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Sharks finally tame
Coyotes
Preissing bags winner in OT
2/12/06 - by Mike Lee
The on again, off again saga
that has been the Sharks season took another turn amid the Wayne Gretzky circus
on Sunday night, with the Sharks beating the Phoenix Coyotes 5-4 in overtime.
Buried in the media circus created by allegations of Gretzky's involvement with
a gambling ring, was the fact the Sharks won their third game in a row, pulling
them to within six points of the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.
The game also marked the last NHL game to be played for the next two weeks,
while the Olympic games are held in Italy.
Given the streakiness of
San Jose's play this season, the Olympic break couldn't have come at a more
inopportune time. By knocking off Chicago, Dallas, and Phoenix in succession,
the Sharks stay within striking distance of a playoff spot.
San Jose
needed an extra two minutes to get the job done in Glendale on Sunday night,
but the results were still in line with their previous two games.
Tom
Preissing uncorked a one-timer that split Curtis Joseph's pads right after a
penalty to former Sharks Mike Ricci expired in the extra session to cap a back
and forth game. Phoenix tied the game four times after San Jose jumped out to
one goal leads. Joe Thornton setup Preissing with a centering pass after
drawing a Coyotes defender away from Preissing's shooting lane.
"It's
a credit to our first unit," Preissing said. "We were just kinda out there to
sweep it up a bit, and Joe stayed out a little longer and made a really nice
play. He does a great job of drawing guys to him and I just happened to be on
the receiving end."
The assist capped a three point night for
Thornton, who also opened the game's scoring with a power play tally in the 2nd
period, and another assist on a Nils Ekman 3rd period goal that had given the
Sharks a 3-2 lead.
"It was obviously a huge advantage going into
overtime knowing we had the power play and the game basically was in our hands
at that point," Preissing said.
Trying to fight their way out of a
funk, partially influenced by the Gretzky issue, the Coyotes clawed their way
into the extra session on goals from Fredrik Sjostrom, Dave Scatchard, Jamie
Lundmark and Steve Reinprecht.
Reinprecht's scored with 3:42 remaining regulation on
a delay-penalty to San Jose. The Sharks may have won the game in regulation had
officials whistled the sequence dead after Alyn McCauley appeared to gain
control of the puck. Referees Greg Kimmerly and Brad Meier both swallowed their
whistles and the Coyotes converted seconds later.
Sharks captain
Patrick Marleau scored a pair of goals, including a nifty tally on a feed from
rookie Steve Bernier. Marleau did nothing more than tap in Bernier's feed,
which came from the back of the net on a backhand pass.
"We had
confidence going into overtime that we were going to win the game in
regulation," Thornton said. "We've had our problems against these guys. We
addressed before the game that they always play us hard and we can't take them
granted."
Nils Ekman scored his 14th goal of the season on a great
effort by his linemates Thorton and Jonathan Cheechoo. Thornton knocked a
Coyote off the puck after a chase to the corner, before Cheechoo threw a shot
at Joseph. Ekman scooped up the rebound and held it long enough to pick a spot
over the fallen Coyotes netminder.
"We had some big goals to keep
tying it up but we needed to find a way to get that lift and to get the one to
get the lead," said Coyotes captain Shane Doan. "We never managed to get the
lead."
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1 |
2 |
3 |
OT |
T |
| SJ |
0 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
5 |
| PHO |
0 |
1 |
3 |
0 |
4 |
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| 2nd period - 1, San
Jose, J.Thornton 21 (Ekman), 6:52, (pp). 2, Phoenix, Sjostrom 4 (Sanderson),
8:16. 3, San Jose, Marleau 24 (Bernier, Gorges), 11:17. |
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| 3rd period - 4, Phoenix,
Scatchard 12 (Johnson, Devereaux), 0:12. 5, San Jose, Ekman 14 (Cheechoo,
J.Thornton), 7:47. 6, Phoenix, Lundmark 6 (Gauthier, Michalek), 9:55. 7, San
Jose, Marleau 25 (Ehrhoff, Ekman), 15:02, (pp). 8, Phoenix, Reinprecht 11
(Doan, Sanderson), 16:18. |
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| Overtime - 9, San Jose,
Preissing 7 (J.Thornton, McLaren), 1:54. |
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| 2nd period - Goc, SJS
(hooking), 3:57; Johnson, PHO (closing hand on puck), 6:21; Devereaux, PHO
(hooking), 11:43. |
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| 3rd period - Sanderson,
PHO (hooking), 3:46; Saprykin, PHO (hooking), 14:16; Ricci, PHO (hooking),
19:49. |
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| Overtime - Ricci, PHO
misconduct, 1:54. |
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Shots |
Saves |
| SJ - Toskala |
38 |
34 |
| PHO - Joseph |
24 |
19 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
OT |
T |
| SJ |
6 |
10 |
7 |
1 |
24 |
| PHO |
9 |
13 |
16 |
0 |
38 |
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| Referees: Greg Kimmerly, Brad
Meier. Linesmen: Lonnie Cameron, Darren Gibbs. |
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