Monahan sinks Sharks in overtime

A roller-coaster game ended up coming off the rails for the Sharks as Flames center Sean Monahan found himself unencumbered in front of the net, picked up the rebound of a Mark Giordano point shot and slipped it past Antti Niemi to give Calgary the win in overtime. It was a disappointing end to the game for San Jose after they had successfully worked their way back from a 2-0 first period deficit that came after they were outshot 11-4 during the first twenty minutes.

Between periods Todd McLellan swapped Logan Couture and Joe Thornton on the team’s top two lines, in addition to moving Tommy Wingels into the top six in favor of Matt Nieto, and the moves immediately paid off as Couture brought the Sharks to within a goal just twelve seconds into the second period. Thornton cashed in on the power play minutes later before Melker Karlsson’s sixth goal in eight games gave San Jose its first lead of the night. Unfortunately, it was countered shortly thereafter when Jiri Hudler converted a Flames counterattack through the neutral zone.

[Fancy Stats] – [Flames Reaction]
[Event Summary] – [PBP Log] – [TOI Log] – [Faceoff Report]

• Patrick Marleau is at his best when he’s using his speed to blow open the neutral zone and singlehandedly create offense and he was certainly at his best tonight. More games like this one and Marleau’s goal drought will be a distant memory.
• The Sharks as a whole have looked like a significantly faster team lately, no surprise with the return of Tyler Kennedy and Matt Nieto to the lineup. Three of their four lines right now seem to be able to effectively create chances off the rush and that’s something they haven’t really been able to say in recent seasons.
• RIP Logan Couture’s massive front teeth

• They were playing moderately difficult minutes (although not really, considering the Flames don’t quite have a legitimate first line) but this wasn’t the greatest game for the Picklesnake pairing, with Brent Burns in particular reverting to the puck-moving issues he’s wrestled with for much of this season. His handcuffing pass to Pavelski that led to the Joe Colborne goal was the most glaring error but Burns resorted to hard rims and blind reverses far too often when faced with forechecking pressure tonight rather than waiting it out and making more effective plays.
• The first period shot totals were ugly but I don’t think they painted all that fair a picture of the Sharks’ actual play, at least not in the second half of that period when they received some terrific shifts from McGinn-Hertl-Kennedy. If anything, the Sharks’ worst hockey in this game probably came in the second period following Karlsson’s goal.

FTF Three Stars

1st Star: Mark Giordano
2nd Star: Joe Colborne
3rd Star: Logan Couture