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Sharks show perseverance in
Game 2 win
Series tied after wild 6-5 win in
overtime
The Sharks Western Conference Quarter-Final
match-up with the Colorado Avalanche got a little interesting on Friday night.
Colorado led five different times throughout Game 2 at HP Pavilion, but the
Sharks scratched back each time, sending the game to overtime with a goal with
just 31.3 seconds left in regulation. Devin Setoguchi would give San Jose their
only lead of the night 5:22 into overtime to send the series to Denver tied.
Setoguchi deflected a Ryane Clowe pass with his back to the Colorado
goal, after Colorado defenseman Adam Foote was sent off for interfering with
Joe Pavelski in front of the Colorado net. The Sharks were buzzing Avalanche
goaltender Craig Anderson with the man advantage, when Dan Boyle sent a shot in
that kicked to the top of the right circle for Clowe.
Overtime goals in the playoffs are always dramatic,
but Setoguchi’s goal took a back seat to the goal that sent the game to
overtime. Trailing 5-4 with a minute to play in regulation, the Sharks pulled
goaltender Evgeni Nabokov for the extra attacker. Dany Heatley put a shot on
net from the high slot that Anderson was able to defend, but the rebound kicked
out to Pavelski on the left side. The Sharks forward immediately sent the puck
back at the Colorado net, burying a shot for his 1st goal of the series.
Pavelski, Setoguchi and Clowe would combine for 3 goals and 3 assists
on the night prompting a question of Sharks head coach Todd McLellan if his 2nd
line is still the 2nd line?
McLellan’s response was short and
sweet.
“Yup,” quipped McLellan. “You just don’t
know what their names are.”
San Jose ’s dramatic ending was
made more so because of the setbacks they were forced to overcome on a night
that was filled with challenges for the Sharks. The deflection that ended Game
1 was brutally unlucky, but the Sharks topped it by scoring on themselves with
a wicked deflection just 70 seconds into the game on Friday night.
Sharks defenseman Rob Blake tried to sweep a puck in front of his own net away
from Colorado forward Milan Hejduk. Blake lifted the puck across the slot,
hitting defensive partner Marc-EdouardVlasic in the face, redirecting it past
Evgeni Nabokov for the 1-0 Colorado lead.
“I thought it was real
evident that everyone came out to play tonight,” McLellan said. “We
had a little extra in the tank that we didn’t have the other night. We
overcame. It is not going to change in Game 3 or Game 4, we are going to have
to overcome. ” An interference penalty to Joe Pavelski put the Avalanche
on the power play at 5:17. Colorado almost converted when a shot on net was
stopped by Nabokov, but the puck dropped flat in the crease. Nabokov was forced
to reach back and cover the puck as several sticks filled the crease trying to
jam it home.
San Jose had their fair share of chances on the power
play, drawing three infractions in the period. A too many men call on Colorado
with 2:35 remaining in the period would finally do the trick for San Jose .
Manny Malhotra got the sharks on the board by lifting a shot over Anderson from
the right side of the Avalanche goal for his 1st tally of the playoffs.
Heatley had missed on a golden opportunity just moments before,
drawing Anderson to commit, which forced to the Colorado netminder to reach for
a save and fall face down in the crease. Heatley had Anderson dead to rights,
but his 12 foot shot clanked off the crossbar.
San Jose would outshoot
Colorado 19-6 in the opening period, which would be magnified by the bad goals
San Jose was about to give up. Fueled by bad bounces and questionable calls,
the Sharks would surrender lead after lead.
The Avalanche opened the
2nd period with a Chris Stewart goal on a fortuitous deflection after the
Sharks tried winding the puck around the end boards. The puck caught referee
Chris Lee after skidding behind the Colorado net. The puck would deflect to
Anderson who spotted Stewart breaking up ice. The netminder would hit him with
a pass just outside his own blueline, springing the speedy forward. Stewart
skated up ice uncontested and snapped his 2nd goal of the playoffs past Nabokov
just 24 seconds into the period.
Rob Blake would tie the game at 3:43 on a blast from
the right point. Blake took a feed from Joe Thornton and beat Anderson inside
the right post.
The tie would be short lived after Hejduk and Matt
Duchene teamed for a Hejduk’s 1st goal of the game 25 seconds later.
Duchene carried the puck up left side after entering the zone on what appeared
to be an offsides play. He then found a wide-open Hejduk cutting down the slot.
Nabokov tried sliding across the crease, but the shot sailed past his left
shoulder for a 3-2 Avalanche lead.
Setoguchi knotted things up three
minutes later with his 3rd career playoff goal. Clowe started the sequence
trying a wrap-around attempt from right to left. Anderson pushed the shot
attempt to the outside of the left post where Setoguchi lifted a shot over the
fallen goaltender.
Brandon Yip put the Avalanche back on top with 2:30
remaining before the 2nd intermission by jamming a loose puck past Nabokov from
the left side. Duchene pushed a shot that hit Yip in the shin pad, but landed
at his skates for the point blank shot.
With time winding down in the
period, the Sharks capitalized on a clearing attempt that landed on Jed
Ortmeyer’s stick in the high slot. Making his Sharks playoff debut, the
Sharks forward pivoted around the puck before sending in a shot. Anderson made
the save, but the Avalanche failed to pick up Scott Nichol, who slipped past
two Colorado defenders and stabbed at the rebound sliding it pas Anderson for
the 4th tie of the game.
The Sharks continued to suffer from weak
goaltending when Stewart put a 30-foot shot past Nabokov at 5:34 of the 3rd
period. Stewart took a cross ice pass from Paul Stastny at the right dot and
snapped his 3rd goal of the series past Nabokov, who allowed 5 goals on 22
shots.
A Ryan O’Reilly tripping penalty on Logan Couture put the
Sharks on their 5th power play of the night. Joe Thornton jammed at a shot in
tight on the ensuing power play and raised his arms to celebrate, but a lengthy
review was inconclusive, negating any score.
The Avalanche got a little help from referee Marc
Joannette after Devin Setoguchi appeared to knot the game up at 8:28. Setoguchi
drove to the net and flipped a shot past Anderson , then dove over the
netminder in order to avoid making contact. Joannette ruled that Setoguchi
interfered with Anderson , negating the goal and sending the Sharks forward to
the box.
Blake would take an interference penalty 1:23 later to give
the Avalanche a brief 5-on-3. The Sharks would kill off both penalties, but it
consumed precious seconds.
Yip was sent off for slashing at 15:33, to
put the Sharks on the power play for the 6th time, but San Jose would squander
the opportunity. Even though the Sharks didn’t score on the chance, they
would finish the night 2-for-7 on the man-advantage, including Setoguchi’s
game winner.
San Jose was in a position to win it in the overtime
period after Nabokov saved his bast saves for eh extra session.
“I thought our guys did a very good job of playing through the early goals
against and then in overtime he made some great saves,” McLellan added.
“It is hard for Nabby because we have four goals against on maybe only 10
or 12 shots against. The first one goes off of someone’s shoulder or face,
the second one goes off the referee to the goalie for a breakaway goal, the
third one is borderline offside and four and five probably should have been
stopped. It is a hard game for him to play in, but he did a real admirable job
in overtime of sticking with it when we needed him in overtime.
Game Notes:
Centerman Kevin Porter left the game at the 2nd
intermission with an upper body injury. San Jose put 52 shots on Anderson and
had another 32 blocked.
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Feeder Forums |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
OT |
T |
| COL |
1 |
3 |
1 |
0 |
5 |
| SJ |
1 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
6 |
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| 1st period - 1, COL ,
Cumisky 1 (unassisted), 1:10. 2, SJ, Malhotra 1 (Boyle), 19:18, (pp). |
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| 2nd period - 3, COL ,
Stewart 2 ( Anderson ), 0:24. 4, SJ, Blake 1 (Thornton, Marleau), 3:43. 5, COL
, Hejduk 2 (Duchene, Yip), 4:08. 6, SJ, Setoguchi 1 (Clowe, Pavelski), 7:10. 7,
COL , Yip 1 (Duchene), 17:30. 8, SJ, Nichol 1 (Ortmeyer), 19:25. |
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| 3rd period - 9, COL ,
Stewart 3 (Stastny, Wilson), 5:34. 10, Pavelski 1 (Heatley, Thornton),
19:28. |
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| Overtime - 11, SJ,
Setoguchi 2 (Clowe, Boyle), 5:22, (pp). |
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| 1st period - Pavelski,
SJ (interference), 5:17; Cumisky , COL (holding), 7:07; Foote , COL
(interference), 11:00; Bench, COL (too many men), 17:25. |
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| 2nd period - Stastny ,
COL (cross checking), 10:49; Blake, SJ (kneeing), 13:35; Foote , COL
(roughing), 20:00; Nichol, SJ (roughing), 20:00. |
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| 3rd period -
O’Reilly, COL (tripping), 5:45; Setoguchi, SJ (goaltender interference),
8:28; Blake, SJ (interference), 9:51; Yip, COL (slashing), 15:33. |
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| Overtime - Foote , COL
(interference), 4:28. |
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Shots |
Saves |
| COL - Anderson |
52 |
46 |
| SJ - Nabokov |
22 |
17 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
OT |
T |
| COL |
6 |
4 |
8 |
4 |
22 |
| SJ |
19 |
10 |
17 |
6 |
52 |
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| Referees:
Joannette, Lee. Linesmen: Cvik, Murray. |
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