The San Jose Sharks had been red-hot on home ice. And then the Vancouver Canucks came to town and abruptly put a stop to that Tuesday.
That left Sharks’ head coach Todd McLellan to come up with some interesting answers following a 3-1 loss to the visiting Canucks. The result ended San Jose’s home winning streak at eight games. The Canucks also jump back into second in the Pacific Division, with a one-point lead on the L.A. Kings, and two-point lead on San Jose and the Calgary Flames.
“For me, there’s a price that our team has to pay to win. ... We want everything on sale, is basically a good way of putting it,” said McLellan, as per Kevin Kurz of CSN Bay Area.
“The dogfight tonight— I didn’t think our dog was a pit bull, by any means,” the coach added.
The Sharks also had the benefit of two penalty shots, but only Joe Thornton was successful on his attempt, scoring stick side on Ryan Miller, who was otherwise solid, making 31 saves.
The @SanJoseSharks were awarded two penalty shots in a game for the first time since Dec. 30, 2009 in a 5-2 win versus WSH. @EliasSports
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) December 31, 2014
For the Canucks, Jannik Hansen was the catalyst. However, he could be hearing from the National Hockey League after he was assessed a minor penalty for a hit to the head of Tommy Wingels in the second period.
Hansen on Wingels hit: “I thought I got body first and then followed through. For me, it was a clean hit." #Canucks
— Brad Ziemer (@BradZiemer) December 31, 2014
Seconds after getting out of the box, Hansen scored with a wicked wrist shot on the breakaway, giving Vancouver a two-goal lead. That’s goal No. 9 on the season for Hansen.
“I thought that was Hansen’s best game this year. He was involved and scored a big goal for us,” said Vancouver’s coach Willie Desjardins, as per the club’s Twitter account.