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Not the start Sharks were
looking for
Ducks unphased by San Jose's home
record
So much for that President's Trophy. So much for
the best home ice record in the NHL. With home ice on their side, the Sharks
kicked off the 2009 Stanley Cup Playoffs the same way they ended the regular
season. With a thud. San Jose's high energy offense opened the game with after
burners on full, but a failure to score would doom them in a 2-0 loss the 8th
seeded Anaheim Ducks on Thursday at HP Pavilion. The Sharks top line of Patrick
Marleau, Joe Thornton and Devin Setoguchi went AWOL, including misfires on 6
power play chances.
Anaheim countered with Jonas Hiller's 35 save
performance in his NHL playoff debut to earn the shutout victory on a night
that was supposed to be San Jose's launching point toward their first Stanley
Cup. Nobody told that to the Ducks, who weathered the storm in the first two
periods, then capitalized in the 3rd period.
The Sharks opened the
game with an up tempo style that has been lacking of late, but San Jose just
couldn't find a way to finish. Perhaps more focus on laying the body took away
from getting pressure on Hiller, who wasn't really challenged in the opening 20
minutes of play.
"We have to open it up a little more," said Sharks
head coach Todd McLellan. "It's pretty obvious you have to score goals to win
the playoffs. Offensively we have to be better"
His only real threat
in the period came with 3:18 left, when he stoned Ryane Clowe in tight after
the Sharks forecheck forced a turnover and created the scoring chance for the
Sharks forward.
A 2nd period Ducks parade to the penalty box opened
the door for San Jose, but the intensity that charged the opening period failed
to materialize. Rob Neidermayer was whistled for high sticking and holding 6
minutes apart early in the period, but San Jose only generated 3 shots on goal
during the two power play chances, all of the long range variety.
"I
don't know if you can say it was a perfect hockey game on our part by any means
of the imagination," said Ducks head coach Randy Carlyle. "We took far too many
penalties. We wore down all of the penalty killers and most of our players."
Sheldon Brookbank leveled former Duck forward Travis Moen as the
Sharks were trying to clear their own zone, but the Anaheim defenseman got a
little overzealous and the left winger too soon, drawing an interference
penalty.
The Sharks would go on to waste their 3rd power play
opportunity of the night by failing to generate any chances in close. Rob Blake
put three shots on Hiller from 50 plus feet out.
Christian Ehrhoff
took the initiative later in the period by carrying in on net from the left
point, but his shot pin-balled off a Ducks defenseman. The puck scooted across
the crease where Marcel Goc was perched, but the centerman couldn't get a stick
on the puck after crashing in on the goal. Jeremy Roenick was pinned up against
the crossbar with his stick pinched between him and the goal after Ryan Getzlaf
cleared him out of the play with a hip check. With Getzlaf the only thing
between the goal and the puck, Goc whiffed on two attempts, before Getzlaf
kicked the puck clear of danger.
Clowe would take an elbowing penalty
late in the period to put the Ducks on the man advantage and it almost bit San
Jose. Todd Marchant tried slipping a shot past Sharks goaltender Evgeni
Nabokov, but the puck hit the right post and sat precariously in the crease.
Teemu Selanne was skating in the vicinity of the puck, but his shot attempt was
denied by the iron as he tried jamming it home from the right side.
The Ducks would finally crack through with a power
play goal at 5:18 after Jonathan Cheechoo tripped Selanne on an Anaheim
breakout. Scott Neidermayer would whip a shot from the top of the right cicle
past Nabokov after Getzlaf sent a cross ice pass from the left wing boards.
Ehrhoff would hit the crossbar with a shot 8 minutes into the period,
just missing the equalizer after Hiller misread the shot.
The
Neidermayer goal seemed to energize the Ducks, which translated into more
scoring opportunities. Bobby Ryan had a golden opportunity from 25 feet out,
but he put a shot into Nabokov's glove after the Sharks netminder had gone down
to stop a shot.
Dan Boyle missed on two chances of his own later in
the period. First he would duplicate Ehrhoff's close call by clanking a shot
off the crossbar, then with Corey Perry in the box for slashing he had a chance
in tight on the power play that he failed to put past Hiller. With the Sharks
on the mad advantage, Boyle took a feed from the point just outside the left
post and walked in on Hiller, but his shot attempt hit the netminder in the
crest to squelch the chance.
"Zero goals," said Boyle. "You gotta be a
little hungrier than that. You have to create your opportunities in front of
the net."
Getzlaf was sent off for elbowing at 15:26 giving the Sharks
their 6th and final power play of the night. Failing to get bodies in front of
Hiller, San Jose would waste yet another chance to get on the board.
The would slit their own wrists when Marc-Edouard Vlasic put a cross-ice pass
right on Getzlaf's stick as the Duck forward exited the penalty box. Getzlaf
then took the puck up the center of the ice and snapped a 40 foot shot past
Nabokov with 2:25 to play.
Carlyle liked what he saw from his forward.
"We would like to see him shoot the puck like he did on a regular
basis," added Carlyle. "When you see him shoot the puck like that, you wonder
why he always wants to pass it. We are always after him to shoot the puck. He
has to play extremely well for us to have any chance in this series."
Cheechoo would take another careless tripping penalty 20 seconds later,
upending Selanne again to kill any thought of a comeback.
"Before the
game started we talked about what physical play meant," said McLellan. "It's
not always to finish checks. It's about faceoffs, it's about loose ice, it's
about getting to the net. That comes into our definition of physical play. Did
we do a good job of that? I think we can do better."
In the end, the
Sharks get to go back to the drawing board and come up with a plan to salvage a
win at home before the series heads south on Tuesday.
Game Notes:
The Sharks out shot Anaheim 35-17. Alexei Semanov, Jamie McGinn
and Tomas Plihal were healthy scratches for San Jose. Claude Lemieux is not on
the Sharks quarter final roster. Todd Marchant won of 24 faceoffs. Joe Pavelski
on the other hand lost 13 of 18, including all 13 against Marchant.
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What did you
think of this game? Post your comments on the
Feeder Forums |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| ANA |
0 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
| SJ |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
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| 3rd period - 1, ANA, S.
Neidermayer 1 (Getzlaf, Whitney), 5:18, (pp). 2, ANA, Getzlaf 1 (Brown),
17:35. |
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| 1st period - Boyle, SJ
(tripping), 18:30. |
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| 2nd period - R.
Neidermayer, ANA (high sticking), 1:29; R. Neidermayer, ANA (holding), 7:22;
Brookbank, ANA (interference), 11:46; Clowe, SJ (elbowing), 16:52; R.
Neidermayer, ANA (hooking), 19:13. |
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| 3rd period -
Cheechoo, SJ (tripping), 4:10; Perry, ANA (slashing), 9:23; Getzlaf, ANA
(elbowing), 15:26; Cheechoo, SJ (tripping), 17:56. |
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Shots |
Saves |
| ANA - Hiller |
35 |
35 |
| SJ - Nabokov |
17 |
15 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| ANA |
4 |
7 |
6 |
17 |
| SJ |
8 |
14 |
13 |
35 |
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| Referees: Jackson,
Sutherland. Linesmen: Murray, Sharrers. |
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