The Anaheim Ducks defeated the San Jose Sharks 5-2 in the preseason at the SAP Center on Wednesday.
The Ducks got goals from Beckett Sennecke, Cutter Gauthier, Sam Colangelo, Olen Zellweger, and Frank Vatrano. Calle Clang stopped 26 shots.
The Sharks got two third period goals from William Eklund and Jeff Skinner. Yaroslav Askarov made 20 saves.
“I think we give up too much in the back,” Eklund said. “We are forwards, we have to track back better. Get to a better place with the pucks. We gave up way too many 2-on-1s and breakaways. We got to clean that stuff up.”
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Philipp Kurashev played another fantastic game, this time at center. He had the primary assist on Skinner’s goal, and hit the crossbar on a mini-breakaway moments before.
Michael Misa got better as the game went on. He played on the San Jose Sharks defaco top line with Eklund and Tyler Toffoli. Misa was on the second power-play unit.
“I gotta look at the film. I thought watching it live, [Misa and Sam Dickinson] did some good things,” Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said. “Then when the pace gets going, they’re on their heels a little bit. They gotta be a little bit harder on their stick at times. Move pucks a little bit quicker, but it’s all to be expected.”
Sennecke gave the Ducks a 1-0 lead at 1:09 of the second period. After a face-off win, Sennecke made a move to the slot and beat Askarov by the blocker.
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Colangelo made it 2-0 at 6:38 with a wrist shot over the blocker of Askarov on a breakaway. Drew Helleson sent the head man pass that got by Dmitry Orlov.
Gauthier extended the Ducks’ lead to 3-0 with a breakaway goal at 7:55. After a puck got by Orlov, Gauthier raced down the ice and beat Askarov over the blocker.
Eklund made it 3-1 50 seconds into the third period with a power-play goal. After Will Smith’s one-timer shot from the right point deflected off Tyler Toffoli in front, Eklund went around the net and tapped the puck into an open goal.
Skinner cut it to 3-2 at 5:22 after Philipp Kurashev fed a pass from the left wing to the top of the right circle. Skinner’s one-timer beat Clang by the glove.
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Zellweger added an empty net goal to make it 4-2 at 18:29.
Vatrano scored another empty net goal with 16 seconds left to make it 5-2.
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