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Season ends with 4OT
Loss
Special teams failures theme of the
series
5/4/08 - by Mike Lee
With the
season on the line, the Sharks decided to play a couple of games before bowing
out to the Dallas Stars in their Western Conference Semi Final Series. Brendan
Morrow scored an overtime goal in the game 129th minute, the 8th longest game
in NHL history, to give the Stars a 2-1 win, and the series victory. The epic
goaltending battle finished with a combined 114 saves between San Jose's Evgeni
Nabokov and the Star's Marty Turco, but it's Turco that moves on to face
Detroit in the Conference Finals.
Referees Dan O'Halloran and Tim Peel
had their whistles tucked tightly in their pockets for most of the game, but
each team was given a chance to end things on the man advantage after
regulation had long ended.
San Jose had the first chance to win it
with an extra attacker, but as was the case for most of the series, special
teams-was a disaster. Conversely, the Stars took full advantage of their
special teams chances in the series and capped it with Morrow's 7th goal of the
series.
Morrow parked himself in the slot, and a cross-ice pass from
Mike Ribiero to Stephan Robidas setup the goal by opening up the Sharks
defense. Robidas sent a diagonal pass from the right dot to Morrow, who
deflected the pass into the Sharks goal.
Five hours earlier, the
Sharks were playing for their playoff lives but it was Dallas that came out of
the gate looking to dispatch the Sharks.
Ribiero missed on a tap in
chance 4:48 into the game after defenseman Craig Rivet disrupted the play by
tapping the stars forward in the head with his stick. Rivet drew a high
sticking penalty on the play, but it prevented the easy tally for Dallas. The
Sharks gladly exchanged the goal for the power play, which passed without
issue.
A Jonathan Cheechoo interference penalty at the halfway point
of the period was also killed off by San Jose, who then went on its own
man-advantage after Robidas tripped up Patrick Marleau.
A Trevor Daley
tripping penalty at 18:59 setup another Sharks power play. Brian Campbell ended
the period with a blast from the inside of the right circle that Stars
goaltender Marty Turco gloved and held up for a bit of showmanship.
The Stars broke the ice on the scoring with a goal at 4:49 of the 2nd period.
Anti Miettinen punched home a rebound after Sergei Zubov bounced a long shot
off Sharks goaltender Evgeni Nabokov. Nabokov lunged to his right in an attempt
to glove the Miettinen shot, but he failed to catch up with the bang-bang shot.
Joe Thornton was injured on the following shift, after getting checked
along the end boards. He appeared to twist an ankle and was in visible pain on
the bench, but would return on his next shift.
San Jose out-chanced the Stars in the middle period,
but couldn't get enough sustained pressure on Turco to force the play.
Ryane Clowe knotted the game at 1-1 just 1:39 into the 3rd period on a shot
that threaded itself between Turco and a small gap in the upper right corner of
the net. Clowe knocked a deflection down with his glove near the right dot,
then whipped a shot on net. Turco complained that the whistle should have been
blown for a hand pass, but no other Shark touched the puck.
Dallas
just missed on a golden opportunity at the midway point of the period. Niklas
Grossman put had Nabokov dead to rights, but his point blank shot sailed over
the crossbar. Brendan Morrow had another chance on the rebound, but his
backhand attempt skittered meekly to the outside of the right post.
Campbell had his own chance from point blank range with just under 2 minutes to
play, but his shot was turned aside by Turco.
Morrow would unload on
Michalek as regulation expired, dropping the Sharks forward with a bone-jarring
hit along the left wing boards. Michalek tried flipping the puck back to his
point as he skated away from the end boards and reacted too late to the
oncoming Stars captain. Michalek had to be helped off the ice by the Sharks
training staff.
In the overtime period Brad Richards had a wide open
net, but Nabokov made the save of the series, by getting his glove out to snare
the would-be series-ending goal.
Joe Thornton setup Tomas Plihal with
a backhand pass into the slot, but the Sharks rookie couldn't handle the puck.
After clipping Plihal's stick, the puck dribbled wide of the left post to
extend the overtime.
The goaltenders put on a show, with Turco stoning
Marleau with a wild kick save at the 14 minute mark. Nabokov would match him
with a solid stop on an attempt by Grossman a minute later.
Brian
Campbell turned the puck over with a minute to play and Mike Ribiero picked up
the loose puck right on the Sharks doorstep. Ribiero headed straight for the
net, but he lost the handle at the top of the crease.
Ribiero had yet
another chance to end it 30 seconds later when the puck once again found its
way to his stick. This time the Stars forward snapped a shot that clanked off
the crossbar.
Robidas lost an edge on the opening faceoff of the 2nd
overtime, but Thornton's shot from the slot was turned aside by Turco. The play
was reminiscent of the gaff by Pavelski in Game 2.
Campbell made
things interesting by losing his stick midway through the 5th period, but San
Jose was able to ice the puck.
San Jose would outshoot Dallas 11-2 in
the 2nd overtime.
Marleau drew a Niklas Grossman hooking penalty 3
minutes into the 3rd overtime period, but the Sharks squandered the
opportunity, generating a single shot on goal on the man advantage.
Torrey Mitchell appeared to setup Clowe with the game winner, but Turco covered
the puck as it slid toward the goal line. Video replay was inconclusive,
upholding the call made by the on-ice offisials. Jeremy Roenick had another
point blank chance, but once again Turco denied the Sharks.
Game
Notes:
Turco's 61 saves set a new Stars franchise record. The game
surpassed the Sharks triple overtime game with the Edmonton Oilers in 2006 as
the longest in team history.
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1 |
2 |
3 |
1O |
2O |
3O |
4O |
T |
| SJ |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
| DAL |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
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| 2nd period - 1, DAL,
Miettinen 1 (Zubov, Modano), 4:49. |
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| 3rd period - 2, SJ,
Clowe 5 (unassisted), 1:39. |
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| 4th Overtime - 2, DAL,
Morrow 7 (Robidas, Ribiero), 9:03, (pp). |
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| 1st period - Rivet, SJ
(high sticking), 4:48; Cheechoo, SJ (interference), 10:09; Robidas, DAL
(tripping), 11:57; Daley, DAL (tripping), 18:59. |
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| 2nd period - Norstrom,
DAL (tripping), 8:22; Mitchell, SJ (holding), 12:08. |
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| 3rd Overtime - Grossman,
DAL (hooking), 3:00. |
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| 4th Overtime - Campbell,
SJ (tripping), 8:14. |
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Shots |
Saves |
| SJ - Nabokov |
55 |
53 |
| DAL - Turco |
62 |
61 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
1O |
2O |
3O |
4O |
T |
| SJ |
8 |
10 |
12 |
11 |
11 |
8 |
1 |
62 |
| DAL |
8 |
8 |
7 |
17 |
2 |
6 |
6 |
55 |
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| Referees:
O'Halloran, Peel. Linesmen: Cvik, Miller. |
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