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Sharks get the
shaft
Questionable call sinks SJ
12/18/05 - by Mike Lee
The miracle revival took a
night off and a questionable goal combined to end the Sharks six game winning
streak in Anaheim on Sunday night. San Jose battled back to tie the Ducks four
times, but a Rob Niedermeyer goal midway through the 3rd period to give the
host Ducks a 5-4 win. A win by the Sharks would have moved the San Jose into a
three-way tie for third place in the Pacific Division, but a series of fluke
bounces and video review that should have overturned Niedermeyer's goal kept
them in the basement for another day.
The winning goal came after
Niedermeyer deflected a dump-in pass by brother Scott into the Sharks goal with
the shaft of this stick. Problem is, Niedermeyer's stick was clearly above the
top of the goal when the puck came in contact with the shaft. Game officials
reviewed the video for several minutes, but refused to overturn the goal.
"I couldn't tell from the replay," said San Jose head coach Ron
Wilson. "Our guys said it hit the shaft of Niedermayer's stick above the top of
the net."
It will be interesting to see how the Sharks bounce back
from the loss, their first in seven games since Joe Thornton was acquired from
Boston. San Jose showed resilience all night long, battling back from deficit
after deficit.
"Hopefully we won't have too many more of these losses.
I like winning games," Joe Thornton said. "Hopefully, starting Tuesday, we can
get on another streak." "Hopefully we won't have too many more of these losses.
I like winning games," Thornton said. "Hopefully, starting Tuesday, we can get
on another streak."
Aside from the loss, the biggest downside to the
game was San Jose's inability to solve Mighty Ducks goaltender John-Sebastien
Giguere in the 1st period, even though they peppered him with 16 shots. The
Sharks held the Ducks to a single shot through the first ten minutes of play.
"It's pretty disheartening when you get up and they come back right
away," Rob Niedermayer said. "It just shows how dangerous a team they are. They
never let up. They just seem to find a guy in the open and then it's in the
back of your net. They came back quite a few times, but we just stuck with it.
It was a huge victory, especially with the way they've been playing since that
trade."
Anaheim's second shot of the period unfortunately came on a
short-handed breakaway by Chris Kunitz, which found the back of the net.
Rookie Grant Stevenson would tie the game at 1-1 with
2:26 to play in the period on a nifty move while the Sharks were on the power
play. Stevenson took grabbed a deflected puck and shuffled between his legs as
he changed directions to head for the net. After controlling the pass to
himself, he calmly slipped it through Giguere's pads for his fourth goal of the
season.
Patrick Marleau would tie the game at 2-2 after Scott
Niedermeyer gave the Ducks the lead back early in the 2nd period. Marleau
ripped a shot past Giguere after Ruslan Salei lost control of the puck in his
own zone.
Todd Fedoruk scored his first of the season on a deflection
that fooled Sharks netminder Evgeni Nabokov. Stevenson would answer again with
a one-timer from the slot. Marleau setup the goal by carrying the puck behind
the Ducks goal, then flipping it over the net to Steveson.
A slip in
concentration would allow Anaheim to retake the lead at 4-3 early in the 3rd
period when Todd Marchant pumped a shot past Nabokov after taking a pretty
centering pass from Jofrey Lupul. Alyn McCauley had Marchant covered in the
right corner, but after the puck cycled around to the back of the Shark's net,
McCauley failed to cover Marchant, who slid over to the right post as Lupul
slid the pass over as he skated toward the left corner.
The series of
comebacks would end after Scott Thornton was credited with redirecting a Tom
Preissing shot past Giguere at 8:30 of the 3rd period.
"We never gave
up and that was a good sign," Joe Thornton said. "They're a good team. They
kept on coming, but we kept on pushing back. It's a good character team we've
got in here, and it was exciting to play a game like this. We hit a couple of
posts that could have changed the outcome of the game, but it was
back-and-forth hockey and it was a fun game."
Games Notes:
Even though they lost, the Sharks have scored four or more goals in each of the
last seven games.
Kyle McLaren missed his second consecutive game
while he rests his recently repaired left knee.
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| SJ |
1 |
2 |
1 |
4 |
| ANA |
1 |
2 |
2 |
5 |
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| 1st period - 1, Anaheim,
Kunitz 4, 11:37, (sh). 2, San Jose, Stevenson 4 (Ehrhoff), 17:34, (pp). |
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| 2nd period - 3, Anaheim,
S.Niedermayer 4 (R.Niedermayer), 3:36. 4, San Jose, Marleau 13 (Langfeld),
5:37. 5, Anaheim, Fedoruk 1 (DiPenta, Wright), 11:05. 6, San Jose, Stevenson 5
(Marleau), 13:43. |
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| 3rd period - 7, Anaheim,
Marchant 6 (Lupul, Carney), 4:10. 8, San Jose, Thornton 5 (Preissing,
Thornton), 8:30. 9, Anaheim, R.Niedermayer 10 (S.Niedermayer, Beauchemin),
9:56. Penalty - Marchant, ANA (tripping), 19:07. |
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| 1st period - Hedstrom,
ANA (tripping), 8:09; Salei, ANA (tripping), 10:29; McDonald, ANA (tripping),
15:52; Davison, SJS (high-sticking), 18:58. |
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| 2nd period - Smith, SJS
(hooking), 0:24; Davison, SJS (interference), 7:19; Cheechoo, SJS (kneeing),
8:54; Marchant, ANA (boarding), 17:14. |
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| 3rd period - Marchant,
ANA (tripping), 19:07. |
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Shots |
Saves |
| SJ - Nabokov |
34 |
29 |
| ANA - Giguere |
34 |
30 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| SJ |
16 |
9 |
9 |
34 |
| ANA |
6 |
13 |
15 |
34 |
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| Referees: Shane Heyer, Dan
O'Halloran. Linesmen: Ryan Galloway, Brad Lazarowich. |
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