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Sharks drop the Avalanche in a convincing win |
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The Sharks played another edge of your seat game trading chances with the Colorado Avalanche in a game that they received scoring from all over four lines in a 5-1 win.
Before the puck was dropped San Jose sat in ninth place in the Western Conference, but with help from Vancouver beating LA and Calgary triumphant over Dallas the Sharks find themselves in third place in the West and first in their division. To say that things are that tight in the conference and in the division is a huge understatement.
Monday’s match-up was the first game between these teams since the McGinn trade. Daniel Winnik and T.J Galiardi came to the Bay area and McGinn went the other way. Judging the winner of a trade is never fair until a considerable amount of time has passed. However if you were to award a winner in the early stages of this swap Colorado would come out ahead.
The Avs have a better record than the Sharks since the trade going 7-4-2 vs 6-5-3. McGinn found a groove as soon as he arrived in Colorado scoring eight goals including two game winners to go along with four assists in thirteen games. This has been a career year for the former Shark.
Jamie McGinn was a fan favorite in San Jose because of the way he played. McGinn was the guy who brought energy to the games with hard work and big hits. He dropped the gloves once in a while to stick up for team mates which earns respect wherever one plays. Monday in his old stomping grounds was not his night though as he and his line mates Paul Stastny and David Jones went minus -4.
The emergence of Tommy Wingels play made McGinn expendable. Wingels plays a similar style and has filled the role admirably. The fourth line played their best two games of the year Saturday against Phoenix and tonight against the Avalanche.
The Sharks are finally getting some depth scoring and it hasn’t been for the odd game. This is the third straight outing San Jose has received a goal from the fourth line. Monday night it was Andrew Desjardins and although some may call the goal a fortunate bounce the sustained pressure that line created had nothing to do with luck. These guys have come together at the right time of year for the Sharks.
The Sharks traded chances in the first period but took over momentum of the game early in the second period and held on to it aside from the odd shift here and there. The shots in the game were fairly even, however the Avs were shooting from bad angles all night and it seemed they just wanted to put pucks on net and look for rebounds.
“I don’t think we were the better team tonight” said Colorado coach Joe Sacco after the game. “They outplayed us in more periods in the game.”
There weren’t many rebounds to be had because Sharks goalie Antti Niemi was good tonight. He had some clutch saves and didn’t give the soft one or two that he sometimes does that can be deflating to a team. More important were the saves on Stastny and Jones who had scoring chances shortly after San Jose goals.
It hasn’t been often that all four lines get in on the scoring for the Sharks and it seems that they seldom have a lead down the stretch that allows this team to play all four lines right through until the final buzzer.
“I really liked the poise of our leaders on the bench tonight” said Todd McLellan after the game. “They were saying the right things, there was a calmness and that is a good sign for us.”
Scoring Details
1st Period
No scoring
2nd Period
SJ – 3:50 –EV – 8 J.Pavelski(28) – assists – 61 J.Braun(9), 22 D.Boyle(36)
SJ – 9:19 –EV – 69 A.Desjardins(4) – assists – 57 T.Wingels(6), 22 D.Boyle(37)
COL – 11:47 –EV – 5 S.O’Brien(3) – assists – 37 R.O’Reilly(37), 92 G.Landeskog(27)
SJ – 15:44 –EV – 17 T.Mitchell(9) – assists – 26 M.Handzus(17), 18 D.Moore(19)
3rd Period
SJ – 0:35 –PP – 8 J.Pavelski(28) – assists – 39 L.Couture(29), 19 J.Thornton(56)
SJ – 16:23 –EV-EN – 29 R.Clowe(14) – assist – 9 M.Havlat(16)
The turning point tonight came 0:35 seconds into the third when Joe Pavelski scored with the man advantage. That made it a three goal deficit and really took the winds out the sails of the Avalanche.
Contenders & Pretenders
Contenders
Sharks fans at HP – are on the top of the list as coach McLellan recognized them in his post-game comments and how much they boost the team when they get involved early in the game.
Joe Pavelski – scored two tonight and earned them both by scoring in and around the blue paint. His power play goal was a great display of individual effort as he went hard to the net and jammed in his own rebound.
Andrew Desjardins – was great against the Avalanche by scoring a goal and coming close when he sounded the alarm by ringing one off the post. His game has jumped a couple of notches lately and his team really needs him to maintain his play. Tonight was the second consecutive game that his line saw more ice time than the third line.
Pretenders
Semyon Varlamov – was O.K and that doesn’t cut it this time of year. He is the top pretender in a game that he let in four goals on thirty-six shots, but should have stopped a couple of that got by him.
Michal Handzus – turned the puck over in his own zone as well as the other end and his wheels aren’t what they used to be. His lack of speed may hinder his team as the game gets faster in the playoffs.
The Stastny line – gets the last pretender spot because along with his line mates David Jones and Jamie McGinn they combined for minus -12.
Worth Noting
Logan Couture left the game and didn’t return after the Sharks last power play in the third period. He took a hard hit along the boards and a Joe Thornton shot in the shoulder. I got word after the game that he will be fine.
The Sharks drive for the playoffs continues in Anaheim on Wednesday night.
Keep your sticks on the ice,
Cam Gore