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9th road win in a
row
3rd period fireworks pace Sharks
12/29/07 - by Mike Lee
At this pace, the Sharks may
never want to come home. The Sharks scored 4 unanswered goals, including 3 in
the 3rd period, to beat the host Nashville Predators 5-2 at the Sommet Center
on Saturday night. The win was the 9th straight on the road for the Sharks, who
climbed back to within a point of the Dallas Stars in the Pacific Division
standings. Five different Sharks scored, including teve Bernier, who added 2
assists.
The Sharks road recipe has been simple. Stay close with solid
defense, then take advantage of opponent's mistakes late in the game.
Goals have been few and far between for Marcel Goc, but he opened the game's
scoring with his 2nd goal of the season. Goc gobble up a rebound of a Patrick
Marleau shot near the bottom of the right circle. Goc's shot beat Predators
goaltender Chris Mason for the 1-0 lead.
Evgeni Nabokov picked up
right where he left off on Friday night by making several big stops. Nabokov
stoned Gelinas on a breakaway attempt late in the period, then kept a JP Dumont
shot from finding the back of the net with a crazy sliding stop at the end of
the period.
Nabokov's shutout streak would end just 1:07 into the 2nd
period, when Dumont slipped a shot through traffic into the Sharks net.
The Predators would take a 2-1 lead at 6:31 of the period when Kevin
Klein threw another shot on net, that weaved it's way through traffic. Nabokov
was screened on the play and reacted late as the puck sailed over his left
shoulder.
Crai Rivet would knot the game up at 2-2 with 8 minutes
remaining in the period. Rivet sent a shot in from the right point near the
right wing boards. The puck cut across the slot, catching the inside of the
left post.
Marc-Edouard Vlasic gift wrapped the goal on his own
doorstep after misfiring on a clearing attempt with 30 seconds remaining in the
period. Nabokov snuffed out the scoring chance by making another key save in
tight. Marleau almost converted for the Sharks with 5 ticks left in the period,
carrying the puck in on net, only to be denied by Mason.
The Sharks
would turn up the heat in the 3rd period, scoring three more goals to seal the
win.
San Jose took a 3-2 lead on a Matt Carle power play
goal at the 4:00 mark of the 3rd period, after Jason Arnott was sent off for
hooking Milan Michalek just outside the Predators blueline. Carle cranked a
shot from the point, catching the top of the right corner.
Torrey
Mitchell made it 4-2 at 8:25, after the Predators coughed up the puck in their
own zone. Patrick Rissmiller picked Predators defenseman Ville Koistinen's
pocket in the slot, before feeding Mitchell at the bottom of the left circle as
he was falling backwards. Mitchell snapped a shot from a severe angle, finding
a hole between Mason's right shoulder and the left post for his 7th goal of the
season.
Kyle McLaren was forced to haul down Dumont on a partial
breakaway, but the Sharks killed off the Predators 5th power play of the
season, which was helped by a Greg de Vries slashing penalty with 9 seconds
left in McLaren's visit to the penalty box.
The Sharks would put the
game out of reach right after de Vries' penalty ended, when Steve Bernier
punched home a rebound from just outside the crease. Carle would earn the
primary assist by putting another shot on goal from the point. After Mason made
the save on Carle's shot, the puck dropped to his feet. All Bernier had to do
was swat at the puck, putting it riht between Mason's skates for this 9th goal
of the year.
Game Notes:
The victory gave the Sharks
at least one point in their last 12 games. Curtis Brown was a healthy scratch.
Douglas Murray, who is nursing a sore knee, was also scratched.
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| SJ |
1 |
1 |
3 |
5 |
| NSH |
0 |
2 |
0 |
2 |
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| 1st period - 1, SJ, Goc
2 (Marleau, Bernier), 10:25. |
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| 2nd period - 2, NSH,
Dumont 11 (Radulov, Bonk), 1:07. 3, NSH, Klein 1 (Zanon), 6:31. 4, SJ, Rivet 2
(Michalek, Thornton), 12:04. |
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| 3rd period - 5, SJ,
Carle 2 (Michalek, Bernier), 4:00, (pp). 6, SJ, Mitchell 7 (Rissmiller), 8:25.
7, SJ, Bernier 9 (Carle, Thornton), 14:16. |
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| 1st period - Vlasic, SJ
(tripping), 13:10; Nabokov, SJ (trippin), 15:46; Tootoo, NSH (diving), 15:46;
Ehrhoff, SJ (tripping), 17:27; Bonk, NSH (tripping), 17:52. |
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| 2nd period - Nabokov, SJ
(slashing), 6:55. |
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| 3rd period - Arnott, NSH
(hooking), 3:30; Marleau, SJ (tripping), 4:23; Mcaren, SJ (hooking), 10:20; de
Vries, NSH (slashing), 12:11. |
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Shots |
Saves |
| SJ - Nabokov |
21 |
19 |
| NSH - Mason |
29 |
24 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| SJ |
10 |
9 |
10 |
29 |
| NSH |
5 |
10 |
6 |
21 |
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| Referees: Chris
Lee, Kelly Sutherland. Linesmen: Pat Dapuzzo, Thor Nelson. |
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