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Cheechoo sparks
payback Second consecutive 2-goal night for
winger 2/7/07 - by Mike Lee
Jonathan
Cheechoo returned to his Rocket Richard winning form, scoring a pair of
goals
for the second consecutive night to help pace the Sharks to a 3-2 come
from
behind win over the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday night. Milan Michalak
redirected
a shot past Ilya Bryzgalov to avenge a 7-4 loss to Anaheim 24 hours
earlier.
The win allowed San Jose to keep pace with Anaheim in the race
for the
Pacific Division crown. The Sharks trail Anaheim by 3 points in the
standings,
and lead Dallas by 5 points after the win. A loss would have boosted
Anaheim's
lead to 7 points in the standings.
The Sharks jumped out to the
1-0 lead on Cheechoo's
19th of the season on a one-timer from the slot after Joe Thornton set
him up
with a pass from the goal line. The on-ice officials missed the goal and
allowed play to resume, assuming the puck bounced off the crossbar.
Replays
clearly showed the puck hitting off the back of the goal and bouncing
back out.
San
Jose blew a huge opportunity to pad their lead minutes after the goal by
failing to generate any scoring chances during 1:54 of 5-on-3 play. With
Scott
Niedermayer in the box for tripping Mike Grier, Sammy Pahlsson slashed
Thornton
7 seconds later to setup the two-man advantage.
Shoddy ice and
the
three Anaheim penalty killers kept the puck away from Bryzgalov by
stopping the
Sharks from gaining the zone on three attempts. When San Jose did get the
puck
into the Ducks zone, the penalty-kill capitalized on lazy passes to clear
the
puck.
The missed chance would cost the Sharks when Teemu Selanne
cranked a 3-foot shot over Vesa Toskala's shoulder to tie the game at
1-1.
Selanne's shot was partially tipped by Marc-Edouard Vlasic, which lifted
the
shot enough to sail past the Sharks goaltender.
The Ducks took a 2-1 lead on a another blown pass from
the Sharks defense just 44 seconds into the 3rd period. Scott Hannan
flubbed a
clearing attempt which resulted in a turnover in the Sharks zone. Todd
Marchant
jumped on the loose puck and sent a pass to Dustin Penner on the right
post.
Penner corralled the Marchant feed, then slipped the puck over to Shawn
Thorton
across the crease for the easy deposit past Toskala.
Josh Gorges
missed on chance moments later by bouncing a shot from 15-feet out off
the
crossbar. San Jose added to their own woes by committing back to back
penalties
from Mark Bell and Cheechoo after Thornton's goal.
Joe Thornton
and
Cheechoo had a 2-on-1 break later in the period, but Thornton tried to
force a
pass.
Cheechoo would convert again at 10:36 to knot the game at
2-2.
Thornton started the sequence by sliding a pass to Ryane Clowe on a
3-on-2
break in the Ducks zone. Clowe chose not to shoot from the slot and
dished to
Cheechoo on the right post instead. Cheechoo roofed the shot over
Bryzgalov.
Milan Michalek scored the game winner with just under 4
minutes to play by redirecting a Vlasic shot from the point after Joe
DiPenta
was sent off for hooking. Vlasic ripped a shot on goal that hugged the
ice on
its way to the net. Michalek cut in front of Bryzgalov just as the puck
arrived
and redirected it past the Ducks goaltender.
Patrick Rissmiller
put
the Sharks in a bind by drawing a delay of game penalty in the final
minute of
play when he lifted the puck over the glass. Carlyle pulled Bryzgalov
immediately for the two-man advantage, but Toskala turned aside a late
flurry
to preserve the win.
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
SJ |
0 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
ANA |
0 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
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2nd period - 1, SJ,
Cheechoo 19 (Thornton, Clowe), 9:22. 2, ANA, Selanne 32 (O'Brien,
DiPenta),
14:52. |
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3rd period - 3, ANA,
Thornton 2 (Penner, Marchant), 0:44. 4, SJ, Cheechoo 20 (Clowe,
Thornton),
10:36. 5, SJ, Michalek 15 (Vlasic, Clowe), 16:14, (pp). |
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1st period - R.
Niedermayer, ANA (hooking), 0:59; S. Niedermayer, ANA (hooking),
8:22; HAnnan,
SJ (interference), 11:32; Parker, SJ (fighting major), 14:56;
Parros, ANA
(fighting major), 14:56; Brown, SJ (tripping), 18:57. |
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2nd period - S.
Niedermayer, ANA (tripping), 11:39; Pahlsson, ANA (slashing),
11:45. |
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3rd period - Bell, SJ
(hooking), 2:07; Cheechoo, SJ (tripping), 4:16; Cheechoo, SJ
(roughing), 11:44;
Kunitz, ANA (roughing), 11:44; DiPenta, ANA (hooking), 14:16;
Rissmiller, SJ
(delay of game, puck over glass), 19:00. |
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Shots |
Saves |
SJ - Toskala |
22 |
20 |
ANA - Bryzgalov |
29 |
26 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
SJ |
9 |
7 |
13 |
29 |
ANA |
8 |
10 |
4 |
22 |
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Referees: Chris Lee, Tim Peel.
Linesmen: Thor Nelson, Mark Pare. |
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