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Strong 2nd results in 3rd
straight win
Thornton and Malhotra injured in
win
The final score of Saturday night’s Sharks
game with the Vancouver Canucks was rewarding for San Jose , but it may have
come at a big expense. The Sharks lost Joe Thornton to a 2nd period injury on a
simple check, then had Manny Malhotra take a slap-shot off the face 20 minutes
later, knocking him out of the game. Thornton is listed as day-to-day, after
sustaining what appeared to be a right knee injury after slamming it awkwardly
into the boards.
Thornton was streaking down the let wing with 4:40
left in the period, when Canucks defenseman Alex Edler pushed him off the puck.
Thornton got his skates crossed up as he fought to retain his balance, before
slamming face first into the corner boards. Thornton stayed down on the ice for
a couple minutes before Sharks trainer Ray Tufts could help him off the ice.
It wasn’t clear how bad Malhotra’s injury
was, after he skated off. The puck clearly struck him in the face, and opened
up a cut that left a trial of blood on the ice as he skated to the locker room.
The injuries marred an otherwise impressive win by the Sharks, who
turned in their third consecutive victory.
San Jose gave up a 1st
period goal to Alex Burrows, then clamped down on the Canucks. Burrows squeezed
a shot from the left corner between Sharks goaltender Evgeni Nabokov and the
left post 9:38 into the contest. Nabokov had the post covered, but the shot hit
him in the side, then rolled off the back of his pad and across the goal line.
Nabokov would give up a power play goal in the 3rd period, but his
solid performance and some offensive help in the middle period helped Nabokov
to his 40th win of the season. Nabokov became only the 3rd player in NHL
history to record 40 wins in three consecutive seasons.
The Sharks
scored three times in the 2nd period to counter the Burrows goal. Wih Vancouver
defenseman Kevin Bieksa in the box for hooking, Dany Heatley started the
trifecta with a power play goal at 3:01 of the period. The sniper took a feed
from Patrick Marleau at the blueline, then lifted a wrist shot past Roberto
Luongo for his 39th goal of the season. Marleau flashed his wheels six minutes
later, then he picked Edler’s pocket just inside the Sharks blueline.
Marleau raced up the left wing before deeking Luongo and slipping a backhand
shot just inside the right post. The goal extends Marleau career high for goals
with his 42nd tally of the season.
Joe Pavelski pushed the lead to would tack on his 23rd
goal of the season on some nifty hand-eye coordination two minutes later. The
Sharks forward took a pass from Marleau along the right wing boards then skated
in on net and snapped a shot from 18-feet that Luongo stopped. The puck bounced
off the Canucks netminder and floated out in front of the net, where Pavelski
slapped it out of mid-air and banked it off the left post for the 3-1 lead.
“Unfortunately, we were shorthanded, said Canucks head coach
Allain Vigneault. “Ryan (Kesler) had a great scoring opportunity, then
they came back on a 3-on-2, and a shooter made a great shot. And, then, we got
a little bit unlucky there on the other two goals. I don’t think Edler
knew that Marleau was so close. And, then, on the third goal, Ehrhoff broke his
stick, and, unfortunately, none of our forward realized his stick was broken.
So, he decided to come to the bench, and they caught us there on that change.
But, except for that eight minute span, I thought we played a really solid game
in a really tough environment.”
Thornton would go down with just
under five minutes to play in the period, which took the wind out of the Sharks
sails. They would respond by finishing off the period with a strong defensive
showing.
“It was a good second period for us,” said Sharks
head coach Todd McLellan. “We got a lot of pucks to the net and that was
something that we didn’t do in the first and third (periods). ”
Vancouver had 20 minutes to make up the 2-goal lead and they made things
interesting at the 7:55 mark of the 3rd period. With Dan Boyle in the penalty
box for slashing, Daniel Sedin put a shot past Nabokov from the right side for
his 23rd goal of the season. The goal was assisted by Sedin’s brother
Henrik, who recorded his 100th point of the season on the play. Sedon became
only the 3rd Canuck in team history to reach the century mark in points.
The Canucks would pull Luongo with a minute remaining
in regulation, but Marleau forced a turnover in the right corner of the
Vancouver zone, chipping the puck to Ryane Clowe who buried the pass for his
19th of the season from the right dot.
The assist game Marleau a
4-point night.
“We had a number of scoring chances and were
pretty solid defensively,” said Vigneault. “They only had three shots
in the first period for 16 minutes, and we had a real strong push in the third.
We didn’t tie it, but played overall a pretty good game.”
Game Notes:
The Sharks get less than 24 hours to celebrate
their win, as they wrap up their three-game homestand with a game against
Colorado on Sunday which starts at 5:00pm.
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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 |
| VAN |
1 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
| SJ |
0 |
3 |
1 |
4 |
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| 1st period - 1, VAN,
Burrows 34 (H. Sedin), 9:38. |
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| 2nd period - 2, SJ,
Heatley 39 (Marleau, Boyle), 3:01, (pp). 3, SJ, Marleau 42 (unassisted), 9:29.
4, SJ, Pavelski 23 (Marleau, Blake), 11:30. |
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| 3rd period - 5, VAN, D.
Sedin 23 (Burrows, H. Sedin), 7:55, (pp). 6, SJ, Clowe 19 (Marleau, Blake),
19:49, (en). |
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| 1st period - H. Sedin,
VAN (cross checking), 13:57; Boyle, SJ (tripping), 15:03. |
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| 2nd period -
Bieksa, VAN (hooking), 2:17; Raymond, VAN (tripping), 8:18; Pavelski, SJ (high
sticking), 8:26; Wallin, SJ (hooking), 17:06. |
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| 3rd period -
Boyle, SJ (slashing), 7:13. |
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Shots |
Saves |
| VAN - Luongo |
29 |
26 |
| VAN - empy net |
1 |
0 |
| SJ - Nabokov |
37 |
35 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| VAN |
9 |
15 |
13 |
37 |
| SJ |
7 |
16 |
7 |
30 |
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| Referees: Kowal,
McCreary. Linesmen: Mach, Wheler. |
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