|
|
Sharks scary good vs
Detroit
McLellan shows his old boss a thing or
two
10/30/08 - By Mike Lee
Perhaps
Detroit Red Wings head coach Mike Babcock is on to something. Babcock called
the Sharks one of the two best teams in the league on Thursday morning. He may
up that a notch, after watching the Sharks dismantle his Red Wings on Thursday
night 4-2 before a sold out HP Pavilion. Former Babcock protégé
Todd McLellan rolled four lines that pounced on a Red Wings team that lost in
overtime less than 24 hours earlier. Four different Sharks scored, including
rookie Jamie McGinn, who notched his first career NHL goal.
McLellan
took advantage of his former team's fatigue by having his new team apply a
constant dose of pressure early and often. It's not usual to see a guy like
Mike Grier logging 6 hits during a hockey game, but when one of your superstars
is right behind him, as Joe Thornton was (5 hits), then you know the game means
something.
San Jose out-hit the Red Wings 29-16, and it showed. They
would outshoot Detroit 12-5 in the opening period, and the cracks in the Red
Wing armor began to show. Defensive lapses by Detroit started to be exposed.
Babcock had lots of praise for his former assistant after the game.
"I Think he's doing a real good job," Babcock said. "His team is in
first place, they're playing well, his team is excited…we just didn't have
any jump tonight."
Thornton missed on a golden opportunity with 7
minutes remaining in the period, when Patrick Marleau drew Brett Lebda over to
the right wing boards with the puck. That opened up Thornton on the weak side
with nothing but ice between him and the Red Wings goaltender. MArleau
feathered a pass across the rink and only a big save by Red Wings goaltender Ty
Conklin preserved the 0-0 tie.
Joe Paveski would follow that up a
minute later with a point blank shot that Conklin deflected with his glove.
The only blemish for the Sharks in the period came after a Rob Blake
holding penalty gave Detroit the games first power play opportunity. Brian
Rafalski just missed converting after clanking a shot off the left post with a
blast from the blueline through traffic.
All the Sharks hard work was
erased early in the 2nd period when a seemingly benign shot off the stick of
Marion Hossa squeezed through Nabokov's pads. Hossa took a drop from Tomas
Holmstrom along the right wing boards before cutting back toward the slot. He
snapped a wrister from 30 feet that somehow found the netting.
Rather
than energize the Red Wings, Hossa's goal seemed to light a fire under the
Sharks bench.
Marleau and Thornton would team up to get the Sharks on
the board at 7:01 on a textbook feed from behind the net. After Devin Setoguchi
won a scrum for the puck near the left corner, Thornton stick-handled along the
end boards from left to right, then slipped a pass through the crease. Breaking
toward the net from the slot, Marleau easily banged home the puck into a wide
open net.
McGinn would bag his first NHL goal moments later
after hacking at a loose puck in front of Conklin. A dump-in hopped over the
back of the net, where McGinn pushed a pass over to Tomas Plihal who was parked
next to the right post. Plihal tried pushing the puck on net from a tight
angle, only to see it deflect off Conklin. McGinn followed up the play by
sticking his nose into the middle of the action and was rewarded for his
persistence.
Playing in only his second game as a Shark, getting the
first goal out of the way was a huge boost for the youngster's confidence.
"It's something you dream as a kid," McGinn said after the game.
Ryane Clowe added to Conklin's nightmarish stretch with the Sharks 3rd
goal at 10:26 of the period after Hossa was sent off for tripping. Following a
simple dump in, the puck found its way to Milan Michalek in the left corner.
Clowe navigated to the slot which was devoid of Detroit defenders, which
allowed for a hefty one-timer off the Michalek feed. All Conklin could do was
wave at the shot as it sailed past him.
The Red Wings had no answers
as the Sharks seemed to turn up the heat even more after Clowe's goal.
"It's tough to go into their building," Clowe said. "It's tough to come in
here. We're ready to put the choke hold on teams."
Pavelski made it
4-1 at 6:08 of the 3rd period on a beautiful feed from Setoguchi. McGinn added
an assist to his scoring totals by cycling the puck along the left wing boards
to initiate things. Setoguchi took the feed and found slicing his way through
the slot. Three Red Wings defenders watched the pass thread past them for the
tap in by Pavelski.
Rafalski would score a meaningless goal with 32
seconds remaining in regulation to cap the night's scoring.
The win
moved the Sharks past the Red Wings for the best record in the west, but more
importantly McLellan has his first win over his former team. When asked if
McLellan provided any motivation to his team before the game, Clowe was coy.
"We knew how important (the win over Detroit) was to him, but no,
there were no speeches."
Game Notes:
McGinn acknowledged the
crowd from the bench after some coaxing from veteran Jeremy Roenick. When asked
by reporters about the moment, McGinn was all smiles. "I didn't know what to
do. I was in shock." Torrey Mitchell was walking without the use of crutches in
the press box during the game, albeit gingerly.
 |
|
| What did you think of
this article? Post your comments on the Feeder Forums |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
 |
What did you
think of this game? Post your comments on the
Feeder Forums |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| DET |
0 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
| SJ |
0 |
3 |
1 |
4 |
|
|
|
|
|
| 2nd period - 1, DET,
Hossa 6 (Holmstrom), 0:18. 2, SJ, Marleau 6 (Thornton, Setoguchi), 7:01. 3, SJ,
McGinn 1 (Plihal, Shelley), 9:02. 4, SJ, Clowe 4 (Michalek, Pavelski), 10:26,
(pp). |
|
|
| 3rd period - 5, SJ,
Pavelski 5 (Setoguchi, McGinn), 6:08. 6, DET, Rafalski 2 (Kopecky, Filppula),
19:28. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 1st period - Blake, SJ
(holding), 15:18. |
|
|
| 2nd period - Hossa, DET
(tripping), 9:14; Samuelsson, DET (hooking), 12:48. |
|
|
| 3rd period - Cleary, DET
(roughing), 6:52; Ehrhoff, SJ (roughing), 6:52; Maltby, DET (roughing), 10:54;
Thornton, SJ (interference), 10:54; Cheechoo, SJ (high sticking), 16:32. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Shots |
Saves |
| DET - Conklin |
33 |
29 |
| SJ - Nabokov |
27 |
25 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| DET |
5 |
8 |
14 |
27 |
| SJ |
12 |
15 |
6 |
33 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Referees:
Sutherland, Walsh. Linesmen: Heyer, Schachte. |
|
|
|
|
|
