Vancouver Canucks @ Sharks 1-3 - Tuesday, April 04, 2017
The San Jose Sharks moved into a tie for second place in the Pacific Division with a 3-1 win against the Vancouver Canucks at SAP Center. The Sharks (45-28-7) trail the Anaheim Ducks by four points for first place and are tied with the Edmonton Oilers, who have one game in hand. San Jose is five points ahead of the fourth-place Calgary Flames, who can't catch the Sharks. Each team has two games remaining. Edmonton lost 6-4 to the Los Angeles Kings, and Calgary lost 3-1 to Anaheim. Martin Jones made 33 saves for the Sharks, who swept the season series against the Canucks (5-0-0), including a 3-1 win in Vancouver on Sunday in the first of the home-and-home set. Sharks center Joe Thornton missed the game with a left-knee injury, ending his streak of 201 consecutive games. Center Logan Couture missed his fifth game since being hit in the mouth by a deflected puck against the Nashville Predators on March 25. Even without their top two centers, the Sharks took control early. Rookie Kevin Labanc and Joel Ward each scored in the first 30 seconds to give San Jose a 2-0 lead. They were the fastest two goals to begin a game in Sharks history. The old record was 47 seconds, set by Owen Nolan and Joe Murphy in a 2-2 tie with the Chicago Blackhawks on Oct. 22, 1998. Labanc scored at 18 seconds of the first period, beating goalie Richard Bachman with a wrist shot from the right faceoff circle to end a 28-game goal drought. Ward put a snap shot past Bachman 12 seconds later for a 2-0 lead. Labanc skated on a top line centered by captain Joe Pavelski, who moved from right wing to fill Thornton's spot. Christopher Tanev scored, and Bachman made 22 saves in his fourth start of the season for the Canucks (30-40-9), who lost their fifth straight game. Tanev got the Canucks within 2-1 at 3:30 of the third period, beating Jones from the right circle with a wrist shot to the far side. Tierney made it 3-1 at 9:18 when Brent Burns' wrist shot from the point deflected off his right leg past Bachman from close range.
* Labanc got to the puck off a faceoff in the right circle, skated to his left, and shot while spinning at the top of the hash marks to give San Jose the early lead.
* Vancouver's Sven Baertschi redirected Bo Horvat's pass from the right wall near the right hash marks, but Jones stopped the puck with his right arm at 6:14 of the second period.
* Joonas Donskoi won a battle for the puck and poked it back to Ward, who scored from just above the right circle.
* Canucks forward Nikolay Goldobin faced the Sharks for the first time since they traded him to Vancouver on Feb. 28 for forward Jannik Hansen and a conditional fourth-round pick in the 2017 NHL Draft. After being a healthy scratch in a 3-1 loss to San Jose on Sunday, Goldobin skated on the top line with Daniel and Henrik Sedin. He had five giveaways and two missed shots in 13:25 of ice time.
"We want to try to win out and give ourselves the best possible scenario going into the playoffs with home ice. We're just going to keep working every day, try to get better, and try to string a couple wins together here." Chris Tierney said.
"The start was spot on. That's the kind of response we wanted. It's just, you can't take your foot off the gas. I doesn't matter who you're playing right now. You're trying to build your game, and you don't want that. You want to keep pushing the issue and keep playing." Pavelski said.
Edmonton Oilers @ Sharks 4-2 - Thursday, April 06, 2017
The Edmonton Oilers took over second place in the Pacific Division with a 4-2 victory against the San Jose Sharks at SAP Center. Milan Lucic scored a hat trick in the third period, and defenseman Oscar Klefbom had four assists for Edmonton (45-26-9), which trails the first-place Anaheim Ducks by four points and leads San Jose (45-29-7) by two. The Oilers have two games remaining, and the Ducks, who defeated the Chicago Blackhawks 4-0, and Sharks each have one. Lucic scored all three goals in the third period to help the Oilers rally from down 2-1. Connor McDavid scored his 30th goal in the second period and had an assist to increase his NHL-leading point total to 97, nine more than Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Patrick Kane of the Blackhawks.
Cam Talbot made 13 saves for his 41st win, passing Grant Fuhr (1987-88) for the most in a season by an Oilers goalie. Joel Ward and Brent Burns scored for the Sharks, who had a season-low 15 shots and allowed 32. Martin Jones made 28 saves. The Sharks played without injured centers Joe Thornton (left knee) and Logan Couture (teeth). Lucic tied it 2-2 at 4:26 of the third period when he tipped in Klefbom's point shot for a power-play goal. Lucic put Edmonton ahead 3-2 at 7:57 on a goal from close range. Klefbom got his own rebound below the goal line and sent a pass in front to Lucic, who beat Jones with a wrist shot.
Lucic scored again at 16:31 to make it 4-2, knocking in a loose puck from close range. Klefbom's point shot banked off Oilers forward Mark Letestu to Lucic.
Ward gave the Sharks a 1-0 lead at 6:08 of the first period when he scored his 10th goal, second in as many games. McDavid scored on a rebound from close range at 4:40 of the second period to tie it 1-1. San Jose moved ahead 2-1 on Burns' 29th goal at 12:30 of the second.
* Planted in front to the crease, Ward tipped Schlemko's shot backward between his legs to beat Talbot through the five-hole.
* Lucic used his size to establish position near the crease, where he took a pass from Klefbom and scored the game-winner on a wrist shot from 4 feet.
* Oilers forward Patrick Maroon played his 300th NHL game. ... Sharks defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic got his 200th NHL assist in the first period on Ward's goal.
"It's frustrating we let a game get away from us, one we felt we had pretty good control. It was right there. It felt good all night, even with the shot total. It just didn't feel like that." Joe Pavelski said.
"The season starts now and this is forgotten. We can't really use if for anything. It was a good way to see what they're about, but we already knew what they're about. Now the real work begins. We're still confident." Jannik Hansen said.
Lucic scored again at 16:31 to make it 4-2, knocking in a loose puck from close range. Klefbom's point shot banked off Oilers forward Mark Letestu to Lucic.
Ward gave the Sharks a 1-0 lead at 6:08 of the first period when he scored his 10th goal, second in as many games. McDavid scored on a rebound from close range at 4:40 of the second period to tie it 1-1. San Jose moved ahead 2-1 on Burns' 29th goal at 12:30 of the second.
* Planted in front to the crease, Ward tipped Schlemko's shot backward between his legs to beat Talbot through the five-hole.
* Sharks forward Marcus Sorensen had a penalty shot at 2:19 of the third period, but Talbot made a glove save to keep the Oilers within one. "A goal there changes the game," Talbot said. "If he scores there, we might not come back and win the game. A big save there gave us confidence going forward."
* Defenseman Kris Russell had nine of Edmonton's 28 blocked shots to lead the Oilers and had three shots on goal in 22:55.
* Oilers forward Patrick Maroon played his 300th NHL game. ... Sharks defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic got his 200th NHL assist in the first period on Ward's goal.
"The season starts now and this is forgotten. We can't really use if for anything. It was a good way to see what they're about, but we already knew what they're about. Now the real work begins. We're still confident." Jannik Hansen said.
Calgary Flames @ Sharks 1-3 - Saturday, April 08, 2017
The San Jose Sharks will finish third in the Pacific Division following a 3-1 win against the Calgary Flames at SAP Center. The Sharks will open the Stanley Cup Playoffs on the road against the division's second-place finisher. The Edmonton Oilers secured home-ice advantage in the Western Conference First Round with a 3-2 win against the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday. The Sharks will face either the Oilers or Anaheim Ducks in the first round. Calgary clinched the first wild card in the West midway through the first period of their game when the Nashville Predators lost 2-1 to the Winnipeg Jets. The Flames and Predators have 94 points, but the Flames have the tiebreaker with 41 regulation/overtime wins to the Predators' 39. The Flames will open the playoffs on the road against the Ducks or Oilers. Tierney, Mikkel Boedker and Danny O'Regan scored for the Sharks (46-29-7). Aaron Dell made 20 saves. Curtis Lazar scored for the Flames (45-33-4). Brian Elliott made 15 saves through the first two periods but was replaced at the start of the third by David Rittich, who was called up from Stockton of the American Hockey League and made nine saves in his NHL debut.
Tierney gave the Sharks a 1-0 lead at 4:38 of the second period with his 11th goal of the season. He took a pass from Jannik Hansen and scored from point-blank range. Boedker made it 2-0 at 18:07 of the second when he scored on a wrist shot from left of the crease. The Flames made it 2-1 with six seconds left in the second period on Lazar's first goal of the season and first in four games since being traded by the Ottawa Senators on March 1. O'Regan scored his first NHL goal at 11:25 of the third period to make it 3-1 on a deflection.
* Boedker skated left to right through the slot and beat Elliott with a wrist shot before he could get across the crease.
* After a Flames giveaway, Hansen took the puck below the goal line and sent it to Tierney, who had established position in front of the crease. Tierney beat Elliott with a shot inside the left post.
"I think for us, we were missing a lot of important pieces tonight. But anytime you finish the regular season, you want to have a little momentum. We had a tough March and a first bit of April, but we're going to build on this." Brenden Dillon
"It doesn't really matter for us what kind of building we go into. We've been able to win tough games on the road before. I think when you go on the road in a playoff game, you dial in even more almost than home ice." Chris Tierney said.
"Nice to finish with a win. I thought the guys played hard. I thought we played the right way. Dell gave us another good game, which is comforting going into the playoffs. There's some good things there. Obviously you can't take too much from it, based on the lineups in both dressing rooms. I'd rather win than lose, and I think our guys feel good getting ready for the playoffs." Peter DeBoer said.
* Boedker skated left to right through the slot and beat Elliott with a wrist shot before he could get across the crease.
* Dell made an acrobatic blocker save of Michael Frolik's snap shot at 19:31 of the second period.
* Flames defenseman Rasmus Andersson made his NHL debut and had four hits and two blocked shots in 18:33 of ice time. He had been a healthy scratch for 14 straight games since being called up from Stockton on March 10.
* Joe Pavelski was scratched, ending his streak of consecutive games played at 495. Forwards Tomas Hertl and Joel Ward, and defenseman Justin Braun were also scratched. … The Flames scratched defensemen Mark Giordano and Deryk Engelland, and forwards Mikael Backlund and Kris Versteeg. ... Sharks defenseman Brent Burns finished with 29 goals, one shy of becoming the ninth defenseman in NHL history to score at least 30 in a season. Late in the game, the Sharks had Burns take a shift at forward, hoping he'd get No. 30. "Pretty cool that they did that," Burns said. ... Sharks forwards Joe Thornton (left knee) and Logan Couture (teeth) did not play. ... Forwards Timo Meier, O'Regan and Barclay Goodrow were called up from San Jose of the AHL.
"I think for us, we were missing a lot of important pieces tonight. But anytime you finish the regular season, you want to have a little momentum. We had a tough March and a first bit of April, but we're going to build on this." Brenden Dillon
"It doesn't really matter for us what kind of building we go into. We've been able to win tough games on the road before. I think when you go on the road in a playoff game, you dial in even more almost than home ice." Chris Tierney said.
"Nice to finish with a win. I thought the guys played hard. I thought we played the right way. Dell gave us another good game, which is comforting going into the playoffs. There's some good things there. Obviously you can't take too much from it, based on the lineups in both dressing rooms. I'd rather win than lose, and I think our guys feel good getting ready for the playoffs." Peter DeBoer said.
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