Red Wings-Sharks Tweetcap: Detroit prevails in a shootout over the plucky Sharks

The Detroit Red Wings attempted to rebound from their Friday night loss to the Anaheim Ducks when they headed upstate to tangle with the speedy, youthful San Jose Sharks on Sunday evening.

The speedy Sharks are the kind of team that can embarrass an opponent that looks past them, so Detroit had to be on its collective toes.

On Sunday night, the Sharks almost “San Jose’d” the Red Wings, who prevailed 3-2 in a shootout.

Lucas Raymond would open the scoring at 18:05 of the 1st, scoring from Axel Sandin Pellikka and Dylan Larkin, but only 49 seconds into the 2nd, San Jose was able to tie the game when Jeff Skinner scored;

10:16 into the 3rd, Detroit looked to pull ahead as Moritz Seider scored his first of the season from Simon Edvinsson and assist machine Alex DeBrincat (11 helpers), and between the Wings’ out-shooting the Sharks and out-everythinging them stats-wise, it appeared that the Sharks were getting worn down…

But the young, fast Sharks weren’t out of it. Will Smith took a puck off Albert Johansson, raced toward the net, put the puck off Cam Talbot’s toe, wrapped around the net and found Sam Dickinson in the slot, and Dickinson scored the game-tying goal with 3:05 remaining…

Overtime would solve nothing, and in the shootout, James van Riemsdyk was the only person who scored on Alex Nedeljkovic or Talbot, ensuring that the Wings got an extra point that nearly eluded them.

PREGAME: Alex Nedeljkovic and Cam Talbot led their respective teams onto the ice at the SAP Center:

The San Jose Sharks went with 11 forwards and 7 defensemen on Sunday evening…

And the Red Wings stuck with Friday’s lineup:

1ST PERIOD:

The teams dressed the following starters and lineups:

Both teams came out strongly and Dylan Larkin had a couple of attempted mini-breakaways that were stifled by the Sharks’ defense, and prior to a penalty, DeBrincat nearly found Raymond for a goal…

PENALTY: Philipp Kurashev was called for hooking at 2:57 of the 1st period.

Detroit’s power play set up, and the 1st unit was repelled, so the 2nd unit’s Marco Kasper generated better chances against Nedeljkovic…

The Sharks flexed back as the teams returned to even strength, however, and both teams played ice-and-retrieve as they felt each other out.

Cam Talbot’s first stern test came in the form of a slot shot by Will Smith, but Talbot was able to see the shot and gobble it up.

PENALTY: Will Smith was called for unsportsmanlike conduct from the bench at 12:12 of the 1st period. It was a puzzling call, but Detroit took it.

The Sharks were all over the 1st PP unit again, but the 2nd unit afforded Detroit a few chances as the Wings ramped up their play–slowly…

The Sharks really flexed their scoring muscles around the 15:00 mark of play, and Cam Talbot was up to the task…

And Lucas Raymond was set up by Dylan Larkin for a fine scoring chance, but he couldn’t convert, nor could a long bomb from Moritz Seider.

2ND PERIOD:

The Sharks chippy, stop-and-start game continued, and the weird, chippy pace wasn’t helping the Red Wings find their game. I wonder whether that was by design for San Jose.

PENALTY: Travis Hamonic was called for tripping at 3:53, affording San Jose its first power play.

The Red Wings slowly but surely gained their footing as the 2nd period progressed, but Detroit was giving up tremendous scoring chances as well, and Talbot had to bail out the Wings repeatedly.

GOAL: Off a fine pass from Axel Sandin Pellikka, who was walking the blueline, Lucas Raymond took a pass and roofed the puck down off the crossbar and in past a Larkin-screened Alex Nedeljkovic to give Detroit a much-needed lead at 18:05 of the 2nd period.


San Jose 0, Detroit 1: Raymond (4) from Sandin Pellikka (3) and Larkin (10) at 18:05 2nd period.

3RD PERIOD:

GOAL: San Jose would tie the game early on as Dmitri Orlov sprung a Sharks 3-on-2, and Kurashev would charge up the left wing side and slide the puck to the slot for Jeff Skinner, who Dylan Larkin couldn’t quite catch up with, and Skinner tipped the puck past Talbot on the Sharks’ 10th shot at 49 seconds of the 3rd period.

San Jose 1, Detroit 1: Skinner (4) from Kurashev (4) and Orlov (10) at 49 seconds of the 3rd period.

GOAL: Alex DeBrincat and Marco Kasper did a wonderful job of cycling the puck deep in San Jose’s zone, the puck was sent back to Simon Edvinsson, and he lateralled the puck to Moritz Seider, who chipped a shot off the crossbar and down to score his first goal at 10:16 of the 3rd.

San Jose 1, Detroit 2: Seider (1) from Edvinsson (2) and DeBrincat (11) at 10:16 3rd.

Then Alex Nedeljkovic ROBBED Dylan Larkin in the Sharks’ slot…

PENALTY: Moritz Seider went off for interference AND roughing at 13:28 of the 3rd, but he dragged Macklin Celebrini off with him, with Celebrini going off for roughing.

The Sharks were furious with the 4-on-4 as the clans came together after a key Talbot save for a nasty scrum.

GOAL: The Sharks won some battles in the offensive zone, with Johansson overpowered by Will Smith, who put the puck off Talbot’s skate, wrapped around the goal, and centered the puck to a pinching Sam Dickinson, who was able to sneak through 3 or 4 Red Wings covering the slot and score his first NHL goal, tying the game at 16:55 of the 3rd period.

San Jose 2, Detroit 2: Dickinson (1) from Smith (7) and Giles (1) at 16:55 3rd.

Detroit looked over-powered to some extent late in the 3rd period, and as expected, the plucky Sharks made the most of their opportunities to out-skate and out-battle the Wings, affording themselves an overtime period and a point.

IN OVERTIME: Many chances, no dice.

IN the SHOOTOUT:

Lucas Raymond chugs up the middle left side left to slot shot stopped.

Macklin Celebrini lw side up to slot stopped Talbot.

Alex DeBrincat went right wing to left and was stopped by DeBrincat.

Will Smith skated up the left wing side and missed the net.

Dylan Larkin chugged up the gut and fired a shot wide of the goal.

Phillipp Kurashev went slot as well and fired a shot off the crossbar.

James van Riemsdyk scores blocker side low.

Tyler Toffoli chugged up the left wing side went to slot went to backhand and was STOPPED BY TALBOT.

Detroit WINS 3-2 in the shootout!

STATISTICS: Here are the Game Summary and Event Summary:

Published by

George Malik

My name is George Malik, and I'm the Malik Report's editor/blogger/poster. I have been blogging about the Red Wings since 2006, and have worked with MLive and Kukla's Korner. Thank you for reading!