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Homecooking pays
dividends
Sharks take advantage of struggling Blue
Jackets
2/23/04 - by Mike Lee
Playing in their first home game in almost three weeks, the Sharks took
advantage of a road weary Columbus Blue Jackets team with a 4-2 victory at HP
Pavilion on Monday night. Jonathan Cheechoo scored two goals for the Sharks,
including a penalty shot early in the 3rd period to help extend the Sharks lead
in the Pacific back to six points. First games home after long road trips have
been historically difficult for the Sharks, but they pounced on a beaten team
that is playing out the season.
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| CBJ |
1 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
| SJ |
2 |
0 |
2 |
4 |
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| 1st period - CBJ,
KLESLA (1) (MCDONELL, LACHANCE), 02:58 S.J, MCCAULEY (15) (EKMAN, HANNAN),
04:56 S.J, STURM (18) (EHRHOFF, STUART), 19:20 |
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| 3rd period - S.J,
CHEECHOO (16) , 00:32 CBJ, ERIKSSON (4) (WRIGHT, MALHOTRA), 10:10 S.J, CHEECHOO
(16) (RICCI, THORNTON), 16:42 |
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| 1st period - CBJ,
SVITOV, 07:21 - Tripping CBJ, MARCHANT, 09:33 - Hi stick S.J, STURM, 13:21 -
Tripping CBJ, ZHERDEV, 18:27 - Tripping S.J, THORNTON, 19:43 - Hi stick |
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| 2nd period - CBJ,
SHELLEY, 02:57 - Fighting (maj) S.J, PARKER, 02:57 - Fighting (maj) CBJ,
SPACEK, 08:15 - Holding stick |
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| 3rd period - S.J,
HANNAN, 04:09 - Hi stick CBJ, NASH, 19:28 - Interference |
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Shots |
Saves |
| CBJ - Leclaire |
38 |
34 |
| SJ - Nabokov |
26 |
24 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| CBJ |
9 |
7 |
10 |
26 |
| SJ |
10 |
17 |
11 |
38 |
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One silver lining for the Blue Jackets was the play of
rookie goaltender Pascal Laclaire, who stopped 34 shots, including all 17 that
he faced in the 2nd period. The Sharks threw everything they had at Leclaire in
the period, but he weathered the store, keeping his team close.
Columbus actually drew first blood just three minutes into the contest when
Rotislav Klesla threw a backhanded shot from the right wing boards past an off
balance Evgeni Nabokov. The Sharks goaltender seemed caught off guard by the
shot, allowing it to slip under his pads, without even making an attempt to
stop the shot.
Alyn McCauley knotted things up two minutes later when
he tapped a pass from Nils Ekman past Leclaire.
Marco Sturm would give
the Sharks the lead for good by scoring on the power play with forty seconds
remaining in the opening frame. Sturm backhanded his own rebound past Leclaire
from in tight after driving to the net and trying to stuff a Christian Ehrhoff
pass past Leclaire.
After their fruitless attempt at bombarding
Leclaire shots in the 2nd period, Cheechoo tried generating some offense
immediately after the puck was dropped to open the 3rd period. Cheechoo got a
step on the Blue Jackets defense and tried carrying a break away attempt in,
but he was hauled down by Anders Eriksson in the slot. Cheechoo would deposit
the penalty shot in the back of the net after he forced Leclaire to commit to a
shimmy move before backhanding the shot inside the left post.
Eriksson
would atone for his gift to the Sharks with his won goal midway through the
period, but Cheechoo would ice the game with a shot from the slot at 16:42.
Play of the Game
There's not a
lot that tops a penalty shot in hockey and Cheechoo's first career penalty shot
was no exception. Cheechoo learned from Alex Korolyuk's penalty shot chance
versus Florida back on February 3rd. Back then Korolyuk was winded from a long
shift at the end of the game. Cheechoo took his time conversing with the
officials while he tried to catch his breath. The rest paid dividends.
The Turning Point
San Jose's inability to score in the 2nd period
opened the door for Columbus even though the Sharks thoroughly dominated the
period. The Sharks seemed frustrated even though they forced several icing
calls because the Blue Jackets couldn't get the puck out of their own
zone.
Save of the Game
Leclaire
made a beautiful cross-ice play after McCauley took a pass through the slot and
ripped a shot from 15 feet out. Leclaire read the play and made a nice
adjustment to cut of McCauley's angle from outside the left post.
Box Scores Do No Justice
Scott Parker and Jody Shelley danced early
in the 2nd period for what seemed like an eternity. Parker had the upper hand
after he grabbed Shelley's right arm. The Sharks enforcer started things off by
landing several quick jabs with his left hand, then came over the top with a
few right that found their mark.
Honorable
Mention
Parker didn't score a knockout against Shelley, but he
did send Klesla to the locker room after chcking him hard into the end boards
behind the Sharks net in the 2nd period. Columbus reported Klesla's injury as a
wrist sprain after the game.
Quotables
"I wanted to freeze
him, and the ice was good, so I could make the move I wanted. I knew he might
not be expecting that, and everything worked out the way I thought it would. I
don't get too many of those in my life, so that was great." - Jonathan Cheechoo
"He made a nice move. I thought he was going to go top-shelf. That's
what he always does in practice. ... We're loose; we're having fun. That's why
it's going like it is for us." - Marco Sturm
"These games I can use
for experience. I can take the experience and use it for learning. This was
good for me. ... For about 10 minutes, I felt a little numb out there, but
after that I started to see the puck real well." - Pascal Leclaire
Milestones
Kyle McLaren played in his 500th
career NHL game.
Ehrhoff was recalled earlier in the day from Cleveland
after being optioned to the Barons four days earlier. Jim Fahey was returned to
Cleveland to make room for Ehrhoff.
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