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Power
outage
Sharks offense
blacks out
10/13/07 - by
Mike Lee
Call it an omen. With a
charged sellout crowd in attendance at HP Pavilion on
Saturday night, the power went out during warm ups,
resulting in a 30 delay to the game. The Sharks had a
power outage of their own on the ice, waiting until
the final 38 seconds of the game to slip a puck past
the Boston Bruins and their goaltender Tim Thomas.
The Bruins turned out the lights on the game 26
seconds later when Aaron Ward scored the game winner
to end one of the more memorable home openers in
Sharks history.
Milan Michalek and Joe Thornton teamed up to stun the
Bruins late in the game after goaltender Evgeni
Nabokov was pulled. Thornton grabbed a Christian
Ehrhoff shot behind the Bruins net, then skated along
the end boards from right to left. The former Bruin
center put on the breaks before firing a pass through
the slot to Michalek, who ripped a shot past Thomas to
knot the game at 1-1.
San Jose looked destined to at least earn a point in
the game, which was only seconds from overtime, but
the jubilation turned to disbelief in the blink of an
eye.
Ward zapped all the energy out of the building with a
30-footer from the top of the right circle after
former Sharks Marco Sturm slipped a feed from the
right corner. The play was setup when Sharks
defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic's clearing attempt hit
referee Brad Watson deep in the San Jose zone. Rather
than winding out of the Sharks zone, the puck ended up
on Patrice Bergeron's stick, then ultimately in the
Sharks net.
Nabokov appeared to get a good look at the shot, but
he failed to get his glove up in time to stop the game
winner.
Bad bounces were at a premium for the Sharks all night
long. San Jose started the game with a Steve Bernier
shot bouncing off the crossbar, and added 4 shots that
rang off the post throughout the evening. San Jose
officially put 27 shots on goal, but Boston also
blocked 21 attempts and another 23 shots sailed wide
of the Bruins goal.
The Sharks threw 13 shots at Thomas in the 2nd period,
which was accentuated by the fact that the Bruins
goaltender's teammates couldn't muster a single shot
against the Sharks in the period. The feat tied a
Sharks record for fewest shots in a period by an
opposing team.
“When you think of your
home opener and all the pomp and circumstance that
goes along with it and it wasn’t there…you
don’t even get the national anthem, you just go
out skate around and play,” siad Sharks head
coach Ron Wilson.
On a night when Thornton was supposed to be the player
with a grudge to settle against his former team, the
Sharks center was upstaged by Sturm, the only
remaining player on Boston's roster that was involved
in the trade that brought Thornton San Jose. Sturm
was involved in both of Boston's goals, also setting
up Patrice Bergeron with the game's first goal at
16:23 of the 1st period.
With the puck bouncing around the slot in front of
Nabokov, Sturm crashed the net, ending up on top of
the sharks goaltender, while Bergeron fought off a Joe
Pavelski check to lift the puck into the Sharks goal
for the early 1-0 lead.
That lead looked as if it would hold up given the
Sharks shortcomings on the power play. The special
teams failed to convert on five man-up attempts. The
anemic special teams play has been a big reason the
Sharks have only won two of their first five games.
San Jose has only scored 3 goals or more in one game
this season. Power outages don't seem to be limited
to big loud buildings in San Jose.
Game Notes:
The Sharks probably had something else in mind, when
it came to the debut of the new scoreboard and video
ring system. With the start of the game already 30
minutes behind schedule, the Sharks scrapped a number
of pre-game festivities, including the introduction of
the team as well as the return of Mike Ricci and Bryan
Marchment to non-playing roles in the organization.
There was also no national anthem.
Jeremy Roenick was a scratch after straining a knee in
Chicago earlier in the week.
“I thought
our guys played hard tonight and we got some breaks
and we got a few pokes and we had a bit of luck but
you know sometime some teams find a way to win and we
did,” said Bruins head coach Claude Julien.
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| BOS |
1 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
| SJ |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
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| 1st period - 1,
BOS, Bergeron 3 (Sturm, Murray), 16:23. |
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| 3rd period - 2, SJ,
Michalek 3 (Thornton, Ehrhoff), 19:22. 3, BOS, Ward 2
(Sturm, Bergeron), 19:48. |
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| 1st period - Sturm,
BOS (holding the stick), 4:02; Rivet, SJ (hooking),
4:02; Alberts, BOS (hooking), 9:12; Grier, SJ
(interference), 12:57. |
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| 2nd period - Ward,
BOS (hooking), 1:18; Ward, BOS (delay of game - puck
over glass), 3:38; Rivet, SJ (interference), 6:40;
Mitchell, SJ (tripping), 9:10; Wideman, BOS (hooking,
12:45. |
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| 3rd period - Sturm,
BOS (hooking), 4:11. |
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Shots |
Saves |
| BOS - Thomas |
27 |
26 |
| SJ - Nabokov | 20 | 18 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| BOS |
12 |
0 |
8 |
20 |
| SJ |
4 |
13 |
10 |
27 |
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| Referees:
Stephane Auger, Brad Watson
Linesmen: Darren Gibbs, Brad Lazarowich.
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