Sharks 2, Blackhawks 0 – Recap

By Kevin Schroeder
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Updated: February 1, 2015

The second night of their back-to-back saw the Blackhawks in San Jose to face former Blackhawk Antti Niemi and the Sharks. The Sharks, who were off the night before taking on the Hawks, scored the game’s first goal just over five minutes in. Antti Raanta made two nice saves before Melker Karlsson’s shot deflected off Duncan Keith and ended up in the net. Early on, the Hawks seemed to be showing some fatigue from the previous night’s game in Anaheim, and as a result, the Sharks controlled the action in the first period. The end of the period got kind of chippy after Bryan Bickell delivered a big hit and the Sharks took exception. The Sharks sent John Scott out for the next shift looking to retaliate, and the period ended in 4-on-4 hockey after coincidental minors from Andrew Shaw and Joe Thronton. Karlsson’s goal would be the only one in the first twenty and the Sharks would take a 1-0 lead into the dressing room.

The second period began with just over a minute of 4-on-4 hockey, with Shaw and Thronton in the box serving the remainder of their penalties. The Hawks had a few good chances during the 4-on-4 play, but nothing got past Niemi. The Hawks got their first power play of the night shortly after Shaw and Thornton’s expired as Matt Tennyson was sent off for a high stick on Brandon Saad. The Sharks were able to keep the Hawks from really getting anything going with the man advantage and the score remained 1-0 in favor of the Sharks. However, the Hawks had gotten off to the better start between the two teams in the second. The momentum would not last much longer for the Hawks as shortly after the Sharks killed off the Tennyson minor, the Hawks were assessed a penalty for having too many men on the ice. While they were able to kill off the penalty, the momentum would stay with San Jose. Toward the end of the first half of the period and into the early part of the second, the action picked up, with both teams getting good scoring chances. The Anttis at each end stopped all the shots they faced, though, and the game remained 1-0 Sharks.

Just under 13 minutes into the period, the Sharks went to the power play as Michal Roszival was sent to the box for hooking. The Sharks would get a few chances on the power play, but the best scoring chance during those two minutes belonged to Jonathan Toews who had a 1-on-0 chance on Niemi. Niemi was able to keep the puck out of the net with a great stick save, though. While the Hawks controlled the action for the rest of the period, the second period would end with the same score the first ended with; 1-0 San Jose.

The Hawks picked up right where they left off to begin the third, getting the majority of the chances, though on each shot, Niemi made the save to preserve the lead for his club. Barclay Goodrow got a breakaway opportunity for the Sharks, but Raanta made the save to keep this a 1-goal game. After that, momentum shifted to the Sharks and the Hawks began to struggle for opportunities. They would get one a couple minutes later, after Brent Burns missed the net on a shot and the puck bounced off of very lively boards all the way down to the other end, leading to a good scoring chance for Brandon Saad. But, as he had done all night, Niemi made the save. There would be a lot of back-and-forth action, but nothing would materialize for either team until Joe Thornton would score on a net left vacant by Raanta in favor of the extra attacker. This would be the final goal scored in the game and the Sharks would come away with a 2-0 victory.

While getting shut out is obviously never a good thing, the Hawks played pretty well. Despite having performed rather poorly on the road this year, Raanta was spectacular. But with Niemi standing on his head and the fact that this was the Hawks’ second game in as many days, and third in four, all on the road, it was just the Sharks’ night.

My picks for 3 stars:

★★★ Melker Karlsson, RW, SJ (1 G (GWG), 1 A)

★★ Antti Raanta, G, CHI (18 SV, 1 GA)

★ Antti Niemi, G, SJ (31 SV, 0 GA)

Twitter: @KSchroeder2325

E-mail: schroeder.giig@gmail.com

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