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WCQF Game 1: Sharks take care
of business
SJ opens the series with a 3-0 win in
SoCal
Evander Kane played in 574 career regular season
NHL games without having the opportunity to taste playoff hockey. He finally
got his chance in Game 1 of the Sharks Western Conference Quarter Finals match
up with the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday night, and he made the most of his chance
by scoring a pair of goals in the Sharks 3-0 victory at the Honda Center in
Southern California. Many of his Shark teammates played like it was their first
chance at playoff redemption.
For those returning Sharks who fell to
the Edmonton Oilers last spring, it was an opportunity to at least start this
playoff run on the right foot. After falling to Edmonton in six games, many of
those players have been waiting for this time of the season to make amends for
that disappointing outcome.
The Sharks won Game 1 last year as well,
but Thursday night's affair had a different feel to it from start to finish.
Both teams used the opening 20 minutes to feel out their opponent, but the
advantage clearly fell to San Jose. The Sharks kept the puck away from
goaltender Martin Jones, who faced a relatively light load, making 25 total
saves.
Marcus Pettersson took a holding penalty 4:57 into the contest
to give the Sharks an early power play. The special teams unit for San Jose
couldn't generate much in terms of a threat on the Anaheim goal. The Ducks
actually generated more shots during the two minute penalty. San Jose only
threw a single puck at Ducks goaltender John Gibson.
Timo Meier was
whistled for interfering with Gibson at 11:28, putting the Ducks on the power
play. Anaheim would do no better with the man advantage, as they struggled to
maintain control of the puck in the offensive zone.
Ryan Kessler
leveled Tomas Hertl with an open ice hit that was deemed interference with 6:17
left in the period. San Jose generated more chances on their second power play,
but they would not get a puck past Gibson.
San Jose out-shot Anaheim
8-4 in the period, but the two teams headed to the first intermission
deadlocked at 0-0.
Ryan Kessler had a golden opportunity to put the
Ducks on the board when Andrew Cogliano found him with a pass in front of the
net, but the Ducks defenseman clanked a shot off the right post.
Cogliano and Ryan Getzlaf took slashing penalties 16 second apart, setting up a
lengthy 5-on-3 power play for the Sharks. Kane made the most of his first
Stanley Cup playoff game, but burying a feed from Joe Pavelski at 7:07 to stake
the Sharks to the 1-0 lead. Hertl, Pavelski and Kane combined for a tic-tac-toe
passing sequence which ended with a pass to Kane in the slot. The Sharks
forward was all by his lonesome, which allowed him an instance to pick his
shot, which was a snipe job that beat Gibson with a knee-high shot just inside
the right post.
Kane made it a 2-0 game almost 7 minutes later when
Pavelski sent a pass from the right wing boards to his linemate in the slot.
Kane took a stride toward the net and deeked right, drawing the puck away from
Gibson before slipping it over the goal line. Kane went sliding head first into
the Ducks goal, trailing the puck which has already found twine.
Brent
Burns scored his 1st goal of the playoffs with 4:45 left in the period, by
ripping a shot from the blueline that evaded Gibson. Several players were
running interference in front of the Ducks goaltender, but Burns's shot found a
seam for the Sharks 3rd goal of the period.
The Sharks turned
aggressive after Corey Perry bumped into Jones. Three Sharks defenders
collapsed on Perry, which motivated San Jose's public enemy number one to take
a couple of punches at Marcus Sorensen. That resulted in a big scrum and lots
of flailing fists. Perry's transgressions potted the Sharks a 5th power play of
the game, after Perry was sent off for roughing.
San Jose failed to
convert on the Perry penalty, but it allowed them to burn clock and wear out a
Ducks defense that was already gassed from chasing the Sharks around in their
zone for 40 minutes.
The final period was a clinic in clock management
while holding a lead. The Ducks did manage to generate 12 shots on goal, but
nothing challenged Jones. The Sharks defense kept the Ducks clear of the slot,
and when a puck reached Jones, the goaltender snuffed out each attempt.
The series remains in Anaheim, where it will resume on Saturday night.
The Sharks joined the Columbus Blue Jackets as the only two teams to win on the
road of the eight playoff series.
Game Notes:
* When
asked if he expected the Ducks to step up their physical play in Game 2, Sharks
head coach Peter DeBoer said he thought the Ducks were doing plenty of hitting.
"They took 6 penalties tonight and deserved every one of them. If they want to
continue to do that, then we'll continue to play our game. If they don't, we'll
still continue to play our game."
* Brent Burns had 9 shots on goal,
but that fell one shot short of Gary Suter's franchise record for shots by a
defenseman in a playoff game.
* The Ducks were shut out for the 4th
time in 84 all-time home Stanley Cup Playoff games. It last happened in Game 1
of the 2008 West Conference Quarter Finals by the Dallas Stars.
* The
playoff shutout was the 5th in Martin Jones career. Evgeni Nabokov holds the
franchise record with seven.
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think of this story? Post your comments on the
Feeder Forums |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| SJ |
0 |
3 |
0 |
3 |
| ANA |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
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| 2nd period - 1, SJ, Kane
1 (Pavelski, Hertl), 7:07, (pp). 2, SJ, Kane 2 (Pavelski, Dillon), 13:51. 3,
SJ, Burns 1 (unassisted), 15:15. |
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| 1st period - Pettersson,
ANA (holding), 4:57; Meier, SJ (goaltender interference), 11:28; Kessler, ANA
(interference), 13:43. |
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| 2nd period - Dillon, SJ
(slashing), 1:44; Cogliano, ANA (slashing), 6:41; Getzlaf, ANA (slashing),
6:57; Perry, ANA (roughing), 15:41. |
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| 3rd period - Kessler,
ANA (interference), 11:40; Braun, SJ (slashing), 19:10; Dillon, SJ (cross
checking), 20:00; Perry, ANA (slashing), 20:00. |
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Shots |
Saves |
| SJ - Jones |
25 |
25 |
| ANA - Gibson |
34 |
31 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| SJ |
8 |
17 |
9 |
34 |
| ANA |
4 |
9 |
12 |
25 |
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| Referees: Hebert,
O'Rourke. Linesmen: Racicot, Sericolo. |
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