San Jose Sharks Outlast Panthers In Shootout
The San Jose Sharks picked up their 20th road win of the season with a 2-1 shootout victory over Florida.
Well, it wasn’t pretty but it sure was effective.
The San Jose Sharks continued their momentum at the beginning of this five-game road trip as San Jose outlasted the pesky Florida Panthers with a 2-1 shootout victory on Thursday night. The Sharks have now won three straight games and are two-for-two on their final extended road trip of the season.
Joonas Donskoi and Joe Pavelski converted for San Jose in the shootout as Donskoi showcased those filthy hands of his again in beating Florida netminder Al Montoya.
Martin Jones was strong again in net for San Jose as he picked up his fifth straight win and 28th victory of the season. He wasn’t tested often, but he came up with numerous big saves in the third and overtime session.
It was a tight, defensive battle all night long as neither team could find much time or space out there. The two teams combined for only 37 shots on goal, including just four total shots between the teams in the final frame.
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The two teams would be shut down over the first 40 minutes as both defenses did a nice job of limiting the chances against. In fact, some of the best opportunities of the game came shorthanded for the Panthers as they had a couple of breakaway chances that they couldn’t convert in what was a sluggish night for the Sharks usually effective power play.
Florida was eventually able to break the deadlock early in the third period, and it was the ageless wonder Jaromir Jagr who found the back of the net. Off a bad pinch from Brent Burns, Jagr would wrist one past Jones for his 18th goal of the season at the 2:23 mark as the Panthers took the 1-0 lead.
However, San Jose would respond more than six minutes later as they made their only shot on goal of the third period count as a nice keep-in by Joe Pavelski made it’s way to Joe Thornton who found Logan Couture in the slot for his sixth goal of the year to even things up at one.
Tic-tac-tied. #SJSharks pic.twitter.com/W0Zceltbyc
— San Jose Sharks (@SanJoseSharks) February 19, 2016
From that point on, the Sharks would rely on Jones who would make 19 saves on the evening including a couple of beautiful saves against Vincent Trocheck to keep the game tied.
Unfortunately, San Jose would lose Tommy Wingels in this one as he can’t a rut in the first period and fell awkwardly into the boards and wouldn’t return. It’s likely that Wingels won’t be available for tomorrow night’s contest in Raleigh.
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The Sharks now find themselves just two points back of the division-leading Kings with a game in hand as San Jose continues to apply pressure on their division rivals.
Team teal will be back in action tomorrow night as they look to make it four consecutive victories when they take on the Carolina Hurricanes. This team is rolling right now and it sure is fun to see how far this team has come over the past two months.