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Message sent
No shots in 3rd period for Ducks
3/21/08
- by Mike Lee
A message was sent on Friday night in San Jose. It
came in the form of a gritty 43 shot performance against the defending Stanley
Cup Champion Anaheim Ducks. It came in the form of a smothering defense that
didn't allow a shot on goal by Anaheim in the 3rd period. When the final horn
sounded, the Sharks had a 2-1 win and a 7 point lead in the Pacific Division
with 7 games to play.
The Sharks also move 10 points ahead of the
Dallas Stars, who sit in 3rd place in the division. San Jose will finish off
the season series with Anaheim next Friday in Southern California. They get to
face the Stars at home on Thursday, then close out the regular season in Texas
on April 6th.
Joe Thornton gave the Sharks a 1-0 lead just 40 seconds
into the game on a feed from Milan Michalek. Thornton skated the puck in on the
right wing before dishing the puck to Cheechoo in the slot. The puck would end
up on Michalek's stick as Thornton circled around the back of the net from
right to left. Rather than shoot, Michalek elected to send the puck diagonally
through the slot to Thornton, who was parked outside the left post.
Ducks goaltender Jonas Hiller overplayed the pass, sliding to cover the post.
Thornton moved the puck to his backhand and flipped it into a wide open goal.
With the Sharks buzzing in the opening period, the Ducks tried to
generate a little momentum by throwing George Parros out on the ice. The Sharks
countered with Jody Shelley who obliged Parros with a dance at the midpoint of
the period. Shelly landed several solid shots, opening a cut on the bridge of
Parros' nose.
A Marc-Andre Bergeron hooking penalty at the end of the
period, carried over to the 2nd, but momentum began to shift in Anaheim's favor
after the Ducks killed off the infraction.
Todd Marchant would tie the
game at 5:35 on a cross-ice feed from Chris Kunitz who carried the puck up the
left wing after Torrey Mitchell just missed on a scoring chance at the other
end. Marchant one-timed the pass from the bottom of the right circle, after
Sharks defenseman Kyle McLaren failed to tie up the Ducks forward.
San
Jose out-shot the Ducks 16-8 in the period, but that was largely assisted by 3
minor penalties, including a Todd Bertuzzi hooking penalty and a Mathieu
Schneider cross checking penalty, both coming at 15:43.
The Sharks enjoyed a full 2 minutes of 5-on-3 power
play time, but could nothing with the opportunity. Penalties have been
Anaheim's Achilles heel this season. The Ducks have been forced to kill off 99
more penalties than the Sharks this season in one more game than San Jose.
Sammi Pahlsson would put the Sharks right back on the power play 36
seconds into the 3rd period after high sticking Cheechoo. Travis Moen would
give the Sharks another 5-on-3 19 seconds later after he flipped the puck over
the glass in his own zone.
This time the Sharks would capitalize.
Jeremy Roenick would score his 13th goal of the season to put the Sharks up for
good. The veteran winger took a Brian Campbell pass near the left corner, then
walked in on Hiller before firing a shot from a tight angle. The shot bounced
off the Anaheim goaltender and into the net.
With a slim lead, San
Jose continued to put the pressure on Hiller, rather than go into a defensive
mode. The Sharks would put 17 shots on goal in the period, giving them 43 for
the period, to Anaheim's 13 shot total for the game. The 30 shot differential
was the largest in franchise history.
One of those shots was a
Jonathen Cheechoo bomb that nailed Hiller in the mask, knocking him to the ice.
Play was stopped while Anaheim's trainer tended to the injured goaltender.
After play resumed, the Sharks put the clamps on Anaheim's offense,
stopping them cold at the blueline. The Ducks consumed three minutes just
trying to get the puck into the Sharks zone late in the game. With frustration
building, Kunitz took a cheap shot at Cheechoo at center ice, with just under 2
minutes left in regulation.
Ducks head coach Randy Carlyle would pull
Hiller with 1 minute to play, but the Ducks would never get the puck close to
Sharks goaltender Evgeni Nabokov.
Game Notes:
McLaren
returned to the lineup after a brief one-game hiatus to deal with his injured
knee. Matt Carle, Tomas Plihal, Marcel Goc, Sandis Ozolinsh and Alexei Semanov
were all healthy scratches.
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| ANA |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
| SJ |
1 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
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| 1st period - 1, SJ,
Thornton 21 (Michalek, Cheechoo), 0:40. |
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| 2nd period - 2, ANA,
Marchant 9 (Kunitz, S. Neidermayer), 5:35. |
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| 3rd period - 3, SJ,
Roenick 13 (Campbell, Pavelski), 1:12, (pp). |
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| 1st period - Beauchemin,
ANA (cross checking), 3:15; McLaren, SJ (interference), 6:34; Parros, ANA
(fighting major), 10:07; Shelley, SJ (fighting major), 10:07; Setoguchi, SJ
(tripping), 12:59; Bergeron, ANA (hooking), 19:33. |
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| 2nd period - Sutherby,
ANA (boarding), 6:05; Bertuzzi, ANA (hooking), 15:43; Schneider, ANA (cross
checking), 15:43. |
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| 3rd period - Pahlsson,
ANA (high sticking), 0:36; Moen, ANA (delay of game - puck over glass),
0:55. |
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Shots |
Saves |
| ANA - Hiller |
43 |
41 |
| SJ - Nabokov |
13 |
12 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| ANA |
5 |
8 |
0 |
13 |
| SJ |
10 |
16 |
17 |
43 |
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| Referees: Dwyer,
Lee. Linesmen: Mach, Schachte. |
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