San Jose Sharks right wing Timo Meier (28) tries to get the puck away from Anaheim Ducks center Trevor Zegras (46) at the SAP Center in San Jose on Sat Mar 26, 2022 (AP News photo)
By Mary Walsh
SAN JOSE- The San Jose Sharks beat the Anaheim Ducks 4-1 on Saturday. It was Anaheim’s ninth loss in a row. Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Timo Meier scored for the Sharks, Meier with the hat trick. James Reimer made 27 saves for the win. Gerry Mahew scored for the Ducks and Lukas Dostal made 20 saves in the loss.
The Sharks started slowly on Saturday, taking two first-period penalties and getting just six shots in the first. After the game, Sharks Head Coach Bob Boughner talked about his goaltender’s performance:
“I thought Reims really kept us in it, at the beginning of the game, made some huge stops, especially on the penalty kill. We were just a little sloppy. But we used that, Reims’ saves, and we settled down and played a pretty good hockey game after that.”
Marc-Edouard Vlasic gave the Sharks the lead with his third goal of the season, at 14:48 of the first period. Ryan Merkley made a pass from just above the goal line back up the ice to Vlasic for the shot. Assists went to Merkley and Scott Reedy.
Timo Meier made it 2-0 at 1:41 of the second period. Meier got the puck from Alexander Barabanov near the boards, then carried it out to the slot for the shot. It was his 28th of the season.
Gerry Mahew got the Ducks on the board at 1:05 of the third period. Dominik Simon caught a turnover in the neutral zone and went the other way. Mahew followed in a hurry and Simon dropped the puck to him for the shot.
Timo Meier scored his second of the night on the power play at 3:56 of the period. Meier gathered up the puck from a cross-ice pass across the ice then skated closer to the net and shot the puck right by the goaltender. Barabanov and Hertl got the assists.
Meier completed his hat trick at 15:55. Tomas Hertl carried the puck into the zone and almost to the net before making a pass back to Meier, through three defenders. The pass was a little behind Meier so he reached his stick back and tapped it between his skates to set up for the shot. Hertl and Burns got the assists.
The Sharks power play had three shots and one goal in three opportunities. Their penalty kill gave up five shots in four penalties. The Ducks out-shot the Sharks 28-24. In the face-off circle, the Ducks won 57% of the draws.
Logan Couture was out of the lineup with the upper body injury sustained on Thursday.
The Sharks next play on Wednesday against the Coyotes in Arizona at 7:00 PM PT.
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