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Offense flat in SO loss to
Blues
SJ treats fans to a lump of
coal
12/23/05 - by Mike Lee
Playing
for the second consecutive day, the Sharks fatigue exposed itself against
arguably one of the worst teams in the league on Friday night. A late goal by
Nils Ekman resuscitated San Jose, but the Sharks forward flubbed during a
shootout, allowing the Blues to escape with a 2-1 win. A noble effort by Sharks
goaltender Evgeni Nabokov was squandered by a lack of offense and continued
ineptitude in the shootout.
Nabokov turned aside 27 of 28 Blues shots,
including a blind kick save late in regulation after a shot bounced off his
chest and sat unnoticed on the edge of the crease. Two Blues players crashed in
on Nabokov, who threw his left skate out at the last instant to stone a scoring
attempt.
San Jose lost 2-1 the night before in Phoenix, and the
back-to-back games played an obvious role in the Sharks sluggishness on Friday.
Ryan Johnson gave the Blues a 1-0 lead midway through the 3rd period while
killing off a Mark Raycroft tripping penalty. Johnson converted on a
give-and-go with Jamal Myers after the Sharks coughed up the puck in the
offensive zone.
"We just didn't have the energy to get anything
going," coach Ron Wilson said. "It was a struggle all night. We weren't
generating any shots, especially in the third period."
St Louis looked
as if they would walk away with a 1-0 win before Ekman converted with 1:04 left
in regulation. Mark Smith setup the play by working the puck behind the Blues
goal, before slipping a centering pass to Ekman in the slot. Ekman one-timed a
shot past goaltender Jason Bacashihua to knot the game.
"I didn't look
at the clock until after they scored," Bacashihua said with a smile. "I saw
there was 1:04 on the clock and all I could do is shake my head. It was a
bang-bang play and they did a good job."
San Jose was re-energized in
the overtime period, but they couldn't generate any shots directed on net.
Sharks head coach Ron Wilson made an interesting decision late in the overtime
when he pulled the Joe Thornton - Jonathan Cheechoo line off the ice after a
short shift. Wilson replaced them with younger players Marcel Goc, Grant
Stevenson and Doug Murray.
The line tried to force things in the offensive zone
and ended up handing the Blues an opportunity to end things with a nail biting
sequence at the opposite end of the ice.
After Doug Weight gave the
Blues the shootout advantage, Bacashihua stopped a weak backhand attempt by Joe
Thornton and a Patrick Marleau shot to setup a win, but Cheechoo inched a shot
over the goal line to move the shootout to sudden death.
Petr Cajanek
converted by lifting the puck past Nabokov's right pad, then Ekman missed on an
awkward attempt to end things.
"I just tried to be calm," Cajanek
said. "I was lucky to score. I saw him standing there and took a chance."
"He won the game for them, so he had a good game," Ekman said of
Bacashihua. "But I don't think we challenged him as much as we could have or
should have."
Notes:
Nabokov's performance was
evidence that the Russian Hockey Federation didn't make a mistake when they
named the Sharks goaltender to Russia's Olympic roster for the upcoming winter
games.
Kyle McLaren skated in the pre-game skate and appears close to
returning to the Sharks roster, but missed his fifth consecutive game while he
recovers from knee surgery.
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1 |
2 |
3 |
OT |
SO |
T |
| STL |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
| SJ |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
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| 3rd period - 1, St.
Louis, Johnson 2 (Mayers, Salvador), 9:36, (sh). 2, San Jose, Ekman 6 (Smith,
Hannan), 18:56. Penalty - Rycroft, STL (tripping), 8:59. |
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| Shootout - Round 1 - STL
- D. McAmmond - No Goal (0-0) Round 1 - SJ - J. Thornton - No Goal (0-0) Round
2 - STL - D. Weight - Scores (1-0) Round 2 - SJ - P. Marleau - No Goal (1-0)
Round 3 - STL - M. Sillinger - No Goal (1-0) Round 3 - SJ - J. Cheechoo -
Scores (1-1) Round 4 - STL - P. Cajanek - Scores (2-1) Round 4 - SJ - N. Ekman
- No Goal (2-1). |
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| 1st period - Poapst, STL
(hooking), 0:37; Ekman, SJS (hooking), 3:04; Rycroft, STL minor-major (goalie
interference, fighting), 8:05; Gorges, SJS major (fighting), 8:05; Gamache, STL
(tripping), 10:38; Jackman, STL (tripping), 16:12. |
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| 2nd period - McCauley,
SJS (hooking), 15:53. |
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| 3rd period - Rycroft,
STL (tripping), 8:59. |
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Shots |
Saves |
| STL - Bacashihua |
22 |
21 |
| SJ - Nabokov |
28 |
27 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
OT |
T |
| STL |
10 |
10 |
5 |
3 |
28 |
| SJ |
10 |
9 |
3 |
0 |
22 |
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| Referees: Dennis LaRue, Mike
Leggo. Linesmen: Andy McElman, Jay Sharrers. |
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