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3-goal 2nd paces SJ over
Wild
Nabokov earns 2nd straight
shutout
3/6/07 - by Mike Lee
Evgeni
Nabokov continued his shutout streak, picking
up where he left off in Dallas on Sunday. Nabokov
stopped all 26 shots he faced for this 2nd shutout in
as many games. San Jose jumped on the Wild for three
goals in a 6 minute span in the 2nd period to win
their second straight game on the road. What made the
win more impressive was Minnesota home record. The
Wild entered the game with a 22-4-4 record at the Xcel
Energy Center.
Sharks head coach Ron Wilson decided to attack
Minnesota’s defensive minded scheme with sustained
offensive pressure early on. The Sharks outshot the
Wild 15-6 in the period, keeping Minnesota goaltender
Niklas Backstrom on his toes.
The Wild almost turned the tables on San Jose with a
pair of one-on-nobody breaks. Todd White slipped past
the Sharks defense for the first chance, but Nabokov
scooped up a weak shot by the Wild centerman. Brian
Rolston came closer later in the period, but Nabokov
made a stick save as the Wild winger tried forcing the
issue from in tight.
The Sharks stuck to their game plan and it paid huge
dividends in the middle period.
Milan Michalek finally solved Backstrom at 7:57 of the
2nd period on a bang-bang play. Marc-Edouard Vlasic
fired a puck into the right corner from center ice,
where Joe Thornton gathered it in and sent a pass to
the net. The puck reached the crease just Michalek
arrived for the redirect into the Wild net.
Ryane Clowe would push the Sharks lead to two goals at
10:38 on a put-back after after Steve Bernier missed
on a shot in close. Bernier was cutting from left to
right on net and tried to jam a shot past Backstrom,
but the Wild goaltender snuffed the initial attempt.
Clowe gathered up the rebound and slid a shot
underneath Backstrom’s right pad.
Jonathan Cheechoo capped the Sharks scoring 3 minutes
later with a 30-foot shot that sailed over Backstrom’s
shoulder top shelf. Michalek setup the play by
carrying the puck into the Wild zone, drawing
defenseman Kurtis Foster and Martin Skoula to the slot
before sliding a pass to Cheechoo on the left wing.
Cheechoo elected to shoot high as Backstrom dropped to
his knees to take away the low shot.
The winger’s fortunes have turned around as of late,
which has opened things up for his teammates. The
goal gave Cheechoo 15 points in his last 14 games.
The Sharks also helped themselves defensively by not
committing a single penalty in the game.
Wild head coach Jacques Lemaire pulled Backstrom in
favor of Manny Fernandez who made his first appearance
since January 30th after spraining his knee.
Fernandez had a light load in his lone period, but
this night was Nabokov’s who turned aside 10 shots in
the final period to earn his 6th shutout of the
season.
Kim Johnsson squeezed a shot through Nabokov early in
the period, but the Sharks goaltender pounced on the
puck as it trickled behind him in the crease.
Marcel Goc just missed on a shot that rang off the
crossbar midway through the period.
Notes:
Sharks captain Patrick Marelau returned to the lineup
for the first time in four games. Marleau logged
18:07 of ice-time on 22 shifts. He was credited with
one shot on goal in the 2nd period.
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| SJ |
0 |
3 |
0 |
3 |
| MIN |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
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| 2nd period - 1, SJ, Michalek 18 (Thornton,
Vlasic), 7:57. 2, SJ, Clowe 15 (Bernier, Hannan), 10:38. 3, SJ, Cheechoo 23
(Michalek, Thornton), 13:48. |
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| 1st period - Foster, MIN (slashing),
19:34. |
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| 2nd period - Carney, MIN (hooking), 1:48;
Radivojevic, MIN (high sticking), 8:24. |
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Shots |
Saves |
| SJ - Nabokov |
26 |
26 |
| MIN - Backstrom |
24 |
21 |
| MIN - Fernandez | 2 | 2 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| SJ |
15 |
9 |
2 |
26 |
| MIN |
6 |
10 |
10 |
26 |
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| Referees: Tom Kowal, Chris Lee. Linesmen:
Mike Cvik, Darren Gibbs. |
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