Sharks playoff hopes take serious hit with 5-2 loss to
Coyotes
San Jose – The playoff picture cleared up for the San Jose Sharks Thursday night in front of 15,681 NHL fans at HP Pavilion at San Jose.
It is now very clear that for the Sharks to finish among the top eight teams in the Western Conference, the club must stop giving up leads and dropping games to teams already eliminated from the playoff picture.
Phoenix rallied past the Sharks 5-2, leaving San Jose four points behind three teams in the scramble to make the post-season.
The Sharks have 10 games left, two each against Dallas, Phoenix, Vancouver and Los Angeles as well as single contests at Colorado and home to Anaheim. While San Jose holds down ninth place with 82 points in 72 games, Edmonton and Vancouver each have 86 points in 74 games. Anaheim has 86 points in 72 games.
The Coyotes stay in town this weekend for a rematch with the Sharks Saturday night.
Steven Reinprecht, Mike Johnson and Mike Comrie each scored in the third period for the Coyotes to snap a 2-2 tie.
Phoenix took a 3-2 lead on a Reinprecht power play goal at the 1:18 mark. Phoenix scored off a set play after winning a face-off at center ice. Defenseman Keith Ballard rifled a shot from the left boards to the right boards near the San Jose blueline to captain Shane Doan. Reinprecht slipped behind the San Jose defense to take a feed from Doan, backhanding the puck over goalie Evgeni Nabokov’s shoulder for the go-ahead goal.
“There was only one D back,” said Sharks coach Ron Wilson of the game-winning play. “Maybe it was a tired, mental mistake.”
Johnson made it 4-2 when he scored unassisted with a rocket shot from 20 feet out past Nabokov. Sharks defenseman Kyle McLaren pinched in an unsuccessful bid to keep the puck in the Phoenix zone. Instead, Johnson led a 2-on-1 rush that culminated with the goal at the 9:57 mark.
Comrie completed the scoring with an empty-net goal at the 19:29 mark.
“It looked like we did not have much energy tonight,” said Ron Wilson. “(Phoenix) maintained their energy while ours pretty much was sapped by the third period.”
The Patrick Marleau line scored twice in the first period to create a 2-1 Sharks advantage.
The play snaring the first goal began when former Shark Mike Ricci coughed up the puck in the Coyote zone and Steve Bernier snared the puck in the right circle. The rookie backhanded a pass to Milan Michalek for a shot from 10 feet out past goaltender Curtis Joseph at the 12:26 mark. Michalek’s 16th goal of the season left the winger fifth among goal scorers for the hosts.
The Coyotes pulled even at 13:55 when Oleg Kvasha scored off a feed from linemate Johnson. Kvasha controlled the puck into the San Jose zone, then slipped the puck to Johnson before taking a quick return pass to create the one-timer past Nabokov.
San Jose emerged from the first period with a 2-1 lead when Bernier netted his 11th goal of the season off a feed from Michalek. Marleau keyed the rush by taking the puck into the Phoenix zone near the left boards before dipping inside and sliding the puck to a trailing Michalek. Bernier rushed to the left post and redirected the Michalek pass behind Joseph.
That was a perfect move (by Marleau),” said Bernier. “We all know what he can do with the puck. Michalek made a great pass to me for a goal.”
Phoenix made it 2-2 at 13:33 of the second period when Reinprecht scored off a short rebound of a Zbynek Michalek shot while the teams were playing 4-on-4.
Notes: Center Alyn McCauley was a scratch for the Sharks for the first time in his career with San Jose. A lower body injury snapped McCauley’s streak of 169 consecutive games played for the club, the sixth-best mark in franchise history…The Sharks have five road games left among the 10 to complete the season. After San Jose completes the two-game set with the Coyotes, the team begins a three-game road-trip in Dallas on Monday…Joseph improved to 31-7-0-1 lifetime against San Jose.
