Joe Thornton and Dan Boyle scored power-play goals in the second period and the San Jose Sharks won their season-high fourth consecutive game, 4-1 over the Phoenix Coyotes on Thursday night.
Ray Whitney scored the lone goal for the Phoenix. By scoring against the San Jose, the team that drafted him in 1991, Whitney successfully notched his 22nd point of the season.
Keith Yandle took the puck from Shane Doan and brilliantly faked a slap shot to take the lead 1-0 when Whitney got behind Niclas Wallin for the power-play goal.
Despite having three first period power plays, including more than 2 minutes of 5-on-3 time, the Sharks could not beat Phoenix goaltender Jason LaBarbera and converted on three consecutive power plays to tie a season-high in man-advantage goals.
As the game carried into the second period, LaBarbera continued to block the San Jose. San Jose kept drawing penalties, scoring a strong 9:29 of man-advantage time during the tilt. Coyotes were charged for committing three delays of game penalties on the
night.
Nine minutes into the second period, Dan Boyle helped the Sharks to finally capitalise on those chances.
Boyle took a feed from Patrick Marleau at the top of the faceoff circle, found a shooting path from high in the zone and beat LaBarbera with a wrist shot to tie it. Shots were around 23-10 at that point in the game, and with the Sharks carrying the play,
that goal appeared to be the one that opened up the floodgates.
After two minutes, Joe Thornton added a goal on power play. He moved fast towards the net and sent a beautiful pass across the slot. Thornton made it count, hitting the puck into the back of the net, and the Sharks got a lead they will not relinquish.
In the third period, Patrick Marleau scored twice for San Jose. With eight minutes remaining, Joe Thornton sent a hard pass to the Phoenix blueline. With two quick steps, Marleau found a hole and received the pass, breaking into the zone with speed and rifling
a wrist shot into the back of the Coyotes net.
Antti Niemi stopped 24 shots for the Sharks after watching Antero Niittymaki make the first three wins during the streak. Sharks ranked at fourth place in the conference with the four consecutive victories.
Joe Pavelski had two assists for the San Jose, which has a plus-13 goal differential in the second period this season.
Marleau's two goals in the third, including Sharks’ third on the power play, ended his 10-game drought without a goal and put the game away. Thornton helped on both goals for a three-point night.
"We weren't as sharp as we needed to be at that time," Sharks Coach Todd McLellan said. "I thought we got better as the night went on and we stuck with it. As a result, the power play got the three and earned the win."
Jason LaBarbera, in his fourth consecutive start, made 35 saves off 36 shots for the Phoenix and surrendered four goals in the loss.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Phoenix became the 10th team in NHL history that accounted for that many delay of games for pucks over the glass.
It is the longest winning streak of the Sharks since taking six straight in the first two rounds of the games last season against Colorado Avalanche and Detroit Red Wings.
Tags: