San Jose Sharks hold on to beat Vancouver Canucks 2-1
Joe Pavelski lit the lamp in the shootout, as the San Jose Sharks crushed the Vancouver Canucks 2-1, at Rogers Arena on Thursday night.
“Even strength, during the games, goals have been tough to come by,” said Pavelski, who only has nine goals in the 2010-11 season after scoring 25 in each of the last two. “If it hasn’t happened for you, which obviously it hasn’t, you have to step up in
other ways. It’s a big two points.”
Logan Couture also tallied a goal for San Jose, who have won three straight games since a six-game skid. Antti Niemi started between the pipes, turning aside 36 shots for Sharks, who set a franchise road record with 25 shots in the middle session.
Henrik Sedin found the net for Vancouver, who have dropped three consecutive games. Roberto Luongo stopped 44-of-45 shots in the losing effort.
A disappointed Luongo said after the game, "I thought we had a pretty good first period and I don't know what happened in the second. I was able to get into a good comfort zone and I was tracking the puck well."
The Canucks linked up well to take an early 1-0 lead in the 12th minute of the opening stanza. The play was set up by Daniel Sedin, who brought the puck into the Sharks zone and dished off to Henrik, who fired a backhander to beat Niemi.
The Sharks attacked with 25 shots in the second period, but were only able to score once. In 14th minute of the same period, Couture stole the puck away from a Canucks player in the slot and quickly blasted a shot on net. Luongo stopped the initial shot,
but Couture picked up his own rebound and hammered it home to tie the game at 1-1.
Henrik Sedin outlined the reasons behind his team’s loss. He said, “We were better for two periods and in overtime. But the middle period we gave up close to 30 shots and close to 20 scoring chances. That’s not the way we want to play.”
The final period was goal less, as both goalies kept the door shut with remarkable saves, and sent the game into overtime for the decisive goal. Luongo turned aside nine shots, while Niemi made eight saves.
Vancouver coach Alain Vigneault praised the both sides goaltenders, “Both teams had great goaltenders. Two goaltenders that were on top of their game and made saves when they needed to.”
Just 47 seconds into overtime, Sharks’ Dan Boyle was sent to the penalty box for roughing. However, Vancouver was unable to take advantage.
Niemi beat Mason Raymond and Daniel Sedin before poke-checking Ryan Kesler in the final round, as Pavelski ripped a low shot past Luongo’s blocker in the shootout to seal the victory
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