NHL - Sharks Round Up - December 27-31, 2016

Sharks @ Anaheim Sucks 3-2OT - Tuesday, December 27, 2016

Brent Burns scored in overtime, and Martin Jones made 34 saves to help the Sharks defeat the Anaheim Ducks 3-2 at Honda Center. Burns went to his backhand around goalie John Gibson with 2:14 left in overtime to give the Sharks their third straight win, seventh in their past eight games. San Jose is 6-1 in overtime. Paul Martin and Melker Karlsson scored for the Sharks (22-12-1). Jakob Silfverberg scored for the second time in as many games, and Ondrej Kase scored his second NHL goal for Anaheim (17-12-7), which has lost three straight (0-2-1). Gibson made 22 saves. Anaheim is 1-7 in overtime. Ducks coach Randy Carlyle couldn't point to one particular thing they struggle with in overtime, but he said Anaheim was doomed from the start against San Jose when Cam Fowler, Ryan Kesler and Silfverberg got pinned in their own end for the first three minutes. The long shift forced Carlyle to use different personnel groupings, one of which gave up the goal to Burns. Silfverberg tied the game 2-2 with 6:25 left in the third period, redirecting a Kesler shot. Karlsson put the Sharks up 2-1 at 14:18 of the second period when he got a stick on Joel Ward's centering pass and the puck skipped over an outstretched Gibson. Kase made it 1-1 at 8:22 of the second when he beat Jones with a backhand shot from his knees. Martin opened the scoring 6:30 into the game when he scored on a rebound. With a pileup in the crease, the puck got to Martin near the left faceoff dot, and his shot went over Gibson to make it 1-0. Ducks defenseman Sami Vatanen was scratched with the flu.

* Burns took a feed from Joe Pavelski, deked around Gibson and scored on his backhand to win it for San Jose.

* Jones momentarily protected a 2-1 lead in the third period when he smothered Kesler's shot from the right faceoff dot and held on to the puck.

* Pavelski set up the overtime goal with some slick puck-handling to get around Kase at center ice before passing the puck through Fowler's legs to Burns.

* From his knees to the right of the San Jose net, Kase spun around and beat Jones with a backhand shot.
* Burns has 10 NHL regular-season overtime goals, second among defensemen in League history behind Scott Niedermayer (13).

"We found a way. Our goalie was our best player. I think last time in here we played a great game and found a way to lose in the last minute. I guess the hockey gods even things out sometimes."
"We have a lot of skill, and I think they have some confidence when we get in that situation that if we give something up, Jones is going to make a save, and we aren't afraid to take some chances going the other way." Peter DeBoer said.
"I have no clue. It's 3-on-3 and anything can happen." Burns said when asked about the Sharks' overtime success.

Philadelphia Goons @ Sharks 0-2 - Friday, December 30, 2016


Aaron Dell made 21 saves for his first NHL shutout, and the San Jose Sharks defeated the Philadelphia Flyers 2-0 at SAP Center. Patrick Marleau scored at 16:29 in the first period, and defenseman Justin Braun scored with 4:37 left in the third for the Sharks (23-12-1), who won their fourth straight game and eighth in nine. They defeated the Flyers for the fifth straight time and have 17 wins in their past 20 games against Philadelphia. The Flyers (20-14-4) have lost three straight games in regulation for the first time this season. Flyers goaltender Steve Mason gave up one goal on 12 shots in the first period but appeared to injure his left hand with 3:46 remaining in a collision with Sharks center Joe Thornton. Mason finished the period, but Anthony Stolarz took over at the start of the second and made 21 saves in his fourth NHL game. Hakstol said he'd have an update on Mason's condition Saturday.

Sharks defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic was hit in the face by the puck on a shot by Shayne Gostisbehere with 30 seconds remaining in the third period. Vlasic skated off the ice with help from trainers. Sharks coach Peter DeBoer said he doubts Vlasic will travel for the game at the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday.

Marleau knocked the puck past Mason from close range for a power-play goal. It was his 10th goal of the season and 491st in the NHL, tied for 46th with Jean Ratelle. It also was Marleau's 95th game-winning goal; he passed Steve Yzerman for ninth place.

* Braun used his speed to get behind the Flyers then took a cross-ice pass from Pavelski and lifted a wrist shot past Stolarz.

* With 11:01 left in the second period, Dell made a glove save on Braden Schenn's wrist shot from the left circle while Simmonds was trying to provide a screen in front.

* Forward Melker Karlsson had four of San Jose's 18 blocked shots.
* Mason stopped Vlasic's point shot, but forward Kevin Labanc got his stick on the rebound, and Marleau scored on a wrist shot.
The Sharks were 5-for-41 on the power player in their previous 10 games. DeBoer, searching for a spark, moved Joel Ward to the top unit and dropped Marleau to the second.
"Obviously they're looking to give it a kick-start and hopefully it will work out," Marleau said.
* Sharks defenseman David Schlemko returned to the lineup after being a healthy scratch the previous three games. ... Flyers rookie forward Travis Konecny was a healthy scratch for the first time after 37 games played. ... Flyers forward Michael Raffl returned to the lineup after missing one game with a knee injury. ... Flyers defenseman Radko Gudas (upper body) was scratched and is day to day.

"I think I had a pretty easy night tonight. They didn't really give up a lot. I think that was probably the best all-around game we've played all year."

"He was a big part of my career, did a lot to get me to where I am today. It's probably good for him to see, as well, because he kind of brought me here." Aaron Dell on getting a shutout in his first game against Flyers coach Dave Hakstol, who was his coach at the University of North Dakota

"As bad as it looked and as bad as it probably is, I've got my fingers crossed. The initial reports are that [they] don't believe it's that serious. So that's good." DeBoer said.

Sharks @ Los Angeles Kings 2-3 - Saturday, December 31, 2016


Jeff Carter scored his 20th goal to help the Los Angeles Kings defeat the San Jose Sharks 3-2 at Staples Center. The win ended a three-game losing streak for Los Angeles (18-15-4), which limited San Jose to 20 shots on goal. Carter scored at 3:56 of the third period to give the Kings a 3-1 lead. He has 20 or more goals in 10 consecutive seasons and in 12 of his 13 in the NHL.

Tanner Pearson had a goal and an assist, Drew Doughty scored on the power play, and Peter Budaj made 18 saves for the Kings, who played at Staples Center for the first time since Dec. 10 after nine straight games on the road.
Brent Burns and Kevin Labanc scored, and Martin Jones made 24 saves for the Sharks (23-12-1), whose four-game winning streak came to an end. It was the second game in two nights for San Jose, which defeated the Philadelphia Flyers 2-0 on Friday. Labanc made it 3-2 with 6:03 left in the third period when he got to a loose puck in the left faceoff circle and beat Budaj high. It was Labanc's seventh goal since he was recalled from the San Jose Barracuda of the American Hockey League on Nov. 7. Burns got the Sharks on the board when he scored his 15th goal with a shot through traffic on the power play 12 seconds into the third period to make it 3-1. But the comeback was preceded by a poor start. The Sharks were hemmed in their own end for most of the first period and took four penalties through the first two. The Kings capitalized by taking a 2-0 lead into the third. Pearson put Los Angeles up 1-0 at 4:17 in the first period with a wrist shot through traffic, and Doughty scored a power-play goal 1:31 into the second period to give the Kings a 2-0 lead.

* Pearson found Carter speeding through the neutral zone, and Carter beat Sharks defensemen Justin Braun and David Schlemko to the high slot for a wrist shot past Jones high to the glove side to give the Kings enough of a cushion to hold off the Sharks' late comeback attempt.

* With the Kings hanging on to a 3-1 lead, Budaj got his right pad on Logan Couture's tip-in try with 9:14 left in the third period.

* Dustin Brown screened Jones, allowing Doughty to score his power-play goal with a slap shot the Sharks goalie never saw coming. "It was Brown in front of me. He did a good job kind of taking away my eyes," Jones said.

* Pearson skated untouched into the high slot and scored with a wrist shot that grazed Jones' left shoulder and went into the top right corner of the net.

* The Kings honored the goal-scorers from the "Miracle on Manchester" in a pregame ceremony as part of their Legends Night series. … It was Carter's NHL-leading seventh game-winning goal of the season, the most he's scored since the 2012-13 season (eight). … Sutter coached his 1,240th NHL game, passing Terry Murray for 14th on the League's all-time list. He also tied Jacques Martin for 13th with his 613th NHL win.

"They were desperate, and they needed the win. We knew that, and we were ready. We talked about there was going to be a push early, and there was. I thought we handled it, and then we found a way to get ourselves back in the game. There's no doubt the better team won tonight." Peter DeBoer

"As poorly as we played at times, it was a game that we found ourselves at the end of the third period feeling like we could win. It was a game where not everybody had their best and we needed to be a lot better. We knew we were facing a desperate team, and it was a frustrating night."
"It was our play. We didn't break out well. They came out on the hunt early, forechecking and got a lot of pucks in with some speed. We've got to do a little better job handling that." Pavelski said.