not allowing the Rampage much time at all to sustain an attack. They were back on the kill at 13:51 when Micheal Haley went to the box for slashing. The fourth time around, the Barracuda penalty killers did not look as sharp, and the Rampage took over the shot lead in a still scoreless game.

By the end of the second, the Rampage led on the shot clock, 17-13.

Four minutes and seven seconds went by before the Barracuda recorded their first shot of the third period. By then, the Rampage also had just one. In the minutes that followed, the Barracuda seemed to wake up and spent a lot of time in the ofensive zone. Still, shots on goal were few and far between, goals non-existant. A media time out ended the San Jose surge, and when they returend, the Rampage took their turn on offense. They were no more successful and by the ten minute mark, the shots were 21-17 an Antonio and the score still 0-0.

The tension boiled over a few seconds past that mark in a multi-player skirmish, after Julius Bergman took a hard hit near the end boards. From that, San Antonio’s Reid Petryk landed in the box for charging. The Barracuda had a number of attempted shots but none hit the net during the two minute man advantage.

the Rampage had barely finished killing that penalty when the Barracuda’s Haley was called for hooking at 12:20. The Rampage added one shot to their tally, and in the final seconds of the power play they hit another post. It made a loud ringing sound, shot across the goal mouth and out.

In the final minutes, the Rampage were all over the Barracuda, but luck and posts seemed against the visitors. With 2:20 left in regulation, the shots were 26-17 Rampage, and the Barracuda were trapped in their own zone by icing calls and turnovers. The closest they got to the offensive zone was a neutral zone faceoff. A few brief skates through the Rampage zone was all San Jose could manage in the final seconds of the third.

The Rampage won the game on a wrist shot from Reid Petryk with 1:48 remaining in the OT session. An assist went to Marc-Andre Cliche.

With the one point, the Barracuda remain in the playoff picture, in seconds place in the division, but their winning streak ended at five.

Aaron Dell received the third star of the game for his trouble, making 26 saves on 27 shots.

The Barracuda next play on Wednesday against the Gulls in San Diego at 7:05 PT.

Sharks Win 7-0 at Home

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By Mary Walsh

photo credit: USA Today SJ Sharks Tomas Hertl scores on Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Jonathan Bernier in Saturday’s Sharks laugher

SAN JOSE– The San Jose Sharks ran over the Toronto Maple Leafs by a score of 7-0 on Saturday. After the game, Sharks defenseman Justin Braun summed it up: “You can’t ask for much more, you know? Scoring, goalie played great. It’s one of those games you don’t drop and it works out that way.”

It would be an understatement to say that the Sharks have lacked depth scoring over the past dozen games, or even throughout the season. Players like Tomas Hertl, Tommy Wingels, Matt Nieto, Melker Karlsson, and Joonas Donskoi have all failed to pull their weight on the scoreboard. Saturday, they seemed hell bent on making up for that. Only time will tell if they can sustain it, but the 7-0 win on Saturday showed that they can do the job.

The Sharks started the game with distinctly different forward lines. They were: Donskoi-Couture-Karlsson, Pavelski-Thornton-Hertl, Ward-Marleau-Nieto, and Wingels-Tierney-Brown. After the game, Sharks head coach Pete DeBoer was asked whether these new forward lines was the key to success for the struggling players. He said:

I don’t think the line shuffles changed it. I think we’ve got a proud group in there, I don’t think… they weren’t happy about where we were sitting. I think they were smart enough to recognize we were doing a lot of good things. But we needed a little bit more out of everybody. And they fixed that themselves. Now again we have to build on that.

Tomas Hertl scored twice and earned an assist. Joonas Donskoi, Matt Nieto and Melker Karlsson each scored a goal, and Wingels earned two assists. Usual suspects, Brent Burns and Joe Pavelski, scored the other two goals. After the game, Tommy Wingels said:

I think when we have four dangerous lines out there you see the potential that this team has. And if we’re going to make a run and string some wins together, that’s what we’re going to need. Certainly a lot of guys feel better about their games today than they have in games past. Myself, other guys– be happy with it, gain some confidence and continue it on to the next game.

The other guy with a big blinking question mark over his head has been goaltender Martin Jones, who seemed to share his team’s allergy to wins on home ice. His performance Saturday made him look like he was worth the first round draft pick that the Sharks gave up for him. Especially in the first period, while the game was still scoreless, Jones was key. In all, he made 28 saves for the shutout. After the game, he said:

It was a close game before we started scoring in the second there. Obviously we had some timely goals in the second and kind of ran away with it but it was just a solid game from everybody from start to finish.

The Maple Leafs gave the Sharks ample opportunity to score, and the Sharks took advantage. It was the first goal, from Brent Burns, that seemed to open the flood gates for the Sharks. It was a stand out play under any circumstances, but his single-handed incursion early in the second period was pivotal for his team on Saturday. After the game, DeBoer said of the goal:

That was huge, because I thought we were a little tentative, we were almost in that ‘waiting for something to go wrong’ mindset. And he just said **** it and took the puck and that changed the game for us. That play changed the game.

The game did not start off like a high-scoring affair. The Sharks had the first power play, after Jake Gardiner was called for holding Tommy Wingels. The hold resulted in a three-player pile up in the Toronto net at 5:24. Once the officials untangled the players, the Sharks attempted to launch an attack with the man advantage. Their efforts were no real threat to Toronto, and the two minutes elapsed without the Sharks adding a shot on goal.

The Sharks took another swing at the power play with just 2:09 left in the first. Leo Komarov went to the box for boarding Longan Couture. This time, the Sharks did get a shot on goal, one from Brent Burns. The second unit of Ward, Hertl, Donskoi, Burns and Vlasic got another shot in, and another pile up in the goal crease.

At the end of the first period, the shot count was 12-7 Toronto. Five of those San Jose shots were from defensemen, Burns and Justin Braun with two each and Marc-Edouard Vlasic with one. The others were from Matt Nieto and Tommy Wingels.

At 4:18 of the second period, Brent Burns took the game over for a shitf, skated out of the neutral zone and into the offensive zone, fending off defenders most of the way, and put the puck past James Reimer. Assists went to Paul Martin and Joe Pavelski. It was Burns’ 17th of the season.

The Maple Leafs had their turn on the power play at 7:01, when Paul Martin was called for a high stick against Shawn Matthias. The San Jose penalty kill was more effective than their power play had been. Perhaps that is because Matt Nieto and Tommy Wingels don’t get much time on the power play. During the second minute of the penalty kill, Tommy Wingels chased a puck down in the offensive zone. The Maple Leafs seemed to have forgotten about the puck as they made a line change and almost no one went after Wingels. With Nieto darting down the other wing, a lone Toronto defender could not get back in time to prevent Wingels from making a late pass across to Nieto, who put the puck in the open net. Assists went to Wingels and Brent Burns.

The Sharks also killed the penalty.

Dion Phaneuf decided that Wingels was worth a five-minute fighting major, on top of the interference minor he received at the same time. The Sharks power play again lacked inspiration or cohesion.

Ironically, shortly after it expired, the Sharks extended their lead with a Joe Pavelski goal. Hertl’s pass from below the goal line was a thing of beauty, as he threw it behind him while facing the boards, hitting his mark perfectly. Pavelski was where he needed to be, right in front of the blue paint. Assists went to Hertl and Thornton.

Less than two minutes later, Justin Braun took a shot from high in the slot, which Hertl followed to the net. Hertl corralled the rebound and put it lightly over Bernier’s pad for a 4-0 lead. The lone assist went to Braun.

When the period ended, the Sharks were behind on the shot clock 19-21.

22 seconds into the third period, Matt Nieto was called for hooking. Martin Jones had to make several good saves in the first minute, a sign that the penalty killers were not as sharp as earlier in the game. The Toronto power play was also more composed.

A fifth Sharks goal came at 4:10. Chris Tierney caught a pass from Justin Braun at the Toronto blue line and sent it to Melker Karlsson as he darted across the line into the slot. Karlsson put the puck past Bernier and Toronto coach Mike Babcock made a coach’s challenge on the basis of a missed offside call. The challenge was overruled and the goal stood up. While Tierney’s skates were clearly across the line before the puck was, he had full control of it which negated an offside ruling.

Joonas Donskoi extended the lead to six when he took the puck from the half boards, evaded two different Toronto skaters, went behind the net and slid the puck in between skate and post. That was at 9:28 of the third, and assists went to Wingels and Vlasic.

Hertl scored again at 11:22, despite Bernier’s attempts to push him away from the net. Assists went to Braun and Vlasic.

The Sharks next play on Monday in Calgary against the Flames at 6:00 PT.

Red Wings Top Sharks 2-1 for San Jose’s 12th Home Loss of Year

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By Matthew T.F. Harrington

photo credit: Detroit Free Press San Jose Sharks Joel Ward and Sharks scrum in front of the net with Detroit Red Wings on Thursday night at SAP

SAN JOSE, Calif, — The struggles at home continued for the San Jose Sharks Thursday night, with the team in teal falling to the Detroit Red Wings 2-1 on a late goal from Justin Abdelkader despite outshooting the opponent 36-25. Joel Ward scored his first goal in 11 games, but Danny Dekeyser also scored for Detroit to hand San Jose its 12th loss in 17 home games this season. Petr Mrazek made 35 saves in net for Detroit (21-13-7).

“You can’t take moral victories from games,” said Sharks forward Logan Couture. “I’m sure we’ll look at the video and see some things we did well but we still lost the game. This is a result-driven business. It’s all about winning games and right now we’re not doing it at home.”

The Sharks (18-18-2) surrendered the first goal of the game after Red Wings defenseman Danny Dekeyser took the puck streaking down his left hand lane. The blue-liner burned around Sharks rearguard Justin Braun, gaining an open look from the left circle. He wouldn’t miss from that close, beating goaltender Martin Jones over the glove hand for a 1-0 Motown lead 9:16 into the game.

A scoring slump-buster proved the equalizer for San Jose, with Joel Ward tipping home his first goal since December 5th 1:41 later. The Sharks all-star defenseman Brent Burns fire a rocket from the point that Ward connected with while flying by the goal for his 11th tally of the season. Marc-Eduoard Vlasic also assisted on the Sharks first goal.

Despite three power plays (counting a carryover penalty from the 1st) in the 2nd, the Sharks couldn’t crack the Wings defense, settling for 10 shots on Detroit netminder Petr Mrazek and no goals.

“They’re responsible in the neutral zone,” said Sharks captain Joe Pavelski. “They deflected some of our speed outward. Once we got on the forecheck could play down there but it wasn’t enough.”

On the flipside, Jones wasn’t tested often in the frame. The Sharks defense held the visitors to only 6 shots on goal in the frame.

“I thought we played a pretty good game,” said Jones. “We just needed a little bit more.”

Neither team generated much offense in the 3rd period until there were about 8 minutes left in the game. The Sharks nearly beat Mrazek at one end. Ward’s bid for a 2nd goal appeared to beat Mrazek, but the Czech goalie was able to paddle the puck away in mid-air while sliding the other way to preserve the tie.

“That’s the way things are going right now,” said Sharks coach Peter DeBoer. “We’ve just got to be resilient and know that if we play that way in the long term we’ll be alright.”

On the ensuing rush at the other end resulted in a Detroit goal. After Pavel Datsyuk’s shot hit the end boards, Justin Abdelkader pounced on a rebound that landed in the slot. His laser beat Jones glove side to give Detroit the lead with 6:52 left in regulation.

“It was a flukey bounce out to the slot,” said Pavelski. “The guy wires one in there. You’ve just got to fight through this.”

“That save was a game-changer,” said Couture of the turn of events. “They go down and score ten seconds later. That one hurt.”

San Jose didn’t get much of an opportunity down the stretch to find an offensive rhythm. Joe Pavelski was whistled for interference on a face-off with Luke Glendenning with only 2:53 left in the game. With the team shorthanded San Jose wasn’t able to pull Jones until there was less than a minute remaining.

“I thought (the call) was a little marginal considering all the interference that was going on all night,” said DeBoer. “But that wasn’t the reason we lost.”

After the final whistle both teams met in the corner for a scrum. Joe Thornton was assessed 14 penalties minutes for his involvement in the altercation.

“There was a little frustration, absolutely,” said DeBoer. “We expect that. Guys are pissed off. I think they deserved better tonight and we didn’t get it.”

The Sharks hope that, if the effort continues to trend up the result will be better Saturday night at home against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

“Hard work, that’s all it takes when you’re struggling,” said Jones. “I thought we had a good couple days of practice. We just have to continue that.”

 

 

NHL podcast with Joe Lami: Iginla gets 600th goal; Oilers look to make big progress under McClellan

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On the podcast Joe talks about the illustrious career of the Colorado Avalanche’s Jarome Iginla who scored his 600th goal against the LA Kings on Monday night. Iginla had played much of his career with the Calgary Flames having great success there.

The Edmonton Oilers who beat the Carolina Hurricanes on Monday are an improving team despite being last in the Pacific with a record of 17-21-3 and 37 points. They are led by former Sharks head coach Todd McClellan who has taken this team to another level.

The Sharks who defeated the Philadelphia Flyers 4-2 last week and turned around and lost Saturday night to the Winnipeg Jets 4-1 which Sharks team will show up on Thursday when they host the Detroit Red Wings.  Logan Couture is showing improvement since returning from his lower body injury and looked sharp in the game against Winnipeg.

Joe Lami does the NHL podcast each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

photo credit: nhlpa.com Jarome Iginla after he scores his 600th career goal

 

Categories NHL

San Jose Sharks podcast with Mary Lisa Walsh: Sharks to face Red Wings which Sharks team will show up?

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On the podcast Mary talks about last week’s Sharks win over the Flyers 4-2 and then the Sharks turned around and lost on Saturday night 4-1 to the Winnipeg Jets.  The penalty kill is killing the Sharks in a number of games they face Detroit on Thursday night and hope to get things turned around in the hurry.

The Sharks Brent Burns who is 20th in the NHL with 34 points has helped the club with great offense. The Sharks who are struggling at home desperately wanted to win on Saturday and will have to try and beat the Red Wings to get out of the home loss funk.

Mary Lisa Walsh is the San Jose Sharks beat writer and does the Sharks podcasts each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Jets Blow Past Sharks 4-1

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By Mary Walsh

AP photo & Winnipeg Free Press Winnipeg Jets Drew Stafford gets congratulated after finding the back of the net against the Sharks on Saturday night

SAN JOSE– On home ice Saturday, the San Jose Sharks fell by a score of 4-1 to the Winnipeg Jets. It was yet another disturbingly lackluster performance from the Sharks, seen almost exclusively at home this season despite a remarkably good road record. Of the overall performance Saturday, head coach Pete DeBoer did not mince words:

That was an egg, it was just… I don’t have an explanation. Top to bottom, really poor effort, poor execution, sloppy, soft, not enough adjectives to describe it. You have to give Winnipeg credit, they were desperate, they won all the races, they won all the battles, they won the goaltending battle, not much more then that, it pretty much sums it up.

The Sharks seemed to have the game well in hand for the first ten minutes. Outshooting Winnipeg and controlling most of the play, it was probable that they would have the first power play. They did.

At 12:05 of the first, Ben Chiarot went to the box for delay of game. The first minute of the power play went fine, but then the Sharks started having some trouble getting through the neutral zone. The Sharks’ game of keep away was interrupted by an interception of Joel’s Ward’s backhand pass. The interloping Blake Wheeler skated in with Drew Stafford for a two on none against Martin Jones. The short-handed goal went to Stafford. It was just the second short-handed goal scored against San Jose this season.

The Sharks did not score on that power play, and they were on their heels for most of the rest of the period.

As the second period began, the shots stood at 8-7 Sharks, the score 1-0 Jets. The first hits came in the Sharks’ zone, as the Jets made the first move. During a four player puck battle along the boards, someone caught Joe Thornton near the right eye, but nothing was called.

At 2:45, Joel Armia skated into the Sharks’ zone, went around Marc-Edouard Vlasic, and put the puck on net. Matt Halischuk was standing by at the crease. With Justin Braun on hand but unable to stop him, Halischuk scored his first of the season from very close range.

Penalties started to stack up then, with Toby Enstrom going to the box for interference at 2:58, and Joe Pavelski going for an illegal heck to Bryan Little’s head just 18 seconds later. The four on four time created by those penalties favored the Jets, and they passed the Sharks up on the shot clock.

Bryan Little did go to the room for further evaluation but returned to the game before the period was half over.

At 8:29, Dustin Byfuglien was called for slashing. Under a minute after that, Brent Burns got the Sharks on the board with a hard shot from just above the faceoff circle. Assists went to Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau. The assist extended Thornton’s point streak to eight games.

On the next shift, the Sharks finally managed to stop the Jets in the neutral zone, and then Tommy Wingels tried to take the puck back the other way. Instead, he was tripped by Toby Enstrom and the Sharks went on another power play.

The power play started with a rush by the Jets into the Sharks’ zone. The Sharks stopped them from scoring another short-handed, but when they did get set up in the o-zone, San Jose’s plan seemed too complex to work. They made too many passes, too creatively executed, while time ticked off the clock. With 47 seconds left in the power play, they were taking a draw in the defensive zone.

With 5:31 left in the second, Justin Braun went to the penalty box for delay of game after sending the puck over the glass. It took the Jets 26 seconds to score on their power play. The goal was Mathieu Perrault, with assists going to Dustin Byfuglien and Blake Wheeler.

Joe Pavelski went to the box again witbh 4:02 left in the period, this time for too many men on the ice. The Sharks did kill that penalty, and showed a touch of vim in the final minutes of the period. Tommy Wingels even got tangled up with Dustin Byfuglien after the buzzer. Fortunately for the Sharks, nothing came of that as the officials intervened.

Al Stalock was in the Sharks’ net to start the third period. He had only been there for a minute and 13 seconds when he skated to the bench for a delayed penalty all. Blake Wheeler went to the box for tripping Tomas Hertl. The Sharks’ power play created a few chances but the Jets’ penalty killers broke up most of their attacks quickly.

Tommy Wingels and Matt Halischuk went to the box shortly thereafter for unsportsmanlike conduct. Two minutes of four on four did not produce any more goals.

Pete DeBoer has not done a lot of in-game line changes this season, but by the third period on Saturday, only one forward line and one defensive pair looked as it had during the first. When the game started, Melker Karlsson was on a line with Joe Pavelski and Joe Thornton, Couture was back with Marleau and Ward. Hertl, Wingels and Nieto were a third line, while Donskoi, Tierney and Zubrus made up the fourth. Dillon was paired with DeMelo, Burns with Martin and Vlasic with Braun.

In the third period, Karlsson was with Tierney and Zubrus. Donskoi was up with Marleau and Ward, and Logan Couture was out with Thornton and Pavelski. On defense, Paul Martin ended up paired with Dylan DeMelo, and Brendan Dillon with Burns.

Of course, the netminders had also swapped positions.

Al Stalock tried a nice stretch pass to Joel Ward with about six minutes left, but Ward could not do much with it. The puck got to him but he didn’t have any help in the zone.

Al Stalock went to the bench for the extra attacker with nearly three minutes left in the game. With 2:43 left, the Jets scored into the empty net after handily escaping the Sharks in the neutral zone. The goal was Nikolaj Ehlers’ and it was unassisted.

The Sharks next play the Detroit Red Wings. That game will be on Thursday, January 7, at SAP Center, at 7:30 PT.

Couture Returns, Sharks Ground Flyers 4-2

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By Matthew T.F. Harrington

photo credit: leadercall.com SJ Sharks Logan Courture

SAN JOSE, Calif. – When the schedule makers at the NBC Sports Network put Wednesday’s San Jose Sharks-Philadelphia Flyers match-up on the channel’s “Rivalry Night” there must have been some clairvoyants in the room. The midweek heavyweight tilt at the SAP Center had the type of snarl usually reserved for the Battle of California or the Keystone State Showdown.

Despite the distant between Silicon Valley and the City of Brotherly Love there was no, well, love lost between the two teams on the ice. San Jose (18-16-2) skated away with a 4-2 win in a heavy contest loaded with 53 hits, 46 penalty minutes and a few goals as well. Joe Thornton and Brent Burns lit the lamp for the Sharks, while Joe Pavelski scored a pair. In total, San Jose scored 3 power play tallies. Logan Couture had a pair of assists in his return to the Sharks lineup.

Claude Giroux and Sean Couturier tallied Philadelphia’s markers. Martin Jones made 17 saves on 19 shots to give the Sharks their 16th win in the last 19 games against Philly since 2002.

“Our special teams was the difference,” said Sharks coach Pete DeBoer. “That was a desperate team that came in here. They tried to be physical to the point of taking some bad penalties and we made them pay for that.”

Ever the cagey veteran, Joe Thornton inserted himself into the fray almost immediately Wednesday. The 36-year-old center was engaged from the drop of the puck, levying a pair of hits and nearly dropping the gloves with Radko Gudas after a heated discussion in the first period.

It was only a matter of time before no. 19 found his way onto the scoresheet, be it by roughing minor, fighting major, his usual assist or a goal. Luckily for Jumbo, it proved to be the latter at the 9:53 mark of the second period after the alternate captain flipped the puck over Mason’s shoulder on a San Jose power play.

“I was just enjoying the game,” said Thornton. “That’s why you play the game, the fun moments.”

Thornton started the play, taking the puck behind the visitors’ net. He swung the puck to Mason’s left, connecting with Patrick Marleau at the faceoff circle. Marleau went back up the wing to Thornton, who had now positioned himself just outside the crease. From there, Thornton slapped the puck up and over Mason’s left shoulder for his 7th goal of the season.

Logan Couture, returning to the ice after missing 7 games with an arterial bleed in his right leg, also assisted on Thornton’s goal. It was Couture’s 3rd point of the season (all assists) in just his 6th game after missing 24 of the first 26 games with a leg injury.

“It’s great,” said Burns when asked how it feels to have Couture back. “It’s tough when you see a guy out for a while. You see how hard he’s working and the bad bounce when he came back. IT’s great to see. IT’s going to be a little while for him to eventually feel comfortable, but it’s good to see him back.

“You could see it in the lineup right away,” added Pavelski. “That’s another big time player. What he brings to the team, the energy he brings and the confidence definitely helps.”

He looked comfortable in his return, playing 15:22 minutes with a -1 rating. He would also assist on Burns’ game-tying strike in the 3rd.

“It was a great crowd,” said Couture. “We need to build on this, but it feels good to come back and win the game.”

In total, Couture saw 5:43 of power play time.

“On the power play I felt comfortable,” said Couture “I had the puck. It was lucky that we had some many power plays. I was able to establish that game, feel the puck, get some chances, build my confidence up that way.”

“It comes naturally to him,” said DeBoer of Couture’s work on the power play. “Those guys have a special chemistry. We just have to keep that up.”

The Flyers (15-14-7) responded with a Claude Giroux score with 4:11 left in the 2nd after the centerman won the faceoff from Thornton and flung the puck into Jones’ midsection. While Jones made the initial save, the puck’s momentum carried it down to the ice and between the netminder’s pads for the Flyers captain’s 12th goal of the campaign.

“I’ve had Claude on a couple teams I coached,” said DeBoer. “I had him on the Canadian team. He’s a special guy. He’s the best in the world at different things. The goal surprised me, but not who did it.”

Philadelphia took the 2-1 lead on a defensive lapse by the Sharks early in the 3rd. Wayne Simmonds and Sean Couturier were sprung on a 2-on-0. Couturier took Simmonds’ feed and put it on his backhand to best Jones for his 6th of the year 4:19 into the 3rd.

Though the Sharks haven’t had many power play opportunities at home (their 44 man advantages entering Wednesday ranks dead last in the NHL), they also haven’t taken advantage of the special teams edge either. They have the 8th worst power play percentage at home this year, a mere 15.9 percent. Despite those figures, San Jose managed to get it down a man up not once, but twice, Wednesday night with Brent Burns finding the equalizer 5:54 into the final period of regulation.

“In the past few games a bounce buried us at times,” said Pavelski. “We got that feeling on the bench tonight where it wasn’t going to get us down. We got a big power play goal from Burns to get us back in there. It felt good.

With RJ Umberger in the sin bin for slashing Brenden Dillon, the Sharks newly potent power play set up in the Flyers’ end. Joe Thornton took the puck from the right faceoff dot and slid it to Couture in the front right crease. Couture’s no-look backhand pass missed Marleau’s stick, but landed on a crashing Burns’ tape in the slot. Burns ripped the shot over Mason’s blocker to knot the contest up 2-2 with just under 14 minutes to play.

“We have certain sets we work on,” said Couture. “Burns’ goal is a set that we’ve had for a while. You have Marleau in the slot and he usually comes down the side which opens the backdoor for Burns.”

The power play nearly was the culprit of the game-winner for San Jose, but a matter of seconds changed the Sharks special teams night. Captain Joe Pavelski netted his 19th of the year just 3 seconds after Shane Gostisbehere exited the box at the 13:45 mark on a cross-ice one-timer from Justin Braun.

Pavelski, who missed Tuesday’s practice with the flu, earned his power play goal almost 5 ½ minutes later to ice the contest. The forward took a pass from Marleau on the boards and ripped a backhander past Mason for his second of the night after Marc-Eduoard Vlasic held the puck in at the blue line.

“You can see his importance to us,” said DeBoer. “All the big guys were great though, Thornton, Vlasic Braun, (Paul) Martin.”

The Sharks ended the night converting half of their power plays, going 3-for-6 with a Flyer in the box.

“Our power play unit does well when we’re moving and reading off each other,” said Burns.

When asked about how it felt for the NHL’s worst home team to get a win in front of a sold-out, the Sharks captain was frank.

“It’s what we expect,” said Pavelski. “Obviously now that’s the template we have to copy and play with. It was a good win tonight. We can’t get ahead of ourselves.”

The Sharks get another stab a wowing the home crowd when they welcome the Winnipeg Jets to the Shark Tank January. After that, they’ll continue the homestand with contests against Eastern Conference foes the Detroit Red Wings and Toronto Maple Leafs.

Notes:

Tommy Wingels dropped the gloves twice, once in the second against Chris VandeVelde and again in the 3rd against Jakub Vorachek. Because only a punch or two was thrown, the 2nd altercation was ruled a minor for roughing, not a five minute fighting major. DeBoer on Wingels: “I thought Tommy Wingels had one of his best games all year. He was in the middle of it. He jumped in and fought for a teammate.” …Brent Burns leveled VandeVelde with a hit in the offensive zone that injured the Flyers Forward. Said Burns: “Most of the time I turn around and hit with my butt. I felt pretty strongly that I hit him in the midsection strongly. It’s tough to see someone get hurt. I hit him in the midsection, I don’t know if he hits his head on the ice or what but it’s tough to see.”

NHL Podcast with Joe Lami: Kane says he did nothing wrong after being accused in sex allegations case; Habs finally get back in win column after six games, plus more NHL news

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On the NHL Podcast Joe takes a look at the Buffalo Sabers Evander Kane who is being investigated for sex allegations. Details of the circumstances are not forthcoming. Kane in a meeting with his teammates told the media before Monday’s game against the Washington Capitals in Buffalo that he told his teammates he did nothing wrong. Kane is the second Kane in the NHL in the same city of Buffalo to be accused of sexual allegations the first earlier this year by the Chicago Blackhawks Patrick Kane who was later not charged due to a lack of evidence against him.

The Montreal Canadiens who started out the season winning nine straight games on Monday snapped their six game losing streak beating the Tampa Bay Lighting 4-3 in an overtime shootout. The Habs Max Pacioretty scored the game winning shot in the third round of the shootout and it took a lot of weight off Montreal’s shoulders.

The New York Rangers have now lost ten of their last 14 games and are looking up in the standings at Washington whose getting way, way, up there in first. The Rangers are starting to look over their shoulders with NY Islanders, New Jersey, and Pittsburgh all batting to pass them.

photo credit: Buffalo News, the Buffalo Sabers Evander Kane hits the ice to meet the Washington Capitals from Monday’s game in Buffalo

Joe talks about these topics and much more on the NHL podcast and every week right here at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

 

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