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Duck hunt ends in
shootout
Selanne's illegal stick adds to the
plot
4/4/07 - by Mike Lee
The
playoffs are officially a week away, but the Sharks and Ducks decided to give
the fans a taste of what the NHL's second season is all about on Wednesday
night in a wild 3-2 San Jose shootout victory at the Honda Center in Anaheim.
The Sharks overcame a 2-0 deficit with a pair of 2nd period goals, then turned
the game over to Evgeni Nabokov who stopped 2 of 3 attempts in the shootout.
The table was set for Anaheim to end things in overtime after Craig
Rivet was sent off for hooking with 36 seconds remaining in regulation, but
Sharks head coach Ron Wilson turned the Anaheim advantage upside down with a
challenge on the curve of Teemu Selanne's stick.
The stick turned out
to be illegal, which sent Selanne to the box and evened up the skaters at three
aside for the first 1:24 of the extra period. The challenge would also impact
the shootout, because Selanne was forced to use a legal stick. The Ducks sniper
would flub on his shootout attempt, loosing control of it as he approached the
net.
Ryan Getzlaf and Jonathan Cheechoo would trade goal in the first
round of the shootout, but Selanne's miss opened the door for San Jose who shot
second after Ducks head coach Randy Carlisle opted to shoot first.
Ryane Clowe would bury his attempt against Ducks netminder Ilya Bryzgalov to
give the Sharks the 2-1 advantage. Andy MacDonald would miss on the Ducks final
attempt to seal the victory for San Jose.
MacDonald had opened the
games scoring in the 1st period, with his 27th goal of the season. MacDonald
would put a 25-foot wrist-shot on goal that slipped through Nabokov's pads for
the 1-0 Ducks lead just 6:19 into the game.
Scott Neidermayer would
extend the Ducks lead to 2-0 with a goal 8 minutes later after Patrick Marleau
was sent off for interference. Neidermayer lifted a rebound over Nabokov, after
Chris Pronger sent a long slap shot in on the power play.
The Sharks
turned up the heat to start the second period, and their pressure would pay
dividends. First Scott Hannan beat Bryzgalov with a shot from the point at 7:57
of the period. Brygalov was screened by Mike Grier and Steve Bernier.
Bernier would add a goal of his own with just under 5
minutes remaining in the period after Chris DiPenta coughed the puck up deep in
his own zone.
The game opened up in the 3rd period, but neither team
could convert after spectacular goaltending saved the day for both teams. San
Jose managed only 5 shots in the period, but three of those shots were quality
scoring chances.
As regulation wound down, Bryzgalov snuffed Cheechoo
on a golden chance, then Nabokov turned aside a sure goal by Selanne at the
buzzer.
"The issue of the stick is my fault, in the sense that I have
to make sure that I reinforce and even go to a point where all the sticks are
measured," Carlyle said. "I have to make sure that those things are not an
issue, and they were tonight. It might have cost us a point, it might not have.
But I'll accept the responsibility."
Notes:
Jean-Sebastien
Giguere was out of the lineup after his wife delivered the couple's first child
on Wednesday morning. Sebastien Caron served as Bryzgalov's backup in Giguere's
absence. The victory gave the Sharks 26 for the season, establishing a new team
record. The win was also the 50 of the season for San Jose, also a record. The
Sharks will have two chances to extend the overall victory mark. They play at
HP Pavilion Thursday night against Calgary, then cap the season at home against
Vancouver on Saturday afternoon.
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1 |
2 |
3 |
OT |
SO |
T |
| SJ |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
3 |
| ANA |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
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| 1st period - 1, ANA,
MacDonald 27 (Kunitz, Pronger), 6:19. 2, ANA, S. Neidermayer 15 (Pronger,
MacDonald), 14:01, (pp). |
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| 2nd period - 3, SJ,
Hannan 4 (Goc, Grier), 7:57. 4, SJ, Bernier 15 (McLaren, Goc), 15:42. |
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| Shootout - ANA -
Getzlaf. SJ - Cheechoo, Clowe. |
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| 1st period - Selanne,
ANA (hooking), 3:37; Brown, SJ (tripping), 9:55; Marleau, SJ (interference),
12:46; Thornton, SJ (roughing), 14:36. |
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| 2nd period - Clowe, SJ
(fighting major), 5:08; Thornton, ANA (fighting major), 5:08; R. Neidermayer,
ANA (hooking), 9:16; Ehrhoff, SJ (roughing), 17:58; Perry, ANA (high sticking),
17:58. |
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| 3rd period - Rivet, SJ
(hooking), 19:24. |
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| Overtime - Selanne, ANA
(illegal stick), 0:00. |
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Shots |
Saves |
| SJ - Nabokov |
39 |
37 |
| ANA - Bryzgalov |
31 |
29 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
OT |
T |
| SJ |
9 |
15 |
5 |
2 |
31 |
| ANA |
10 |
9 |
14 |
6 |
39 |
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| Referees: Eric Furlatt, Wes
McCauley. Linesmen: Lonnie Cameron, Brad Lazarowich. |
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