The San Jose Sharks should be happy on their way home tonight after capping off their 6 game road trip with 2 wins in back to back nights. Last night, they hung on against Atlanta for a 4-3 win, and tonight they kept the pressure up against the Flyers for a 4-1 win.
In the first game against Atlanta, the Sharks faced a former Shark in goal, Johan Hedberg. Unlike 9 of their previous 10 games, the Sharks came out and got the first goal of the game. This time, it was Thornton getting a second chance, putting it in to take the 1-0 lead in the first minute of play. For Atlanta Thrasher Dany Heatley got a power play goal from a rebound put into the slot to give the Sharks a 2-0 lead heading into intermission. Free agent aquisition Manny Malhotra got his first point as a Shark assisting on the play. The Sharks then duplicated the goal in the first minute in the second period, this time from Patrick Marleau. Marleau took a feed from Dan Boyle on right wing half boards, pivoted around to square himself to the goal, and shot in the top corner, blocker side. The Sharks build up a 4-1 lead as Marleau got his second of the night, chasing Hedberg.
Atlanta showed they weren't going to go quietly into the night with a from Rich Peverly on a one timer off a pass through the box before the end of the period to cut it to 4-2. Then, in the first minute of the third period, right after Dany Heatley came out of the penalty box, rookie Evander Kane notched his third of the year to make it 4-3. With the Sharks forwards caught up high, and Heatley rushing back into the play, Kane was left alone on the play. Perhaps Joe Thornton could have stayed lower, and kept his stick in a passing lane to make it harder, but that is a tough play to read. Despite great pressure from the Thrashers, the Sharks were able to hold on.
Each team finished with a shortened lineup. Atlanta had their captain, sniper Ilya Kovalchuk, go down in the first period after blocking a shot with his foot. That Kovalchuk was out makes Atlanta's comeback all that more impressive as they were without their best player. The Sharks meanwhile had Devin Setoguchi get hurt in the first period, and rookie Ryan Vesce in the third. Each is day-to-day with lower body injuries.
In the Flyers game, we got a duel of backup netminders with former Shark Brian Boucher going for Philly and Thomas Greiss getting his first start of the year for the Sharks. To deal with the injuries, Logan Couture and Jamie McGinn were called up from Worchester. This was Couture's NHL debut. The injuries required lots of line juggling, with Benn Ferriero getting the nod for the first line with Thornton and Heatley. Manny Malhotra got pushed out to the wing last night to fill in for Setoguchi, and got the nod again to play with Patrick Marleau and Ryane Clowe. Scott Nichol centered Jamie McGinn and Jed Ortmeyer, with Logan Couture rounding things out with Jody Shelley and Brad Staubutz.
Heatley got on the score sheet with a power play goal for the second game in a row as the Sharks opened the scoring. After not scoring first is 9 of their first 10, they have now scored first twice in a row. Heatley slapped at a rebound sitting at the feet of Boucher from behind the end line, knocking the puck in. Thornton and Boyle got the assists on the play. The Flyers answered on a nice shot from Darrol Powe to tie the game at 1. This seemed awkward, but it may have just been that Greiss turned to the side after the goal. Shortly after tying the score, the Flyers had a chance to take the lead, but just couldn't get the puck to go in.
The referees seemed to have a hard time tonight. Several times they got in the way of the play (getting into Heatley's path on a break up ice, in the way of the cycle, etc.). Some of the calls didn't make sense, such as why Shelley got an additional interference penalty on his fight with Ian Laperriere in the first period. Then, Douglas Murray got called for a hold that he did not commit. Early in the second, the Flyers Mike Richards was called for charging Greiss in what seemed like a player driving the net. The coup de grace had to be the announcement of a penalty to the Sharks number 68 when the Sharks had no 68 in the lineup. Instead, it was on number 59, Brad Staubitz.
Malhotra got his first goal as a Shark, this time from a junky redirected play from behind the net. It looks just like a great shot on the score sheet, but was definitely one with a little luck involved. Just a couple of minutes later, Malhotra got his second of the night, for his 200th career point, to make the lead 3-1 for the Sharks. They would take that into the second intermission.
Unlike the night before, with some stellar goaltending, and good pressure from the Sharks, they kept the Flyers from getting back in the game. They even scored a clinching goal with 3:09 left from Jed Ortmeyer off a turnaround drive.
Another thing I noticed was about the play of Dan Boyle. He was really competing hard tonight, which the Sharks announcers picked up on, but he really is quarterbacking the power play when he's out there. Some players seem to only quarterback when they have the puck. Boyle is directing where to go even when he doesn't have the puck. Granted, tonight Vlasic wasn't able to keep the puck in, but the idea of going back to the other point was Boyle's. I've seen him direct with his stick before where the play should go, and I think it really makes it hard for the other team. On defense, you are usually looking at the puck, so anyone behind you pointing to go one way can't be seen. Had they yelled across, you could hear that, and maybe jump on the play. I don't know how long that will work, but Boyle does bring a lot to the Sharks.
With the win, Greiss got his first NHL win, good enough for second star of the night. Malhotra's two goals got him first star, and third went to Philly's Powe.
Highlights from the Flyers game:
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment