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Too much Ducks for the Sharks to handle |
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The Anaheim Ducks came into San Jose and continuously stole momentum from the Sharks in a convincing 5-3 win sweeping their games at the Tank this year for the first time since the 1994-95 season.
There was a lot on the line tonight for San Jose and this was clearly a missed opportunity. Tonight’s contest was one of those games in hand that people have talked about and with a win the Sharks could have moved back into first place in the division, third in the conference, and more importantly into a playoff position.
The results from Mondays contest were disappointing for all Sharks fans everywhere. The coach echoed these sentiments “The lack of energy and jump that we had as a team was baffling. We were the second place team in a lot of areas, and at the end of the night on the score too.”
As it stands now San Jose travels to LA for no doubt what will be a dog fight against the Kings for the eighth and final playoff spot on Tuesday.
The Ducks came into the Shark Tank as a team that has no chance of making the playoffs, but had the have the intention of playing spoiler. It doesn’t matter what time of year these clubs meet or what is on the line the Ducks play the Sharks hard. They seem to have confidence playing in San Jose and their record coming into Monday’s game backs that up. The Ducks are now 4-1 against the Sharks so far this campaign.
“This is one of those teams we feel we match up pretty well against” said Ryan Getzlaf after the game.
The good starts continue for the Sharks as they scored the first goal of the game with the man advantage; however they have had problems holding that lead and keeping momentum after scoring. Once again on Monday night the opposition came back and scored on the very next shift less than a minute later.
This was the story of the game against Anaheim. The only bright spot in the second period was Joe Pavelski’s tip in goal which got the sell-out crowd in the loudest building in the league back into the game…for 0:33 seconds because that’s how long it took the Ducks to come back and re-gain their two goal lead.
Ryane Clowe was asked about the quick responses the Ducks had after the Sharks scored “I don’t know why it keeps happening but we have to settle that. It happened twice. That was the frustrating part.”
The Sharks miss out on home ice advantage every time they let the opposition score on the shift following a goal. If you had to pick out specifics as to the Sharks troubles this would be at the top of the list.
Some coaches in the league base their whole coaching philosophy on preventing momentum swings and that is an area that the Sharks must drastically improve upon before the post-season begins if they want to have any success.
Anaheim played the second of back to back games as they battled and lost 3-1 to Nashville Sunday night and San Jose are in their first of back to back games as they are off to LA to face the Kings on Tuesday evening.
Antti Niemi looked shaky from the get go and was pulled half way through the game finishing with 4 goals on 26 shots. The way he responded to wide shots off the boards was confusing to me; it was as though he was playing in a visiting rink. The signs were there early in this game that Niemi wasn’t mentally in this game. Thomas Greiss came in and relieved Niemi stopping 13 shots letting one get by him.
Martin Havlat continued to show his skill level tonight as he displayed great patience on the first goal of the game by outwaiting the Ducks goalie Jeff Deslauriers. He also made a sweet pass to Ryane Clowe on San Jose’s second goal which also came in the first period.
Havlat appeared to show some good chemistry with line mates Patrick Marleau and Ryane Clowe as that line was responsible for the first two Sharks goals, which is why I was puzzled to see them split up in the second period. I understand that mixing the lines often gets players going, but why switch up the team’s most productive threesome of the game?
Scoring details
1st Period
SJ – 6:24 –PP – 9 M.Havlat(5) – assists – 88 B.Burns(23), 29 R.Clowe(25)
ANA – 7:15 –EV – 9 B.Ryan(27) – assists – 51 K.Palmieri(2), 63 N.Bonino(9)
SJ – 9:20 –EV – 29 R.Clowe(13) – assists – 9 M.Havlat(14), 22 D.Boyle(35)
ANA – 17:52 –PP – 23 F.Beauchemin(8) – assists – 63 N.Bonino(10), 17 L.Visnovsky(19)
2nd Period
ANA – 0:56 –EV – 10 C.Perry(35) – assist 15 R.Getzlaf(42)
ANA – 9:59 –EV – 34 N.Guenin(2) – assists – 9 B.Ryan(21), 63 N.Bonino(11)
SJ – 17:29 –EV – 8 J.Pavelski(26) – assists – 88 B.Burns(24), 29 R.Clowe(26)
ANA – 18:02 –EV – 51 K.Palmieri(4) – assists – 9 B.Ryan(22), 17 L.Visnovsky(20)
3rd
No scoring
The turning point in this game was the Ducks fifth goal which came 0:33 seconds after the Sharks scored to make it a one goal deficit.
Contenders & Pretenders
Contenders
Nick Bonino – was great Monday with a career high three point game. His best assist came on the Ducks fourth goal when he outworked both Torrey Mitchell and Douglas Murray in the corner to keep the play alive.
Bobby Ryan – had a goal and two assists. He no longer plays with Getzlaf and Perry but still has a great scoring touch.
Martin Havlat – makes the list for a great first period with a goal and a helper. He was decent all night and seeing his scoring touch has been a blessing. Let us hope it will continue.
Pretenders
Douglas Murray – had a rough night with a minus two rating plus he and Justin Braun were weak on the coverage in front of the net on the Ducks power play goal.
The top power play unit – let the team down and were pretenders in this game. They had an opportunity with 7:10 left in the third period and lost the first three draws which killed any momentum the man advantage could have given them. They didn’t come through in the clutch and really lacked opportunities to score on the second to last chance they had.
The coaches – make the list in this game for pulling Niemi one goal too late. I thought the team had a bit of a rally after Greiss came in and I think he should have left the Clowe-Marleau-Havlat line together as they scored two in the first.
Keep your sticks on the ice,
Cam Gore
San Jose Sharks Blogger • 
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