Recap – 3 Stars, Highlights, Presser: Not in the Same League

Game 66 Away game 33 | Saturday March 8, 2014
	Game Recap: It was another shaky goaltending start for Peter Budaj who put his team in a hole early from which they couldn’t recover. At the other end of the rink, Antti Niemi earned his second shutout of the season against the Canadiens; he only has three total this year. The power-play continues to sputter as opponents cover the points and the Habs’ number one center is ineffective down low.   Plus / Minus ▲  Brendan Gallagher, Jarred Tinordi, Tomas Plekanec ▼  Peter Budaj, Rene Bourque, Daniel Briere, David Desharnais, Max Pacioretty, P.K. Subban, Douglas Murray, power-play
0	4

Boxscore:

Summary:
Goal Scorers: MTL SJS  Wingels(13), Wingels(14), Nieto(8), Couture(18) Goalies: MTL Budaj (L)  8-7-2, Tokarski SJS Niemi (W)  30-13-6

Shots on Goal:

NHL Three Stars
	Tommy Wingels  SJS   Logan Couture  SJS  Antti Niemi  SJS

Coach Michel Therrien

• “The first period was not bad, we gave up a bad goal, but the second period was tough for us. We turned the puck over and they capitalized on their chances. The second period was not good for us.”
• “We got a good start on the (road) trip. I thought that we played well in L.A. and Anaheim but more we played our game in Phoenix. Tonight, I felt the team was lacking of energy.”
• “Like the rest of the team, I didn’t like the way we were playing. [Peter Budaj] was fighting the puck and you never want to give (up) a goal like he did during the game. It’s a bad way to start the game.”
• “No, no idea (when Carey Price will be ready to return.) We hope [that he’s close.]”
• “We have to regroup as a team. We’ve got two big games at home. We’ve got to focus on those two games.“
• “The last 10 minutes of the third period, we tried to make some experience and we need to balance our lines. We can’t only have one line who is going to produce.”
• “We need to create more offense. We decided to try to put back the kids together (Lars Eller, Brendan Gallagher, Alex Galchenyuk) and put (Thomas) Vanek on the right side with (David) Desharnais (and Max Pacioretty.)”

Captain Brian Gionta

• “I thought that we did a good job getting comfortable with each other. I wish it was a better outcome. For the most part we felt pretty comfortable (with Thomas Vanek on the line.)”
• “When you have a new guy it always takes time to find out where he might be, his tendencies. For the most part a guy like that, you watch him over the course of his career, he wants to get to the net. He’s great around the front of the net so that’s where we’re going to look for him.”
• “Special teams are huge. You have to win that battle and you have to make sure that we get some momentum out of those power plays. I thought at times we didn’t. It kinda deflated us. On the flip side, we have to do a better job of getting (penalty) kills and getting momentum on our kills. As of late, I think it’s been every game that we’ve let in a power-play goal so we have to do a better job with it.”

Forward Max Pacioretty

• ”We played terrible. We didn’t play our game plan. We have success when we are all working hard, but no one was doing that, including me.”

Sharks forward Tommy Wingels

• “I think (Budaj) expected us both to change and he put it down and I just tried going to the net. That’s a fortunate bounce for us. We’ll take it. It kind of gave us some momentum in the first there.

Sharks forward Logan Couture

• “I know if you go in and ask them, they didn’t bring their best game tonight.  They’re a good team. We expected them to be better than they were, but it’s a good win for us.”

Check back, video highlights will be up soon.  To look back at the full lineups for tonight’s game, check the Game Day preview.

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