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Homecoming sweet for Sharks and
fans Alex Ovechkin makes only Bay Area
visit
Last seeing a live hockey game 14 days ago, San
Jose fans were primed to explode in the Sharks first home game since February
1st. To make things a little more interesting Alexander Ovechkin would make his
only regular season appearance in San Jose this season, but his goal and an
assist would fall short to the delight of a sellout HP Pavilion crowd on
Thursday night. The Sharks would treat their fans to a pair of 3rd period goals
to grab a nice lead, then teased them a little by letting the Capitals crawl
back into the game late. Antti Nimemi's 23 saves would hold up, as the Sharks
upended the Capitals 3-2.
Having played 24 hours earlier in a
goal-fest in Anaheim Ovechkin and his teammates looked anything but flat early
in the contest as they opened with a flurry right off the opening faceoff, led
by Ovechkin. Niemi would weather the storm and allow his defense to tighten the
defensive zone down a bit.
The Capitals would outshoot San Jose 9-6 in
the opening period, but outside of that opening salvo, it was San Jose that had
better looks at the opposing net.
Both teams would feel out the
opposing defenses, but Niemi and Washington goaltender Michael Neuvirth would
maintain control in front of their respective nets. Jason Demers would miss a
wide open net with 8 to play in the period after the Sharks began to open
things up.
Ovechkin would earn a trip to the penalty box 14 minutes
into the contest after his blind side hit on Douglas Murray was called an
interference penalty. San Jose would do little with the power play chance,
burning half the penalty mucking the puck along the boards.
Ovechkin
would turn the tables and draw a tripping penalty on Ben Eager with 1:20 to
play in the period after the two mixed it up in front of the Capitals bench.
It was Washington with the man-advantage, but it would be San Jose
that would strike first. Patrick Marleau would strip Capitals defenseman John
Carlson of the puck then setup a short-handed goal by Joe Pavelski. Marleau
would race up the left wing boards with the puck before sliding a pass to
Pavelski in the slot. Pavelski would take one stride before firing a shot over
Neuvirth's left shoulder for his 13th goal of the season.
The Capitals
shook off the goal and went right back to work with the remaining time on the
power play. Ovechkin would answer with his 23rd goal of the season right off
the ensuing faceoff, firing a shot from the high slot past Niemi.
Washington would hold a one shot edge over San Jose in the middle period, but
neither team would generate any scoring. Kyle Wellwood was denied with a shot
from 12 feet out after taking a feed from the right side as he cut through the
slot midway through the period. Neuvirth got a pad on the shot to keep the game
tied.
Demers would setup a Capitals breakaway with 3 min remaining in
the period when his pass attempt along the Capitals blueline was intercepted by
Alexander Semin. Luckily for Demers, it came at the end of Semin's shift, which
allowed the Sharks to track him down and deny a shot on goal. The offense would
finally open up in the 3rd period, which started with a nice goal by Ryane
Clowe.
Wellwood fired a shot on goal from the outside of the left
circle, that Neuvirth stopped with a pad save, but the rebound bounced right to
Clowe who was lurking at the top of the crease. With his stick on the ice,
Clowe easily gathered up the rebound and slipped the puck around Neuvirth who
was seated in the crease. The tally was Clowe's 15th of the season.
Neuvirth would make a big stop on Logan Couture three minutes later after the
Sharks rookie took a feed from Clowe in the slot and had an unimpeded look at
the net from 10 feet out. His shot caught Neuvirth in the chest, where it was
sucked up by the Capitals goaltender.
John Erskine would be sent off for interference at
10:27 to give San Jose their second power play of the night and it would prove
costly for the Capitals. Dany Heatley would tip a Dan Boyle shot past Neuvirth,
after Boyle sent a puck in on net right off a faceoff win. The puck appeared to
change directions on Neuvirth twice as Pavelski touched it before Heatley's
defelction. Neuvirth could only watch it pass over his shoulder for Heatley's
20th goal of the season.
Boyle wasn't even credited with an assist on
the goal, as the offical score keeper gave helpers to Pavelski and Joe
Thornton. The goal was San Jose's first on the power play in five
games.
With the two-goal lead, San Jose was content to simply dump the
puck out of their zone and kill clock for the remainder of the game, rather
than try and pad their lead. That would bite them when a Niklas Backstrom shot
from the slot would find twine. Backstrom took a feed from Carlson near the
right wing boards, before cutting between the circles and whipping his 25 foot
shot. Traffic in front of Niemi prevented the Sharks netminder from seeing the
shot, as it cut the Sharks lead to a single goal with 1:55 to play.
The goal was a wake up call for the Sharks, who kicked it into gear and kept
the puck away from Niemi over the final two minutes. Washington couldn't get
Neuvirth off the ice until the final 29 seconds of the game because San Jose
kept the puck pinned on Washington's side of center ice.
Game
Notes:
The win pushed the Sharks back into the 5th spot in the
Western Conference standings and just a point out of the Pacific Division lead.
As of the close of business on Thursday night, all five Pacific Division teams
held playoff spots.
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
WAS |
1 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
SJ |
1 |
0 |
2 |
3 |
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1st period - 1, SJ,
Pavelski 13 (Marleau), 18:49, (sh). 2, WAS, Ovechkin 23 (Carlson, Semin),
19:11, (pp). |
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3rd period - 3, SJ,
Clowe 15 (Wellwood, Couture), 4:27. 4, SJ, Heatley 20 (Thornton, Pavelski),
10:49, (pp). 5, WAS, Backstrom 15 (Carlson, Ovechkin), 18:05. |
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1st period - Ovechkin,
WAS (interference), 13:56; Eager, SJ (tripping), 18:40. |
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3rd period - Erskine,
WAS (interference), 10:27. |
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Shots |
Saves |
WAS - Neuvirth |
28 |
25 |
SJ - Niemi |
25 |
23 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
WAS |
9 |
9 |
7 |
25 |
SJ |
6 |
8 |
14 |
28 |
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Referees: Leggo,
StLaurent. Linesmen: Henderson, Sharrers. |
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