Sharks lose in a shoot-out

The Sharks lose in a Shoot-out

by Jerry Feitelberg

The San Jose lost for the first time this year on the road to the Dallas Stars. The Stars won the game in the third round of the shoot-out when Alex Chiasson beat Antti Niemi to give the Stars a 4-3 win.

The Sharks were trying to start the season 7-0 as they did last year but it was not in the cards.

The Sharks are now 6-0-1 for the year while Dallas even its record at 3-3-0

The Sharks had Antti Niemi in goal while Dallas sent out backup goalie Dan Ellis to tend the nets.

Play had just begun in the first period when Tyler Kennedy blasted a wrist shot that beat Ellis

with just nine seconds played. It was Kennedy’s first goal as a Shark and it was the second quickest goal in Sharks’ history.The Stars tied the game at one when Tyler Seguin scored his third goal of the year. The tie didn’t last long. Rookie Matt Nieto scored his second goal of the season when he got the puck in the neutral zone and sped down the ice skating to the left and then blasting a slap shot that beat Ellis to give the Sharks a 2-1 lead. Joe Pavelski and Tommy Wingels assisted on the play.

In the second period Dallas tied the game at two when defenseman Trevor Daley scored his first goal of the year. The game stayed tied until Patrick Marleau put the puck past Goalie Dan Ellis on a wraparound shot that bounced off Daley’s skate. The Stars tied the game at three just 27 seconds later

when Cody Eakin put the puck past Niemi on a rebound. 3-3 after two periods.

There was no scoring in the third period and the game went to overtime. Neither team scored in the five minute overtime period. The game was decided by Alex Chiasson’s goal in the the third round.

Final score 4-3 in favor of Dallas.

Notes- The Sharks outshot the Stars 35-21. Antti Niemi made 28 saves while Dan Ellis stopped the Sharks 32 times.

After the game, Sharks’s coach Todd McLellan said “ It’s not about the streak. It’s about living for today. We’re disappointed we didn’t get the two points. We probably didn’t play well enough. We

weren’t as crisp and as fast as we have been earlier and sometimes a good team can do that to you.”

In other news, defenseman Brad Stuart returned to play after a three game suspension. The Sharks also announced that defenseman Dan Boyle who was injured Tuesday night in St.Louis retuned to San Jose to continue hos medical care and undergo further evaluation.

The Sharks return home to play the Calgary Flames Saturday night at 7pm at the SAP Center.