Sharks Get Sixth Staight With 4-2 Win Over Wild; Can’t Gain on Ducks
The San Jose Sharks won their sixth in a row with a 4-2 win over the Minnesota Wild on Wednesday. Dan Boyle scored with the Sharks on a two man advantage power play to give them a 2-0 first period lead only 5:19 into the game. The Wild went up 1-0 1:34 into the game on a Martin Havlat goal. The Wild rallied for a 2-2 tie in the second period with two goals within 25 seconds of each other in the 11th minute of the period. First, Charlie Coyle scored at 10:33 then Dany Heatley tied it at 10:58.
Joe Thornton then broke the tie 3-2 with a goal at 14:42. T.J. Galiardi then closed the scoring out in the third period at 6:55 . The Sharks are now 19-11-6 while the Wild slipped to 21-13-2.
The Sharks continue to chase the Anaheim Ducks who won over the Dallas Stars 5-2 on Wednesday. Anaheim is 25-7-5 and currently has the top spot in the Western Conference playoff race. The Ducks led 3-0 after two periods when Radek Dvorak scored in the first period and Teemu Selanne and Kyle Palmeiri scored second period goals. The two teams swapped goals twice in the third period.
The New York Rangers handed the Pittsburgh Penguins their second straight loss coming off a 15 game win streak with a 6-1 rout. Newcomers Derick Brassard and John Moore, playing in their first game since being traded over from the Columbus Blue Jackets played big roles in the win. The two men arrived just a few minutes before game time, yet Brassard had three assists and Moore scored a third period goal in the game. The Rangers improved to 18-15-3 while the Penguins slipped to 28-10-0.
The Edmonton Oilers got in on the one-sided win theme from Wednesday with an 8-2 win over the Calgary Flames. The Oilers were led by Jordan Eberle with two goals as they ran off eight in a row after going down 2-0 early in the game. Matt Stajan scored twice in the first six minutes of the game for the Flames but it was all Oilers from there. Sam Gagner and Ryan Whitney tied the score in the first period with a goal apiece. Then in the second period, Nail Yakupov scored what proved to be the game winner on a power play at 3:34 of the second period.
The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Montreal Canadiens 5-3. The Flyers entered the third period down 3-2 but scored three third period goals. Wayne Simmonds tied the game with just a bit over 5:00 remaining in the period. The Flyers then got the game winner three minutes later on a goal from Erik Gustafsson. The Flyers added an empty net goal in the final minute from Jakub Voracek.
