The Sharks' comeback effort falls short as they end up losing 5-4 in overtime to the Vegas Golden Knights.
Despite the unfavorable outcome, the Sharks played a great game and were very much in it, even though they trailed 3-0 early in the second period.
Besides two quick goals from Vegas in the first period, there was an apparent interference by Max Pacioretty on Logan Couture which the officials somehow missed, leading to a scuffle between the two players and Logan Couture going to the sin bin for roughing. Couture was fired up by this non-call and responded the way he should've to that interference non-call. For some reason, the refs have been favoring the Sharks' opponents in their officiating recently, and it doesn't make any sense.
The Sharks' comeback began towards the middle of the second period when Brent Burns scored on the power play to put the Sharks on the board. At the time the Sharks' first goal was scored, no one realized it had happened until it went under further review and the NHL's situation room in Toronto took a closer look at it, having hit the post and crossed the goal line for a split second. Assisting on the first Sharks goal were Timo Meier and Ryan Donato. Later on in the second, Matt Nieto tallies his fourth of the season to put the Sharks within one. In addition, Erik Karlsson records his first primary assist of the game. Through two periods, the Sharks went from trailing by three early in the second to now trailing by one.
Right as the third period began, Kurtis Gabriel and Ryan Reaves dropped the gloves and went at it, which looked fairly even. I would've preferred Gabriel knock out Reaves, but we didn't get that exactly. The two were exchanging words pregame, which eventually led to them dropping the gloves. As they headed to the box for five minutes each, they continued to chirp each other from there. It would aslo be a matter of time before Kurtis Gabriel's skate catches the inside of Ryan Reaves' leg and Reaves had to be carried off the ice.
Just 26 seconds into the third period, Alex Tuch scores to extend the Knights' lead to two. Roughly six minutes later, Logan Couture scores to put the Sharks back within one. Erik Karlsson gets his second primary assist of the game on the Couture goal, while Evander Kane gets the secondary assist. With about a minute remaining in regulation, Kevin Labanc has a breakaway chance and pokes it past Oscar Dansk to tie the game at four.
Labanc's unbelievable game-tying goal ultimately sends the game to overtime. It wasn't long before defensive miscues led to Max Pacioretty scoring the game-winner for the Golden Knights. The great news is that the Sharks got a point out of this game, and it could've been worse. We saw a great overall effort by the Sharks down the stretch, but they didn't get their desired outcome.
Martin Jones started in net, but was pulled early in the second after he gave up three goals. Devan Dubnyk finished the rest of this game and performed well, stopping 17 of 19 shots against. This was the fifth time in 15 starts this season that Martin Jones has been pulled from the net.
Before the start of last night's game, Marcus Sorensen was unavailable as he joined Tomas Hertl on the NHL's COVID Protocol list. Speaking of Hertl, he will be out for the Sharks' next two games before he can be removed from COVID Protocol and be placed back in the Sharks' lineup.
San Jose's current miniseries against the Golden Knights will resume tonight at 7:30 pm PT. Looking ahead at their schedule, Team Teal will be playing every Friday and Saturday for the next six weeks.
Sources: NBC Sports Bay Area/California, NHL app
No comments:
Post a Comment