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Sharks lay eggs in loss to
Avalanche
Strong start overshadowed by costly
mistakes
Facing a desperate Colorado Avalanche team on
enemy ice, the Sharks got a taste of the playoffs on Easter Sunday in Denver .
Hopefully they’ll take things more seriously when it counts come the
second season. San Jose dominated for the first 20 minutes, then stank it up by
giving up four straight goal, before tying the game in the 3rd period. Colorado
would win the game on an overtime goal by John-Michael Liles after the Sharks
had killed off a big penalty in the extra period.
The Sharks got into
the holiday spirit by laying enough eggs to lose after grabbing the Avalanche
by the necks early on.
Douglas Murray gave San Jose the 1-0 lead 8 minutes
into the contest on a blast from the left point that beat Colorado netminder
Craig Anderson. San Jose was swarming in the offensive zone, but the big blast
is what finally cracked through on the score sheet.
The fourth line
created some offense with a great breakout that had all three forwards flying
through the neutral zone. Jamie McGinn capped a three on two rush with a
wrister from the left dot that found the back of the net 56 seconds after
Murray ’s goal.
Missed opportunities would bite San Jose .
A Kyle Quincey tripping penalty at 11:35 gave the Sharks a chance to
push the lead to three goals, but defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic coughed up the
puck just as Quincey was exiting the penalty box. Rob Blake decided to pinch in
from the right point, leaving the whole backline exposed. Ryan O’Reilly
grabbed the turnover and hit Quincey with a lead pass that setup a 1-on-none
breakaway. Quincey buried the chance to cut the Sharks lead in half.
The Sharks got themselves into hot water midway through the 2nd period when
Ryane Clowe took a goaltender interference penalty at 9:12, then defenseman Rob
Blake was called for tripping 1:26 later, after his stick got caught in TJ
Galiardi’s skate.
San Jose would stop the Colorado power play by
preventing any shots on goal, but they couldn’t stop Peter Mueller, who
would proceed to score his 3rd and 4th goals against the Sharks in less than a
week. The Avalanche forward raced up the right wing on a 2-on-1, before
snapping a shot past Nabokov at 13:58.
Mueller would give the
Avalanche the lead with 1:53 left in the period after the Sharks missed on a
rush into the Colorado zone. Dany Healtey tried making a pass to Patrick
Marleau in front of the Colorado net, but the puck deflected off Marleau’s
skate. Scott Hannan scooped up the loose puck and pushed it to Matt Duchene.
Mueller took a drop pass as he was cutting across the slot, then roofed his
13th goal of the season.
Scott Nichol would take a slashing penalty at the end
of the period, which would carry over into the 3rd. Colorado took advantage by
jumping on the Sharks just 20 seconds into the final frame. Paul Stastny
whipped a shot from the outside of the left post after Milan Hejduk tried
jamming a shot past Nabokov.
Patrick Marleau made it a 4-3 game with
his 43rd goal of the season at 8:13 on a bullet from the slot after Heatley
served up a pass from the right wing boards.
San Jose would tie the
game back up at 14:41 on Joe Pavelski’s 24th of the season. Heatley setup
the goal by stick-handling around a Colorado defender near the bottom of the
right circle and putting a shot on Anderson . The puck deflected off the
Colorado netminder, bouncing out to the Pavelski, who swatted it into the
Avalanche net.
Rob Blake laid out Mueller with a hit against the glass
behind the Sharks goal, knocking the Colorado forward out of the game with
three minutes left. The Pepsi Center crowd wanted a boarding penalty called,
but replays showed that Blake hit Mueller in the shoulder, knocking him
awkwardly into the boards.
Clowe was whistled for holding the stick
right at the period horn, giving the Avalanche a full two minute power play in
the overtime period. The 4-on-4 format in the extra session, meant that the
Sharks had to defend the penalty with only three skaters on the ice.
San Jose would kill off the penalty, but Liles would end it by deflecting a
Ryan Wilson shot from the right point. The defenseman cycled in front of the
net after missing on a shot chance, and got a stick on the shot, lifting it
over Nabokov’s left shoulder for the game winner.
Game
Notes:
Joe Thornton returned to the lineup after missing the last
two games with a leg injury. He would finish the evening with a pair of
secondary assists.
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Feeder Forums |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
OT |
T |
| SJ |
2 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
4 |
| COL |
1 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
5 |
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| 1st period - 1, SJ,
Murray 4 (Boyle, Thornton), 8:01. 2, SJ, McGinn 9 (Ortmeyer, Mitchell), 8:57.
3, COL , Quincey 6 (O’Reilly), 13:41. |
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| 2nd period - 4, COL ,
Mueller 12 (Foote, Cumiskey), 13:58. 5, COL , Mueller 13 (Duchene, Hannan),
18:07. |
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| 3rd period - 6, COL ,
Stastny 19 (Hejduk, Mueller), 0:20, (pp). 7, SJ, Marleau 43 (Heatley,
Thornton), 8:13. 8, SJ, Pavelski 24 (Heatley, Clowe), 14:41. |
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| Overtime - 9, COL ,
Liles 6 (Wilson, Hejduk), 2:59. |
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| 1st period - Quincey,
COL (tripping), 11:35; Yelle , COL (tripping), 16:35; Yelle , COL (delay of
game – puck over glass), 19:03. |
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| 2nd period -
Clowe, SJ (goaltender interference), 9:12; Blake, SJ (tripping), 10:38; Nichol,
SJ (slashing), 19:13. |
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| 3rd period -
Heatley, SJ (interference), 4:22; Vlasic, SJ (interference), 11:26; Clowe, SJ
(holding the stick), 20:00. |
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| Overtime - Vlasic, SJ
(game misconduct), 2:59. |
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Shots |
Saves |
| SJ - Nabokov |
40 |
35 |
| COL - Anderson |
22 |
18 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
OT |
T |
| SJ |
10 |
7 |
5 |
0 |
22 |
| COL |
5 |
14 |
17 |
5 |
40 |
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| Referees: Peel,
Watson. Linesmen: Morin, Schachte. |
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