NHL - Sharks - Round Up November 19-23, 2016

Sharks @ Phoenix Coyotes 2-3 OT - Saturday, November 19, 2016




Why does Mike Smith play so well against the San Jose Sharks? In one word: Respect. Smith made 43 saves and Martin Hanzal scored 1:16 into the overtime to give the Coyotes a 3-2 win against the Sharks at Gila River Arena. Smith entered the game with a 2.10 goals-against average and a career-best .943 save percentage against the Sharks and improved both numbers, making 17 saves in the first period and 16 more in the third when San Jose rallied from a 2-0 deficit but couldn't get the game-winner. Phoenix survived when Hanzal deflected a shot by Alex Goligoski past Sharks goalie Martin Jones. Radim Vrbata assisted on the goal, his 300^th point with the Coyotes.

Tobias Rieder and Max Domi scored for Phoenix (6-9-2), which ended a four-game losing streak (0-2-2). Joe Pavelski and Tommy Wingels scored in the third period for the Sharks (9-8-1), who went 3-2-1 on a season-long, six-game road trip that ended with three straight losses. The Coyotes had four shots in the first period, but made the first one count. Jordan Martinook set up Rieder with a pretty centering pass and Rieder scored at 1:55 for fifth goal and third in his past four games. Smith made the lead stand up with big saves against Joonas Donskoi and Logan Couture in succession with three minutes left.
Phoenix made it 2-0 on the power play after Brenden Dillon went to the penalty box for tripping Rieder. Domi took a pass from Hanzal and put a wrist shot past Jones at 7:53. The Sharks finally struck in the third period. Pavelski got a stick on Justin Braun's shot from the point and deflected it over Smith at 41 seconds to make it 2-1. Nieto took a cross-ice pass from David Schlemko and sent a shot that Wingels redirected by Smith at 10:28 to tie the game. Wingels has three goals in the past five games.

* There wasn't a lot of room to the short-side post, but Domi found it under the blocker and over the pad of Jones on the power play to give the Coyotes a two-goal lead.

* Smith made two saves just after Pavelski made it a 2-1 game in the third. He made bang-bang pad saves on Donskoi and Couture right in front of the net, the second time in the game he stopped each player in rapid succession.

* At a time when the Sharks could have packed it in for the last period of a six-game road trip, they dug in and salvaged a point with a hard-working third period. Pavelski's deflected goal started the comeback.

* Martinook poked a puck around Donskoi in the Coyotes zone, chased it down along the boards and centered a perfect pass to Rieder to give Arizona an early lead.

* DeBoer said no decision has been made as to whether forward Tomas Hertl's lower-body injury will require surgery.

 "In the last period of a six-game road trip, it was encouraging to see guys put their heads down and just work. We're disappointed we didn't get the extra point. We felt like we were on them a lot of the game."
"I know we've played more road games than anyone else in the League, and it can't be underestimated how tough that is. We go home, make some hay and we are in a good spot." Joe Pavelski

New Jersey @ Sharks 0-4 - Monday, November 21, 2016


Martin Jones made 26 saves, and four San Jose Sharks scored in a 4-0 win against the New Jersey Devils at SAP Center. Chris Tierney, Patrick Marleau, Logan Couture and Brent Burns each scored for San Jose (10-8-1), which ended a three-game losing streak in the first of a five-game homestand. The shutout was Jones' second of the season, 15th of his NHL career. New Jersey (9-6-3) ended its four-game road trip with a third straight loss. New Jersey backup goaltender Keith Kinkaid made 37 saves in his fourth start of the season. He had a 30-save shutout in a 3-0 Devils win at SAP Center on March 10 in his only other career start against the Sharks. The Devils went 0-for-3 on the power play and are 0-for-29 over their past nine games.

Tierney gave San Jose a 1-0 lead at 1:59 of the first period when he scored an unassisted, shorthanded goal. Marleau knocked in a rebound from close range at 6:43 of the first to make it 2-0. It was his fifth goal of the season. Couture increased San Jose's lead to 3-0 with a power-play goal at 10:33 of the second period. Joe Thornton's pass deflected off Greene's skate, and the puck went into the left faceoff circle for Couture, who shot it into the top left corner of the net for his fifth goal of the season. Burns was credited with his seventh goal of the season at 7:38 of the third period when Devils defenseman Kyle Quincey put a loose puck into the New Jersey net.

* The Devils went on the game's first power play at 1:44 of the first period, but Tierney scored for the Sharks 15 seconds later. Tierney tracked down a long rebound and headed the other way on a 2-on-1 rush with forward Joel Ward. Tierney scored from the left faceoff circle, sending the puck off Kinkaid's right shoulder and into the net.

* Jones didn't face too many tough tests, but with his shutout on the line, he got his left arm on a shot by Devils forward Sergey Kalinin from the left faceoff dot for his final save with 1:19 remaining in the third period.

"I thought we were really good in front of the net," Jones said. "I saw a lot of pucks. I wasn't asked to do too much tonight."

* Thornton, one of the best passers in the League, made history with a pass that bounced off Greene's right skate but turned into an assist when Couture scored. It was Thornton's 900th point with the Sharks, the 1,354th of his NHL career. He is tied with Brendan Shanahan for 25th on the League's all-time points list.

* It took him a couple tries from in front of the net, but Marleau finally got the puck past Kinkaid to give San Jose a 2-0 lead in the first period. Marleau has spent most of the season on the third line, but he was moved up to the top line with Thornton and Joe Pavelski in the third period of a 3-2 overtime loss to the Arizona Coyotes on Saturday and stayed there Monday.

"Hopefully, he sticks with me and Pav because he played great again tonight," Thornton said.

* Greene played his 329th consecutive game, moving past Sergei Brylin into third place in Devils history. ... Sharks center Daniel O'Regan made his NHL debut, skating on the fourth line. ... Devils forward Kyle Palmieri (upper-body soreness) did not play. ... Sharks forward Tomas Hertl (sprained right knee) was placed on injured reserve Monday and is out indefinitely. He is scheduled for "minor" surgery Tuesday, general manager Doug Wilson said in a statement.

"I thought we played well the whole night. I thought we were smart with the puck. We didn't turn a lot of pucks over. When we play like that, we're tough to beat." Jones said.

"That was a big start for us. I thought we had good jump all night, and it started there."
"I liked our game. I was concerned coming back off a two-week road trip and the first game back. I know how I felt and wondered how our energy levels would be like, and we were good right from the drop of the puck." Peter DeBoer said.

Blackhawks @ Sharks 1-2 - Wednesday, November 23, 2016


Logan Couture and Joel Ward each scored in the first period, and Martin Jones made 33 saves to help the San Jose Sharks to a 2-1 victory against the Chicago Blackhawks at SAP Center. San Jose (11-8-1) has won the first two of its five-game homestand. Artemi Panarin scored in the second period for the Blackhawks (13-6-2), and Corey Crawford made 33 saves. Couture scored on a 4-on-3 power play 11:32 into the game to give San Jose a 1-0 lead. Pavelski faked a shot from the point before sending a pass to the right faceoff circle for Couture, who beat Crawford with a top-shelf one-timer for his Sharks-leading fourth power-play goal. San Jose's special teams came through again when Ward scored a shorthanded goal at 14:42 of the first to make it 2-0. The Sharks had 19 hits in the first period compared to four for the Blackhawks, who were coming off a 5-0 loss Monday to the Edmonton Oilers and playing the fifth of their seven-game "Circus Trip." Panarin cut San Jose's lead to 2-1 at 12:11 of the second period with his eighth goal of the season. He took a cross-ice pass from center Artem Anisimov and beat Jones with a slap shot into the left corner of the net. Blackhawks center Jonathan Toews left the game midway through the second period with an apparent injury shortly after falling awkwardly along the boards at 8:18.

* Ward put San Jose up two goals when he scored its second shorthanded goal in as many games. Chris Tierney, who had one in a 4-0 win against the New Jersey Devils on Monday, sent Ward in on a breakaway with a clearing attempt that turned into a pass when Seabrook slowed the puck at the Sharks blue line. After chasing down the loose puck in the Chicago zone, Ward faked a shot from the top of the right faceoff circle, pulling Crawford out of position, then moved in and put the puck inside the right post.

"I just tried to go for a fake and see if he'd bite on it," Ward said.

* Jones made three strong saves in a span of 13 seconds in the first period to keep the Sharks ahead 1-0. First, he stopped forward Tyler Motte on a breakaway at 13:18. Then, he rejected Panarin from close range at 13:28 and Ryan Hartman from the slot at 13:31. "Huge saves," Sharks coach Peter DeBoer said of Jones' overall game. "That's what we need out of him. He's one of our best players. When he's on, we're a very hard team to beat."

* Sharks defenseman Dylan DeMelo made his season debut when he took the ice at 1:35 of the first period. DeMelo, who played 45 games for San Jose last season, found out he was going to play about 20 minutes before warmups, when defenseman David Schlemko was scratched because he was ill. After watching the first 19 games of the season, DeMelo had three shots on goal, three hits and two blocked shots in 13:26.

* The Blackhawks were in danger of going down 3-1 late in the second period when the Sharks had a 5-on-3 power play for 1:41, but Crawford made saves on all three shots he faced to keep them in the game.
"The PK came up with a huge kill," Crawford said. "We have a bunch of guys who want to come out and kill it off."
* Sharks forward Melker Karlsson (left ankle) missed his fifth straight game but is close to being ready to return to the lineup, DeBoer said. He practiced Tuesday and skated Wednesday morning. ... Blackhawks defenseman Michal Kempny ws scratched for the third time this season. Defenseman Michal Rozsival took his place in the lineup.

Sharks Bites

"It was pretty even. We had chances to break it open. We want to strike there, but it didn't stop us from playing. Guys kept pushing, and [Jones] was solid. He made all the saves when we had to." Joe Pavelski said.


"That's a tough team to play against defensively, and we did a great job. Limiting them to what we did tonight was pretty impressive." Jones said.


"That's what we've been trying to hang our hat on here for the last month. The goals haven't been easy to come by. Let's be honest, in the playoffs they're not either. There's a lot of 2-1 games. You have to be comfortable in those games. I think our group is." Peter De Boer

Hawks Quotes

"It was a good pace. We were skating well and making plays. Their guy made a lot of saves. It was a tough couple of penalties, and I made a huge error on the second one by not coming out. I was a little flat-footed and I didn't read it well. I should have played the puck." Corey Crawford


"It's tough when guys go down, especially in the middle of the game. He's a big part of this team. He plays in every aspect of the game." Brent Seabrook said.