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Sharks top Lightning 5-4 in Tampa

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By: Phillip Torres

TAMPA BAY-The San Jose Sharks (31-12-6) defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning (28-16-5) 5-4 on Saturday in Florida. The Lightning were up 4-2 at one point but could not hold off a late Sharks rally to hang on for the victory. San Jose rallied behind Joe Pavelski and his three goals to complete the come-from behind win.

Martin St. Louis was outstanding for Tampa Bay. St. Louis scored four goals in a game for the first time in his career and was the first Lightning player to do so since 1992. Pavelski stole the show from St. Louis and the home crowd in Tampa with his three goals in a span of 6:12 that happened late in the second period.

The Sharks opened up the scoring in the first period with a goal from Matt Nieto, who scored on a wrist shot at 9:46. The goal was assisted by Patrick Marleau and Tommy Wingles. St. Louis scored all three goals for the Lightning in the opening frame, completing his eighth career hat trick in less than 20 minutes.  Marleau also scored on wrist shot for the only other San Jose goal in the first period.  Nieto and Wingles assisted on the goal to earn another point on the night.

St. Louis scored his fourth goal of the game at 2:07 in the second period to extend the lead to 4-2 for Tampa Bay. The slapshot goal from the eventual first star of the game was assisted by Teddy Purcell and Tyler Johnson. The goal was the last score for the Lightning as the game was controlled by Pavelski late in the same frame.

Pavelski scored his first goal at 12:48 on a wrist shot that found the net. Tyler Kennedy and Jason Demers both contributed an assist on the play. Less than 30 seconds later Pavelski scored on another wrist shot to tie the game at 4-4 on his 24th goal of the season. This time it was Dan Boyle and Marleau getting appointed the assists. With exactly one minute remaining in the period, Pavelski’s last goal was made with his third wrist shot. The score made it 5-4 San Jose, and the score remained that way throughout the contest.

The Sharks played great defense in the third and final period, as Antti Niemi pitched a shutout in the last period. The win gave the Sharks their 31st win on the season. San Jose will be back on the ice on Monday January 20, 2014 to take on the Calgary Flames at the SAP Center in San Jose. The puck will drop at 7:30 P.M.

Big night for Randle as Cardinal defeat Washington

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By Daniel Dullum
Sports Radio Service
January 18, 2014

Chasson Randle poured in 33 points for Stanford, leading the Cardinal to a 79-67 Pac-12 men’s basketball win over Washington Saturday night at Maples Pavilion.

Dwight Powell and John Huestis added 17 and 13 points, respectively, for the Cardinal, while both also pulled down 10 boards each. Stanford improved to 12-6 overall, 3-2 in the Pac-12.

Nigel Williams-Gross led the Huskies with 17 points, six rebounds and six assists. Shawn Kemp Jr. also had six rebounds and 13 points for Washington.

The Huskies (11-8 overall, 3-3 Pac-12) had their problems, notably going 5 of 20 on 3-pointers. The other problem was trying to stop Randle, and they had no answer. Stanford, meanwhile, made good use of its free throw opportunities by sinking 24 of 32 at the charity stripe.

The Huskies were trailing 47-41 when Washington forward Perris Blackwell picked up his fourth foul with 16:42 to play in the second half. Kemp helped pick up the slack and his layup pulled Washington to within 61-52 with 7:72 remaining.

A three-point play by Randle gave Stanford a 10-point lead at 68-58 with 4:36 left, and the Huskies could never get any closer than seven points for the remainder of the contest.

The win was Stanford Coach Johnny Dawkins’ second in 11 tries against the Huskies.

Stanford makes it’s annual swing through Los Angeles next weekend. The Cardinal visit UCLA on Thursday night and face Southern California Sunday afternoon.

(TAGS: Stanford,Cardinal,Pac-12,men’s basketball,Chasson Randle,Washington)

Bulls fall 4-2 to Condors

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By: Phillip Torres

BAKERSFIELD-The San Francisco Bulls (14-20-4-1) fell to the Bakersfield Condors (15-17-1-1) Friday night in Bakersfield. Ryan Garlock played his first game with the Bulls on Wednesday, and now played his first game against his former team in Bakersfield just two days later. Garlock earned a point with an assist on the night.

The Bulls held the early lead as Brett Findlay scored the first goal at 6:42 in the opening period. Jordan Morrison earned the assist on the play. Findlay knocked in the puck following a Jordan Morrison pass that helped set up the early advantage. 

Chase Schaber evened up the score at 1-1  at 14:07. Joel Broda earned the assist as Schaber was able to control the rebound after a missed shot by Broda. Schaber was able to get the puck past Bulls goaltender Tyler Beskorowany. 

Dean Ouellet gave San Francisco its second lead of the game with an early goal in the second. Garlock earned the assist against his former team with an excellent past to Ouellet on a three on two advantage to take the 2-1 lead. Andrew Caroll tied the game yet again for the Condors to make it 2-2. 

Bakersfield scored three unanswered goals after trailing 2-1. Broda gave them their first lead of the game with a power play goal. The goal made it 3-2 Condors, and ultimately was the winning goal. Cameron Abney made it 4-2 shortly after and that remained the score throughout the game.

The third period was scoreless for both teams. Laurent Brossoit held the Bulls scoreless for over 35 minutes and that cost the Bulls the victory.The Bulls will play in Stockton on Sunday as they will be hosted by the Stockton Thunder. The puck will drop at 4 P.M. 

 

 

Stalock Shuts Out Panthers, Sharks Win 3-0

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By Mary Walsh

Thursday, the San Jose Sharks defeated the Florida Panthers for the first time in head coach Todd McLellan’s tenure. The final score was 3-0, with goals from Joe Thornton, Matt Nieto and Joe Pavelski.

Alex Stalock earned his first NHL shutout, stopping 24 shots from the Panthers. The Sharks limited Florida’s “Killer Bs” to three shots on net. Those Bs are Brad Boyes, Sean Bergenheim and the second overall draft pick of 2013, Aleksander Barkov.

As of puck drop on Thursday, the Sharks had not beaten the Panthers since 2006, well before Todd McLellan became their head coach. They hadn’t played the Panthers a whole lot either (only four games) but that was an unexpected statistic.

While he remains the points leader for the Sharks, Joe Thornton still finds a way to make scoring a goal surprising. At the end of the second period, he broke away from the Sharks’ blue line, getting a step on several nearby Panthers, and gave himself room to beat one of the craftiest goaltenders in the NHL.

The obvious way to beat a goalie like Tim Thomas is to get enough traffic in front of him, force rebounds and hope to clean up some garbage. Do all that, or send a fellow veteran ex-Bruin in to outfox him one on one.

Before the start of the third period, CSN asked Sharks assistant coach Larry Robinson to confirm that Joe Thornton displayed excellent hands for that first goal of the game. Robinson chuckled:

Well, not bad, but he gave the puck away four or five times on the power play, so I was wondering where his hands went.

That described well how the game went for the Sharks. With four power play opportunities, including a minute and 29 seconds of five on three, the Sharks did not score a power play goal. Their penalty kill was much better, giving them some short-handed chances as well as preventing the Panthers from scoring on three power plays.

The Panthers started out with a flurry of shots on Alex Stalock. He kept them out of the net and the rebounds weren’t dangerously placed but he didn’t hold on to any of those shots, and the Sharks had their hands full trying to get the puck out of their zone.

Once they did get it out, the top line of Thornton, Brent Burns and Pavelski had better luck holding the puck in the Panther’s zone and putting some shots on net. Florida goaltender Tim Thomas didn’t let that go on for very long before catching hold of one of those shots.

After four minutes, the teams had a combined eight shots on net, three of those for the Sharks, two of them from Brent Burns. Three minutes later, the Sharks had taken the lead in shots at 9-6. That early push from Florida had not disconcerted the Sharks.

The Sharks’ first power play came at 10:55 of the period, when Barkov went to the box for hooking. With 1:29 left in power play, Bracken Kearns drew a high sticking call against Marcel Goc, giving the Sharks a lengthy five on three. San Jose was too tentative about moving the puck, letting Florida clear the puck several times, even five on three.

Not long after the penalties expired, San Jose’s Tommy Wingels went to the box for an illegal check to the head. With more review than referees are allowed, it was hard to see where Wingels made contact with Upshall’s head. The Sharks killed it off anyway.

Through the first period, the Sharks registered 21 shots on goal. The Panthers only added two more over the second half of the period.

3:20 into the second, Bergenheim escaped the San Jose defense and drove to the net to meet Stalock one on one. Stalock closed the door and held on through a few extra whacks and jabs before the whistle blew. That was an important save but it didn’t motivate the Sharks right away. A few minutes later, the Sharks had to kill a penalty when Brad Stuart was called for cross checking Tomas Kopecky.

The Sharks survived that penalty, and followed it up with a foray into Panthers territory, but almost eight minutes in to the period, the Sharks didn’t have a shot on goal, while the Panthers had six. The Sharks got their first shot at 12:08 of the period, from John McCarthy.

The Sharks were back on the penalty kill at 9:12, when Bracken Kearns was called for high-sticking. The Panthers’ power play was more dangerous this time, registering several shots in the first minute.

The Panthers lost the last 15 seconds of their power play to a high stick of their own, a questionable call on Scottie Upshall. The Sharks didn’t waste a lot of time starting their attack, but the Panthers cleared the puck and attacked short-handed in the first minute of the Sharks’ man advantage.

The last 30 seconds of the power play showed more urgency from San Jose but didn’t produce. Upshall gave them another chance less than three minutes later, with a hooking call. This call was less dubious as he hooked his stick securely around Sharks defenseman Justin Braun.

Upshall sat in the box for the full two minutes, as the Sharks’ power play did not score.

As the period wound down, with the game still scoreless, Stalock had a close call with Jonathan Huberdeau right up in his lap. After a brief scuffle along the boards, Joe Pavelski and Brent Burns got control of the puck and sent it up ice, where Joe Thornton was making a break. With Florida’s Mike Weaver and Dmitry Kulikov chasing him, Thornton pulled away and lifted the puck gently over Thomas to break the zero-zero tie. Assists went to Burns and Pavelski.

Early in the second period, Matt Nieto tried that. The breakaway was less surprising sice Nieto is known for his speed, but he tried to go five hole. Tim Thomas wasn’t likely to let the rookie get the better of him so soon after Thornton had beaten him. Thomas is notorious for luring players into shooting five hole, and disappointing them. A quick study, Nieto wouldn’t make the same mistake twice.

Back in the Sharks’ zone, Dan Boyle made the curious decision to put his stick shaft down on the ice to prevent a pass from getting to Upshall in front of the net. That didn’t work at all, and cost him seconds to get back in position. Nieto was all over Upshall, which gave Stalock just barely enough time to get a leg back across the crease and block the shot.

Tim Kennedy went the other way after that, where he drove the net and took an awkward-looking shot. Patrick Marleau and Matt Nieto were in hot pursuit and when the rebound popped out with Tim Thomas off balance, Nieto was able to get a quick shot over the Florida goalie. Assists went to Kennedy and Marleau.

Seven minutes later, the Sharks took a 3-0 lead when Pavelski took advantage of Thomas’s aggressive style. Thomas came out of the paint to cut down the options for Brad Stuart as he took a shot from the blue line. Brent Burns tipped that shot, but Thomas blocked it. Unfortunately for Thomas, Pavelski was there too, almost behind him, to pick up the rebound and knock it in. Assists initially went to Stuart and Braun, but were changed to Burns and Stuart, confirming the tip.

The Sharks outshot the Panthers in that final period 11-5, and 39-24 in the game.

The Sharks will play their next game on Saturday at 11am Pacific Time, in Tampa Bay against the Lightning.

Roster notes:
Martin Havat came off of the injured reserve list Thursday but did not play. Scott Hannan went on the list with what is likely a head injury, but is still described as only “upper body.” Logan Couture, Tomas Hertl, Raffi Torres and Adam Burish remain on the injured list.

49ers NFC Championship report: Picking a winner in this one is a real hair splitter

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by David Zizmor

SANTA CLARA–For the third year in a row the San Francisco 49ers are playing for the NFC title and in the last two years their 1-1 so their going for their second trip to the Super Bowl and last Sunday they played a great game against the Carolina Panthers with a few bobbles early but the 49ers righted the ship later in the second quarter and really cruised to a victory and beat Carolina in the end 19-17. The game wasn’t particularily close.

Which is refresing because prior to that the previous three or four weeks there have been some nailbiters for San Francisco and they didn’t have to play a game that went down to the final seconds against Carolina going for the NFC Championship game against the Seattle Seahawks their nemisis, their arch rivals, a team they hate, a team they played already twice this season, a team their looking to win the rubber match against this Sunday at Century Link Field.

They have the season series split so they’re going to play the third and deciding game up in Seattle where the 49ers have had as much trouble winning and it would be facinating to see how San Francisco comes out and approaches this game. This is going to be a tough one. These are the two best teams in the NFL and either way nobody here should be an extreme favorite even if you think one team has a better chance of winning.

You have to admit that one team doesn’t have a bigger advantage over the other these two teams are the in the NFC if not the NFL and your going to see a really tight game and it’s going to be a rough game with a lot of good football. Some people give the 49ers a slight edge and their simply playing better right now over the last month and a half. Seattle’s offense has been in the doldrums part of it is that their passing game has been rather anemic.

Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson was not as great as he was like in October and November when he was lighting up the league. The Hawks have come back to earth a little when it comes to the offensive side of the ball and course they still have Marshawn Lynch whose been running everyone over in the last several weeks in the playoffs but against a team like the 49ers you can’t expect him to do it all by himself.

We saw in December when the 49ers played Seattle for that win the Niners were able to contain the running game and the 49ers had a good passing game for that razor thin victory. The 49ers Michael Crabtree wasn’t much of an impact player in that game. This is a 49ers offense that’s been getting better each and every week in the playoffs and really down the stretch in total. 49ers running back Frank Gore had a great week last week against Carolina, Crabtree and Anquan Boldin have had good games in these playoffs.

Running back Vernon Davis has a handful of touchdowns like he always does, having all those guys healthy and ready to go has made a big difference for this 49ers offense. In everyone of these meetings the 49ers have had the full compliment against Seattle. This is really going to be the first time the 49ers are really going to be at full strength against them. It might make a difference then it might not, Seattle’s defense is really, really good and they have the best secondary in the NFL.

So the curtain raises on Sunday in Seattle at Century Link Field for the NFC Championship, we’ll see whose the best team out of this contest.

David Zizmor covers the NFL for Sportstalk radio

Bulls win 5-4 in overtime against Eagles

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By: Phillip Torres and Kahlil Najar

DALY CITY-The San Francisco Bulls (14-19-4-1) hosted the Colorado Eagles (19-10-3-2) on Wednesday night at the legendary Cow Palace. The Bulls defeated the Eagles 5-4 in overtime on Dean Ouellet Bobble head night. It was a big win for the Bulls as they defeated a Colorado team that currently sits in second place in a very tough Mountain Western Division, only behind the Alaska Aces.

San Francisco started off hot as they put the first two goals on the board first to jump out to the 2-0 advantage in the first period. Ryan Garlock put the first puck in the net at 7:06 on a power play goal. Dylan King and Kalvin Sagert earned the assists on the power play goal. Garlock received the puck by he boards on the Eagles side of the ice. A quick slap shot got past the stick side of Colorado goaltender Adam Brown for the goal.

Luke Judson made it a 2-0 game with a backhand goal in front of the net at 10:47. Riley Brace and Scott Langdon earned the assists on the play.

 The second period was dominated by the Eagles as they scored three unanswered goals to open up the period. At 6:22 in the period Alex Hudson cut the deficit to 2-1 with a power play goal. Riley Nelson and Brock Nixon recorded the assists on the play. Nixon got the puck to Hudson, who missed on his first shot but snuck the puck into the net with a great second effort.

At 12:30 Mark Nemec  tied the game. Kyle Ostrow and Kevin Ulanski assisted on the play that seemed to have changed the momentum into the Eagles favor. Colorado took its first lead of the night with a goal by Ulanski at 16:23. Ostrow picked up the lone assist and Colorado held the 3-2 advantage until the wining seconds of the second period.

Jordan Morrison scored the “goal that changed the game,” according to head coach Pat Curcio with just 15 seconds remaining before the second intermission.

“It was a huge goal for us,” said Curcio.

“It was the goal that changed the game.”

Morrison’s goal tied the game at three and really gave the momentum back to the Bulls.

The third period consisted of both teams trading goals. Ostrow scored his 17th goal of the season, assisted by Dylan Hood, and Riley Brace scored on an unassisted goal 10:02 to tie the game at 4-4. The second half of the third period was a defensive struggle and the score at the end of regulation remained tied, 4-4.

The overtime period lasted a little over three minutes as Dale Mitchell sent the Bulls home happy with a game winning shot from Brett Findlay and Ouellet to send the Bulls off the ice with a 5-4 victory.

Ryan Garlock made his San Francisco Bulls debut Wednesday as he got into the city Wednesday morning. Curcio praised his new star player who scored a goal his first night on the job in a Bulls uniform.

“We’re extremely lucky to have Garlock,” Curcio said. “We haven’t had a player as talented as this guy ever play for us. He’s a star in this league”

The Bulls will be back on the ice on Friday January 17, 2014 as they will be hosted by the Bakersfield Condors. The puck will drop at 7:00 PM.

Stanford blows away Washington St

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By Jeremy Harness

 

STANFORD – The tail end of Wednesday night’s game proved one critical fact that in big-time college basketball, you don’t have a chance of winning when only two players score almost all of your points.

 

Washington State found this out the hard way against a much more balanced Stanford team that was coming off a big win at No. 13 Oregon on Sunday. After a pitched battle in the first half, the Cardinal raced away and never looked back in a 80-48 win at Maples Pavilion.

 

Stanford (11-5, 2-2 Pac-12) pretty much got whatever they wanted on offense, shooting 58 percent from the floor, which included 40 percent from 3-point range. Washington State, on the other hand, shot just 37 percent after going 44 percent in the first half.

 

Anthony Brown and Josh Huestis, who recently trimmed his trademark mini-Afro and sported the look for the first time Wednesday, each led the Cardinal with 15 points while two others, Dwight Powell and Marcus Allen, also scored in double figures.

 

Meanwhile, only two Cougars hit double figures, with Que Johnson putting up 21 points on 8-of-15 shooting while Royce Woolridge had 13 and made six of his 13 shots.

 

That was good enough for Washington State (8-9, 1-4 Pac-12) to hang around in the first half, as Stanford could not contain Johnson at all in the first half. The redshirt freshman diced up the Cardinal in the 15 minutes that he played in the opening stanza, scoring 15 points and connecting on all but one of his seven shots, including his draining each of his three 3-point attempts.

 

Stanford and Washington State traded baskets – and the lead – while Johnson was on the floor. After he took a seat at the 3:57 mark of the first half with Stanford holding a two-point lead, the Cardinal began to distance themselves from the Cougars to take a 40-29 halftime lead.

 

To say the least, the scoring was much more balanced for the Cardinal than it was for Washington State. Seven different guys scored for Stanford, with Anthony Brown leading the way with 12. Meanwhile, Royce Woolridge had 11 first-half points, but besides he and Johnson, Dexter Kernich-Drew was the only other Cougar to score with three.

 

The onslaught only increased for the Cardinal, as their lead swelled to 25 points by the midway point of the second half.

 

Washington State did not get its first bench points of the game until the midway point of the second half, when Ike Iroegbu made a layup to narrow Stanford’s lead to 27.

 

Stanford will host Washington Saturday night before heading down to Southern California to face USC and UCLA.

Cardinal shock No. 17 Oregon

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By Daniel Dullum
Sports Radio Service
Sunday, January 12, 2014

Stanford guard Anthony Brown netted 24 points Sunday, leading the Cardinal to a stunning 82-80 Pac-12 men’s basketball win over the University of Oregon at Matthew Knight Arena in Eugene.

It was the third consecutive loss for the Ducks (13-3 overall, 1-3 Pac-12), and the win gave Stanford a split in its two-game conference trip to the Beaver State.

Chasson Randle added 23 points for the Cardinal (10-5 overall, 1-2 Pac-12), who chalked up their second win over a ranked team this season, the first time Stanford has done that since 2009.

Mike Moser paced the Ducks with 24 points.

Stanford held a 41-37 halftime lead and never trailed in the second half. However, the Ducks came close when Moser hit three 3-pointers that pulled Oregon to within 64-62 with 11:38 remaining in the second half.

Oregon pulled to within 77-74 on a jump shot by Jonathan Loyd with 2:12 left, but Brown answered with a long range jumper. The Ducks had two chances to tie the game in the final eight seconds, but Loyd missed a jumper and Dominic Artis had a layup rim out as time expired.

Randle, who popped in 30 points against Oregon State, was 8 of 14 from the field. Dwight Powell added 14 points and six assists for Stanford. Jason Calliste and Damyean Dotson added 12 and 10 points, respectively, for the Ducks.

Oregon opened the season with a 13-game winning streak, but hasn’t won since an overtime triumph over Utah on Jan. 2. The Ducks lost to No. 15 Colorado and California before falling to the Cardinal.

The Cardinal return home for a Wednesday night Pac-12 contest against Washington State. Tip off is at 8 p.m.

(TAGS: Stanford,Cardinal,men’s basketball,Oregon,Sports Radio Service)

Bulls Fold To Aces 5-2

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Photo Courtesy SF Bulls
Photo Courtesy SF Bulls

By Kahlil Najar

SAN FRANCISCO – The San Francisco Bulls (13-19-2-1) were defeated by the Alaska Aces (21-9-2-1), 5-2 on Saturday night at the Cow Palace. Brett Findlay and Sebastian Stalberg scored for the Bulls on their second annual LGBT night where the team wore special jerseys to show their support for the LGBT community in San Francisco.

Coming off an impressive win the other night against the Aces, the Bulls and their fans were looking forward to another hard fought, nail-biting night of hockey. Unfortunately, the game played out exactly as it did on Friday night but without the impressive comeback.

In the first period the Bulls were getting quality passes off to the front of the Aces goal however no one was there to put the puck home. Meanwhile the Aces seemed to skate into the Bulls zone with ease and set up plays nicely and wait until they got the numbers they needed to mount an attack. The Aces got on the board first when Shawn Skelly scored by coming around the back of the net and jumped on a rebound off a Nick Mazzolini shot and beat Beskorowany to the far post and gave Alaska a 1-0 lead. Less than two minutes later, Mathew Sisca and a fellow Ace were bearing down into the Bulls zone on a two-on-one and after a quick fake pass, Sisca beat Besko through the five hole and gave the Aces a two goal lead.

The Bulls got their first goal of the game and cut the lead in half in the second period when Dale Mitchell picked up the puck from behind the net and shot it out in front of the goal to Brett Findlay who scored into a wide open net. The goal was Findlay’s 26th point of the season and moved him into the fifth position of top rookie scorers in the league. The Bulls were taking shots on Aces goalie Roy however they weren’t quality shots at the all sailed on the ground or saw little flight in the puck at all. Findlay did have a beautiful drop pass to Jordan Morrison but even that shot was turned away by Roy. With 7:01 remaining in the second, the Bulls gave up the puck in their zone to former Bull Peter Sivak who found Tim Coffman in front of the net one-on-one with Besko and beat him top shelf to bring the lead back to two with a score of 3-1.

At the end of the second; after the buzzer sounded, Brett Findlay shot the puck down ice and head referee Stephen Reneau took exception to it and appeared to think he thought it was a knock at him and called an unsportsmanlike misconduct on him to put the Aces on the power play to start the third.

It didn’t take the Aces long to respond as 37 seconds into the final period, Sisca scored his second goal of the game with a nice feed from Coffman and bring the lead to three. At 3:36, Sebastian Stalberg scored his first goal with the Bulls on a nice feed from Dean Ouellet who found him streaking to the net and made it a 4-2 game. The Aces responded quickly when Coffman scored his second of the game when he picked the pocket of a Bulls player and beat Besko top shelf to give the Aces the 5-2 victory.

It was a messy loss for the Bulls as they had more than enough opportunities to capitalize on Alaska’s mistakes. The Bulls weren’t able to connect on a few two-on-one’s and even missed on a few nearly wide open nets when the Bulls had Roy scrambling from in front of the net.

The Bulls now take a few days off before they play again on Wednesday when they take on the Colorado Eagles at 7:30 pm.

Sharks fall at home to Bruins

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By: Phillip Torres

SAN JOSE-The San Jose Sharks (28-12-6) hosted the Boston Bruins (29-14-2) at the SAP Center in San Jose on Saturday night. San Jose was handed a rare loss at home as they fell 1-0 to Boston. The loss dropped the Sharks home record to 16-2-3. San Jose had not lost at home December 10, 2013 against the New York Islanders. That loss came via a shootout. Bruins goaltender, Tuukka Rask, pitched a shutout and recorded 26 saves on the night.

Antti Niemi played stellar all night recording 22 saves on the night, but one got past him in the third and final period, the lone goal of the game. Niemi played well throughout the entire game and kept Boston off of the board until Carl Soderberg scored a goal at 12:25 in the final period.

The first two periods of the game were a defensive showcase as both teams played extremely well and held the offenses scoreless for a little over the first 47 minutes of the contest.

Both teams had opportunities to put the puck in the net but great play from both goaltenders prevented that from happening. The Sharks seemed to play better in the first period, and the Bruins seems to have outplayed the Sharks in the second period. Either way both teams failed to get the goose egg off of the scoreboard until the third period.

Ultimately, Rask played slightly better than Niemi as Soderberg was able to push across the lone goal of the game   midway through the third and final period. It was Soderberg’s sixth goal of the season. Soderberg knocked in the wrist shot with assists from Loui Eriksson and Ryan Spooner.

The Sharks will be back on the ice on Tuesday as they will travel to Washington to take on the Capitals.