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Minnesota goes wild in
3rd 5 goal period dooms San Jose 10/19/05 - by Mike Lee
Halloween is still two weeks
away, but the Sharks were treated to a night of horrors in Minnesota on
Wednesday night as the host Wild unleashed five 3rd period goals to break open
a tightly contested game at Xcel Energy Center. The Wild played two periods of
typical Jacques Lemaire snooze fest hockey, before busting things open with a
nightmare period for San Jose. Manny Fernandez stopped 34 shots to keep the
Sharks in check, then allowed his teammates to ravage the visiting Sharks.
Derek Boogaard scored his first career goal to unlock a 1-1 tie early
in the 3rd period, then Marc Chouinard, Pierre-Marc Bouchard, Todd White and
Filip Kuba tacked on goals of their own to complete the 6-1 route.
The
Wild, who have relied on slow tempo, defensive first hockey, delivered as
planned for the first 40 minutes. The new clutch-free NHL rules took the night
off for nostalgia's sake, allowing the Wild to suppress San Jose's speedy
forwards. San Jose's offensive plan didn't include being pressed up against the
glass every time they held the puck, but without any support from the
officiating crew, they were hard pressed to counter the Wild's pinching
tactics.
"I just asked them to play," Lemaire said. "That's why we're
named the Wild. We're wild. Awful period, then great period."
Niko
Dimitrakos managed to slip one past Fernandez late in the 2nd period, but it
would far from enough once the final period got under way. Trailing 1-0,
Dimitrakos fired a shot that bounced off Wild defenseman Andrei Zyuzin's arm
and into the Wild goal. Marcel Goc started the play by firing a shot off
Fernandez on a partial break. Dimitrakos scooped up the big rebound and
deposited it for his second goal of the season.
"We shot ourselves in
the foot," Sharks head coach Ron Wilson said after the game. "We had some guys
with off nights who made some mistakes they normally don't make."
San Jose's power play continues to haunt them after an
0-for-5 night. Chouinard added insult to injury by scoring short handed after
picking off a Scott Hannan pass attempt. The special team woes have been costly
during the Sharks four losses this season.
Early scoring chances also
resulted in little for the Sharks offense, which has sputtered int eh 1st
period this season.
"You have to put the puck in the back of the net,"
Sharks center Patrick Marleau said. "It's not good enough to be getting good
chances."
The Wild may have been energized by the return of Marion
Gaborik, their rising superstar. Gaborik had two assists on the evening.
"I was skating for 10 days, so I felt good out there," Gaborik said.
"The biggest thing is we won the game."
Notes:
Josh Langfeld
made his debut of for the Sharks, replacing Ryan Clowe in the lineup. Langfeld
logged 13 minutes of ice time, had three shots on goal and finished the evening
a +1, which is outstanding given the score of the game.
The Sharks had
one small consolation, finally ending up on the positive side of the faceoff
results. San Jose 35 of 59 faceoffs (59%), led by Marleau, who won 12 of 18
faceoffs (67%).
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think of this game? Post your comments on the
Feeder Forums |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
SJ |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
MIN |
1 |
0 |
5 |
6 |
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1st period - 1,
Minnesota, Mitchell 1 (Gaborik, Daigle), 14:42. |
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2nd period - 2, San
Jose, Dimitrakos 3 (Goc, McLaren), 17:46. |
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3rd period - 3,
Minnesota, Boogaard 1 (Wanvig, Burns), 2:10. 4, Minnesota, Chouinard 5, 4:33,
(sh). 5, Minnesota, Bouchard 4 (Rolston, White), 8:03. 6, Minnesota, White 2
(Daigle), 13:13. 7, Minnesota, Kuba 2 (White, Gaborik), 16:34. |
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1st period - Boogaard,
MIN (interference), 7:00; Davison, SJS (interference), 16:35 |
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2nd period - Daigle, MIN
(hooking), 1:57; Robitaille, MIN (goaltender interference), 7:49; Stuart, SJS
(holding), 13:40 |
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3rd period - Robitaille,
MIN (holdi minor-major (cross-checking, fighting), 10:01 |
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Shots |
Saves |
SJ - Nabokov |
25 |
19 |
MIN - Fernandez |
35 |
34 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
SJ |
12 |
12 |
11 |
35 |
MIN |
6 |
10 |
9 |
25 |
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Referees: Dennis LaRue, Mike
Leggo. Linesmen:Ryan Galloway, Dan Schachte. |
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