The San Jose Sharks are playing their best stretch of hockey this season and that continued on Thursday night in the desert. Facing the upstart Arizona Coyotes for the first time this season, San Jose utilized a good first period en route to a 3-1 victory to maintain their position in second place.
The Sharks were ready from the get-go in this one as they took the play to the Coyotes in the early going. San Jose took advantage of a fortunate break as Justin Braun’s shot was deflected up in the air and fell right to Tommy Wingels in the slot. Wingels gloved the puck down, spun and fired one past Arizona netminder Louis Domingue for his fourth goal of the year. It’s been a struggle offensively for Wingels as it was just his second goal in the past 24 games, but it gave the Sharks the lead in this one.
A little more than three minutes later, San Jose would double their lead behind a net-front scramble that would eventually see Chris Tierney knock the puck in for his sixth goal of the season. Melker Karlsson would end up in the net as he paid the price in front of Domingue, but it was Tierney who was able to bat the puck out of the air to give the Sharks a 2-0 lead after one period of play.
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It was the perfect start for San Jose as they were able to limit and control the transition game of Arizona and play from ahead the entire night. After an evenly played second period, the Coyotes made a push to get back into this one.
Arizona cut the deficit in half just past the midway point of the third when Brad Richardson found himself alone in the slot and was able to outlast Martin Jones to slide home his fourth of the season to make things interesting again.
The Coyotes pressed from that point forward, but Jones stood his ground making 23 saves in this one. The Sharks iced the game with 52 seconds remaining as Patrick Marleau won a foot race for a loose puck and found the empty net for his 15th of the season.
San Jose played a nice, clean game as they leapfrogged Arizona into a second place tie with the Vancouver Canucks within the division. The Sharks have been gaining steam of late and they continued their roll in this one. Also, this game helps set the tone for the rest of the season as the Sharks and Coyotes will still meet four more times over the last 37 games of the year.
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San Jose now heads home for three games before the All-Star break beginning tomorrow afternoon when they play host to the Minnesota Wild, looking to extend their point streak to eight games.