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Flyers steamrolled in
Philly
Sharks knock off the East's
best
2/16/04 - by Mike Lee
After
dropping the first two games of their current six-game road trip, the Sharks
appear to have all cylinders firing in unison once again. San Jose's 5-2
throttling of the host Philadelphia Flyers on Monday night was evidence that
the minor hiccup last week in Detroit and Buffalo is behind them. Five Sharks
scored, including Jonathan Cheechoo and Scott Thornton, who both added two
assists to the score sheet. Patrick Marleau, Marco Sturm and Mike Ricci also
score for San Jose.
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| SJ |
2 |
1 |
2 |
5 |
| PHI |
1 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
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| 1st period - S.J,
MARLEAU (23) (STURM, PRIMEAU), 01:29 S.J, STURM (16) (MARLEAU, HANNAN), 08:11
PHI, LECLAIR (17) (HANDZUS, RECCHI), 15:52 |
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| 2nd period - S.J,
THORNTON (10) (RICCI, CHEECHOO), 13:25 |
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| 3rd period - S.J,
CHEECHOO (14) (THORNTON, PREISSING), 10:30 S.J, RICCI (5) (CHEECHOO, THORNTON),
14:25 PHI, GAGNE (14) (AMONTE, RADIVOJEVIC), 15:19 |
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| 1st period - S.J,
CHEECHOO, 14:56 - Holding PHI, SOMIK, 16:17 - Boarding |
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| 2nd period - PHI,
LAPOINTE, 03:31 - Interference |
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| 3rd period - S.J,
MCLAREN, 06:49 - Tripping PHI, BRASHEAR, 11:53 - Roughing |
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Shots |
Saves |
| SJ - Nabokov |
22 |
20 |
| PHI - Burke |
20 |
15 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| SJ |
6 |
10 |
4 |
20 |
| PHI |
11 |
6 |
5 |
22 |
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The Sharks wasted no time setting the tone to the
evening, converting just 1:29 into the opening period when Marleau stuffed his
own rebound past Sean Burke. Marleau bounced the puck off Burke's blocker from
eight feet out, then easily lifted the rebound past Burke for his 24th goal of
the season.
Sturm would follow up with his 17th of the season less
than seven minutes later on a tic toes sequence in front of the Flyers net.
Scott Hannan tried setting up Marleau on the left post with a pass from the
high slot. Marleau immediately recognized that his angle was too severe and
Burke was drawn to the cover the pass, so he sent a touch pass across the slot,
where Sturm easily slammed it home for the 2-0 lead.
The Flyers would
cut the lead to 2-1 with just over four minutes remaining in the period when
John Leclair redirected a pass on the doorstep from Michal Handzus while on the
power play. Cheechoo had been sent off a minute earlier after taking a bad
holding penalty in the Flyers zone.
San Jose pushed their lead back to
two goals when Thornton one-timed a pass from Mike Ricci past Burke midway
through the 2nd period. Ricci fished the puck off the back of the Flyers net
then slipped a pass under a Flyers stick to Thornton on who was parked just
outside the right post.
Thornton would setup Cheechoo at the midway
mark of the final period with a nice centering pass after the two started a
jail break right up the ice. Thornton sent the puck under Dany Markov's,
allowing Cheechoo to square off with Burke one-on-one. The young Sharks forward
easily lifted the puck over Burke's glove hand for his 15th of the season.
Ricci would cap the scoring for San Jose with a shot from outside the
right post after exchanging passes with Cheechoo at the bottom of the right
circle. The goal was Ricci's 100th as a Shark.
Simone Gagne would add
a meaningless goal with 4:41 to play, but Philadelphia couldn't muster any more
offense.
Play of the
Game
Sharks head coach Ron Wilson has criticized his team on few
occasions but one recent jab was aimed at the Sharks tendency to overpass the
puck at times. You could say San Jose was guilty of that infraction on Sturm's
goal, but it sure looked sweet. Marleau probably had a decent scoring chance
himself on the play, but he made the unselfish dish to a slashing Marco Sturm.
The replay is one you're sure to see at the Tank when the Sharks return home on
February 23rd.
The Turning Point
After jumping out to a quick
lead the Sharks found themselves in a precarious position after LeClair cut
into the Sharks lead late in the 1st period. Thornton's goal in the 2nd period
really diffused that situation and gave the Sharks some breathing room. The
third line of Thornton, Ricci and Cheechoo would make sure Thornton's goal
would stand up, by putting two more past Burke later in the game.
Save of the Game
Evgeni Nabokov only
faced 22 shot on the evening, but none was bigger than a pair he faced opening
period. He was forced to throw his body in front of a Handzus blast, then
spring to his knees and lunge for a follow up after the initial shot kicked out
into the slot.
Box Scores Do No Justice
The Sharks only
managed 20 shots on goal themselves, but don't blame the route entirely on
Burke. The Flyers newly acquired netminder was hung out to dry on every goal.
The one thing that was consistent on every goal was zero defensive coverage on
the shooter. The Philadelphia fans booed Burke often and mocked him when he
made an easy stop in the 3rd period, but those folks need to jump on the Flyers
defense, who were no match for San Jose's speed.
Honorable Mention
If you need any evidence that
the Sharks are playing team hockey, consider Wayne Primeau's non-reaction to
Donald Brashear's sucker punch in the 3rd period. Primeau refused to get baited
after Brashear had drawn a rouging penalty with a late hit on Marleau moments
earlier.
Quotables
"We have been getting quite a few chances,
but we just haven't been burying them. Our goal was to keep coming the way
we've been coming and just bear down on some of our chances." - Jonathan
Cheechoo
"We were sloppy with the puck and we made far too many
mistakes in our own end. You can't make those mistakes against a good team and
expect to win." - Flyers head coach Ken Hitchcock
"We were ready to
play and our guys were all fired up. We viewed this as a test of our
legitimacy. Right now this is the best team in the East and one of the best in
hockey. We kind of looked at it like if we were ever to dream that we were
going to win the Stanley Cup, we might have to win a game like this is May or
June." - Sharks head coach Ron Wilson
Milestones
Ricci's goal was his 100th as a
Shark
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