~ AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez
~ By Pearl Allison Lo
~ ANAHEIM, Calif. — The Ducks ended up with a winning homestand, as they scored 38 seconds into overtime to snuff out San Jose Friday 4-3.
Back and forth on the power play was the name of the game in the third period. Three of the four penalties resulted in goals. By nature of this overtime though, there was no chance for a comeback after a score. Jakob Silfverberg capped off a three-point night with the game-winner 38 seconds into extra time.
The last time Anaheim played an overtime game was January 13. The Sharks had played to an overtime win March 9 and are now on a five-game losing streak. Despite the results, it was the closest game San Jose had been in and the third period especially, showed the grit and competitiveness of both teams. The season series ended in a 2-2 tie, with each team winning a game in the extra period.
The teams traded goals all the way throughout the game.
Timo Meier, speaking about the loss, noted, “we might face a lot of adversity now, but we’re gonna learn out of this…playoffs are close, so you’d rather go through a slump like that now, learn out of it, get stronger as a team, get tighter as a group, and learn…‘cuz there’s gonna be a lot of ups and downs coming up, so…we gotta react the right way.”
The Ducks’ Rickard Rakell also had a three point game. For the Sharks, Marc-Edouard Vlasic had two assists and Meier, Justin Braun and Kevin Labanc each had goals.
The game’s first goal occurred when San Jose’s Brent Burns lost the puck to Ryan Getzlaf in the Sharks’ end. Silfverberg passed back left to Rakell, who pinpointed the top shelf left corner at 7:58.
It was Anaheim’s third shot of the game and first goal since 15:17 in the third period of Sunday’s game.
Later, San Jose had power play opportunities at 9:40 (two shots) and 15:46 (one shot blocked). The Ducks had a power play that started at 19:39.
The Sharks had 10 giveaways compared to three for Anaheim in the opening period.
To start the second, the Ducks finished out their power play and Kevin Labanc scored at 2:29 with a diagonal shot versus goalie John Gibson to even the game. The play was set up with crisp and timely passing from Marcus Sorensen and Vlasic before reaching Labanc.
San Jose had another power play at 12:34.
The Sharks ended up outshooting 11-4 in the middle period. One of Anaheim’s shots came shorthanded. San Jose had 11 of their attempts blocked.
The visitors began the third with a penalty at 1:05 and the home team capitalized. Troy Terry passed between two Sharks to Adam Henrique who had a Shark himself in front, as the puck squeezed between goalie Aaron Dell’s legs at 2:41 to make it 2-1.
San Jose had another chance to make waves of their own when the Ducks were called for slashing at 4:36. The visitors did indeed capitalize, as Joe Thornton shot from the top of the left faceoff circle. It looked like Gibson saved the puck, but it ended up going over his left pad and Meier was there to finish the play off, re-tying the game.
Anaheim’s Hampus Lindholm was called for interference at 8:19 and then the Sharks’ Melker Karlsson for holding at 14:14. Karlsson’s penalty resulted in the period’s third power play goal as Rakell struck again, this time from the top of the left faceoff circle as he hit a similar area to his first goal.
San Jose then scored the only even strength goal of the period. Vlasic began the play with a shot from the top of the left faceoff circle. As the puck went around the back of the net, his former defensive partner Braun picked it up in the right faceoff circle to end the third period with the game’s third tie at 17:20. It was Braun’s 600th career game and also…
The Sharks had one out of three players that missed Thursday’s game back. Logan Couture returned after missing last game with flu-like symptoms. Those who were out for multiple games already though, remained that way. Erik Karlsson was out for his eleventh straight game (groin) and Joe Pavelski was out for the third straight game (lower-body injury).
Up Next: San Jose finishes off March with a four game homestand, taking off with the Detroit Red Wings first, Monday at 7:30 pm.
