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New dynasty in the
making?
Red Wings routed 5-1
10/19/06 - by Mike Lee
It's too early to say that
Thursday night's 5-1 thrashing of the Detroit Red Wings was the passing of the
torch, but the Sharks are making a case for themselves as one of the dominant
teams in the NHL this season. San Jose did enjoy 13 power play chances
throughout the evening, but what they did with those chances may be argument
enough that they are a force to be reckoned with.
Patrick Marleau and
three other Sharks converted on a franchise high five power play goals, while
the Red Wings were left scratching their heads. Playing catch up is one thing,
but playing almost an entire game down a man is an entirely different story.
That was the situation Detroit created for themselves by committing 16
infractions.
"We can't put ourselves in that situation," captain
Niklas Lidstrom said. "It's the same penalty situation all over again. You
can't give that many chances to a team that good."
Milan Michalek and
Mark Bell scored almost identical redirects by the midway mark through the 1st
period, and Marleau's power play tally at 14:32 of the period was enough to
chase Chris Osgood from the net. Marleau beat Osgood with a wicked snap shot
from 20 feet out after sidestepping a Red Wings defender near the right dot.
Joey MacDonald made his NHL debut in net for Detroit after Red Wings
head coach Mike Babcock pulled Osgood with his team down 3-0. The rookie
netminder would settle things down to close out the period and stopped all 8
shots he faced in the 2nd period despite having to kill off 5 San Jose power
plays in the period.
"Our main focus coming into camp was to get off
to a good start," said rookie Matt Carle. "We've worked hard, and now we just
have to continue building."
Jonathan Cheechoo would crack MacDonald five minutes
into the 3rd period after Pavel Datsyuk was sent off for tripping and he'd use
all of 8 seconds on the power play to get the job done. Joe Thornton setup
Cheechoo with a pass from the right circle.
The Sharks would cap their
scoring binge three minutes later while the Sharks were on a 5-on-3. Niklas
Kronvall committed one of three Detroit delay of game penalties for putting the
puck over the glass four seconds after Mathieu Schneider was sent off for
holding. After a wild scrum in front of the net, the puck kicked out to Marleau
who was lurking in the slot. With bodies strewn all over the ice, Marleau
grabbed the loose puck and rifled it over an outstretched MacDonald.
"It's just about taking advantage of your opportunities, and we did that,"
Marleau said. "They kept putting the puck over the glass (for delay-of-game
penalties). Everybody is doing great, and hopefully we can keep it going."
Michalek took exception to Chris Chelios' hospitality during the scrum
and popped the Red Wings defenseman in the chops, and both were sent off for
roughing.
Jiri Hudler ruined Vesa Toskala's shutout bid with just
under nine minutes remaining in regulation with power play goal for Detroit.
The score broke a 121 minute shutout streak that Toskala had strung together
with Evgeni Nabokov over the past three games.
"We took advantage of a
team that was a little leg-weary," Sharks coach Ron Wilson said. "I thought if
we got the puck in deep and we skated through the neutral zone, we'd get a
number of power plays."
The Sharks will get to prove if this was a
fluke win next week in Hockeytown. San Jose visits Detroit on October 25th
during the second leg of a five-game road trip.
"I thought we played
real good," Babcock said. "It was just every time they had a power play, the
puck found a way into the net. Good thing we have a day off to regroup."
Notes:
Matt Carle's two assists put him atop the
scoring lead for defenseman in the NHL.
Michalek extended his scoring
streak to five games.
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| DET |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
| SJ |
3 |
0 |
2 |
5 |
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| 1st period - 1, SJ,
Michalek 6 (Carle, Ehrhoff), 6:35, (pp). 2, SJ, Bell 3 (Carle, Cheechoo),
11:35, (pp). 3, SJ, Marleau 2 (Bernier, Michalek), 14:32, (pp). |
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| 3rd period - 4, SJ,
Cheechoo 4 (Thornton, Ehrhoff), 5:01, (pp). 5, SJ, Marleau 3 (Michalek,
Thornton), 7:51, (pp). 6, DET, Hudler 1 (Schneider, Franzen), 11:08, (pp). |
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| 1st period - Hudler, DET
(tripping), 6:12; Goc, SJ (tripping), 6:47; Kopecky, DET (hooking), 9:49;
Lebda, DETt (high sticking), 13:55; Smith, SJ (hooking), 18:00. |
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| 2nd period - Maltby, DET
(holding), 0:15; Franzen, DET (delay of game), 1:38; Schneider, DET (delay of
game), 2:54; Markov, DET (hooking), 6:00; Zetterberg, DET (diving), 13:25;
Brown, SJ (hooking), 13:25; Lang, DET (holding), 14:26; Thornton, SJ (cross
checking), 14:26; Rissmiller, SJ (elbowing), 17:09; Lang, DET (hooking),
18:02. |
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| 3rd period - Brown, SJ
(high sticking), 1:29; Datsyuk, DET (tripping), 4:53; Schneider, DET (holding),
5:57; Kronwall, DET (delay of game), 6:01; Chelios, DET (roughing), 7:51;
Michalek, SJ (roughing), 7:51; Goc, SJ (tripping), 9:41; Kopecky, DET
(holding), 11:48; Ehrhoff, SJ (holding), 17:37. |
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Shots |
Saves |
| DAL - Turco |
23 |
21 |
| SJ - Nabokov |
32 |
32 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| DET |
8 |
6 |
8 |
22 |
| SJ |
7 |
8 |
7 |
22 |
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| Referees: Brad Meier, Dan
O'Rourke. Linesmen: Derek Amell, Vaughan Rody. |
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