Dell’s shutout streak is brought to end in Vegas
LAS VEGAS >> The goalie controversy in San Jose was over in less than 10 minutes.
After Aaron Dell pitched shutouts in back-to-back starts, Sharks coach Pete DeBoer called his number for a second straight night in Las Vegas Saturday, fueling talk of a goalie controversy as Martin Jones continues to struggle with an .891 save percentage in 16 appearances. But the Vegas Golden Knights knocked Dell off his game early, scoring four goals on their first 11 shots en route to a 6-0 win.
William Karlsson ended Dell’s shutout streak at 127:53, scoring the fastest goal in Golden Knights history just 14 seconds into the game. After Dell stopped Brayden McNabb’s point shot with his blocker, the puck bounced off Karlsson’s right leg and trickled into the net through his legs.
Colin Miller scored two shots later, beating Dell to the near post on a 23-foot shot at 4:40 of the opening frame. Then, Max Pacioretty scored at 9:29 on the power play and again at 16:29, sending the Sharks into the first intermission in a 4-0 hole. The first period blowout triggered flashbacks of last spring when the Golden Knights beat the Sharks 7-0 in Game 1 of their second-round playoff series by scoring four firstperiod goals.
As has been the case through-
out the season, the Sharks goalie got hung out to dry by his defense on a number of occasions. Erik Karlsson failed to contest Pacioretty’s shot from the slot on the Golden Knights’ third goal, giving him an open look that should have been blocked. On Pacioretty’s second goal, Karlsson and Brenden Dillon allowed Alex Tuch to dance between them on his way to the net, setting up an easy second-chance goal.
William Carrier scored the fifth goal in the second off a breakaway after both Dillon and Karlsson got caught up ice. Then, Tuch scored on a wide-open look in the third after Justin Braun turned the puck over and Marc-Edouard Vlasic skated away from the play.
Dell finished the game with 30 saves on 36 shots, making a handful of remarkable stops in garbage time.
Tensions finally boiled over at 15:41 of the second when Evander Kane received a game misconduct penalty for abuse of officials. Kane got tossed for arguing with the referees about a tripping call where he stuck out his leg on a hit against Tomas Nosek. Fifty-three seconds later, DeBoer got ejected, as well.
The Sharks will return to action Tuesday when they square off against the Buffalo Sabres in the second game of their fivegame road trip.
• Antoine Roussel received a maximum fine for biting Vlasic Friday night. DeBoer isn’t sure whether the punishment matches the severity of the crime.
The NHL Department of Player Safety slapped the Vancouver Canucks agitator with a $5,000 fine Saturday, the maximum allowable under the NHL’s collective bargaining Vegas’ Marc-Andre Fleury (29) blocks a shot by San Jose’s Marcus Sorensen in the first period Saturday. agreement with the Players’ Association, for his bite on Vlasic in the final minute of the Sharks’ 4-0 win at SAP Center on Friday. DeBoer questioned whether the punishment is severe enough to deter future players from committing a similar act.
“There’s no place in the game for that,” DeBoer said. “Does that teach a guy like that a lesson? I do know the punishment should be whatever will catch his attention so that
that doesn’t happen again because that doesn’t belong in the game.”
Vlasic declined to be interviewed for the story.
The incident occurred at 19:20 of the third period Friday after Vlasic and Roussel got tied up in a scrum along the boards. As Vlasic pulled his left hand away from Roussel’s head, the Canucks forward chomped down on it, leaving a mark. It isn’t the first time that Roussel’s turned a hockey game into WWE wrestling against the Sharks. In 2016, he pulled the hair of Tommy Wingels as they grappled on the ice. A year before that, he ran former backup goalie Alex Stalock, giving him a head injury that kept him out of the lineup for more than a month.
Roussel also received a penalty in the first period of Friday’s game for throwing an illegal elbow at Evander Kane.
Though DeBoer questioned the deterring impact of Roussel’s fine, he stopped short of suggesting that he deserved a suspension when asked if that would have been a more appropriate penalty.
“Whatever gets his attention so that he never does it again,” the Sharks coach reiterated.