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It's no dream, Sharks beat
Detroit SJ celebrates MLK Day with a big
win 1/19/04 - by Mike Lee
Can the
Sharks do anything right? Last season they were supposed to contend for the
Stanley Cup, but they ended up falling flat on their faces. This season was
supposed to be a rebuilding year. This year was supposed to be the year the
Sharks went back to the drawing board and figured out what to make of guys like
Patrick Marleau and Marco Sturm. San Jose continued to botch that whole plan
up, by beating another team that should have walked all over them. This time
the Sharks knocked off the Detroit Red Wings 2-1 at HP Pavilion.
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
DET |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
SJ |
1 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
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1st period - S.J,
HARVEY (2) (DIMITRAKOS, STUART), 17:48 |
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2nd period - S.J,
DIMITRAKOS (4) (PRIMEAU), 15:04 |
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3rd period - DET,
YZERMAN (12) (WHITNEY, HOLMSTROM), 10:00 |
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1st period - S.J,
MCCAULEY, 03:20 - Hi stick DET, SCHNEIDER, 13:34 - Hi stick DET, WOOLLEY, 19:27
- Holding stick |
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2nd period - DET,
LIDSTROM, 11:03 - Hooking |
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3rd period - S.J,
RICCI, 00:23 - Slashing DET, MALTBY, 00:23 - Slashing |
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Shots |
Saves |
DET - Joseph |
24 |
22 |
SJ - Nabokov |
35 |
34 |
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2 |
3 |
T |
DET |
13 |
8 |
14 |
35 |
SJ |
14 |
4 |
6 |
24 |
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The 5:00pm start should have spelled doom for the
Sharks. The early start was scheduled because of the holiday celebrating the
life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., but the Sharks don't typically play well
during games that start before 7:00pm. That's been the Sharks calling card
anyway.
Marleau and Sturm returned to the lineup after missing a game
a piece with minor injuries, but neither factored into the scoring. That was
picked up by Todd Harvey and Niko Dimitrakos, two guys that didn't even make
the opening night roster back in October.
Harvey in fact had to clear
waivers just to be on the ice. The Red Wings waived their obligation to play
defense on Harvey's 1st period goal. The pesky Sharks forward looked like Brett
Hull, looping around the back of the Red Wings net, then skating around two
defenders in the slot and firing a shot past Curtis Joseph for a 1-0 Sharks
lead.
Dimitrakos would follow up with his fifth goal of the season
with just under five minutes to play in the 2nd period, by one-timing a Wayne
Primeau pass past Joseph from the slot. The goal was an inverted carbon copy of
Nils Ekman's goal against the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday. Primeau setup
Dimitrakos with a pass from the right wing boards, where Alexander Korolyuk
setup Ekman from the left side.
The Red Wings turned up the heat in
the final period, which resulted in several scoring chances for Detroit. Steve
Yzerman finally connected 50 minutes into the game with a one-timer himself off
a pass from former Sharks Ray Whitney. Jonathan Cheechoo tried to cheat on the
counter attack, but when Whitney came up with the puck along the left wing
boards, Yzerman was able to slip past Cheechoo in the slot and bury Whitney's
pass.
Sharks netminder Evgeni Nabokov stood on his head in the 3rd,
turning aside 14 shots on goal.
Play of the
Game Nabokov's play in the final period bailed the Sharks out
after Detroit went on the offensive. He was forced to stop several screened
shots in the period and had Red Wings in his face after ever shot. The Wings
tried to capitalize on rebounds, but Nabokov controlled almost every shot that
came his way.
The Turning Point Having two grinder's in
Harvey and Dimitrakos score goals took an immense amount of pressure of the
Sharks forwards and defensemen. Playing with a two goal lead allowed the Sharks
to dictate the tempo of the game yet again. It's become a common theme during
the Sharks winning stretch. Grab the lead then dictate the play.
Save of the Game Nabokov made two stops
that preserved the lead in the 3rd. The first came off a Kirk Maltby shot that
Nabokov was able to stop by making a kick save with his right pad. The shot was
destined for the back of the goal, but Nabokov managed to turn it aside with
the leg save. The second key stop came courtesy of a glove save that Nabokov
wasn't able to control, but he deflected it away from the goal. The shot still
had enough velocity on it to ring off the right post.
Box Scores Do
No Justice So much for cracking down on cheap shots. Korolyuk may think
otherwise after being the recipient of a two handed blow to the chops by Maltby
in the 3rd period. The hit knocked Korolyuk to the ice and forced a stoppage,
but no penalty was called on the play.
Honorable Mention Kyle McLaren made his return to
the ice after a seven game hiatus to nurse a rib injury. Couldn't have picked a
better opponent to return to the ice for. The rugged Sharks defenseman played a
relatively low key game, although he did log almost 21 minutes of ice time on
28 shifts.
Quotables "I can't remember a better stretch than
right now, these last three games. Any time you can beat a team like Detroit,
it boosts your confidence. It shows you can compete against the top teams and
you deserve to be there." - Kyle McLaren
"It was like a playoff game,
with a lot of tight battles and scrums in the corner. They're playing very
well. They're playing with a ton of confidence." - Detroit head coach Dave
Lewis
"When you consider the teams that we just beat, it's certainly
gratifying. It builds your confidence that you can play against anybody. ... I
still think we give up too many scoring chances, and there's a lot of
improvement to make ... but our record speaks for itself." - Sharks head coach
Ron Wilson
Milestones Yzerman
moved into a tie for 6th place on the NHL's scoring list along side Mario
Lemieux with 1,701 career points.
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