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Sharks hold on for wild 6-5
win
Blues fall short after scoring 3
unanswered
2/13/07 - by Mike Lee
The
Sharks turned a laugher into a wild 6-5 win on
Tuesday night in St Louis as the Sharks continued
their longest road trip of the season. The nursed a
6-3 lead and allowed the Blues to sneak back into the
game. St Louis had a 6-on-4 advantage with two
minutes to play, but couldn’t bag the equalizer in a
wild finish.
The Sharks wasted no time getting on the board,
scoring just 39 seconds into the game on Ryane Clowe’s
13th goal of the season. Joe Thornton grabbed his own
draw in the Blues zone, then slid the puck over to
Clowe who floated over to the off post on the left
side. Clowe gathered Thornton’s pass before sweeping it past Blues
goaltender Mann Legace.
Matt Carle put San Jose up 2-0 on a power play goal at
6:51. Carle punched in a rebound from the slot after
Jonathan Cheechoo fired a shot from the left circle.
The Sharks defenseman had pinched from his spot on the
point to add some offensive support and the move paid dividends.
Bill Guerin converted on the first of three goals with a shot that beat Vesa
Toskala at 13:45.
San Jose responded immediately with a goal from Mike
Grier to push the Sharks lead back to two goals.
Sharks captain Patrick Marleau setup Grier with a
pretty lead pass from the left dot as Grier skated in
on Legace on the right post. Grier stuck his stick
out in front of him, redirecting it past the Blues
goaltender.
Joe Thornton would pad the Sharks lead in the 2nd
period with a wicked snap shot from the right circle
after Redek Dvorak was sent off for hooking at 4:10 of
the period. Thornton held the puck while parked in
his usual spot on the power play as hey surveyed the
ice for a passing lane. Legace was cheating over in
anticipation of a cross ice pass, so Thornton whipped
the puck past him.
Blues head coach Andy Murray pulled Legace for Curtis
Sanford, but the move didn’t stop San Jose from
continuing their scoring feast. Rookie D.J. King tried
to wake up his teammates by dropping the gloves with
Scott Parker, it only served as an interruption from
the inevitable.
Milan Michalek, Grier and Marleau, worked a
tick-tack-toe passing sequence that ended in Marleau’s
29th goal of he season at 6:13 of the period. St
Louis turned the puck over at their own blueline and
got caught short handed as the trio skated into the St
Louis zone. Marleau finished up the triangular path
of passes by tapping in the puck just inside the right
post.
Guerin would add his second goal of the game with
a wrist shot from the right wing as he skated along
the boards.
Cheechoo would add his 21st of the season on a pretty
shot from the right side after faking a slap shot
midway through the period. The goal capped a 4-point
night for the Sharks forward.
Guerin completed a hat trick on a shot from the left
circle after taking a cross-ice pass from Matt Walker
with 8 minutes remaining in the period.
Keith Tkachuk cut the Sharks lead to 6-4 with his 19th
of the season after Vesa Toskala let a shot by Dvorak
creep up and over his shoulder. Tkachuk was crashing
the net as the puck landed behind Toskala for the chip
in.
Ths Sharks went into a prevent mode, but allowed the
Blues too much skating room. Christian Backman would
take advantage with 6 minutes to play, punching in a
shot from 15 feet.
San Jose failed to convert on a delay of game penalty
to Dvorak late in the game, then reciprocated with a
Milan Michalek tripping penalty with 2:03 to play.
The Blues held the Sharks zone with a wild power play
for 1:53 of the penalty to close out the game, but San
Jose’s penalty kill held. Murray pulled Sanford with
a minute remaining to give the Blues the two-man
advantage, but St Louis couldn’t muster a quality shot
on goal.
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| SJ |
3 |
3 |
0 |
6 |
| STL |
1 |
2 |
2 |
5 |
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| 1st period - 1, SJ, Clowe 13 (Thornton,
Cheechoo), 0:39. 2, SJ
Carle 6 (Cheechoo, Thornton), 6:51, (pp). 3, STL,
Guerin 23 (Backman, Tkachuk), 13:!5, (pp). 4, SJ,
Grier 12 (Marleau, Michalek), 13:48.. |
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| 2nd period - 5, SJ, Thornton 15 (Ehrhoff,
Cheechoo), 4:40, (pp). 6,
SJ, Marleau 29 ( Grier, Michalek), 6:13. 7, STL,
Guerin 24 (Cajanek, Jackman), 8:53. 8, SJ, Cheechoo 21
(Thornton), 11:30. 9, STL, Guerin 25 (Walker,
Woywitka), 12:05. |
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| 3rd period - 10, STL, Tkachuk 19 (Dvorak,
Mayers), 6:22. 11, STL,
Backman 4 (Guerin, Cajanek), 14:03. |
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| 1st period - Drake, STL (interference),
5:55; Clowe, SJ (fighting
major), 9:43; Mayers, STL (fighting major), 9:43; Goc,
SJ (holding the stick), 12:51; Thornton, SJ (closing
hand on puck), 14:45. |
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| 2nd period - Dvorak, STL (hooking), 4:10;
Parker, SJ (fighting
major), 4:42; King, STL (fighting major), 4:42; King,
STL (high sticking), 12:52; Weight, STL (delay of
game), 16:08. |
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| 3rd period - Salvador, STL (holding), 0:36;
Dvorak, STL (delay of
game), 15:35; Michalek, SJ (tripping), 17:57. |
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Shots |
Saves |
| SJ - Toskala |
23 |
18 |
| STL - Legace |
18 |
14 |
| STL - Sanford | 8 | 6 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| SJ |
10 |
11 |
5 |
26 |
| STL |
7 |
4 |
12 |
23 |
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| Referees: Wes McCauley, Brad Meier.
Linesmen: Ryan Galloway, Brad Lazarowich. |
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