This started out as a promising night for the San Jose Sharks. They were down 1-0 to the Anaheim Ducks after 20 minutes, but Antti Niemi had made some great saves and Sharks defenseman Dan Boyle even the score just 35 seconds into the second period.
Not much else went right for the Sharks though. Anaheim ended up overwhelming San Jose in the second period with a staggering 25 shots on goal. Niemi was unable to fight back against that onslaught and the Ducks opened up a 4-2 lead.
They padded that lead early in the third when Ryan Getzlaf scored his 20th goal of the 2013-14 campaign on a breakaway:
With his earlier heroics long since rendered moot, the Sharks pulled Niemi in favor of Alex Stalock. But when the new goaltender saw three Ducks players rushing him, almost unopposed despite the fact that the Sharks had the man advantage, there wasn’t much he could do:
With that 6-3 victory, Anaheim has now won 11 of their last 12 games. They’ve opened up a seven-point lead in the Pacific Division.
One more from Ducks: Jonas Hiller set a club record with his ninth straight win.
— Helene Elliott (@helenenothelen) January 1, 2014
