Tag: Al Stalock

Sharks Finish Road Trip With Shootout Loss to Penguins

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By Mary Walsh

For the second time this season, the Sharks and the Penguins went to a shootout to resolve a tied score. This time, the Penguins prevailed, jumping over the New York Islanders for second place in the Metropolitan Division. The Sharks earned a single point but despite having a four on three power play for most of overtime, they could not grab the extra point that they urgently needed to keep fighting for a playoff spot. On the bright side, Al Stalock was featured in the NBC save of the game. Stalock was starting the second of back to back games, after playing Saturday afternoon in Philadelphia.

The shootout winner was scored by Pittsburgh’s David Perron. Patric Hornqvist and Chris Kunitz also scored for Pittsburgh. Marc-Andre Fleury made 30 saves on 32 shots for the win. Ben Smith and Logan Couture scored for the Sharks and Al Stalock made 31 saves on 33 shots for the Sharks.

The Sharks were without defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic, so Taylor Fedun was called up to fill the empty spot on the blue line. The Penguinswere also missing some key players. They only had five defensemen after Kris Letang sustained a concussion on Saturday.

The Sharks held their own for the first minutes of the game, but gave up two goals in a 56 second span mindway through the first period. At 7:08 of the first, Patric Hornqvist opened the scoring off his own rebound. After some tenacious play behind the net, Daniel Winnick got the puck ahead of the goal line. Hornqvist and Sidney Crosby were hovering around in front of the blue paint to make something happen. They did. Assists went to Winnick and Ian Cole.

33 seconds later, Taylor Fedun took Evgeni Malkin down with a hook. It was difficult to see why Malkin fell, but the hook was called and the Sharks went on the penalty kill. The eighth ranked Pittsburgh power play did not take long to score. In less than 30 seconds, the Penguins had the Sharks moved out of position and heavy on the right side. This gave Crosby plenty of time to draw Stalock to the left and then pass to Kunitz on Stalock’s right. Crosby’s pass went under Brenden Dillon’s stick as the Sharks defenseman attempted to help his goalie out. The goal was scored by Kunitz with assists to Crosby and Derrick Pouliot.

The Sharks stopped the bleeding for the rest of the first, and ended up outshooting the Penguins 12-9. Melker Karlsson was hit in the hand by a shot from Brent Burns late in the period but he was back on the ice for the second period.

The Sharks cut the lead in half when Barclay Goodrow controlled the puck on the half boards long enough to pass it to Justin Braun at the point. Braun took a quick shot that Ben Smith deflected past Marc-Andre Fleury’s shoulder and in. Assists went to Braun and Goodrow.

The Sharks had their first power play opportunity at 11:06 of the second when Maxim Lapierre was called for hooking. The Sharks did not get a shot on goal during the power play. They had another chance at 14:53 of the same period when Ben Lovejoy was called for cross-checking Chris Tierney. This time, Logan Couture made the most of the situation and scored at 15:38. After one failed zone entry, the Sharks regrouped quickly and Brent Burns’ neutral zone pass caught Patrick Marleau, who was able to hand it off cleanly to Couture who was moving to the net. Assists went to Marleau and Brent Burns.

At the end of the second, the Penguins had edged ahead of the Sharks on the shot clock 20-19.

The Sharks had another power play early in the third period when Crosby tripped Brent Burns in the Sharks’ zone. Brent Burns created one good chance carrying the puck into the zone and getting it in front of the net, but the Penguins’ penalty killers did not give the Sharks any room to work. The score remained tied.

The Sharks took the next penalty, a high-sticking call against Tommy Wingels at 12:51 of the third. San Jose’s penalty killers were more effective this time, clearing the puck more than once and, obviously, not allowing another goal against.

A penalty against Pittsburgh followed right on the heels of their power play, when Nick Spaling went to the box for holding. The Sharks could not take the lead with the power play and the next best scoring chance went to the Penguins’ David Perron but the buzzer sounded.

A play by Justin Braun almost ended the game early in OT but Marleau could not get his stick on it before the Penguins cleared it away from the crease and out. The Sharks came back in quickly. In a battle along the boards to keep the puck in, Hornqvist caught Brent Burns in the mouth with his stick. He did look remorseful, as he had been trying to lift Burns’ stick and not cut him in the face. In any case, Hornqvist went to the box for a four minute power play.

The Sharks started the four on three power play with a Thornton shot off the post. Pavelksi shot next, then Couture opted not to shoot. That was probably the tidiest part of the extended power play. The Penguins seemed to find their rythm and pushed the puck out a few times. One interesting hiccup came when the puck looked like it was going out but Burns kept it in with his body. Unsure whether it had been kept in, several players loitered near it as if expecting a whistle.

Sharks coach Toddd McLellan used his timeout to rest his players after the next stoppage, instead of changing his four man power play unit. The strategy did not pay off and the Penguins killed the penalty. Their fans gave them a standing ovation for their efforts. The final shot count after overtime was 33-32 Penguins.

David Perron went first in the shootout. After a careful hesitation, he beat Stalock with a backhand to give Pittsburgh the lead. Melker Karlsson shot next but lost the puck after faking a shot.

Sidney Crosby shot second for the Penguins and scored. Logan Couture shot second for the Sharks but hit the post.

Final score: 3-2 Penguins.

Logan Couture led the Sharks in shots with seven. Brent Burns led the Sharks in hits with three and ice time with 26:08. Brenden Dillon led the team with three blocked shots. The Sharks had a slight edge in the faceoff circle, winning 36 to the Penguins’ 33. Tommy Wingels had the best faceoff win percentage on the team with 60%, but he only took five faceoffs. Joe Pavelski won 9 of 16 for a win percentage of 56%. Pittsburgh’s Maxim Lapierre beat pretty much everyone most of the time, winning 93% of 14 faceoffs, against a variety of opponents.

The Sharks return home to play at 7:30 PT on Wednesday against the Colorado Avalanche.

Sharks Start Strong Again, Win 3-2 in Philly

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By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks lost two defensemen and had to go to a shootout after outshooting the Philadelphia Flyers 44-18, but they won 3-2. The shootout winner was scored by Brent Burns. Matt Irwin and Joe Pavelski scored the regulation goals for the Sharks, while Michael Raffl and Claude Giroux scored for the Flyers. Goaltender Al Stalock made 16 saves on 18 shots from the win, while Steve Mason made 42 saves on 44 shots for the Flyers.

Marc-Edouard Vlasic sustained a lower body injury during the first period and is not expected to play in Pittsburgh. Scott Hannan was also injured later in the game and is also likely to be out Sunday. Of finishing the game after so many injuries, head coach Todd McLellan said:

When you get to four, it’s pretty easy, you just keep saying “next.” You know, at five, which happened fairly early in the game, I thought our D did a really good job and our forwards protected them. We played enough in the offensive zone to not have them too taxed in our end. Where we ran into trouble is a little bit on the penalty kill against a very good power play but we managed the game well once they got hurt.

As they did in Detroit on Thursday, the Sharks had a very strong first period in Philadelphia. On those good starts, Joe Pavelski said:

We had a good practice the other night in Detroit. The same thing happened, we were pretty good all night, we weren’t really … it wasn’t that taxing of a game I don’t think in our own end and I think that probably helped a little bit.

The Flyers took an early penalty that let the Sharks warm up with a power play, but it was not until that power play had expired that Matt Irwin put the Sharks on the board. Jakub Voracek made an ill-advised clearing attempt up the middle, which Irwin caught and threw right back at the net. Assists went to Chris Tierney and Tommy Wingels.

The lead only lasted a couple of minutes. The Sharks had spent a long shift in their own zone when they finally cleared the puck. Unfortunately, Flyers’ Nicklas Grossmann brought it back in more quickly than expected. The tired Sharks defenders could not stop a shot from the blue line that hit a couple of players on the way in. The goal went to Michael Raffl, with assists going to Grossmann and Voracek.

Grossmann went to the box at 15:06 for holding. The Sharks power play held the zone pretty well, and the Flyers had to thwart several shots from the blue line. With 21 seconds left on the power play, Joe Pavelski threw the puck at Steve Mason from behind the goal line. The puck went under Mason and then trickled into the net. The referee blew the whistle early, and a review in Toronto deemed the whistle to be “irrelevant to continuous play.” No one had touched Mason and he did not seem to realize the puck was underneath him. Assists went to Logan Couture and Brent Burns.

During the first period, the Sharks lost Marc-Edouard Vlasic, who was deemed questionable to return at the start of the second period. At the end of the first period, the shots were 15-7 Sharks. By the middle of the second period, the Sharks had added five shots to their tally, while the Flyers had added one.

The Flyers got their first power play at 9:45 of the second, when Matt Nieto went to the box for interference. The Flyers had one shot during the power play, and Logan Couture ate up some time with a short-handed breakaway in the second half of the power play. Mason stopped the back-hander without much trouble but the Sharks got an offensive zone faceoff out of that.

With six minutes left in the second, Philadelphia’s Ryan White hit Tommy Wingels from behind and a little high. Wingels was slow to get up and White went to the box for boarding. The Flyers again handled hard shots from the blue line, and made plays near the net very difficult for the Sharks. The Sharks did manage three shots but they could not extend their one goal lead.

The second period ended with the Sharks leading in shots 22-12 and in faceoffs 26-20.

The Flyers mustered some good offensive pressure to start the third period, but despite a couple of close calls they were still being outshot 2-1 in the first five minutes.

Scott Hannan went to the box at 7:00 for hooking. The Flyers started their power play with a couple of chances at an open net when Stalock was caught out of the blue paint. They missed and it looked like the Sharks’ penalty killers had dodged a bullet. When the Flyers next attacked, Claude Giroux tied the game. He caught a cross-ice pass from Voracek and beat Stalock from the faceoff circle. Ryan White and Brayden Schenn were both screening Stalock and it is surprising that the puck did not touch either of them. Assists went to Voracek and Michael Del Zotto.

A scrum stopped the action with 7:23 left, after Nick Cousins hit Scott Hannan, sending the Sharks defenseman into the boards. Cousins’ hit seemed to catch Hannan’s arm from behind, so that Hannan could not protect himself as he might have. He went face-first into the glass. Hannan left the game and Oliver Lauridsen went to the box. The penalty was a result of the scrum, not the hit. Lauridsen then went to the dressing room, as did John Scott, both with ten minute misconducts.

At 15:43, Joe Thornton was called for tripping Jakub Voracek. The hit could have been called kneeing, as the players connected knee to knee when Voracek skated past Thornton at the Flyers’ blue line. Though they were missing Thornton and two defensemen now, the Sharks killed the penalty off.

Each team had good chances in the final minute. The Flyers’ Voracek gave the Sharks a scare when he skated into the zone and evaded three defending Sharks. At the last moment, Matt Irwin knocked the puck away from him and sent it to Matt Nieto, who took it the other way. Chris Tierney and Nieto gave the Flyers some grief that ended with Justin Braun getting a shot that just went wide of the net. With that, regulation time expired.

The Sharks started overtime well, with a lot of offensive zone time for defensemen. Braun, Dillon and Irwin all spent some time below the faceoff circle, supporting the forwards. It was in the Sharks’ zone, however, that Matt Irwin took a hit from Brayden Schenn and put the Sharks on the power play. The power play looked very good, and the Flyers had a tough time trying to clear the puck. At one point, Brent Burns seemed to be everywhere on the blue line, keeping a couple of pucks in that looked bound to get out. The Flyers did finally get the puck out just past the minute mark of the power play, but the Sharks were back in quickly. The Flyers had to work very hard for that kill but they got it.

The Sharks had a couple more chances and near misses but time expired before anyone could score.

Jakub Voracek shot first for the Flyers and scored with a late shot from almost at the goal line. Logan Couture shot next but hit the post.

Claude Giroux shot second for the Flyers but Stalock caught his slapshot. Joe Pavelksi shot next but his shot went off of Mason’s skate.

Matt Read tried some misdirection followed by a shot through the five hole but Stalock was not fooled. Melker Karlsson followed with some stick handling and a shot to the top right corner. He tied it up.

Sean Couturier shot next but Stalock stopped his backhand shot. Patrick Marleau shot low but Mason stopped him.

Vincent LeCavalier lost the puck before getting a shot off. Brent Burns went next for the Sharks. Skating in at a moderate pace, he faked to the right then shot backhand into the top left corner for the win.

The Sharks led the game in faceoff wins 38-35. Joe Pavelski led the Sharks with seven shots, and Logan Couture came in second with six. John Scott and Tomas Hertl led with three hits each. Brent Burns led with four blocked shots. Burns also led the Sharks in ice time with 27:33.

Claude Giroux led the Flyers with three shots. Zac Rinaldo led his team with eight hits. Nick Schultz and Chris Vandevelde led their team with four blocked shots each. Michael Del Zotto led the Flyers in ice time with 30:18.

The Sharks next play at 4:30 PT on Sunday against the Penguins in Pittsburgh.

Oilers Slip By Sharks 2-1

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AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Jason Frans

By Mary Walsh

A 2-1 loss in Edmonton ended the San Jose Sharks’ winning streak at four, and the Oilers’ losing streak at eleven.

As they have done often lately, the Sharks started slow in Edmonton. A poor first period did not seem to hurt them much, as they finished tied at zero. But their sluggish start may have given the Oilers some much needed confidence. Fairly solid defense in the third allowed the Oilers to hang on to a 2-1 lead and break their eleven game losing streak. It was also the Oilers’ first win this season over a western conference team.

The game winning goal went off of Sharks’ defenseman Brenden Dillon. After the game, he said: “A shot like that, it’s going wide, I’m kind of almost just trying to get out of the way, it hits me perfectly and just goes in.”

The Sharks’ lone goal was scored by Tye McGinn, in his first game since November 29. He described the goal after the game:

I just tried to get to the net. Paddy’s a great player, he can find you pretty much anywhere you are on the ice, so I tried to go to the net as quick as I could and he made a great pass.

It was a great pass, a very pretty backhand pass from the corner. Marleau had a very good game in general. He led the team in shots, had a couple of breakaways, and created several good chances for his team.

The Oilers goals were scored by Nail Yakupov and David Perron. Devan Dubnyk made 21 saves for the win, while Al Stalock made 22 saves on 24 shots. It was Stalock’s first game after returning from a knee injury.

The Oilers outshot the Sharks 11-2 in the first period. That may have helped goaltender Al Stalock find his game in a hurry. After the game, Stalock said as much: “I felt good, got some work early, got into the game, got my legs under me and got into it. So it was good that way.”

The first period saw Tomas Hertl miss a few shifts with an arm or wrist problem after he fell over an Oiler, but he was back in play before the end of the first.

The first penalty of the game went to Mirco Mueller for delay of game. That was almost 15 minutes into the period. A close call during the power play had Al Stalock scrambling but alert. He did stop it in his skates. Another Edmonton chance found Stalock out of the net and playing the puck. The Sharks finished killing the penalty off without incident.

6:18 into the second period, James Sheppard and Keith Aulie went to the penalty box with fighting majors and minors for roughing (Sheppard) and boarding (Aulie). Neither team got a power play out of that but just over a minute later Brenden Dillon was called for holding.

Seconds into the power play, Jordan Eberle skated through the paint in front of Stalock as the goaltender came out to freeze the puck. After the game, Stalock explained how he and Eberle ended up tangled up away from the net: “He had his stick under my glove and I was trying to freeze it and he wanted the puck and he won the battle.”

That became more complicated when Justin Braun, skating backwards, fell over Stalock, leaving the net open and two Sharks out of play. The Oilers managed to capitalize on that and take the lead with a power play goal. Nail Yakupov was the beneficiary, with assists going to Eberle and Jeff Petry.

A couple of minutes after that vaudevillian moment, the Sharks came back with a goal from Tye McGinn off a very slick backhand pass from Patrick Marleau in the corner. It was McGinn’s first of the season and as a Shark. Assists went to Marleau and Brent Burns.

By the end of the second, the Sharks had nine shots for the period, to the Oilers’ seven.

Early in the third period, Logan Couture drew a high sticking penalty against Boyd Gordon. The Sharks power play did not go particularly well, despite a good start. Once the Oilers got the puck out, the Sharks could not get set up again. Edmonton responded with some aggressive offense, keeping the Sharks on their heels for several shifts. That ended with a roughing penalty to Oilers forward Steven Pinizzotto at 5:30. This Sharks power play was a little more tenacious. Even after the penalty expired, the Sharks continued to attack for several shifts.

The Oilers got themselves together by the middle of the period, and after a long spell in the Sharks’ zone, took their second lead of the game. A shot from David Perron near the faceoff dot deflected off of Brenden Dillon and in. Assists went to Teddy Purcell and Mark Fayne.

Patrick Marleau led the Sharks in shots with five. Brenden Dillon led the team in hits with four. Brent Burns led the team in ice time with 24:33.

Tayor Hall led the Oilers in shots with three. Andrew Ference led is team in hits with six, and in ice time with 26:25.

With Matt Nieto out for a second game in a row, and Tyler Kennedy injured in Saturday’s game, the Sharks had all available skaters in the game with Tye McGinn and John Scott both playing.

The Sharks play the Oilers again on Tuesday in San Jose at 7:30 PT.

Sharks Defeat Stars 5-3, Score 4 Goals in 3rd

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By Mary Walsh

In a 5-3 victory over the Dallas Stars, the San Jose Sharks turned some early season habits upside down. So far this season, the Sharks played many strong first periods, only to struggle in third periods. Saturday, despite a hat trick from Tyler Seguin in the first two periods, the Sharks came back with four goals in the third period.

Brent Burns scored twice, James Sheppard scored to extend his goal scoring streak to three games. Patrick Marleau scored, after being without a goal for nine games. Logan Couture earned three assists in the game. Al Stalock made 37 saves on 40 shots for the win, after sitting as backup for five games.

After the game, Sharks head coach Todd McLellan talked about the third period recovery:

We talked between periods about checking well, not giving them anything else, power play being ready in case we got one, it was. We just stuck with it, we didn’t go away. The way the League is this year, we’ve seen it with our group, there is no lead that’s safe, and you’re never out of it when you’re coming from behind.

Not unlike the Sharks, the Stars have been having trouble with third periods. Also like the Sharks, Dallas has a bad record at home this season. They have only one win in eight home games.

In response to the suggestion that the Sharks knew the Stars are vulnerable in the third period, Logan Couture said:

I didn’t know that, no. In this dressing room we’re worried about our own game. We’ve got to start playing better and we know that so we’re not looking at the other team. We believe that if we play our game we’re able to beat any team any night so we’re worried about ourselves in here.

The first Dallas goal started as a shot from Sergei Gonchar at the blue line. The puck bounced off the skate of Adam Burish, then off the chest of Tyler Seguin and past Stalock. About two minutes later, Seguin shot the puck around Matt Irwin and past more traffic in front of the crease.

James Sheppard salvaged the Sharks’ spirits with a hard-working goal after he corralled a rebound at 17:14 of the first period. After the game, Sheppard said:

It really does happen fast, just trying to get pucks on net. Fortunately there was an open net so I didn’t have to beat a goalie, just get it in there. So it was just a good job by our line.

The second period featured two penalties to Tyler Kennedy and a power play goal for the Stars. Kennedy went to the box for goalie interference 12 minutes into the period, then again for tripping at 15:18. On their second power play of the period, Tyler Seguin finished his hat trick, taking advantage of a big rebound and plenty of space.

The third period turnaround started with a power play goal from Patrick Marleau. Marleau came up from behind the goal line to grab a rebound off a shot from Joe Pavelski.

A couple of minutes later, while the teams were playing four on four, Logan Couture and Brent Burns went in two on one to tie the game. Couture chose to pass and Burns shot before Lindback could get across.

With almost ten minutes left, while the Sharks’ third line of Sheppard, Hertl and Kennedy wreaked some havoc in front of the Dallas net, a rebound popped out for Burns, who put it away to give the Sharks the lead.

The last couple of minutes were hectic. The Stars were pressing and Stalock had to make some very impressive saves. Discipline broke down, and in the last 90 seconds overlapping penalties came after Stalock shot the puck out of play and then got hit in the face by Antoine Roussell. A number of scuffles followed, including a cheap shot on Justin Braun. Of the last, McLellan said:

What disappoints me is when a guy is vulnerable and being held and he gets punched. That’s the disappointing thing. I don’t think anybody in our league, the 750 players and coaches want to see that. So, just not a classy moment.

McLellan did not have any more information about Braun’s status.

Regarding the hit on Stalock, Logan Couture said:

I’ll have to see the video, I didn’t really see it. I saw it quickly, Roussell’s kind of known for that, so watch it on the video and see what really happened.

After the referees sorted that out, the teams finished the game four on four. The Stars pulled their goalie for a man advantage but Couture and Thornton escaped through the neutral zone and Thornton scored into the empty net.

The Sharks scored on one of two power plays, and killed four of five penalties. The Stars led on the shot clock through the game and in every period, for a total shot count of 40-29.

Brent Burns and Patrick Marleau led the Sharks in shots with four each, Tommy Wingels led the team with four hits, and Burns led the team in time on ice with 22:21.

Anders Lindback made 24 saves for the Stars. Shawn Horcoff and Tyler Seguin led Dallas in shots with five each, Ryan Garbutt led the team with five hits, and Alex Goligoski led the Stars in ice time with 24:43.

The three stars of the game were Brent Burns, Tyler Seguin and James Sheppard.

The Sharks continue their road trip Sunday at 4:00 PT, against the Blackhawks in Chicago.