James Reimer leads Sharks to shutout of Blackhawks

[November 29, 2021] James Reimer made 29 saves for his first shutout of the season and Timo Meier scored two goals to lead the visiting San Jose Sharks to a 2-0 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday night.

Reimer, pulled in his previous start after stopping just 13 of 17 shots in a 4-1 loss to Toronto on Friday night, bounced back to garner his 25th career shutout as San Jose, playing the first game of a five-game trip, snapped Chicago's four-game home win streak. Logan Couture assisted on both of Meier's goals.

Marc-Andre Fleury, who turned 37 on Sunday, stopped 20 of 21 shots for the Blackhawks, who fell to 6-3-0 under interim head coach Derek King.

Chicago outshot the Sharks 11-4 in the first period but couldn't dent Reimer, who had several grade-A saves, poking the puck away from Kirby Dach on one opportunity and then making a toe save on a close-in Jujhar Khaira shot.

The second period was a complete turnaround with San Jose dominating the majority of action. Fleury kept it scoreless at the 12:42 mark when he denied Alexander Barabanov on a point-blank shot from the left side of the net and Barabanov fired another shot off the post before the puck was cleared.

San Jose then took a 1-0 lead about a minute later on Meier's first goal of the game. The play was set up by Couture, who passed the puck to Rudolfs Balcers in the slot where he fired a wrist shot that Meier, stationed in front of the crease, redirected with the shaft of his stick over Fleury's glove and into the top right corner of the net.

Chicago Blackhawks left wing Philipp Kurashev (23) clears the puck from San Jose Sharks center Logan Couture (39) during the second period at the United Center. Mandatory Credit: Dennis Wierzbicki-USA TODAY Sports

Chicago had an excellent chance to tie it midway through the third period, but Reimer made back-to-back saves on a Seth Jones wrist shot from the low slot and then stopped Henrik Borgstrom's backhanded rebound try.

The Blackhawks pulled Fleury for an extra attacker with 2:33 remaining and didn't manage a shot on goal before Meier fired in an empty-netter from center ice for his ninth goal of the season to seal the win.

--Field Level Media

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