Quick Bites: Joonas Donskoi embarrasses yet another goalie, as Sharks beat Flames in shootout

Once again, the San Jose Sharks defeated the Calgary Flames by a close 3-2 margin, this time coming back from a one goal deficit to earn the win in a shoot out.

The highlight reel of this game will mainly pull from the first period. Winger Garnet Hathaway put the Flames on the board first, less than five minutes into the first period. The Sharks were quick to answer back. Three minutes later, while Matt Stajan took a two minute break for interference, Joe Pavelski tipped in a shot from Joe Thornton past David Rittich to tie the game at ones.

That’s PP goals in 9 straight games for the @SanJoseSharks.@jpav8 makes it 1-1 pic.twitter.com/wCyQXVn9Oq

— Brodie Brazil (@BrodieNBCS) December 29, 2017

Pavs and Jumbo seem to be dealing with their various ailments well, looking more and more like their old selves in the past few games. Calgary couldn’t let it be, and Mikael Backlund netted a power play goal of his own late in the period to give the Flames a lead going into the second.

The second period was a total snoozefest. The Sharks controlled play, putting up 13 shots to Calgary’s seven, but there were only a handful of chances between the two teams and nothing came of them.

That sluggish feeling carried into the third until finally, after 36 minutes without scoring, Timo Meier got into the dirty area and pulled a Classic Pavelski, tipping in a shot from Brent Burns for his sixth goal of the year.

9:48pm = #TimoTime@MeierTimo ties the #SJSharks at 2. pic.twitter.com/dWJLF28m91

— Brodie Brazil (@BrodieNBCS) December 29, 2017

Even Timo Time couldn’t light much of a fire under this game. They slogged their way into overtime and eventually a shoot out.

Joe Pavelski was up first for the Sharks, easily netting the first shootout goal. Sean Monahan, Brent Burns, and Mikael Backlund all missed, leaving ample opportunity for Joonas Donskoi to be the shootout hero we’ve all come to love.

So he did.

What a Finnish! #CGYvsSJS pic.twitter.com/QAmkV5L3sl

— San Jose Sharks (@SanJoseSharks) December 29, 2017

The most exciting part of this game was Donskoi’s game-winner. Rittich went down, buying Donskoi’s deke for every penny it was worth and slow-motion turned his head to watch the Donfather effortlessly sink the puck in around his extended skate and end the game.

NOTES

• Tonight was defenseman Brenden Dillon’s 400th NHL game.
• Martin Jones had a 32 save night. Not too shabby. Rittich saved 30.
• Backlund has never scored in a shootout, including tonight in his seventh attempt.
• The Flames out-hit the Sharks by a massive 28-11 gap.
• Though the power play struggled early in the season, the Sharks have now scored a power play goal in their last nine games.
• Earlier today, the San Jose Barracuda defeated the Flames’ AHL affiliate, the Stockton Heat, 6-5 in overtime. We call that “brand loyalty.”
• Five of the twelve games the Sharks have played so far this month have gone to overtime. The Sharks have won three of the five./