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Wild and painful
loss
Sharks blow 3-0 lead & lose in
OT
3/5/09 - By Mike Lee
It's ironic
that the Minnesota Wild's offense is typically anything but wild. Just don't
tell that to the Sharks. Minnesota staged a wild comeback on Thursday night,
after staking San Jose to a 3-0 lead at HP Pavilion. The Wild would capitalize
on 2nd period complacency, a fluke bounce in the 3rd period and lack of
desperation on San Jose's part in the overtime to send the Sharks to their 3rd
straight loss.
Joe Pavelski put the Sharks up 1-0 midway through the
opening period on a redirect off a Ryane Clowe pass from the left corner.
Pavelski beat Stephane Veilleux in the slot, then put the Clowe feed past
Niklas Backstrom.
"We played very well for the first 38 minutes", said
Sharks head coach Todd McLellan. "I thought that's as well as we played in a
long time. Some of the issues that we addressed over the last couple of days
really improved, we executed. Then we let them back in the game. Right now
we're a bit of a fragile team." Clowe would make it 2-0 less than 4 minute
later on a shot from the left circle. Rob Blake carried the puck up the right
wing and put a 40-foot shot on goal. Backstrom surrendered a huge rebound to
Clowe on the off wing, and the Sharks winger was able to snap a return feed
over Backstrom's right shoulder.
San Jose's second line seemed to be
the only group interested in generating any offense. A Kim Johsson holding
penalty with 15 seconds left in the opening period, carried over for San Jose
into the 2nd period, and once again the Clowe-Pavelski-Michalek trio almost
deposited the puck for a goal. Only a sprawling save by Backstrom kept the game
at 2-0.
That would only last until the 9 minute mark of the middle
stanza. With the Sharks buzzing the net, the puck cycled behind the Minnesota
net, then kicked out to the point, where Marc-Edouard Vlasic put a shot on net.
The puck deflected off of Andrew Brunette, taking a 90 degree turn toward
Pavelski, who was stationed all by him self on the left side. The Sharks
centerman simply swept the puck into the wide open net, and the lead was a
comfortable three goals.
Or so it seemed.
The Sharks were 2
minutes from hitting the second intermission with that big lead, but it
evaporated in the blink of an eye.
First Marc-Andre Bergeron cranked a
shot from the left point, that deflected off of Mikko Koivu at 17:52.
Bergeron's shot looked routine, but Koivu's interference in front got the job
done for the offensively challenged Wild.
With the period winding
down, the wheels would begin to come off San Jose's wagon after the defense let
their guard down. Johnsson would intercept a lazy dump in play deep in his own
zone, then he sent a long pass to Pierre-Marc Bouchard on the Shaks blueline.
Bouchard was then allowed to skate the puck untouched to the bottom of the
right circle, where he roofed a shot past Boucher. Just like that the Sharks
comfortable lead had evaporated to a single goal.
Rather than regroup
at the intermission and come out with guns blazing in the final period, the
Sharks allowed the Wild to dictate play. San Jose was out-shot in the period
11-9, but more importantly, they allowed the Wild to tie the game.
That tying goal is one Boucher won't soon forget.
With just under 8 minutes to play in regulation, Marek Zidlicky sent a
backhanded dump in from center ice, as the Wild were changing lines. The puck
floated harmlessly into the Sharks zone, bounced twice, then slipped under
Boucher's glove and into the net.
BR> It was as if the ghost of Roman
Turek had kicked the puck on its last hop, in retribution for Owen Nolan's
playoff goal that sank the St Louis Blues. Nolan just so happened to be sitting
on the Wild bench when Zidlicky's fluke dump in doomed the Sharks.
"That happens once a year, once every two years", McLellan said of the fluke
goal. Tough one for the goalie. He'd love to have it back, I know he'd tell you
that. We'd all like to have it back, but it bounced on him and went in."
San Jose had one last opportunity to win the game in regulation when
Cal Clutterbuck was sent off for high sticking with 2:56 to play, but the
Sharks power play has been on hiatus the past three weeks.
Brent Burns
manufactured the game-winner by streaking up the left wing and snapping a shot
on Boucher from 20-feet. The Sharks goaltender made the save, but the puck
kicked right back out to Burns, who redirected a pass out into the slot. Koivu
cut through the slot, as defenseman Christian Ehrhoff turned his back to the
Wild captain, and punched home the goal with 14 seconds remaining in the extra
period.
"When you're up three nothing, you need to put teams away",
added McLellan. "And either that means get a fourth [goal] or playing well
enough defensively that you don't let a team back in it. We allowed them to
gain some confidence and some momentum. Their gain was out loss, and from there
it was anyone's game."
Game Notes:
Mike Grier was
roaming the dressing room on crutches after the game, three days after
undergoing knee surgery. Former Sharks Al Iafrate, David Maley and Gary Suter
were in attendance.
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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 |
OT |
T |
| MIN |
0 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
4 |
| SJ |
2 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
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| 1st period - 1, SJ,
Pavelski 19 (Clowe, Michalek), 11:23. 2, SJ, Clowe 22 (Blake, Michalek),
15:15. |
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| 2nd period - 3, SJ,
Pavelski 20 (Vlasic, Michalek), 9:00. 4, MIN, Koivu 17 (Bergeron, Burns),
17:52. 5, MIN, Bouchard 15 (Johnsson), 19:18. |
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| 3rd period - 6, MIN,
Zidlicky 11 (Johnsson), 12:23. |
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| Overtime - 7, MIN, Koivu
18 (Burns, Skoula), 4:46. |
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| 1st period - Johnsson,
MIN (holding), 19:45. |
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| 3rd period -
Clutterbuck, MIN (high sticking), 17:04. |
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Shots |
Saves |
| MIN- Backstrom |
35 |
32 |
| SJ - Boucher |
36 |
32 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
OT |
T |
| MIN |
11 |
11 |
11 |
3 |
36 |
| SJ |
12 |
9 |
9 |
5 |
35 |
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| Referees: Leggo,
Shick. Linesmen: Cameron, Heyer. |
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