Blades of Teal
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San Jose Sharks Pull Away From Montreal With Strong Third Period

By Patrick Leiva

Feb 29, 2016; San Jose, CA, USA; San Jose Sharks center Joe Pavelski (8) celebrates scoring against the Montreal Canadiens in the third period at SAP Center at San Jose. Mandatory Credit: John Hefti-USA TODAY Sports. The Sharks won 6-2.
Feb 29, 2016; San Jose, CA, USA; San Jose Sharks center Joe Pavelski (8) celebrates scoring against the Montreal Canadiens in the third period at SAP Center at San Jose. Mandatory Credit: John Hefti-USA TODAY Sports. The Sharks won 6-2. /
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San Jose has now scored seven goals in the third period over the course of the last two games.

For the second consecutive night, the San Jose Sharks used a strong final 20 minutes to break open a close contest. This time, San Jose scored three times in the third period to pull away from the Montreal Canadiens by a 6-2 final at SAP Center on Monday night.

The Sharks received another big night from their big guns as Joe Thornton, Joe Pavelski and Brent Burns all had three points in this one.

After being sluggish for most of the past two games, San Jose came out from the get-go and established their game in the early going. The Sharks would get on the board first when Pavelski deflected Justin Braun’s shot from the point right to Thornton at the side of the net for an easy tap-in as team teal was off-and-running.

However, Montreal would respond just over two minutes later on one that Martin Jones would like to have back. After sending a Max Pacioretty shot to the corner, Brendan Gallagher fired a sharp-angle shot that snuck through Jones for his 18th of the season.

Fortunately, San Jose would continue to come after Montreal in waves after the soft goal. The Sharks would break through again as this time it was Thornton sending a perfect pass to Pavelski who one-timed home his first of two goals on the night past Mike Condon as San Jose took a 2-1 lead into the locker room.

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The Sharks would extend their advantage early in the second as Thornton and Burns converted a great transition rush. Thornton gained the offensive zone and hit a streaking Burns who picked the top corner over the glove of Condon for his 21st goal of the season. It was another display of the greatness of “Jumbo Joe” as he had a three-point night just 23 minutes into the game.

Once again, the Canadiens bounced back and found their best spell of hockey in the game following the Burns’ marker. They would cut the deficit back to one when former Shark Torrey Mitchell batted a puck out of mid-air right between the legs of Jones who had no chance on the play.

As the game headed into the final period of play, San Jose seized control as Montreal’s defensive coverage was a mess all night. It started with the first of two beautiful feeds from Chris Tierney who lofted a perfect pass that Melker Karlsson batted in for his eighth of the year, much like Mitchell’s goal.

Then, 83 seconds later, the Sharks put this one to bed as Chris Spaling scored his second goal in teal, following up on a Logan Couture rebound to put San Jose up 5-2. From that point forward, it was merely cosmetic as the Sharks gave very little to the Canadiens.

Pavelski would score his 29th of the year from Tierney to add the final tally in this one as San Jose completed the back-to-back sweep. It was great to see the Sharks dominate this contest from the onset and limit the chances for the Canadiens.

San Jose would outshoot Montreal by a 36-23 advantage as they were the ones playing with the puck on this night.

Next: Four-Goal Third Lifts San Jose Past Vancouver

The Sharks can now enjoy a few days of rest as they prepare for a home-and-home series with the Vancouver Canucks beginning on Thursday night. Hopefully, they can put together more home performances like Monday night over their final 20 games as they gear up for the postseason.

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