San Jose Sharks Shutout Jets In Home Opener
The San Jose Sharks have won their second game in a row — this one in their home opener — to start of the 2014-2015 campaign by defeating the Winnipeg Jets by the final score of 3-0.
Despite going 0-8 with the power play the San Jose Sharks were able to score three times against Winnipeg goaltender Ondrej Pavelec.
The first of those goals, scored by defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic, came just 3:22 into the game as the San Jose Sharks jumped out to an early 1-0 lead. Vlasic fired a simple wrist shot from the point and it ended up bouncing off of a defenseman in front of Pavelec before squeaking by his pads.
Less than two minutes later the Sharks struck again, and this time it was second-year play Tomas Hertl picking up his first goal of the season. Hertl’s goal came as a result of a great breakout started by Joe Pavelski in the defensive end when he found Joe Thornton at center ice. Thornton then fed the puck to a streaking Hertl who split the two Winnipeg defensemen and was in on the goaltender by himself. The Czech winger then beat Pavelec with a snapshot on the short side and just like that it was 2-0 Sharks.
The San Jose Sharks would strike once more late in the second period with less than a minute on the clock to put themselves up 3-0, which would eventually be the final score. The final goal of the game was Patrick Marleau‘s second of the season.
Once again it started in the defensive end with a blocked shot followed by a loose puck that ended up on Matt Nieto’s stick. With his head up at his own blue line Nieto spotted the streaking Marleau behind the Jets’ defense and flipped to the puck to Marleau on a pass that had the perfect amount of sauce. From there it was all Marleau as he buried the opportunity.
Lost in all the goals tonight was the performance of Alex Stalock as he got the call after Antti Niemi picked up the win against the Kings just a few nights ago. Stalock was fantastic and stopped all 30 shots fired at him, some of which came in the spectacular variety.
Somewhat concerning, besides the giant donut despite having eight power plays, was the lack of offense in the final period for the San Jose Sharks. Yes, they were up 3-0 by then, but they seemed to take their foot off the gas a bit too much. How so? Well, they managed ZERO shots in the final stanza despite having three power plays.
Obviously it’s early in the season and this can be fixed. However, as the San Jose Sharks will be on the road a bunch to start the season, capitalizing on things like this has to become a priority. At the very least it’s something to keep an eye on in the next few games.