Detroit found themselves completely thrown for one at the SAP Center Saturday night. The Sharks lit the lamp three times in the first and third periods to defeat the Red Wings 6-3.
The Red Wings ended a two-game skid that started 2017 on a better note. Their 4-0 rush over the Los Angeles Kings put them in a great position to continue the success. They headed north to take on the Sharks who sat on a three-game losing streak dropping a close one to the Minnesota Wild. With back to back losses against the Kings, defeating Detroit would help them make something of their homestand but had to deal with Jared Coreau who was back in net after his stellar shutout.
The game was lively from the start with both teams getting great opportunities in their respective zones. Rookie Anthony Mantha nearly had one for Detroit with a signature 2 man play with captain Henrik Zetterberg on the wing. Mantha took the shot but was stopped by Martin Jones who wanted to scratch a win to his name.
He had to rely on his offense to get on the board where they had two power plays in 12 minutes. The Red Wings did well on the penalty kill to avoid them from taking the lead leaving things at status quo. They were rewarded later with a shot on goal from Tomas Vanek who scored in the win over LA. He got Detroit on the board with a wrister that hit the skate of Justin Braun that redirected it perfectly to gain his tenth of the season.
The Sharks caught a break with four minutes left where Joonas Donskoi gained credit on a goal that was shot by Terri Wingels but a hit off Riley Sheahan redirected the puck and went into the net to level the game at one all. They increased their goal margin on a terrific drive from Mirco Mueller who patiently set up and fired one hard for his first just 90 seconds later.
The goals kept coming with Patrick Marleau getting into the fun with 30 seconds left on the clock. He skated with Danny DeKeyser trying to stop him, but the shot flew by him and Coreau’s left side to take a quick 3-1 lead for his 12th. It was how the period came to an end with the Sharks outshooting Detroit 15-9 while edging ahead on the faceoff wins.
Petr Mrazek came into to start the second period in order to stop the further surge that the Sharks produced. The Red Wings tried to get thing closer with Tomas Tatar having a wide-open shot for himself. Despite having Jones laid out flat in the crease, the Czech star couldn’t get the puck lifted high enough to make it count. It was a huge stop for Jones and the Sharks that occurred just two minutes into the period.
The Sharks continued to have more time with the puck taking their shots at Mrazek but always coming up short. The push they had saw the Red Wings struggling to find chances of their own but on the plays that they did, Detroit was unable to break Jones in net. By the time 40 minutes went into the books, the teams made very little impact on the score with San Jose still ahead of the Red Wings 10-9 on shots on goal.
The 3-1 lead didn’t stay that way for long but also didn’t help Detroit to catch up. Instead, they found themselves down 4-1 on Brent Burns shot that zipped easily by the Detroit before Sharks captain Joe Pavelski got credit for it. Another went in with the help of Burns who assisted on Mikkel Boedker’s credited goal for a 5-1 rout. Boedker redirected Burns’ drive off the shoulder to give him three on the year and his first in 29 games.
The Red Wings needed something to happen before the game really got out of their hands. It came on Mantha’s rebound shot from Drew Miller that caught Jones by surprise and put Detroit back within three. The margin was still far for Detroit to come back from and they continued to close the gap by any means. San Jose wasn’t going to let that happen and Pavelski made their point strong notching the sixth goal for his team and second of the night.
The goal stood as an assurance of their victory but Detroit wasn’t ready to give up. With seven minutes left in the period, Andreas Athanasiou made his stance known by scoring their third goal and his seventh of the season. Though their push arrived to level with the Sharks, being down three goals down was too much to overcome leaving time to be the other entity to defeat them.
With their troubles reemerging on the road for the third time, it would be up to Detroit to handle their problems before facing the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday.
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