Red Wings get back to work, fall to the Sharks out west
By Nick Barnowski –
Joe Pavelski scored two goals and the San Jose Sharks flexed their Western Conference muscles in a 4-1 victory over the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday night.
Detroit (19-15-10), one of the league’s best road teams, was not able to contain the San Jose offense, nor were they able to generate much of their own.
While the shots on goal total was close, 26-25 in San Jose’s favor, the Sharks (28-11-6) controlled the pace and tempo of the game from the opening faceoff.
Less than five minutes into the game, the league leaders in first-period goals struck first. Pavelski was able to shake himself free from Henrik Zetterberg and received a pass from Joe Thornton from the far side of the goal line that he one-timed by Jimmy Howard to open the scoring.
After Pavelski’s first, though, the Red Wings held sustained pressure in the San Jose zone. They had a couple of scoring chances, including one by Daniel Cleary right in front of Sharks goalie Antti Niemi.
A Detroit too-many-men penalty forced the club into a nice showing on the penalty kill, where they only held the Sharks to two shots on goal with the man advantage.
They used that momentum and tied the game later on in the first as Tomas Tatar scored his second highlight reel goal in as many games to tie the game at one. He had the puck below the goal line and stickhandled out, holding the puck away from two defenders before ripping a backhand past Niemi.
Halfway through the second period SJ untied the game.
Andrew Desjardins carried the puck into the Detroit zone and let a shot go from the left faceoff circle that beat Howard on the short side to give the Sharks a 2-1 lead.
The Sharks added to their goal total less than three minutes later. A shot by Brad Stuart came in from the point that Howard stopped but the rebound came to Pavelski who kicked it skate-to-stick and put it in the net for his second of the game and 21st of the season.
A Kyle Quincey penalty with around 4:00 left in the second allowed San Jose another power play opportunity that they converted. After a couple of nice passes in the zone, Dan Boyle’s shot from the right hand side of the slot put the Sharks up 4-1, a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.
Petr Mrazek started the third period instead of Howard. Howard made 19 saves on 23 shots while Mrazek stopped all three shots he faced. Niemi made 24 saves for San Jose.
Tensions boiled over for the Red Wings near the end of the game as both Quincey and Cleary received five-minute majors for fighting, while Todd Bertuzzi also got penalties for roughing and unsportsmanlike conduct.
The Red Wings take on the Los Angeles Kings at the Staples Center on Saturday night.