San Jose Sharks @ Tampa Bay Lightning 02/16/2016
Fresh off of Saturday evening's 4-1 victory over the Arizona Coyotes, the San Jose Sharks (29-20-5) traveled to Western Florida to take on the defending Eastern Conference Champion Tampa Bay Lightning (30-21-4).
Backed by starting goaltender Martin Jones, the Sharks entered Amalie Arena on Tuesday night with thoughts of triumphantly avenging their 4-3 loss to Tampa Bay on December 5th.
As the first period developed, however, it became clear that both Ben Bishop and Martin Jones were on top of their respective games.
In fact, it wasn't until there was 2:09 remaining in the opening frame that either squad broke the scoreless tie, as Alex Killorn led a break for Ryan Callahan, who opened the scoring by burying his sixth goal of the season.
Thus, San Jose entered the first intermission trailing 9-8 in the shot totals and 1-0 on the scoreboard.
Nevertheless, the deficit wouldn't last long, as Joel Ward opened the second frame for his team by blasting his 16th of the season past a defenseless Ben Bishop, evening the score at 1.
Merely minutes later, Joe Thornton centered the puck for Captain Joe Pavelski, who rifled home his 26th of the year to give the Sharks a slim 2-1 advantage -- Team Teal had come alive.
It was evident. San Jose finally seemed to have all of the momentum on their side. They were attacking Tampa Bay relentlessly, shift after shift . . .
Then, as if destined, a broken offensive sequence from Tampa Bay resulted in a miraculous score for Cedric Paquette, his third of the 2015-2016 campaign.
The tallies were once again even -- this time, at 2.
As the players took to the ice for the third period, the local crowd was anxious for someone to definitively break the deadlock.
Much to the dismay of the vast majority of Amalie Arena, that "someone" was Sharks forward Matt Nieto, who converted on a beautiful pass from Patrick Marleau for his 8th goal of the season.
With time winding down, the Sharks led 3-2.
While Tampa Bay used a wide variety of offensive strategies down the stretch, San Jose goaltender Martin Jones seemed to have an individual answer for all of them.
Now with only 1:43 remaining in the final frame, Melker Karlsson took the centering feed from Joe Thornton and launched a dagger past Ben Bishop, claiming a 4-2 advantage for San Jose.
And with that, the Sharks rode off into the sunset, clinching their 30th victory of the season.
Team Teal will visit the Florida Panthers on Thursday evening.
Backed by starting goaltender Martin Jones, the Sharks entered Amalie Arena on Tuesday night with thoughts of triumphantly avenging their 4-3 loss to Tampa Bay on December 5th.
As the first period developed, however, it became clear that both Ben Bishop and Martin Jones were on top of their respective games.
In fact, it wasn't until there was 2:09 remaining in the opening frame that either squad broke the scoreless tie, as Alex Killorn led a break for Ryan Callahan, who opened the scoring by burying his sixth goal of the season.
Thus, San Jose entered the first intermission trailing 9-8 in the shot totals and 1-0 on the scoreboard.
Nevertheless, the deficit wouldn't last long, as Joel Ward opened the second frame for his team by blasting his 16th of the season past a defenseless Ben Bishop, evening the score at 1.
Merely minutes later, Joe Thornton centered the puck for Captain Joe Pavelski, who rifled home his 26th of the year to give the Sharks a slim 2-1 advantage -- Team Teal had come alive.
It was evident. San Jose finally seemed to have all of the momentum on their side. They were attacking Tampa Bay relentlessly, shift after shift . . .
Then, as if destined, a broken offensive sequence from Tampa Bay resulted in a miraculous score for Cedric Paquette, his third of the 2015-2016 campaign.
The tallies were once again even -- this time, at 2.
As the players took to the ice for the third period, the local crowd was anxious for someone to definitively break the deadlock.
Much to the dismay of the vast majority of Amalie Arena, that "someone" was Sharks forward Matt Nieto, who converted on a beautiful pass from Patrick Marleau for his 8th goal of the season.
With time winding down, the Sharks led 3-2.
While Tampa Bay used a wide variety of offensive strategies down the stretch, San Jose goaltender Martin Jones seemed to have an individual answer for all of them.
Now with only 1:43 remaining in the final frame, Melker Karlsson took the centering feed from Joe Thornton and launched a dagger past Ben Bishop, claiming a 4-2 advantage for San Jose.
And with that, the Sharks rode off into the sunset, clinching their 30th victory of the season.
Team Teal will visit the Florida Panthers on Thursday evening.
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