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McLellan era begins with a
win
New power play nets two goals
10/9/08 - By Mike Lee
New Sharks head coach Todd McLellan had a coming out
party in San Jose on Thursday night, and he introduced himself to Bay Area
hockey fans with a heaping helping of roast duck. McLellan's debut was so
perfect, it almost appeared scripted, as the host Sharks kicked off the 2008-09
NHL campaign with a 4-1 drubbing of the visiting Anaheim Ducks at HP Pavilion.
Jonathan Cheechoo scored the first two goal of the season to pace the
Sharks, who also unveiled a re-tooled blueline that contributed heavily in the
victory. Defensemen Rob Blake had two assists on the evening and 7 shots on
goal and Dan Boyle added an assist and logged 25:18 of ice time to lead the
Sharks.
Both teams used the opening period to dust off the cob webs
and get back into game mode after a month of preseason play. Tentative and
cautious best describe the way both teams played in the first 20 minutes of
play. A Lukas Kaspar high sticking penalty with 3:42 remaining in the period
gave the Ducks a chance to break the ice, but they couldn't capitalize even
though they threw 4 shots on Sharks netminder Evgeni Nabokov.
With the
jitters behind them, San Jose went to work in the 2nd period.
Devin
Setoguchi started to tilt the ice when he navigated through two Duck defenders
with a nifty move early in the period. Setoguchi didn't score, but it was a
preview of things to come.
The Sharks would break through on the
scoring sheet at 2:32 of the period, when Boyle put a shot on goal fro the
right point that Ducks goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere failed to control.
Parked on the Ducks doorstep, Cheechoo swept the rebound around Giguere's left
pad for the 1st goal of the season.
"You've got a find a way to get it
through," said Boyle. You get rebound goals. You might not be the one getting a
goal, but if you get it through, someone else will."
After Teemu
Selanne was sent off for hooking at 4:40 of the period, Ducks defenseman Scott
Neidermayer got a stick up to high, and earned a trip to the box. The Sharks
only had 21 seconds of two-man advantage time, but they used it effectively.
The Sharks new power play moved quickly, generating a shot on goal
from Blake that was deflected, but ended up on Joe Thornton's stick behind the
Ducks goal. With a dish from the end boards, Cheechoo converted on 15-foot
one-timer that found the upper left-hand corner of the net.
San Jose smelled blood and turned up the heat. A wild
series would result in another ducks penalty at 7:53 when George Parros hauled
down Ryane Clowe in the slot. The ensuing power play didn't net a goal for the
Sharks, but it gave the sellout crowd a glimpse of the new up-tempo style of
play that McLellan is trying to implement.
Consistent pressure in the
Anaheim zone would result in two more power play opportunities in the period,
which allowed the Sharks to outshoot the Ducks 21 to 3 in the frame.
"It takes three periods to play the hockey game and we weren't very
good after the first period," said Ducks head coach Randy Carlyle. "For
whatever reason we started turning the puck over… something like ten times
in the first five minutes of the second period."
A Steve Montador
holding penalty to open the 3rd period would setup another power play goal to
push the Sharks lead to 3-0 early in the 3rd period. Christian Ehrhoff blasted
a shot from the point, beating a screened Giguere.
Ryane Clowe would
just miss on a shot from the right circle moments later, ringing the puck off
the left post. Setoguchi would follow that up by setting captain Patrick
Marleau up with a blind backhand pass from the right corner boards that ended
with a scoring chance in tight.
Some careless passing midway through the period almost
cost the Sharks. Selanne had Nabokov dead to rights with the puck on the Sharks
doorstep, but a deft poke check by the netminder disrupted Selanne long enough
for the defense to get back and stall the chance.
"One shift Teemu had
and opportunity and Brad May right after it," said Blake. "But when you have a
Nabokov in net to shut that down, it calms the whole bench down."
Anaheim would finally solve Nabokov at 14:35 of the period when Rob Neidermayer
deflected a shot from Montador in the slot.
Setoguchi would be
rewarded for his strong game with a goal with 4:03 to play. Racing up the ice
on an odd-man rush, Marleau tried centering a feed to his left, but Montador
broke up the pass. Setoguchi put on the breaks in the slot and whipped a
back-hand shot that clipped Giguere in the skate and into the goal.
"It
seems like they got another gear going and we stood around and watched and
started to play the game from our own back end," said Carlyle. "Then they
started coming at us in waves and we started taking penalties."
Game Notes:
San Jose would outshoot Anaheim 41-29. Jeremy Roenick
received the loudest cheers of the night during player intros during pre-game
festivities, which also featured the unveiling of the Sharks 2007-08 Pacific
Division Championship banner.
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What did you
think of this game? Post your comments on the
Feeder Forums |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| ANA |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
| SJ |
0 |
2 |
2 |
4 |
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| 2nd period - 1. SJ,
Cheechoo 1 (Boyle, Michalek), 2:32. 2, SJ, Cheechoo 2 (Thornton, Blake), 6:44,
(pp). |
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| 3rd period - 3, SJ,
Ehrhoff 1 (Michalek, Setoguchi), 2:52, (pp). 4, ANA, R. Neidermayer 1
(Montador, Pronger), 14:35, (pp). 5, SJ, Setoguchi 1 (Marleau, Blake),
15:57. |
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| 1st period - Kaspar, SJ
(high sticking), 16:18. |
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| 2nd period - Selanne,
ANA (hooking), 4:40; S. Neidermayer, ANA (high sticking), 6:19; Parros, ANA
(tripping), 7:53; Ehrhoff, SJ (hooking), 10:39; Montador, ANA (hooking), 14:56;
Huskins, ANA (tripping), 17:50. |
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| 3rd period - Montador,
ANA (holding), 1:14; Getzlaf, ANA (slashing), 7:57. |
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Shots |
Saves |
| ANA - Giguere |
41 |
37 |
| SJ - Nabokov |
29 |
28 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| ANA |
10 |
3 |
16 |
29 |
| SJ |
8 |
21 |
12 |
41 |
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| Referees: Meier,
Kowal. Linesmen: Galloway, Henderson. |
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