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Playoff bound!
5-4 OT thriller nets postseason
4/12/06
- by Mike Lee
If Joe Thornton doesn't win the Hart Trophy for
league MVP, then there is something terribly wrong with the system. The
centerman who was acquired from the Boston Bruins on November 30th didn't score
a goal on Wednesday night, but his four assists may have single handedly won
the game that put the Sharks into the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Thornton setup
four different goal scorers, including Christian Ehrhoff, who bagged the game
winner in overtime as the Sharks took the opening leg of a home-and-home series
with the Vancouver Canucks 5-4 at GM Place in British Columbia.
The Sharks will be seeded no lower than 7th and are still mathematically able
to advance as high as 4th, should they get some help from the teams ahead of
them and win their remaining three games.
"We got in trouble early but we've done this all year long, we just come back
and never give up," said Thornton. "If you told people three months ago this
team was going to make the playoffs, they would have said 'no,' but we just
have great character."
San Jose had every opportunity to roll over against the Canucks, who trailed
the Sharks by four points entering play on Wednesday. The Sharks overcame a
2-0 deficit in the 1st period, then had to comeback in the 3rd period after
falling behind by a goal. They persevered and learned a valuable lesson about
the Canucks for their match up in San Jose on Thursday night…stay out of
the penalty box.
Mattias Ohlund converted a man-advantage opportunity and Markus Naslund scored
on a 5-on-3 power play by the midpoint of the opening period. Thornton would
start wielding his magic with less than three minutes to play in that opening
stanza. He kicked things off by firing a pass up the ice from the Sharks zone
to Grant Stevenson who was cherry-picking at the Canucks blueline. Stevenson
skated in on goaltender Alexander Auld uncontested before lifting the puck for
the breakaway goal.
"We've been like umpteen points behind (in the standings) and caught people so
two goals down in the first 10 minutes is not that big a hill to climb for us,"
Sharks head coach Ron Wilson said.
Thornton would setup Nils Ekman on a power play goal with a minute to play in
the period. Thornton cycled to Ekman's position down low behind the right
post. Ekman vacated the spot by sliding into the slot, where he took a pass
from Thornton and one-timed it past Auld.
Milan Michalek gave the Sharks a 3-2 lead eight minute into the 2nd period on a
nifty give-and-go sequence with Steve Bernier, but Daniel Sedin would knot the
game at 3-3 with the Canucks third power-play goal of the game.
Vancouver would reclaim the lead at 6:14 of the 3rd period on a Bryan Allen
redirect after Nolan Baumgartner rifled a shot from the top of the left circle.
San Jose had difficulties generating any scoring chances after Allen's goal,
until Scott Hannan pumped a shot past Auld from the slot. Thornton setup the
goal by carrying the puck from his own end, before circling around the Canucks
goal and feeding Hannan from behind the net.
The Sharks would waste no time in the extra session. After Thornton won the
faceoff to kickoff overtime, Tom Preissing gained the offensive zone before
feeding the puck back to Thornton. Jumbo Joe would draw a defender away from
the shooting lane between the goal and the right circle, then fed Ehrhoff who
snapped a 30-foot shot over Auld's left shoulder.
"It was a special goal with playoff clinching," Ehrhoff said. "We had a rough
start in the season and to come back is a very big accomplishment."
"We're urgent, they're desperate and urgent is a positive feeling and desperate
is a negative feeling," Wilson said. "If we think we've achieved what we set
out to, we haven't. We want to challenge for the Stanley Cup."
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1 |
2 |
3 | OT |
T |
| SJ |
2 |
1 |
1 | 1 |
5 |
| VAN |
2 |
1 |
1 | 0 |
4 |
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| 1st period - 1, Vancouver, Ohlund 13
(H.Sedin, D.Sedin), 6:25, (pp).
2, Vancouver, Naslund 31 (D.Sedin, Jovanovski), 10:44, (pp).
3, San Jose, Stevenson 10 (J.Thornton, Toskala), 17:21.
4, San Jose, Ekman 19 (J.Thornton, Hannan), 18:57, (pp). |
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| 2nd period -
5, San Jose, Michalek 17 (Bernier, Marleau), 7:52.
6, Vancouver, D.Sedin 22 (H.Sedin, Baumgartner), 13:22, (pp).
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| 3rd period - 7, Vancouver, Allen 7
(Baumgartner), 6:14.
8, San Jose, Hannan 6 (J.Thornton, Preissing), 15:57.
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| Overtime - 9, San Jose, Ehrhoff 5
(J.Thornton, Preissing), 0:34.
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| 1st period - Gorges, SJS (holding), 5:27;
Nieminen, SJS (interference), 7:36; Hannan, SJS (delay of game), 9:36;
Nieminen, SJS (hooking), 10:03; Bertuzzi, VAN (hooking), 18:25; Bouck, VAN
(hooking), 19:22. |
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| 2nd period - Carle, SJS (delay of game),
13:15; Jovanovski, VAN (delay of game), 17:52. |
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| 3rd period - Penalties - Naslund, VAN
(high-sticking), 3:36; Ohlund, VAN (hooking), 11:20; Cheechoo, SJS (goalie
interference), 11:30. |
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Shots |
Saves |
| SJ - Toskala |
24 |
20 |
| VAN - Auld |
27 |
22 |
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1 |
2 |
3 | OT |
T |
| SJ |
10 |
8 |
8 | 1 |
27 |
| VAN |
6 |
9 |
9 | 0 |
24 |
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| Referees: Bill McCreary, Dan O'Halloran. Linesmen:
Brad Lazarowich, Vaughan Rody. |
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