After years of exciting, competitive and meaningful games against the Detroit Red Wings, the San Jose Sharks played a sloppy, meaningless, albeit exciting, 6-4 win over the Winged Wheels on Thursday.
The Sharks jumped out to a 2-0 lead only to see it evaporate in short order, but sloppy defensive play from the Red Wings gave San Jose opportunities all night long which eventually turned into goals off the sticks of Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Chris Tierney, Logan Couture, Matt Nieto and Patrick Marleau.
San Jose was outshot 34-30, none of the three goaltenders participating in the hockey game played particularly well, but the Sharks earned two points that will do little to revive their playoff hopes and will do damage to their draft status.
Vlasic opened the scoring after 31 seconds and Nieto doubled the lead not long after. Another two-goal streak re-opened the Sharks lead to two and then the Wings and San Jose traded goals, ending with Marleau’s empty-netter to seal the win.
The loss makes Detroit’s playoff position a little less comfortable, but in a day when the west went 5-0 (soon to be 6-0) against the east…well, maybe they’ll be okay, for today. The Wings’ defense going forward, on the other hand…well, that might be a little dicey.
[Fancy Stats] – [Red Wings Reaction]
[Event Summary] – [PBP Log] – [TOI Log] – [Faceoff Report]
-
Joe Thornton earned four penalty minutes tonight, two of which came for smacking Henrik Zetterberg between the legs. And they said this guy isn’t captain material?
-
The Sharks were dominated in the SAT battle tonight, which reminds me a lot of when I took the SATs in high school.
-
The penalty kill was stellar tonight, shutting down one of the better power plays in the NHL on four occassions. The Sharks got only one chance on the man-advantage and failed to convert.
-
Apologies for the quick recap tonight, and god bless everyone reading Sharks content in the worst Sharks’ season in…well, it’s been a while.
FTF Three Stars
1st Star: Patrick Marleau
2nd Star: Logan Couture
3rd Star: Tomas Tatar
As many of you know, Fear the Fin is an independent site run by Sharks fans for Sharks fans. Help keep Fear the Fin independent by contributing to our