The Detroit Red Wings continue their West Coast road trip tonight (Nov. 2) by traveling to San Jose to take on the Sharks. In the confrontation between these two Western Conference rivals, the Red Wings defeated the Sharks 3-2 and achieved their second penalty shootout victory in the past three games.
game review
The first 20 minutes seemed to be a period of testing and tug-of-war between the two teams. Neither team had the best scoring chances, but the Red Wings did find themselves on the power play twice. Although the Sharks have struggled this season (entering 28th in the league), they still have a high penalty kill and keep the game in a 0-0 deadlock. The Sharks did have a few chances late in the quarter, but Red Wings netminder Cam Talbot was up to the challenge. At the end of the first quarter, the two sides were tied at 0-0, with each side taking 5 shots.
The goals finally started to come in the second period, as Lucas Raymond showed great patience and control over the Red Wings’ possession and finished with a spot-up shot with help from traffic in front of Sharks goalie Alex Nedelkovic. With less than two minutes left in the game, Raymond’s shot sailed over Nedelkovic’s glove and off the post, giving the Red Wings a 1-0 lead. Nedelkovic was very busy during this period, facing 14 shots, but Raymond’s shot was his only shot. The game entered the third quarter with the Red Wings leading 1-0.
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The Sharks tied the game early in the third quarter on a drive that ended with Jeff Skinner redirecting a Philipp Kurashev pass in front of Talbot, who raced toward the net to tie the game less than a minute into the game. The game remained deadlocked until the 10th minute of the period, when the Red Wings got more traffic in front of Nedelkovic, and Moritz Seider’s shot hit the crossbar and over the former Red Wings netminder’s blocker for his first goal of the season, giving Detroit a 2-1 lead. That lead lasted until the final five minutes of regulation, when Sharks rookie defenseman Sam Dickinson scored his first NHL goal off a power pass from Will Smith down low, easily beating Talbot. The goal came with just over three minutes remaining, sending the game into overtime.
The overtime period was held scoreless by the Red Wings for much of the period, but both goalies made some great saves to help push the game to penalties. In the shootout, both goalkeepers stopped the first three shots they faced, but James van Riemsdyk performed heroically for the Red Wings, scoring as the team’s fourth goalscorer. Talbot made the game-deciding save on Tyler Toffoli to seal the game for his team.
Talbot stopped 16 of 18 shots he faced in the Red Wings win, while Nedelkovic stopped 29 of 31 shots he faced in the Sharks game.
what’s next
The Red Wings (9-4-2) will end their West Coast road trip on Tuesday (Nov. 4) and travel to Las Vegas to face the Golden Knights. The Sharks (4-6-3) are back in action on Wednesday (Nov. 5) when they travel to Seattle to take on the Kraken.
