S.J. loses to Ducks in 9th round of shootout
It’s been a rough go for the Sharks lately. And all they could really take out of Monday night is the consolation they earned one point.
Antoine Vermette scored in the ninth round of a marathon shootout as the Ducks beat San Jose 3-2 at SAP Center.
The Sharks outshot Anaheim 39-30 in regulation, including 20-7 in the third period, and another 4-0 in overtime. But they still surrendered two points to a division rival who played the night before when San Jose was idle.
“The losses are unacceptable, no doubt,” Sharks captain Joe Pavelski said. “But I think last game felt like it was coming. Tonight, there were times whether it’s just the flow of the game — sometimes you have it, sometimes they have it — that third period felt strong. We tied it up, felt like we were going to get another one.”
San Jose broke a seven-game drought on the power play to tie the game 2-2 at 8:19 of the third. Joonas Donskoi scored his second of the game and seventh of the season by backhanding a rebound off the cross bar and over the goal line 31 seconds after Jakob Silfverberg slashed Joe Thornton.
“It felt really good, it felt dangerous, had some good looks, went through a few seams, created a lot of opportunities at the net and we banged one in there,” Sharks forward Logan Couture said about snapping an 0-for-19 drought with the man-advantage. “We could have had a couple more for sure.”
Donskoi was a force all night. Brent Burns and Donskoi were the only two of nine shooters to convert against Anaheim backup goalie Reto Berra in the shootout. Donskoi became only the fourth Shark ever to score twice in regulation and convert in a shootout.
“He’s one of the guys who has driven our team and stepped up,” Pavelski said. “Tonight was a huge game by him. You could see it right from the start. He had legs, he wanted to play the puck. And it continued all night.”
Vermette put the final shot past Sharks goalie Martin Jones, who surrendered goals to Cam Fowler and Corey Perry in the shootout to extend the San Jose losing streak to three games.
“One out of six (points) is not good,” Couture said. “We’ve got to find a way to win games.”
Anaheim rallied for the only two scores of the second period to take a 2-1 lead into the third.
The Ducks scored 45 seconds into the period when defenseman Brandon Montour made a perfect cross-ice feed from the right point to Perry on the opposite post — a pass that eluded Couture’s outstretched stick and threaded between shutdown defensemen MarcEdouard Vlasic and Justin Braun. Perry punched home his fourth goal to tie it 1-1.
The period was tight checking until just past the halfway point when, after Jones failed to freeze a Perry shot, Rickard Rakell nudged his stick in to score his eighth of the season at 11:39 for a 2-1 lead.
The Sharks scored the only goal of the opening period despite getting outshot 10-6 and surrendering the only power play of the period.
Donskoi equaled his previous season’s goal total of six in just his 19th game by starting and finishing a nice play in the Anaheim end.
Donskoi poked the puck off the stick of Anaheim fourthline center Dennis Rasmussen to Couture. He slid a pass back to the San Jose winger, who had slipped behind the Ducks’ defense. Donskoi opened Berra’s five-hole to score with a move back to his forehand at 3:31.