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No doubt who's best in the
West
Red Wings toy with Sharks at HP
1/19/08 - by Mike Lee
If the NHL decides to award
the equivalent of the Lady Byng Trophy to an entire team, the Sharks should be
first in line to take the honors. There certainly is no team more accommodating
to its guests than the Sharks. San Jose rolled out the red carpet for the
Detroit Red Wings on Saturday, allowing their guests score in almost every
conceivable fashion in a 6-3 white-washing at HP Pavilion.
Four Red
Wings had 3 point nights, including Niklas Lidstrom, Daniel Cleary and Henrik
Zetterberg, who each had a goal and 2 assists. Chris Draper added a
short-handed goal on a 4-minute Sharks power play during a wild 2nd period. The
two teams combined for 6 goals in the middle frame, which saw the Sharks claw
back from a 2-goal deficit, only to fall behind by 3 by the time the period
ended.
It was easy to see why the Red Wings have the best record in
the league. They used their speed and passing to toy with the Sharks during the
opening period. Detroit goaltender Dominik Hasek didn't face a shot until the
17:03 mark, and that was from a severe angle.
Zetterberg opened the
game's scoring with his 28th of the season at 6:53 of the 1st on a beautiful
feed from Pavel Datsyuk. Detroit would put 6 more shots on goal in the period,
but Evgeni Nabokov kept the Wings within striking distance.
Valterri
Filppula gave the Sharks a golden opportunity 32 seconds into the 2nd period by
cutting Christian Ehrhoff with a high stick and drawing a double minor for the
infraction. Kris Draper quickly turned the Shark opportunity into Detroit gold
by taking a Daniel Cleary pass up the left wing, then cranking a 30-foot shot
past Nabokov for the short-handed tally.
The Sharks finally decided to
join the party and converted on a Sandis Ozolinsh shot that was tipped past
Hasek by Devin Setoguchi, while Filppula sat in the penalty box. Setoguchi's
goal came right before Filpulla's first minor expired, but the Sharks
squandered the remaining 2 minutes of extra attacker time.
San Jose
would go back on the power play at 6:19 of the period, after NiklasKronvall was
sent off for holding. Jonathan Cheechoo would tie the game with his 7th goal of
the season by tucking the puck inside the left post after over-skating the net.
With the momentum swinging in San Jose's direction, the Sharks turned
up the heat and missed on two chances in tight. That momentum went up in smoke
at the midpoint of the period when Ozolinsh deflected a shot by Kronvall past
his own goaltender.
The wheels would fall moments later. Jeremy
Roenick would draw his own double minor for high-ticking at the same moment
Ehrhoff earned a tripping penalty. Niklas Lidstrom would capitalize on the
5-on-3 with a blast from the left point that sailed past Nabokov.
Ehrhoff would earn his freedom on the goal, but earned
another tripping penalty 33 seconds later. With Roenick still in the box
serving out his double minor, the Red Wings went right back on the 5-on-3.
Torrey Mitchell would then get whistled for high-sticking, putting three Sharks
in the box.
San Jose killed off Ehrhoff's penalty unscathed, but the
clock on Mitchell's infraction didn't start counting down until Ehrhoff's
penalty expired. Tomas Holmstrm would give Detroit its 2nd goal ont eh 2-man
advantage 11 seconds after Mitchell was sent off by tipping a Brian Rafalski
shot to make it 5-2.
Mercifully for the Sharks, the period would
eventually end.
Steve Bernier would give the Sharks their 3rd power
play goal of the evening 47 seconds into the 3rd period. Ozolinsh narrowly
missed on a backhand attempt from 15 feet out, sending the puck behind the
Detroit net. Milan Michalek chased it down and sent it back out front where
Bernier buried it from the top of the crease.
Cleary ended ideas of a
comeback with his 19th goal of the season at the 8:50 mark. Zetterberg setup
the goal with a pin-point pass that Cleary tapped past Nabokov as he broke
toward the left post.
Game Notes:
Curtis Brown left
the game midway through the 1st period after getting checked awkwardly into the
boards. He suffered a groin injury on the play and did not return.
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| DET |
1 |
4 |
1 |
6 |
| SJ |
0 |
2 |
1 |
3 |
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| 1st period - 1, DET,
Zetterberg 28 (Datsyuk, Lidstrom), 6:53. |
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| 2nd period - 2, DET,
Draper 8 (Cleary, Lidstrom), 0:54, (sh). 3, SJ, Setoguchi 9 (Ozolinsh, Rivet),
1:26, (pp). 4, SJ, Cheechoo 7 (Ozolinsh, Marleau), 7:42, (pp). 5, DET, Kronvall
5 (Franzen, Hudler), 10:00. 6, DET, Lidstrom 5 (Cleary, Rafalski), 13:15, (pp).
7, DET, Holmstrom 18 (Rafalski, Zetterberg), 15:27, (pp). |
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| 3rd period - 8, SJ,
Bernier 12 (Michalek, Ozolinsh), 0:47, (pp). 9, DET, Cleary 19 (Zetterberg,
Rafalski), 8:50. |
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| 1st period - Rivet, SJ
(roughing), 12:24. |
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| 2nd period - Filppula,
DET (high sticking - double minor), 0:32; Kronvall, DET (holding), 6:19;
Roenick, SJ (high sticking - double minor), 12:52; Ehrhoff, SJ (tripping),
12:52; Holmstrom, DET (interference), 13:00; Ehrhoff, SJ (tripping), 13:48;
Mitchell, SJ (high sticking), 15:16; Listrom, DET (delay of game - puck over
glass), 19:53. |
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| 3rd period - Hudler, DET
(holding), 1:45; Hasek, DET (Delay of game - illegal play goalie), 18:39. |
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Shots |
Saves |
| DET - Hasek |
18 |
15 |
| SJ - Nabokov |
28 |
22 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| DET |
7 |
17 |
4 |
28 |
| SJ |
1 |
8 |
9 |
18 |
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| Referees: Don
Koharski, Justin St Pierre. Linesmen: Brad Lazarowich, Jay Sharrers. |
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