The San Jose Sharks may be up and down this season but against the Anaheim Ducks they are mostly up with a 4-0-1 record for the season series. Thursday night had the Ducks at the Shark Tank and leaving at the wrong end of a 6-3 drubbing.
“They obviously have a lot of confidence when they play us,” Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau said. “They’ve scored a lot of goals against us. We played a solid first period and should have come out of it with the lead. Once they got the 2-1 lead, it was off to the races. They must have had 10 odd-man rushes in the second period. They’re a 
good team, and when you get looks like that, well, they’re going to make the right play.”
The Sharks scored five times in th4e second period to erase any doubt as to the outcome of the game.
They also scored six straight goals after giving up the opening marker to Anaheim in the first.
“You start off good against a team the first few times playing them and you feel like you maybe have their number,” Sharks forward Andrew Desjardins said. “You feel like you’re playing good against them. Sometimes that’s just the way it goes. They’re ahead of us too, so it’s like we get up for these games. … I think the last few games that we’ve played them they’ve been a little frustrated. We like that.”
Antti Niemi made 25 saves to backstop the Sharks to the win in their first game coming out of the break.
“The unusual suspects came up big, and when you win as a team you need that too,” Sharks coach Todd McLellan said. “Barclay, Shep, Dillon, Irwin, those are all guys who haven’t really put the puck in the net. To get the monkey off their back is a big thing.”
Ilya Bryzgalov was victimized by the energized Sharks for all six goals and was pulled in the 16th minute of the second period for Frederik Andersen.
“When you’re not playing a lot, you want to play a great game and contribute to the team,” Bryzgalov said. “Results like this, it’s really frustrating. I know I can do the job. It’s a matter of when I get the next chance.”
It was another big win for San Jose who beat the LA Kings just before the break.
“We’ve had everyone show up,” San Jose’s Joe Pavelski said. “That’s the bottom line. Guys have played well, all four lines up and down. [Niemi] has been great in those games. It’s pretty simple. It’s a simple recipe. When we have all four lines going and playing hard and doing things the right way, we can give ourselves a good shot to win.”
You must be logged in to post a comment.