NHL - Sharks Round Up - February 19-28, 2017

Boston Bruins @ Sharks 2-1 OT - Sunday, February 19, 2017
Tuukka Rask made 29 saves, and an angry dwarf named Brad Marchand scored on a breakaway at 2:36 of overtime to give the Boston Bruins a 2-1 win against the Sharks at SAP Center. Patrice Bergeron won a faceoff in Boston's end, and Torey Krug flipped a long lead pass to Marchand, who beat goalie Martin Jones from close range for his 25th goal. Ryan Spooner scored in the first period for the Bruins (30-23-6), who are 4-0-0 under coach Bruce Cassidy and in third place in the Atlantic Division. It was Boston's first game after a six-day break. NHL teams are a combined 4-12-4 in the first game after a five- or six-day break. Patrick Marleau scored in the second period for the Sharks (35-18-7), who played their final game before a five-day break and lead the Edmonton Oilers and Anaheim Ducks by five points for first in the Pacific Division. Spooner put the Bruins ahead 1-0 at 11:05 of the first period when he collected a carom off the end boards and tucked the puck inside the right post. Jimmy Hayes had the primary assist for his 100th NHL point. The Sharks pulled even with 2:23 left in the second when Marleau scored at 4-on-4 after roughing penalties to San Jose's Brenden Dillon and Boston's Riley Nash at 17:05. Krug blocked Brent Burns' shot from above the right faceoff circle, but the puck deflected to Marleau in the left circle, and he snapped a shot into a wide-open net. Sharks center Joe Thornton remains two assists shy of 1,000 for his NHL career.

* Jones got caught above the crease when Hayes tracked down a blocked shot in the slot and sent a wrist shot that bounced off the boards to Spooner, who scored from close range before the Sharks could recover.

* Boston's David Pastrnak redirected Peter Cehlarik's shot from close range, but Jones made a left-pad save with 9:33 left in the third period to keep it tied 1-1.

* Bergeron was 12-for-24 on faceoffs, but his win against Thornton led to Marchand's overtime goal and gave him the 400th assist of his NHL career.

* Marchand used his speed to get behind Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Joe Pavelski in overtime, tracked down Krug's pass, and beat Jones on a backhand.
* Krug played his 300th NHL game. ... Marleau scored his 502nd NHL goal and moved into a tie with Joe Mullen for 43rd on the League's all-time list. ... Sharks forward Joonas Donskoi (upper body) missed his 12th straight game.

"We're in a good spot right now. It's about making sure our game is where it needs to be come playoff time. We can come back with a fresh mindset and with some energy for the stretch drive." said Jones
"We've got to take advantage of it, get our rest here, and come back and get back to work. It's a good time for a break. We're pretty happy with it." Patrick Marleau

Sharks @ Vancouver Canucks 4-1 - Saturday, February 25, 2017

Goaltender Martin Jones bought the San Jose Sharks enough time to find their game coming off a five-day break. Jones made the best of his 35 saves early, Patrick Marleau scored the go-ahead goal with 56 seconds left in the second period, and Mikkel Boedker and Logan Couture scored 2:49 apart in the third to help the Sharks to a 4-1 win against the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena on Saturday. Tomas Hertl scored for the Sharks (36-18-7), who are five points ahead of the Edmonton Oilers and Anaheim Ducks for first place in the Pacific Division. San Jose has won 10 straight games in Vancouver since its last loss on Jan. 21, 2012. Daniel Sedin scored, and Ryan Miller made 22 saves for the Canucks, who also were coming off their five-day break. Vancouver (26-29-6), which was missing five players because of the mumps, has three wins in its past 11 games and is nine points behind the St. Louis Blues for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference. Vancouver was missing defensemen Christopher Tanev, Nikita Tryamkin and Troy Stecher, and forwards Markus Granlund and Michael Chaput because of mumps or related symptoms, and defenseman Luca Sbisa left after the second period because of the flu. The Canucks have been quarantining players with mumps symptoms, but Desjardins said that isn't the case with Sbisa. Hertl gave the Sharks a 1-0 lead at 3:31 of the second period, but Sedin tied it 1-1 at 12:02. After Marleau made it 2-1 with 56 seconds left in the second period, Boedker scored his first goal in 20 games on a 2-on-1 at 11:31 of the third, and Couture scored on a power play at 14:20 to make it 4-1. Stecher was the only of the five players with a confirmed case of the mumps.

* Tierney made a pass from the blue line to defenseman David Schlemko cutting to the backdoor on Miller's right, and he passed it back through the crease to Marleau below the goal line on the other side. Marleau jammed it into an empty net before Miller could get back across.

* Bo Horvat sent Loui Eriksson in alone from the hash marks, but Jones threw out his blocker to make the save with 3:30 left in the first period.

* Sharks forward Joel Ward was hobbled when he blocked a shot on the Canucks' first power play, but he blocked another before it was over, and two more before the game ended, matching Schlemko for most in the game.
* A giveaway and a bad line change gave Ward a breakaway from the blue line. His deke trickled through Miller's legs and wide of the net, but Tierney centered back to Hertl in the crease for a tap-in into an open net.
* Sharks forward Joe Thornton remains two assists shy of becoming the 13th player in NHL history with 1,000. … Canucks defenseman Even McEneny, an undrafted free agent signed in 2012, made his NHL debut.

"For a short lineup, they played hard, they played fast, they gave us some issues, so hats off to them for the effort [on the Canucks, who were missing five players because of the mumps]."
"We knew it would be a little messy, and it was, and Jones thankfully was our best player and gave us a chance to get our legs under us, and as the game wore on, we got better and better. By the third, we were playing the way we can." Peter DeBoer said.
"It's something about the Vancouver air and the Canadian air. I always feel good when I play here."

"We are hungry to get points when we come here." said Chris Tierney.

"They said it's totally different symptoms." Desjardins said.

"Our line got better as the game went on, and the whole team got getter as the game went on. It's always nice to put it in when you have a big chance like that." Boedker said.

Toronto Maple Leafs @ Sharks 1-3 - Tuesday, February 28, 2017

Tomas Hertl scored the game-winning goal with 1:24 remaining, and the San Jose Sharks defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-1 at SAP Center. Patrick Marleau dropped a pass to Hertl, who beat goaltender Frederik Andersen to the short side from the left faceoff circle to put San Jose ahead 2-1. Joe Pavelski scored into an empty net with 23 seconds left to make it 3-1. Joe Thornton got his 999th NHL assist on the goal. Brenden Dillon scored, and Martin Jones made 20 saves for the Sharks (37-18-7, 81 points), who lead the Edmonton Oilers by five points for first place in the Pacific Division. Auston Matthews scored, and Andersen made 34 saves for the Maple Leafs (28-21-13), who have lost three straight (0-1-2). Matthews gave Toronto a 1-0 lead at 6:41 of the second period when he scored on the power play. His 31 goals are tied for second in the NHL with fellow rookie Patrik Laine of the Winnipeg Jets and Max Pacioretty of the Montreal Canadiens, three behind Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Dillon scored his second goal of the season at 12:17 of the second to tie the game 1-1. He took a cross-ice pass from Kevin Labanc and beat Andersen with a slap shot from above the right circle. Veteran center Brian Boyle made his Maple Leafs debut one day after being acquired in a trade from the Tampa Bay Lightning. He played on the fourth line with Matt Martin and Josh Leivo, as well as on the penalty kill. He had one shot on goal, one hit and one blocked shot in 12:33 of ice time.

* Leivo sent a pass from the right circle to Matthews in the slot, and the rookie beat Jones with a shot to the right corner of the net. "It was a really nice play all around," Matthews said. "We kind of caught them on a change, and [William Nylander] just maneuvered around, and [Leivo] made an unbelievable pass to me. I just tried to get it off my stick as quick as possible."

* Andersen gloved Joel Ward's shot from the slot with 4:04 left in the first period on a 2-on-1 rush during a power play.

* San Jose center Logan Couture slid to block Matt Hunwick's shot with 4:34 left in the third period. His four shots on goal were tied with Marleau and Dillon for the Sharks lead, and he won nine of 16 faceoffs (56.3 percent).

* Marleau drew three Maple Leafs to him before sending the puck to Hertl in the left circle for the game-winner.
* During the game, the Sharks acquired forward Jannik Hansen in a trade from the Vancouver Canucks for forward Nikolay Goldobin and a conditional fourth-round pick in the 2017 NHL Draft. ... Maple Leafs forward Mitchell Marner returned to the lineup after missing five games with an upper-body injury. ... Toronto center Tyler Bozak returned to the lineup after missing one game because of an infected cut on his finger. ... Maple Leafs forward Matt Martin played his 500th NHL game.

"I wasn't sure if it was in, but Patty made a great play to hold the puck and free guys in the [offensive] zone." Hertl said.
"We had a good shift there. We were kind of buzzing down low. We were having the cycle game. I think we got them a little tired, and [Labanc] made a great play through the middle. I kind of got my head up, had a little bit of time, so I thought I'd try the slapper instead of the wrist shot, and I was fortunate to find a hole." Dillon said.
"We just stuck with it. I loved our first period. We were unfortunate to be out of that period without being up. We should have been up. Second period, I thought they pushed back a little, and I thought the third we put our foot back on the gas again and finally got rewarded." Peter DeBoer