Vlasic injured in testy win over Predators
Donskoi helps Sharks going early, Pavelski delivers knockout blow, and Thornton notches 1,400th point
SAN JOSE >> The Sharks have their share of rivalries in the Pacific Division. Wednesday’s game at SAP Center demonstrated there’s really no love lost with the Nashville Predators, either.
The’ game against the Predators became testy after Marc-Edouard Vlasic was hit and knocked out of the game by Ryan Johansen in the third period. One fight and a handful of roughing penalties ensued before the Sharks finished off a 4-1 win.
Joe Pavelski scored the winning goal in the second period and later fought Johansen at the 9:23 mark of the third as he helped stick up for one of his teammates.
“It doesn’t surprise us being around (Pavelski), you’re not going to intimidate him, it doesn’t matter how much bigger the other guy is,” said Sharks coach Pete DeBoer, who did not have an update on Vlasic after the game.
Vlasic, who scored in the second period, was in his own zone trying to corral a loose puck in the corner when he was hit by Johansen.
Vlasic’s head appeared to make hard contact with the glass, and he stayed on the ice on all fours for several moments before he was assisted off. He had 15:55 of ice time up
until the time he was injured.
Johansen received a boarding penalty at the 1:02 mark of the third period for the play.
“Hopefully he’s all right. He’s a huge part of our team for what we do defensively and you never want to see that,” Pavelski said of Vlasic. “He’s just in a vulnerable spot. For that hit to happen, you don’t want to see that.”
“I haven’t really looked at it close,” DeBoer said of Johansen’s hit. “We have a department of safety that’s very good and if there’s something there, I’m sure they’ll take care of it.”
Joonas Donskoi had a goal and an assist and Pavelski’s goal gave Joe Thornton his 1,400th career NHL point.
Late in the first period, Donskoi won a battle for the puck in the corner to the right of the Predators’ net and made a short pass Mikkel Boedker, who skated back toward the blue line before he found Tim Heed on the other side of the ice.
Heed skated toward Nashville goalie Pekka Rinne and found Donskoi crashing the net, as he tapped it in for his fourth goal of the season.
Donskoi needed 32 games to get to four goals last season when he was
plagued by shoulder issues, but he now has three in his past five games.
Donskoi had six goals and 11 assists in 61 games, a steep decline from his rookie NHL year when he had 36 points in 76 games.
Donskoi’s goal gave the Sharks a 1-0 lead that they built on at the 8:17 mark of the second period when Thornton hit another milestone.
Thornton retrieved a loose puck in the corner to the right of Rinne and found defenseman Brenden Dillon with a pass back to the blue line. Dillon’s shot was tipped by Pavelski past Rinne for his fourth goal of the season, and Thornton’s 1,400th point.
Roman Josi later scored on a nifty individual effort to cut the deficit for the Predators in half at the 9:04 mark. Before that, though, Sharks defenseman
Joakim Ryan saved what looked like a sure Nashville goal when he got his stick down to block Calle Jarnkrok’s shot just inches from the goal line and an open net.
Instead of trying to slow down Toronto’s talented group of forwards like they did Monday, the Sharks knew they’d have to contend with a Predators defense corps that’s as mobile as any group in the Western Conference.
Even without the injured Ryan Ellis, the Predators’ defense has weapons such as P.K. Subban, Josi and Mattias Ekholm, who had combined for 19 points in Nashville’s first 11 games.
The Sharks also felt they’d face a motivated Predators team after they had lost three of four coming into Monday, including a 6-2 hammering at the hands of the New York Islanders on Saturday at home.
What the Sharks have been able to do in past meetings against Nashville was slow down Filip Forsberg, who, before Wednesday, was off to another solid start with eight goals and 13 points. Forsberg was held without a point Wednesday with just one shot on goal.
In nine career games against San Jose, Forsberg only has one goal and two assists with a shooting percentage of 4.5. His points per game percentage (0.33) against the Sharks is the lowest among all NHL teams.
The Sharks looked to get Vlasic and Justin Braun out there as much as possible against the Forsberg line with Johansen and Kevin Fiala.
The Sharks have picked it up a notch with their team defense over the past two weeks, and have now allowed only 11 even strength goals in their last seven games.