Marleau earns 1st win over Sharks
Not only do they lose shootout, but Thornton loses some of his beard
TORONTO » Patrick Marleau evened the score, the Sharks earned a hard-road point, and Joe Thornton lost a chunk of his trademark gray and orange beard on Thursday night in San Jose’s 3-2 shootout loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Frederik Anderson won a goaltender’s duel against Mar tin Jones, erasing an excusable gaffe by making 33 saves as the Maple Leafs outlasted the Sharks through three periods, five minutes of threeon-three hockey and six shootout rounds.
Here’s what we learned in the Sharks’ loss: 1. PATRICK MARLEAU EVENS THE
SCORE WITH HIS OLD FRIENDS» The surreality of seeing Patrick Marleau in the Maple Leafs’ iconic blue and white jerseys started to wear off as the Sharks faced their franchise’s all-time leading scorer for the second time.
But head coach Pete DeBoer acknowledged that things got a little “weird” when Marleau hopped onto the ice with a chance to win the game for the Maple Leafs in the third round of the shootout.
“Usually in a shootout we’d be using him. Instead, he’s got the game on his stick for the other team,” the Sharks coach said. “That was a weirdmoment.”
Marleau wound up hitting the post. Tyler Bozak eventually earned the extra point for theMaple Leafs in the sixth round of the skills competition, givingMarleau his first- ever win against his old friends.
But Marleau’s first point against the Sharks will need to wait until next season or further down the road. The Sharks kept him off the board for a second consecutive game thanks to a heads up play by defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic and a key stop by Jones.
Marleau received an open look from the doorstep with Jones down on the ice at 7:36 of the second after the puck leaked out to him from the right post.
Unfortunately for Mr. Shark, Vlasic made a heads up play and blocked the shot from the crease.
The 38-year-old forward got the puck all alone in front late in the third, but Jones stopped him from becoming the first player in NHL history to record game-winning goals against 30 different teams by holding his position and blocking the puck with his pads.
Marleau came by the Sharks dressing room after the game, sharing laughs and hugs with his former teammates in a blue Maple Leafs hoodie.
“It’s awesome to see him doing well here,” Sharks defenseman Brenden Dillon said. “He’s a great man and a great hockey player and I wish him all the best — just on nights when he’s not playing the Sharks.”
2. JOE THORNTON LOSES A CHUNK OF HIS BEARD
» Most coaches will run through a gauntlet of experiences in two-plus decades behind the bench.
After spending 13 years as a coach in the Ontario Hockey League and nine more seasons in the NHL, DeBoer got to see something wildly different at the Air Canada Centre on Thursday night.
“I’ve seen a lot of things over 25 years of coaching. I haven’t seen a clump of beard on the ice before,” the Sharks coach said.
DeBoer was referring to the chunk of Thornton’s beard that got ripped out as he was exchanging punches with Maple Leafs pest NazemKadri just two seconds into the game.
Thornton and Kadri exchanged words in the faceoff circle prior to the opening draw, inspiring the Sharks alternate captain to drop the gloves and challenge the shutdown center to a fight.
As they traded shots, Kadri’s hand got tangled up in Thornton’s bushy beard and he ripped out a chunk as they fell to the ice.
“I have no idea how that happened. I thought I was a hockey player, not a barber,” Kadri said. “I didn’t mean to grab him there, I couldn’t really reach him. He’s a big boy across the shoulder. I felt like I just grabbed him in the middle of his jersey and came down with a handful of hair.”
Thornton declined to speak to reporters about the matter after the game.
The clump of hair was plucked off the ice, placed in a bag and, according to backup goalie Aaron Dell, given to Sharks head athletic trainer Ray Tufts. The hair was still in the Sharks’ possession as the teamwas boarding the bus after the game.
Maybe it will reappear in a Sharks Foundation auction at some point down the road. 3. A GOOD OLD-FASHIONED TIE » They would have called it a tie in the old days.
Both teams played sound hockey. Both goalies gave their team a chance to win. The game couldn’t be decided in 65 minutes of hockey.
The modern NHL requires clear winners and losers, so the Sharks went home with an “L” next to their name.
But the teamwill accept a single point against a tough opponent on a grueling road trip through Canada in the dead of winter.
“It’s a good point,” DeBoer said. “You leave a little disappointed because we had two or three chances in the third to really get two points and then a couple chances in the shootout and overtime.
“It was a good hockey game. We’ll take the point.”