San Jose Sharks Falter In Final Meeting With Canucks
The road team won all five games in the season series following Vancouver’s victory in San Jose.
The home woes came back up to bite the San Jose Sharks once again on Thursday night. After a very solid game against these same Vancouver Canucks two nights ago, San Jose was doomed by turnovers in this one as Vancouver snapped their nine-game losing streaking by defeating the Sharks 4-2 at SAP Center.
All three Vancouver goals, besides the empty-net tally, came as a direct result of a San Jose miscue.
The first came more than a minute into the contest when Joonas Donskoi couldn’t corral a Paul Martin pass in the neutral zone. That allowed Jannik Hansen to bust down the wing a fire a low shot off Martin Jones’ right pad which kicked right out to Daniel Sedin who deposited the rebound into the gaping net for the 1-0 lead just 1:09 into this one.
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It was the beginning of a nightmare opening 20 minutes for Donskoi who was uncharacteristically sloppy with the puck.
Things went from bad to worse for Donskoi at the 13:55 mark of the first when Bo Horvat stripped the puck from him at the San Jose blue line, skated around him, and finished off a great move to the net, sliding the puck between Jones’ legs to double the Vancouver advantage. It was a terrible turnover from Donskoi who was too lackadaisical coming out of his own end.
It was another slow start from team teal who made a habit of having poor first periods against this Canucks team.
With the teams trading power-play opportunities in the middle frame, the Sharks were able to capitalize when Joe Thornton found Patrick Marleau for a quick one-timer from the slot which beat Ryan Miller on the blocker side for his 22nd goal of the year as San Jose faced a one-goal deficit heading into the third.
Team teal would tie things up midway through the final period when Brent Burns hit Logan Couture with a perfect cross-ice pass as Couture deposited his 14th of the season past a sprawling Miller. The goal was a big one as Couture continues to round into form as he has four goals in his past two contests, and could have easily had more if he wasn’t robbed in a couple of other games.
Unfortunately, with San Jose pressing for the winner, a Thornton cross-ice pass skipped right over the stick of a pinching who was opening up for a shot on goal. The miscue allowed Hansen to pick up the puck and skate down the right wing on a 2-on-1 and blast one past Jones for his 20th of the season.
Markus Granlund added an empty-net tally as the Sharks couldn’t overcome their costly turnovers in this one.
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This loss all but assures that San Jose will find themselves occupying the third seed in the Pacific Division as the Kings were able to reclaim sole possession of first with their 3-0 victory over Calgary.
The Sharks will now head out on to the road for one final time during the regular season as they begin their two-game trip with a stop in Nashville against the Predators. San Jose will look to secure their first victory against the Preds as Nashville as won the first two meetings of the season.