His days as the Sharks’ captain are long gone but Marleau had a game-high seven shots on goal and the only two goals. “It’s awesome to see”.
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“I think a statement was made that the Sharks are back and we’re for real this year”, said new coach Pete DeBoer, per CSN Bay Area. Anaheim had a territorial edge for the first half of the first period, but San Jose never changed its strategy.
Meanwhile, winger Joel Ward has two assists in two games and says he’s seen “a lot of guys just buzzing and working hard for each other”. “You can tell he competes all the time”. They outshot Anaheim 17-3, including Marleau’s second goal, reaping the rewards for using the entire bench. I think a year ago was a bit of an aberration. “That set the goal for a big goal by a great player”.
Joe Pavelski said: “A step in the right direction, I think”.
The Canucks look to add another win to their resume to start the season as they earned three out of four points against the Flames int heir home and home session but head into Anaheim to face the Ducks.
Marleau’s one-man effort put the game away when he took advantage of Simon Despres and Cam Fowler appearing a little flat-footed on a wraparound with just 4:50 left in regulation.
After an evenly played first 40 minutes, Patrick Marleau broke through late in the second period and added an insurance marker in the third, for a 2-0 win that gave them their second win in as many tries.
“It was nice to get rewarded”.
“We had a lot of chances early on and finally found that first one and got the second one as well”, said Marleau, who now has 458 goals and 991 points in his National Hockey League career. Ducks goalie Frederik Andersen stopped 42 shots in the loss, including a Joe Thornton breakaway in the third period. His shot and Logan Couture’s shot from in close were both stopped by Andersen.
“It’s Game 1. It’s a new group”, said Ducks center Ryan Kesler, who was also a longtime fixture in Vancouver before coming to Anaheim last season. The puck slipped behind Jones, who had lost his stick, but continued harmlessly out of the crease with 3:30 remaining in the period.
“We’ve got to create our own identity. If we break out cleaner we’ll be OK”.
It was team shutout, but Jones deserves plenty of credit. “But we’re going to have to go with the good and the bad and there was a few good stuff tonight”.
“I felt good. Saw the puck well”. Despite the low-scoring game and lack of penalties (just one power play for each side), it was yet another entertaining game between the two California rivals.
“I don’t want to get caught up the ice”, Ward said of the play. San Jose C Ben Smith and D Dylan DeMelo were healthy scratches while D Josh Manson, C Chris Wagner and RW Tim Jackman did not dress for Anaheim.
While it’s still extremely early in the season, DeBoer has the Sharks (2-0) believing that if they can sustain their high-pressured edge in every situation, success will follow. Vlasic, 28, passed the retired Mike Rathje…. ABOUT THE DUCKS (0-1-0): Boudreau split up star forwards Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry to start Saturday’s season opener before putting them back together on a line with newcomer Carl Hagelin in the third period.
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That helped San Jose establish the home dominance that was missing a year ago when they lost 22 games at the Shark Tank – the most for the team since 1996-97. The Sharks start a four-game road trip at Washington on Monday….
