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An early taste of the
playoffs
Sharks get chippy in 4-2 win
With the Western Conference crown still on the
line for the Sharks, they were playing with a purpose on Thursday night at HP
Pavilion. The Vancouver Canucks really had nothing to gain with their playoff
position cast in stone. The Canucks would trail 4-0 after the first 40 minutes
of their contest with San Jose , then things turned personal. The Sharks would
take a 4-2 decision over the Canucks, but an emotional 3rd period turned a
one-sided blowout into a playoff type atmosphere that has suddenly created an
intriguing match-up should the two meet in the upcoming playoffs.
The
storyline turned interesting when a Henrik Sedin slash went uncalled early in
the 3rd period. The Sharks responded with a physical presence that has often
been missing from their game this season. By the time the smoke cleared, the
Sharks racked up 51 penalty minutes in the period and Vancouver added 25 of
their own.
“There was a lot of emotion in the game we
perhaps lost our composure a little bit," said Sharks head coach Todd McLellan.
" What I like about it is that there was emotion, I’m sure that it is
probably good for both teams heading into the playoffs.”
With
multiple 5-on-3 chances in the period, Vancouver could only capitalize with a
single power play goal. They would generate an even strength tally, but it was
too little too late.
San Jose would lean on Evgeni Nabokov early in
the game. The netminder stoned Canucks forward Michaek Grabner six minutes into
the game on a Vancouver 3-on-1 break. A Matt Pettinger holding penalty put the
Sharks on the power play at 10:40 of the period, but Vancouver created a 2-0
break after Joe Pavelski misplayed the puck at his own blueline. Once again
Nabokov denied the Canucks to keep the game scoreless.
Pavelski would
atone for his miscue with his 25th goal of the season with 1:25 remaining in
the period. Ryane Clowe setup the scoring chance by driving the puck to the net
from the right corner, then sliding a pass to Pavelski who was cutting
backdoor.
The Sharks made it 2-0 just 1:57 into the 2nd period when
Logan Couture deflected a Marc-Edouard Vlasic blast from the left point.
Couture was loitering in front of the Vancouver net and got a stick on the puck
before it knuckled past Canucks goaltender Andrew Raycroft.
The skill
guys got in on the act less than 4 minutes later. Dany Heatley circled inside
the right circle before spotting Joe Thornton cutting down the slot. The sniper
wound up for what appeared to be a shot, but instead sent a feed between the
circles where Thornton redirected it for his 20th goal of the season.
The Sharks almost gave up the weirdest goal of the season when Nabokov tried
leaving the ice on a delayed penalty to Alex Edler at the 9 minute mark of the
period. With the puck in the Canucsk zone, the Sharks tried moving the puck
back up to the point but there was nobody there to receive it. The puck floated
past Nabokov as he made his way back to the bench for the extra attacker, but
it flipped on its edge and curled back toward the Sharks goal. It would hit the
left post before defenseman Jason Demers could retrieve it.
Manny
Malhotra pushed the Sharks lead to 4-0 at 16:41 after defenseman Douglas Murray
made a nice play to gain control of the puck in the Sharks end and move it up
to the streaking winger. MAlhotra carried the puck up the right side and
whipped a shot that split Raycroft's pads for his 14th goal of the season.
“Heading into the playoffs you have to have contributions from
everybody," added McLellan. "Teams will reel in on the top scorers, the top
players on each team as they try to stay even, and try to stay ahead if they
can. The third and fourth line players have to contribute, it’s nice to
see some of those guys put pucks in the net and create plays it was pretty
rewarding.”
The 3rd period nonsense would start when Jamie McGinn
would take an interference penalty at 6:24. Marc-Edouard Vlasic would follow
that with a holding the stick penalty 35 seconds later to give the Canucks a
5-on-3. Scott Nichol would make matters worse by cross checking Mikael
Samuelsson with a minute still remaining on McGinn’s penalty.
Nabokov kept the puck out of his own net with a pair of big saves on the
extended 5-on-3, and the penalty-killers would disrupt the Canucks special
teams play enough to keep Vancouver off the board.
Rob Blake and
Samuelsson would mix it up at 9:08, but both would draw off-setting double
minors.
"We probably had too many penalties early by us," Ryan Clowe
said of the crazy 3rd period. "It was one of these things. We were up by four
(goals). The guys stuck together. That's a good sign. There's a lot of emotion
and we didn't go to sleep in the 3rd. "
Alex Burrows would try and send
a message by laying out Thornton with a check away from the puck at center ice,
which would earn him an interference penalty. Thornton took exception to the
play and take it out on Henrik Sedin by ripping the Swede’s helmet off in
an attempt to engage him in fisticuffs.
With Thornton in the box, defenseman Niklas Wallin
would engage Ryan Kesler, earning a pair for roughing, five for fighting and a
misconduct. That would put the Canucks back on the 5-on-3. This time Vancouver
would convert. Pavel Demitra scored his 3rd goal of the season on a feed from
Henrik Sedin at 10:26 to break up Nabokov’s shuout.
Andrew
Alberts made it 4-2 at 12:03 with a blast from the left point that wove its way
past Nabokov. San Jose got back to business and put the clamps on Vancouver to
play out the remainder of regulation.
“I thought we played a good
first period even though they came out ahead," said Vancouver head coach Alain
Vigneault. "I thought our execution was good but I thought we got a little
sloppy in the second. And then I thought our guys battled back hard but
obviously four goals against this team is too much.”
Game
Notes:
Pavelski's goal matched his single-season high (25). Torrey
Mitchell's two assists gave his first career multi-point game. Thornton goal
made it 10 consecutive seasons in which he's scored 20 or more goals.
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What did you
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Feeder Forums |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| VAN |
0 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
| SJ |
1 |
3 |
0 |
4 |
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| 1st period - 1, SJ,
Pavelski 25 (Clowe, Setoguchi), 18:35. |
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| 2nd period - 2, SJ,
Couture 5 (Vlasic, Mitchell), 1:57. 3, SJ, Thornton 20 (Heatley, Marleau),
5:16. 4, SJ, Malhotra 14 (Mitchell, Murray), 16:41. |
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| 3rd period - 5, VAN,
Demitra 3 (H. Sedin, D. Sedin), 10:26, (pp). 6, VAN, Albert 3 (Raymond),
12:03. |
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| 1st period - Pettinger,
VAN (holding), 10:40; Edler, VAN (holding), 19:21. |
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| 2nd period -
Rome, VAN (fighting major), 7:13; Clowe, SJ (fighting major), 7:13; Edler, VAN
(cross checking), 9:00; Team, SJ (too many men), 11:34; Pettinger, VAN
(hooking), 13:58. |
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| 3rd period -
McGinn, SJ (interference), 6:24; Vlasic, SJ (holding the stick), 6:59; Nichol,
SJ (cross checking), 7:21; McGinn, SJ (10 min misconduct), 8:28; Samuelsson,
VAN (roughing), 9:08; Samuelsson, VAN (slashing), 9:08; Blake, SJ (roughing),
9:08; Blake, SJ (cross checking), 9:08; Burrows, VAN (interference), 9:28;
Burrows, VAN (slashing), 9:28; Thornton, SJ (roughing), 9:28; Kesler, VAN
(fighting major), 9:46; Kesler, VAN (10 min misconduct), 9:46; Wallin, SJ
(roughing), 9:46; Clowe, SJ (10 min misconduct), 9:46; Wallin, SJ (fighting
major), 9:46; Wallin, SJ (10 min misconduct), 9:46; Burrows, VAN (roughing),
18:29; Demers, SJ (broken stick), 19:42. |
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Shots |
Saves |
| VAN - Raycroft |
31 |
27 |
| SJ - Nabokov |
32 |
30 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| VAN |
10 |
9 |
13 |
32 |
| SJ |
15 |
10 |
6 |
31 |
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| Referees: LaRue,
L'Ecuyer. Linesmen: Nansen, Shewchyk. |
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