Facing the Blackhawks for the third and final time in the 2015–16 regular season, the Sharks picked up a big 2–0 win behind goals from Patrick Marleau and Joe Thornton and 33 saves by Martin Jones.
Chicago struck first near the end of a quiet first period when a shot ricocheted off former Shark Brandon Mashinter’s leg and past Jones—or so it seemed. Pete DeBoer used his coach’s challenge to see if Dennis Rasmussen interfered with Jones on the play, and the on-ice officials changed the call to no goal upon review. There appeared to be only minimal contact between Rasmussen and Jones, but it was enough to negate the goal and keep the game scoreless.
A Niklas Hjalmarsson slashing penalty gave the Sharks their first and only power play of the game eight and a half minutes into the second, and 39 seconds later Marleau put his team on the board with a slap shot that deflected off Jonathan Toews on its way past Corey Crawford. Patty’s 16th goal of the season broke a 16 game goalless streak.
Patty blasts it. pic.twitter.com/eclkmc6N5i
— San Jose Sharks (@SanJoseSharks) February 10, 2016
Coming off a terrible game in Nashville, Jones stood tall as the Hawks came alive after the San Jose goal. Shot attempts, 35–23 in favor of the Sharks thirteen minutes into the second, were dead even at 39 by the end of the period thanks in part to a late tripping penalty by Chris Tierney after he missed an empty net at the other end of the ice, but Jones stopped every puck that made it through to him to preserve the lead through two.
Helped by 98 seconds of power play time to begin the third period, the Blackhawks maintained the pressure they’d put on in the second, but they weren’t able to get many quality chances against Jones. Joel Quenneville pulled Crawford with two minutes to go, and Thornton scored his 12th goal into the empty net to ice the game for San Jose.
Sharks goals (assists): Patrick Marleau (Logan Couture, Joe Thornton), Joe Thornton (Joe Pavelski, Marc-Edouard Vlasic)
[Fancy Stats] – [Blackhawks Reaction] – [TOI Log] – [Faceoff Report] – [Event Summary] – [PBP Log]
Fear the Fin’s Three Stars
1) Martin Jones
2) Joe Thornton
3) Patrick Marleau
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