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Sharks win on rare Goc
goal
S.J. leapfrogs Vancouver
4/5/06 - by Mike Lee
The Western Conference playoff
musical chairs game continued on Wednesday night, with the Sharks moving back
into a playoff spot with a 2-1 win over the Colorado Avalanche in Denver. San
Jose overcame a sluggish start and generated just enough offense to beat one of
the teams they're trying to catch in the race for one of the conference's eight
playoff seeds.
Joe Thornton and Marcel Goc scored to lift the Sharks,
who tied the Vancouver Canucks with their 87th point of the season. San Jose
has two fewer wins than the Canucks, but they've also played two fewer games.
Their statistical advantage has them ahed of the Canucks in the standings, but
that would be trumped by the games won total which is the first tie breaker
after every team has completed their 82 game schedule.
San Jose found
a way to win on Wednesday despite going 0-for-8 on the power play. Five of
those man advantage situations came in the 2nd period.
"When you're on
the power play you get the momentum rolling for you, even when you don't
score," Avs forward Ian Laperriere said. "You drain the guys who are killing
penalties."
The power play fest allowed the Sharks to set a tempo,
which eventually resulted in Thornton's goal with 2:30 left in the middle
period. The Sharks had been peppering Avalanche goaltender Peter Budaj for the
majority of the period when an odd-man advantage on a Sharks rush finally
allowed Thornton and his linemates to cash in.
Skating in on Budaj
2-on-1, Nils Ekman fired a shot of the Colorado goaltender's pad. Thornton
scooped up the rebound and wristed his 27th goal of the season into a wide-open
net.
"That second period, as much time as we spent in our own zone, it
was tough to generate things," Avs defenseman Rob Blake said.
Colorado
had offense issues as well, only scoring on a fluke Andrew Brunette goal midway
through the opening period. Brunette threw the puck at the net, which found its
intended target by way of Vesa Toskala's mask.
Toskala would go the rest of the evening without
surrendering any follow up goals, even though he was pressed during a wild
scrum in front of his net in the 3rd period.
Goc gave the Sharks the
lead with his first goal in 50 games, dating back to last December. The young
German winger was trolling in the slot while his linemates turned up the heat
on Budaj. Much like Thornton's goal, a deflection kicked out to Goc, who buried
his shot from 15 feet out.
"He scores the winner in here all the
time," Sharks head coach Ron Wilson said after the game.
Wilson was
referring to Goc's game winning goal during the Sharks semi-final clinching win
over the Avalanche back in 2004.
"I think this is a big win for us,
we're coming down to it, so we are tied for eighth now, and this was a huge
character win," Sharks forward Mark Smith said.
Smith was a force on
the forecheck all evening, including in the game winning play. His hustle
behind the net forced Budaj to make a pass which would be intercepted by
Patrick Rissmiller. Rissmiller would then take the shot that eventually ended
up on Goc's stick.
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| SJ |
0 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
| COL |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
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| 1st period - 1,
Colorado, Brunette 23 (Hejduk, Sakic), 12:24. |
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| 2nd period -
2, San Jose, J.Thornton 27 (Ekman, Cheechoo), 17:30. |
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| 3rd period - 3, San
Jose, Goc 8 (Rissmiller), 2:48. |
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| 1st period - Ekman, SJS
(goalie interference), 0:11; Clark, COL (hooking), 8:06; Turgeon, COL
(hooking), 19:50. |
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| 2nd period - Skrastins,
COL (hooking), 1:01; Clark, COL (hooking), 5:43; Sakic, COL (holding), 8:17;
Ehrhoff, SJS (holding), 12:32; bench, COL, served by Boughner (too many men),
13:51; Turgeon, COL (interference), 19:18. |
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| 3rd period - Brunette,
COL (interference), 14:11. |
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Shots |
Saves |
| SJ - Toskala |
26 |
25 |
| COL - Budaj |
32 |
30 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| SJ |
8 |
14 |
10 |
32 |
| COL |
11 |
7 |
8 |
26 |
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| Referees: Dan Marouelli, Brad
Meier. Linesmen: Darren Gibbs, Jay Sharrers. |
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