The Detroit Red Wings traveled to San Jose to take on the Sharks tonight (Nov. 2), as they continued their west coast road trip. In a back-and-forth game between the two former Western Conference foes, the Red Wings pulled off their second shootout victory in the last three games, beating the Sharks 3-2.
Game Recap
The opening 20 minutes seemed to be more of a period where both teams felt each other out and were back-and-forth. Neither team had the greatest of scoring chances, but the Red Wings did find themselves on the power play twice. The Sharks’ penalty kill stood tall even though they have struggled this season (28th in the league entering the game) and kept the game at a 0-0 deadlock. The Sharks did get a few chances towards the backend of the period, but Red Wings netminder Cam Talbot was up to the challenge. After the first period, the game remained 0-0 with both teams recording five shots.
The second period finally saw the goal-scoring begin, with Lucas Raymond showing strong patience and stickhandling at the point for the Red Wings, and worked himself into a shot from the dot that was aided by traffic in front of Sharks goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic. Raymond’s shot beat Nedeljkovic over his glove and went off the post and in for a Red Wings 1-0 lead with just under two minutes left in the middle frame. Nedeljkovic stayed plenty busy in the period, facing 14 shots, but Raymond’s tally was the only shot he let by him as the game headed to the third with a 1-0 Red Wings lead.
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The Sharks tied the game up early in the third off a rush that ended up with Jeff Skinner re-directing a pass from Philipp Kurashev right out in front of Talbot as he drove to the net hard to even things up at one apiece less than a minute into the period. The game stayed deadlocked until the 10-minute mark of the period, when the Red Wings cashed in on more traffic in front of Nedeljkovic, with Moritz Seider scoring his first of the season on a shot from the point that went off the cross-bar and in over the former Red Wings netminder’s blocker side, giving Detroit a 2-1 lead. That lead stood until the final five minutes of regulation, when Sharks rookie defenseman Sam Dickinson scored his first NHL goal off a strong feed from down low by Will Smith for a one-timer in the slot that beat Talbot fairly easily. The goal came with just over three minutes remaining in the period to help push the game to overtime.
A scoreless overtime period was controlled by the Red Wings for the most part, but both netminders made some big-time saves to help push the game to a shootout. In the shootout, both goaltenders stopped the first three shots they faced, but James van Reimsdyk played hero for the Red Wings, scoring as the fourth shooter for his team. Talbot made the game-clinching save on Tyler Toffoli to seal the deal for his team.
In the win for the Red Wings, Talbot stopped 16 of 18 shots he faced, and for the Sharks, Nedeljkovic stopped 29 of the 31 shots thrown his way.
What’s Next
The Red Wings (9-4-2) finish up their west-coast road trip on Tuesday (Nov. 4), when they travel to Las Vegas to take on the Golden Knights. The Sharks (4-6-3) return to action on Wednesday (Nov. 5), traveling to Seattle to take on the Kraken.
