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Sharks win 4th in a
row
San Jose returns home after brief east coast
swing
The Sharks returned home after a brief 3-game
road-trip that took them through DC and Florida, and had the advantage of
easing back into home ice with the cellar-dwelling Calgary Flames. San Jose
took advantage of their opponent matching the Flames with a pair of 1st period
goals, and then potting the game winner in the 2nd period. Anttti Niemi made 21
saves to earn his 26th win of the season.
* San Jose came out blazing
early, putting plenty of pressure on Flames goaltender Karri Ramo, but it was
the Calgary that would strike first. Flames leading scorer Jiri Hudler took a
short pass from TJ Brodie in the left corner then took three strides toward the
net before pulling the puck to his right and sliding a shot past Antti Niemi.
* Joe Pavelski continued to wield his hot hand, or in the case of the
Sharks 1st goal, a hot shoulder. The Red-hot Sharks forward was the benefactor
of a Justin Braun shot that caught Pavelski in the left shoulder and bouncing
into the Flames net at 12:22 to tie the game. The Sharks forward recorded his
first career hat trick in Tampa Bay on Saturday afternoon. The tally was the
26th of the season for Pavelski, who leads the Sharks in that category.
* Tommy Wingels gave the Sharks a brief 2-1 lead when he converted 21
seconds after Pavelski's tally. The Sharks winger cycled the puck at the
blueline and dumped it into the right corner as he continued toward the right
wing boards. Patrick Marleau chased it down in the corner and tapped a pass
back to Wingels for a slap shot from the outside of the right circle. Ramo got
a glove on the shot, but the momentum carried it past him, dribbling across the
goal line.
* The Sharks lead went by the wayside after a lapse in
communication between defensemen Dan Boyle and Matt Irwin. Brian McGratten sent
a long shot on net from the right point, but the puck kicked out a rebound
right to the slot. Kevin Westgarth beat both Irwin and Boyle to the puck and
punched home his 1st goal of the season.
* Matt Nieto took a deflected
puck off the chops midway through the 2nd period. He was bleeding significantly
as trainers assisted him to the locker room. The Sharks rookie would return in
the 3rd period after some maintenance.
* The Sharks missed by a hair
on an odd-man break at the 12 minute mark of the middle period when defenseman
Dan Boyle fired a rebound chance on net, but Ramo made a diving save on the
play. Matt Stajan was whistled for interference on the play, setting up the
game's 1st power play. Pavelski converted with a nice redirect of a Joe
Thornton feed at 14:54 for his 2nd of the game. Thornton feathered a shin-high
pass that Pavelski had to redirect by lifting his stick blade off the ice in
order to hit the puck. Stajan's penalty was the only infraction by either team
all night.
* Thornton moved into the 48th spot in all-time scoring,
passing Bobby Hull with his assist on Pavelski's 2nd goal. Thornton's 1,171
career points puts him 8 behind Sergei Federov for the 47th spot. Rod
Brind'Amour sits in 46th with 1,184 points. Former Sharks ahead of Thornton
include Vincent Damphousse (1,205 points), Bernie Nicholls (1,209), Jeremy
Roenick (1,216), and Teemu Selanne (1,447).
* San Jose controlled the
faceoff circle, winning 63 of their draws. Marleau won 10 of 14 and Thornton
won 9 of 11.
* Tyler Kennedy skated exceptionally well all night,
moving to the puck with speed and back-checking all night long. The forward
recently returned to the lineup after a brief bout with the flu. He led all
skaters with 6 shots on goal.
* Rookie Eriah Hayes had 4 shots on goal
in a brief 8 minutes of ice time. He was a minus 1, although it was an unfair
rating as he was immaterial to the Westgarth goal.
* In a statistical
oddity, Pavelski led the Sharks in ice time. Typically a defenseman logs the
greatest number of minutes, but Pavelski's 21:19 of ice time on 27 shifts was
tops for San Jose.
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Feeder Forums |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| CGY |
2 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
| SJ |
2 |
1 |
0 |
3 |
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| 1st period - 1, CGY,
Hudler 13 (Brodie, Giordano), 4:08. 2, SJ, Pavelski 26 (Braun, Burns), 12:22.
3, SJ, Wingels 10 (Marleau, Stuart), 12:43. 4, CGY, Westgarth 1 (McGrattan,
Russell), 13:34. |
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| 2nd period - 5, SJ,
Pavelski 27 (Thornton, Demers), 14:54, (pp). |
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| 2nd period - Stajan, CGY
(interference), 14:28. |
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Shots |
Saves |
| CGY - Ramo |
27 |
24 |
| SJ - Niemi |
23 |
21 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| CGY |
8 |
4 |
11 |
23 |
| SJ |
10 |
11 |
6 |
27 |
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| Referees:
Joannette, Morton. Linesmen: Kovachik, Henderson. |
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