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500!
Roenick
reaches historic milestone
11/10/07 - by Mike
Lee
The wait is finally over. Now
the Sharks can focus on
winning. Jeremy Roenick scored his 500th career
NHL goal on Saturday night to
become only the 3rd American born player to reach
the historic milestone, and
in doing so, helped the Sharks knock off the
Phoenix Coyotes 4-1. The 2nd
period tally helped San Jose break a 1-1 tie and
leapfrog back into the Pacific
Division lead.
Roenick vowed earlier this week that he wouldn't break
the record with an empty
net goal, but he got a little help from the HP
Pavilion glass and the Coyotes
goaltender Alex Auld to reach number 500. The
19-year veteran's big goal found
it's way into the net after Roenick fired a
dump-in from outside the Coyotes
blueline, bouncing it off the end board glass and
Auld. The puck trickled
along the goal line, before Auld pushed it into
his own goal after trying to
sweep it clear with his own stick.
It took a second for the sellout crowd to figure out
what had happened, but
once they saw the red light come on, HP Pavilion
erupted. Roenick circled in
front of the Sharks bench with both arms stretched
out in triumph. He hugged
several teammates, then acknowledged a standing
ovation. After signaling his
family in the crowd, it appeared as if he teared
up, mouthing "thank you" to
all those that were there to witness the feat.
The goal gave the Sharks the lead for good, and helped
them knock off a
division rival, something they've had an issue
with lately.
Things didn't start so festively for the Sharks.
Steven Reinprecht gave the
Coyotes a 1-0 lead midway through the 1st period,
chipping a shot past Evgeni
Nabokov after Peter Mueller setup the goal with a
pass on a bang-bang play on a
Phoenix break.
The Sharks seemed edgy for most of the opening period.
Marc-Edouard Vlasic
took a holding the stick penalty just 9 seconds
into the contest.
San Jose would kick things into gear with help from
two of the new guard, and
the veteran prodigal defenseman.
Devin Setoguchi tied the game at 1-1 with a wrist shot
that beat Auld from 2
feet after Joe Pavelski and Joe Thornton setup the
play with a series of passes
in the Coyotes zone. The Sharks controlled the
puck before finally beating
Auld.
Roenick would bag his goal 3 minutes later to give the
Sharks the lead for
good.
Rather than allowing the opposition to get back into
the game, like they did in
Anaheim on Thursday night, the Sharks kept up the
offensive pressure. That
would pay dividends when Torrey Mitchell scored
his second goal of the season
early in the 3rd period.
Mitchell took a feed from Christian Ehrhoff before
beating Coyotes defenseman
Keith Ballard around the right wing, then
backhanding the puck past Auld with a
highlight reel shot. Mitchell scored his first
NHL goal on Friday against
Anaheim and followed it up with one of the
prettier goals of the season.
The Sharks would tack on a 4th goal midway through the
period after a series of
penalties put the Sharks on a 4-on-3
man-advantage. Daniel Carcillo and Milan
Michalek took offsetting unsportsmanlike conduct
penalties after the two mixed
it up at 10:01 of the period. Ballard would take
a hooking penalty 19 seconds
later to put the Sharks on the power play.
Sharks defenseman Sandis Ozolinsh would convert on the
power play immediately,
rifling a shot from the point, past Auld. Patrick
Marleau screened the Coyotes
netminder, allowing Ozolinsh to score his first
goal for San Jose in 12 years.
Ozolinsh was traded to Colorado in 1995 for Owen
Nolan.
The only thing that remained was Roenick's curtain
call at the end of the game.
The unspoken forward even accentuated that
opportunity, by carrying his
10-year old son out on to the ice, piggy back
style as he circled the ice as
the evening's 1st star.
Games Notes:
Ehrhoff and Curtis Brown returned to the lineup after
spending the last two
games in the press box as healthy scratches.
Marcel Goc and Matt Carle took
their place high above the ice on Saturday night.
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| PHO |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
| SJ |
0 |
2 |
2 |
4 |
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| 1st period - 1,
PHO, Reinprecht 5 (Mueller,
Doan), 9:00. |
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| 2nd period - 2, SJ,
Setoguchi 3 (Pavelski,
Thornton), 3:11. 3, SJ, Roenick 5 (inassisted),
6:35. |
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| 3rd period - 4, SJ,
Mitchell 2 (Ehrhoff),
5:26. 5, SJ, Ozolinsh 1 (Thornton), 10:29,
(pp). |
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| 1st period -
Vlasic, SJ (holding the stick),
0:09. |
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| 2nd period -
Kapanen, PHO (hooking), 1:07;
Carcillo, PHO (cross checking), 8:36; Ballard, PHO
(hooking), 18:31. |
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| 3rd period -
Rissmiller, SJ (roughing),,
3:22; Carcillo, PHO (unsportsmanlike conduct),
10:01; Michalek, SJ
(unsportsmanlike conduct), 10:01; Ballard, PHO
(hooking), 10:20. |
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Shots |
Saves |
| PHO - Auld |
28 |
24 |
| SJ - Nabokov |
23 |
22 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| PHO |
8 |
9 |
6 |
23 |
| SJ |
7 |
14 |
7 |
28 |
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| Referees:
Chris Lee, Ian Walsh.
Linesmen: Shane Heyer, Tim Nowak. |
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