|
|
Niemi solid in return
home
Winnik and Galiardi solid in home
debut
Licking their wounds after a horrific road trip,
the Sharks tried to right the ship on Tuesday night. Playing in front of a home
crowd for the first time in almost three weeks, San Jose turned in a defensive
gem en route to a 1-0 win over the visiting Philadelphia Flyers. Antti Niemi
made 26 saves to post his 5th shutout of the season, helping the Sharks to
their third win in the last ten games.
Niemi looked nothing like the
goaltender that was riddled on the Sharks 9-game road trip the resulted in 7
losses. The Sharks netminder had no problem seeing shot against a struggling
Flyers team that threw plenty of rubber in his direction.
The biggest
downside to the Sharks game were the extended stays by the Flyers in the San
Jose zone, which required Niemi to be on top of his game. His hairiest
situations came at the end of the game when the Flyers attacked with an extra
skater and narrowly missed the net after he was caught out of the net.
"You always want to spend less time in your zone when defending," said Sharks
assistant coach Matt Shaw. "We did have to spend some time there. They are
probably one of the better teams in the league at offensive zone cycle; their
strength and their skill in and around the net. You don't want to have to play
that much time in your zone, but they did a good job of dealing with it. And
certainly the goalie was the number one star tonight."
"It was nice
(to be home) especially in the third when you need a little push," said Ryane
Clowe. "They were loud. And then there were a couple missed calls when they got
on the refs. So it's always nice to hear them again."
Niemi's toe save
on Wayne Simmonds was the save of the game, which preserved San Jose's slim
one-goal lead.
Simmonds was more agitator than scoring threat
throughout the evening, trying to get under the Sharks skin at every
opportunity. The former L.A. Kings forward exchanged punches with Marc-Edouard
Vlasic right before the 1st intermission, but no penalties were called.
Brad Winchester lost his cool with the Flyers forward and was baited
into a bad roughing penalty after the horn sounded to signify the first
intermission. Simmonds got under Winchester's skin again in the 3rd period as
he started chirping at the Sharks bench during a stoppage.
Even after
the final horn sounded and San Jose had secured the victory, they couldn't shut
Simmonds up. He got into it with Vlasic as the final horn sounded. A scuffle
broke out, but it was Vlasic who had the last laugh.
The unwillingness
of referees Mike Lego and Marc Joanette to use their whistles bordered on the
absurd. The tightly contested game saw only three penalties, even though the
Flyers lead the league in infractions and were more than guilty of suspect
play.
Newly acquired forward T.J. Galiardi had a step on Kimmo Timonen
and Pavel Kubina but was hauled down at center ice by the tandem on what would
have been a breakaway. Joe Thornton was tripped moments later behind his own
net resulting in a turnover that went uncalled.
Lego and Joanette
either felt compelled to match non-calls or flat out missed a blatant hit by
Vlasic on Daniel Briere that sent the Flyers centerman head first into the
boards. With Briere laid out on the ice, the Sharks ha an odd-man rush that
turned into a scoring opportunity. Flyers goaltender Ilya Brysgalov defused the
situation, but everyone in the arena couldn't believe that no penalty was
called on San Jose.
Galiardi was joined by Daniel Winnik, who impressed
with his hustle throughout the game. Winnik skated on a line with Patrick
Marleau and Joe Pavelski, and seemed to be everyone on the ice. He also showed
off some nifty stick handling in the 2nd period during the Sharks lone power
play.
Bryzgalov's lone mistake turned out to be all the scoring San
Jose needed. Clowe took a Thornton drop pass in the neutral zone then walked
into the Philadelphia zone and ripped a shot from between the circles that
eluded Bryzgalov 82 seconds into the game.
"It just shows that you
never know which shift is going to be the most important of the night,"
Thornton said. " And that shift proved to be the one. Both teams played really
good defensively. They really didn't give up too much."
Game
Notes:
San Jose was without head coach Todd McLellan, who was
suffering concussion like symptoms from the stick hit to his head on Sunday.
McLellan was at HP Pavilion during the game, but was not behind the bench
during the game.
 |
|
| What did you think of
this article? Post your comments on the Feeder Forums |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
 |
What did you
think of this story? Post your comments on the
Feeder Forums |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| PHI |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| SJ |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
|
|
| 1st period - 1, SJ,
Clowe 11 (Thornton, Burns), 1:22. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 1st period - Winchester,
SJ (roughing), 20:00. |
|
|
| 2nd period - White, SJ
(delay of game - puck over glass), 4:35; Vorachek, PHI (hooking), 7:45. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Shots |
Saves |
| PHI - Bryzgalov |
23 |
22 |
| SJ - Niemi |
26 |
26 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| PHI |
10 |
7 |
9 |
26 |
| SJ |
11 |
6 |
6 |
23 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Referees: Joanette,
Lego. Linesmen: Nowak, Schacte. |
|
|
|
|
|
