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1000th game is a
winner
SJ extends lead in Pacific to 8
points
1/21/04 - by Mike Lee
The
Sharks celebrated the franchise's 1000th game by taking the front end of a
home-and-home series with the Phoenix Coyotes on Wednesday night in Glendale,
Arizona. San Jose jumped out to a 3-0 lead, then coasted to a 4-2 win over
their division opponent. Four different Sharks scored, including defenseman
Scott Hannan, who notched his third tally of the season. Vesa Toskala spelled
Evgeni Nabokov in net because of the back to back games, turning aside 26 of 28
Phoenix shots on goal.
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| SJ |
2 |
1 |
1 |
4 |
| PHO |
0 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
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| 1st period - S.J,
HANNAN (2) (SMITH), 08:44 S.J, EKMAN (12) (MCCAULEY, PREISSING), 12:02 |
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| 2nd period - S.J,
CHEECHOO (13) (STUART, RICCI), 05:56 |
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| 3rd period - PHX,
MARA (2) (SILLINGER, LANGKOW), 10:26 S.J, KOROLYUK (6) (EKMAN, MCCAULEY), 16:04
PHX, DOAN (17) , 19:39 |
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| 1st period - PHX,
CLEARY, 00:56 - Holding stick S.J, SMITH, 04:01 - Slashing PHX, NAZAROV, 08:52
- Fighting (maj) S.J, PARKER, 08:52 - Fighting (maj) PHX, FERENCE, 15:31 -
Roughing S.J, KOROLYUK, 18:40 - Hi stick S.J, RICCI, 19:16 - Tripping |
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| 2nd period - PHX,
SPILLER, 08:09 - Holding stick S.J, DAMPHOUSSE, 10:21 - Holding PHX, NAGY,
10:36 - Slashing PHX, HULSE, 15:12 - Unsportsmanlike conduct PHX, HULSE, 15:12
- Holding |
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| 3rd period - S.J,
KOROLYUK, 18:41 - Unsportsmanlike conduct PHX, NAGY, 18:41 - Unsportsmanlike
conduct S.J, RICCI, 19:05 - Holding stick |
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Shots |
Saves |
| SJ - Toskala |
28 |
26 |
| PHO - Burke |
38 |
34 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| SJ |
10 |
20 |
8 |
38 |
| PHO |
11 |
6 |
11 |
28 |
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As has been customary for much of the season, the
Sharks jumped on their opponent early. Hannan cranked a shot from the top of
the left circle past Sean Burke at the 8:44 mark of the 1st period.
Nils Ekman would follow up Hannan's goal four minutes later with a goal off
Burke's leg. Alyn McCauley setup the goal with a centering pass from the right
corner as Ekman drove to the net from the blueline. Ekman forced Burke to
commit by holding onto the puck as he deeked the Coyotes netminder before
depositing his 13th goal of the season.
Jonathan Cheechoo extended the
Sharks lead to 3-0 at 5:56 of the 2nd period on a strange play. Mike Ricci
tried stuffing a shot past Burke from in tight, but the puck kicked out behind
the Sharks net. Burke thought he had covered the puck up, while three of his
teammates unloaded on Ricci at the top of the crease. While everyone's
attention was on Ricci, Cheechoo kept the attack up and snapped a shot past
Burke just inside the right post.
Like Monday night's game versus
Detroit, the Sharks managed to keep the Coyotes off the board until after the
ten minute mark in the 3rd period. Paul Mara broke up Toskala's shutout bid
with a goal at 10:26.
Alexander Korolyuk would negate Mara's tally
with his own goal with just under four minutes remaining in regulation after
Ekman set him up with a touch pass as the two skated up the right wing.
Korolyuk led Ekman ont eh charge and redirected the pass past Burke for this
7th of the season.
Shane Doan would score a meaningless power play
goal in the final minute after Toskala failed to clear the puck from his own
zone.
Play of the Game
The
combination of Ricci's sacrifice and Cheechoo and Brad Stuart's hustle on the
Sharks third goal was an encapsulation of the Sharks season in a ten second
span. Multiple players contributed to the end goal and the team was rewarded
with a nice three goal cushion.
The Turning Point
They say
that little things win games, and Mark Smith's faceoff win in the 1st period
set the tone for the rest of the game. Smith pulls the puck back to the point
for Scott Hannan to unload on, and just like that the Sharks have the
lead.
Save of the Game
A little
irony in the fact that Burke was left out to dry by his defense on Wednesday
night. Pretty remarkable considering that teammate Brian Boucher set his NHL
record for consecutive shutouts just last week. Burke kept the game a lot
closer than it should have been, thanks in part to several saves that he was
forced to make in tight quarters. Burke would finish with 34 saves on the
night.
Box Scores Do No Justice
Alyn McCauley had two assist
n the evening, but that only tells part of the story. The Sharks forward was
buzzing all of the ice for most of the evening, was a +2, had five shots on
goal and won half his faceoffs.
Honorable
Mention
McCauley's five shots on goal was only 4th best for the
Sharks. Wayne Primeau, Niko Dimitrakos, and Korolyuk each recorded six shots on
Burke each.
Quotables
"We played as solid as I've seen us
play in a while. We got a little bad luck late in the game with the two goals,
but I thought we handled ourselves well. Our defense did a great job in our
end, great use of sticks on the puck and scoring was kind of spread around." -
Sharks head coach Ron Wilson
"It was the easiest game for me in a long
time. I got a little sloppy in the end, but we was leading by three goals and
they score a goal, so it's not a big deal." - Vesa Toskala
"Smitty
wins the draw, and Harv drove to the net and caused a lot of ruckus in front. I
just saw the lane and shot at the net. I mean, with that much traffic in front
I don't think Burke saw it at all." - Scott Hannan
Milestones
The Sharks were without Patrick
Marleau and Marco Sturm for the second time in three games. Marleau was
scratched because of lingering issues with the ankle injury he suffered against
Colorado. Sturm remained in San Jose to be with his wife Astrid, who delivered
their first child.
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