NHL - Sharks Round Up - March 21-28, 2017

Sharks @ Wild 2-3 - Tuesday, March 21, 2017

The Minnesota Wild ended their season-long, five-game losing streak with a 3-2 win against the San Jose Sharks at Xcel Energy Center. Minnesota (44-22-6) is six points behind the Chicago Blackhawks for first place in the Central Division and Western Conference. The Wild are two points from clinching a berth in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. San Jose (42-24-7) has lost four in a row. The Sharks lead the Anaheim Ducks and Edmonton Oilers by four points for first place in the Pacific Division and are four points behind the Wild for second place in the West, having played one more game. The teams combined to score four goals in 63 seconds near the end of the second period. It is the fastest four goals scored since the St. Louis Blues (two) and Dallas Stars (two) combined to score four in 49 seconds, over two periods, on April 3, 2015. The fastest four goals scored by two teams in one period is 53 seconds, achieved by the Blackhawks (three) and Toronto Maple Leafs (one) on Oct. 15, 1983. Sharks defenseman David Schlemko tied the game 1-1 at 17:57 of the second period. Martin Hanzal gave the Wild a 2-1 lead 33 seconds later, his first goal for Minnesota since being traded by the Coyotes on Feb. 26. Charlie Coyle made it 3-1 at 18:45, and Patrick Marleau scored 15 seconds later to make it 3-2.

* Matt Dumba gave Minnesota a 1-0 lead at 10:29 of the first period on the power play, his third goal in five games. The Wild have scored 18 power-play goals in the past 19 games and lead the NHL in power-play percentage at home (.296).

* Sharks goalie Martin Jones stopped Mikko Koivu at 5:33 of the second period to keep the score 1-0.

* Zach Parise centered the puck on Dumba's goal and assisted on Coyle's goal. Parise has four assists in a three-game point streak.

* Coyle scored on a one-timer 15 seconds after Hanzal. Coyle has three points (two goals, one assist) in his past three games.
* Dubnyk (37-18-3) tied the Wild record for wins in a season, set by Niklas Backstrom in 2008-09. ... Sharks forward Chris Tierney returned after missing one game with illness. Defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic missed the game with the flu. Forward Jannik Hansen missed his second game with an upper-body injury. San Jose coach Peter DeBoer said there's a chance he returns during this four-game road trip. … Wild forward Eric Staal had an assist and has seven points (five goals, two assists) in his past six games.

"I don't think we're talking much about puck luck. We can be better. That kind of luck comes when you're on a team, when you spend lots of time in the [offensive] zone, maybe get a bounce here or there. We're not creating enough right now."
"To be honest, we're not that concerned [about the losing streak]. We've played games that are close games, a lot of these games are one-goal games. It's such a fine line of being on the winning side or losing side that I think we all understand that we can be a little bit better." Joe Pavelski said.

Sharks @ Stars 1-6 - Friday, March 24, 2017

The San Jose Sharks are tied for first place in the Pacific Division after losing their fifth straight game, 6-1 to the Dallas Stars at SAP Center. The Sharks (42-25-7) and Anaheim Ducks each have 91 points after Anaheim defeated the Winnipeg Jets 3-1. San Jose led Anaheim by nine points on March 15. The Sharks hold the advantage in the regulation/overtime wins tiebreaker (40-37). They each have eight games remaining but don't play each other. The Edmonton Oilers are two points back. Adam Cracknell had a hat trick, and Jason Spezza had three assists for the Stars (30-33-11). Cracknell scored in each period and got his third goal on a shorthanded breakaway at 4:59 of the third. It was his first hat trick and second multigoal game in 195 NHL games. Cracknell and his wife are expecting their first child in late April. Cracknell gave Dallas a 1-0 lead at 8:30 of the first period. He took a sharp-angled shot and went to the net for a rebound when the puck banked off Micheal Haley's skate and into the net. The Stars took a 2-0 lead 1:58 into the second when Brett Ritchie finished a pass from Tyler Seguin. Jamie Benn pushed the lead to 3-0 at 5:19. Cody Eakin won a faceoff back to Ales Hemsky and Benn scored after a quick pass. Cracknell got his second goal at 7:08 to make it 4-0 when he scored on the rush after a pass from Spezza. The Sharks scored 49 seconds later when Joe Thornton got a power-play goal to make it 4-1. John Klingberg scored at 5:20 of the third period to push the lead to 6-1.

* Benn's 25th goal of the season developed with precision. Eakin won the faceoff back to Hemsky, who quickly passed the puck to the far post, where Benn swept it into the net.

* Cracknell completed the hat trick when he intercepted a clearing pass by goalie Aaron Dell, skated in alone and shot under Dell's glove.

"I think he kind of just misplayed the puck and I was coming off the bench so I figured I should just shoot it and hope for the best," Cracknell said. "It was a great feeling."

* Stars defenseman Stephen Johns had five hits and four blocked shots in his return after being scratched in back-to-back games.

* Forward Jannik Hansen returned to the Sharks lineup after missing two games with an upper-body injury. … Spezza was back in the Stars lineup after missing two games with back spasms. … Stars forward Jiri Hudler (lower body) and defenseman Dan Hamhuis (lower body) were scratched. ... Seguin played his 500th NHL game.

"It's not ideal by any means. I think it's maybe a bit of a wakeup call for us that this time of year it doesn't matter if you're fighting for a job for next year or fighting for a [Stanley Cup Playoff] position or whatever it might be. Obviously those guys (Dallas) are in a different spot than us, but you can't take a night off and you have to be emotionally invested. You've got to take every shift as hard as you possibly can."
"I think so. If you look at a good chunk of those goals, we kind of know whether it was [defensive] zone coverage or off the rush, or just communicating with one another. Stuff that's not like us. I think if we wanted the other 70 games this year those kind of things don't happen. We'd rather this happen right now than two games into a playoff series or the first game of a playoff series. We have a bit of time here, and I think for us we've got enough character in this room that we're going to be able to rebound tomorrow." Brenden Dillon said.
"You have a handful of those a year where nothing goes right and nobody's got any kind of legs or energy. It was one of those nights. I don't have any explanation for it. I felt we prepared the right way the last couple days. I thought we felt pretty good about ourselves. Then the puck dropped and everything went bad." Peter DeBoer said.

Sharks @ Nashville Predators 2-7 - Saturday, March 25, 2017
The Nashville Predators moved into third place in the Central Division with a 7-2 win against the San Jose Sharks at Bridgestone Arena. The Predators (38-25-11) took a one-point lead on the St. Louis Blues for third place. The Blues lost 3-2 in overtime to the Calgary Flames. San Jose (42-26-7) has lost six in a row and is tied with the Anaheim Ducks and Edmonton Oilers for first place in the Pacific Division. The Ducks have played one fewer game. Colton Sissons and James Neal scored two goals each, and Rinne made 26 saves for the Predators, who are 6-1-0 in their past seven games. Sissons gave the Predators a 1-0 lead at 4:14 of the first period on a backhand. Colin Wilson made a backhand pass to the slot, where Sissons beat Martin Jones. Cody McLeod gave the Predators a 2-0 lead at 15:19 of the first period. Patrick Marleau scored for the Sharks to make it 2-1 at 4:24 of the second period on the power play. Neal gave the Predators a 3-1 lead with a power-play goal at 4:48, and P.K. Subban made it 4-1 at 14:39. Sissons' second goal of the game gave the Predators a 5-2 lead at 5:27 of the third period on a redirection of a shot by Craig Smith. Neal made it 6-2 at 17:01 of the third period on the power play. It was his second goal of the game and 23rd of the season. Viktor Arvidsson made it 7-2 with 38 seconds remaining.

* Jones lost track of the puck when it went to the corner, and Subban scored on a slap shot from the right circle.

* Rinne made a save on Timo Meier's one-timer from the slot in the first period to keep it 1-0.

* Predators defenseman Ryan Ellis blocked five shots and was plus-3 in 22:46 of ice time.

* Josi deked around Burns and took a shot to set up McLeod's goal, his fifth of the season.

* Sharks forward Logan Couture left the game in the second period after getting hit with a puck. DeBoer said Couture had to be taken to the hospital but did not have a further update. … Sharks forward Micheal Haley was given a match penalty for attempt to injure when he punched Predators forward Calle Jarnkrok in the face at 12:56 of the third period. Jarnkrok did not return to the game.

"You don't want it [losing streak] to happen any time. Right now, we should be just tightening up everything. We've still got to fight. You're fighting for your lives, and we've got to figure it out pretty soon." Brent Burns said

"We're giving up some goals. It's a combination of things, I think. Obviously it's not good enough to win games, so we've got to figure it out and I don't have an answer standing here for you, but I know our group. Every team I've ever coached has a tough part of the season, and this is obviously ours." Peter DeBoer said.

NY Rangers @ Sharks 4-5 OT - Tuesday, March 28, 2017

The San Jose Sharks clinched a berth in the Stanley Cup Playoffs an hour and a half before they ended their six-game losing streak with a 5-4 overtime victory against the New York Rangers at SAP Center. San Jose clinched midway through the second period of its game when the Los Angeles Kings lost 2-1 to the Edmonton Oilers. By earning a point, New York also qualified for the postseason.

The Sharks (93 points) are tied with the Oilers for second place in the Pacific Division, two points behind the Anaheim Ducks. The Rangers (97 points) hold the first wild card into the playoffs from the Eastern Conference. They are 11 points ahead of the Boston Bruins, who are in the second wild card. Brent Burns ended a 16-game goal drought when he scored on the power play with 1:50 left in overtime, beating goalie Henrik Lundqvist with a slap shot from the left faceoff circle. It was Burns' NHL career-high 28th goal, breaking the Sharks record for defensemen he set last season. Chris Tierney scored twice, Jannik Hansen and Melker Karlsson each had a goal, and Martin Jones made 24 saves for the Sharks (43-26-7). After New York scored three straight goals to take the lead, Tierney tied the game 4-4 when he got a pass from Hansen and scored from close range with 2:15 remaining. J.T. Miller scored twice, Derek Stepan and Jesper Fast each had a goal for the Rangers (46-27-4). Lundqvist made 30 saves in his second straight start after missing eight games with a hip injury. Hansen gave San Jose a 1-0 lead when he scored on a rebound at 1:44 of the first period. It was his first goal since being traded to the Sharks from the Vancouver Canucks on Feb. 28. The Rangers tied it 1-1 when Miller scored on a snap shot from the right circle at 13:30 of the first period. Karlsson scored a shorthanded goal with 1:59 left in the first period to put San Jose ahead 2-1. Tierney extended San Jose's lead to 3-1 at 11:38 of the second period with an unassisted goal from the low slot. Stepan cut the Sharks lead to 3-2 with a power-play goal with 23 seconds left in the second, taking a cross-ice pass from Mats Zuccarello below the left circle and beating Jones to the short side. The Rangers tied it 3-3 when Fast redirected Brady Skjei's point shot past Jones at 1:24 of the third period. Miller scored his second goal of the game on a 4-on-3 power play at 4:34 to give New York a 4-3 lead.

* Karlsson tracked down a loose puck along the right-wing boards in the San Jose zone, skated it to the top of the left circle on a 2-on-1 rush with Tierney, and beat Lundqvist to the short side with a wrist shot.

* Jones made a stick save of Stepan's elevated shot from the slot on a breakaway with 10:01 left in the first period.

* Rangers forward Michael Grabner had a game-high six shots on goal, a plus-1 rating, one hit and one takeaway in 15:02.
* Joe Pavelski passed to Burns in the left circle, and his one-timer beat Lundqvist past his glove to the far side to win it.
* Sharks center Logan Couture missed the game after being hit in the mouth by a deflected puck at the end of the second period against the Nashville Predators on Saturday. ... San Jose forward Micheal Haley served his one-game suspension for roughing Predators forward Calle Jarnkrok. … The Rangers have made the playoffs seven straight seasons, 11 out of 12.

"We're not throwing any parades for clinching the playoffs. It's an accomplishment. You want one of those 16 spots. Then it all starts again." Peter DeBoer said.
"Sometimes you've just got to look and take a deep breath and reassess yourself. We kind of did that. We played a couple games on that six-game stretch where we weren't good. Played a few where we definitely could have won. Take a deep breath, know where we're at, try to figure it out together." Joe Pavelski said.