Article Written by: Martin Lee
The Anaheim Ducks had a 10 game winning streak going into their matchup against the San Jose Sharks. The Sharks won the game by a score of 3 to 1 and stopped the Ducks’ winning streak. The Sharks got two goals in the 1st quarter coming by way of a Brent Burns wrist shot at the 1:17 mark in the first, his twelfth goal of the season, and a Logan Couture backhanded shot at 10:07, his eleventh goal of the season. The Sharks scored another goal in the 2nd quarter to take a 3 to 0 lead via a Bracken Kearns slap shot at the 9:16 mark. That was his first goal of the season. The Ducks finally scored a goal in the 3rd. Patrick Maroon’s slap shot at 11:32 in the 3rd that was his 3rd goal of the season.
The Toronto Maple Leafs had their final game before the winter classic and they looked sharp handily beating the Carolina Hurricanes 5 to 2. The Maple Leafs got on the board first with a backhanded shot by Phil Kessel at 16:56 in the 1st, his 19th goal of the season. Then both of the teams scored two goals in the 2nd. Carolina got on the board with a wrist shot by Nathan Gerbe at 1:36 in the 2nd, his 9th goal of the season. Toronto answered back with a wrist shot by Phil Kessel at the 13:42 mark. A snap shot by Nikolai Kulemin made it 3 to 1 at 14:58, his 5th goal of the season. Carolina made it 3 to 2 with a slap shot by Justin Faulk 17:43 in the 2nd that was his 3rd goal of the season. That’s all the Hurricanes could get because Toronto put the game out of reach in the 3rd with 2 goals, a wrist shot by Paul Ranger 17:43 in the 3rd that was his 2nd goal of the season, and Dion Phaneuf’s wrist shot into an empty net goal 19:52 in the 3rd, which was his 4th goal of the season.
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