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Sharks advance to Conference
Finals
Sharks win series 4-2
5/4/04 - by Mike Lee
Exhale. It's over. The Sharks
finally landed the knockout blow they've been seeking for the past three games,
with a 3-1 win over the Colorado Avalanche in Denver on Tuesday night. After
getting hit with a couple of desperation blows in games 4 and 5, the Sharks
regrouped and returned to their no-nonsense style of play. By winning the
series 4 games to 2, the Sharks earn a spot in the Western Conference Finals
for the first time in team history. Evgeni Nabokov was spectacular again,
turning aside 28 of 29 shots to lead San Jose. Vincent Damphousse, Marcel Goc
and Jonathan Cheechoo all scored 2nd period goals for the Sharks.
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| SJ |
0 |
3 |
0 |
3 |
| COL |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
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| 2nd period - S.J,
V. DAMPHOUSSE (5) (N. DIMITRAKOS), 01:34 S.J, M. GOC (1) (C. BROWN, K.
MCLAREN), 08:59 S.J, J. CHEECHOO (3) (M. RICCI), 12:03 COL, M. HEJDUK (5) (P.
KARIYA, J. SAKIC), 17:34 |
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| 1st period - S.J,
J. CHEECHOO, 12:31 - Boarding S.J, M. RATHJE, 15:26 - Interference -
Obstruction COL, S. KONOWALCHUK, 15:33 - Hi stick |
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| 2nd period - COL,
A. NIKOLISHIN, 01:56 - Hi stick S.J, S. HANNAN, 04:56 - Roughing COL, P.
FORSBERG, 04:56 - Roughing S.J, S. HANNAN, 10:01 - Holding S.J, M. RICCI, 15:48
- Tripping S.J, Y. NABOKOV, 17:00 - Delay of game |
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| 3rd period - S.J,
V. DAMPHOUSSE, 18:49 - Hi stick |
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Shots |
Saves |
| SJ - Nabokov |
29 |
28 |
| COL - Aebischer |
33 |
30 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| SJ |
12 |
13 |
8 |
33 |
| COL |
2 |
17 |
10 |
29 |
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After losing the last two games on overtime stunners by
Joe Sakic, the Sharks were eager to take care of business early in Game 6. San
Jose opened the contest with guns blazing, outshooting the Avalanche 12-2 in
the opening period.
Colorado netminder David Aebischer kept the
Avalanche close by turning aside all 12 San Jose shots, and got lucky on an
empty net chance that rang off the post midway through the period.
The
wheels fell off of Colorado's season in the 2nd period, even though they
outshot San Jose 17 to 13 in the period. Damphousse continued his hot streak
with his 5th goal of the playoffs just 1:34 into the middle frame. The Shark's
senior statesman lifted a shot over Aebischer, after a Niko Dimitrakos shot
bounced right to Damphousse just outside the left post.
Goc, a Sharks
rookie who made his NHL debut in Game 5 of the Sharks first round series with
St Louis, made his second career NHL game even more memorable. The German
forward deflected a shot by Curtis Brown past Aebischer for his first NHL goal.
Kyle McLaren sprung the play with a pass up ice to Brown who broke in on the
Colorado net with Goc and Mark Smith in front.
Brown snapped a shot
just as Goc was cutting toward the net. Goc's stick blade and the puck
intersected at the right moment, causing a perfect trajectory change on the
flying rubber. The tally turned out to be the game winner and series clinching
goal.
With the momentum clearly in hand, the Sharks reacted to the
lesson they learned about Colorado tenacity in the series by keeping the
pressure on the Avalanche. Both offenses opened things up a bit, which
eventually spelled disaster for Colorado.
Quick counter attacks
resulted in Goc's goal, and would play a role in a score by Cheechoo three
minutes later. San Jose took advantage of Colorado, who was pressing on the
power play after Scott Hannan was sent off for holding at the midway point of
the game. Cheechoo and Mike Ricci grabbed a Colorado turnover as the penalty
was expiring and raced up the ice with only Aebischer and Paul Kariya between
them and the Colorado goal.
Cheechoo carried the puck in through the
right circle, then forced Kariya to over commit by dragging a toe and slowing
down his momentum in front of the Avalanche goal. As Aebischer tried to slide
from his left to right, Cheechoo snapped home his 3rd goal of the playoffs past
Aebischer's glove hand.
Former Sharks Temmu Selanne, who passed on an
option to stay in San Jose last Summer, would play a hand in the scoring later
in the period. Selanne drew a horrible penalty by diving just inside the Sharks
blueline with just over four minutes remaining in the period. Nabokov would add
to the predicament by flipping the puck out of play, earning an automatic delay
of game penalty 1:12 later.
Colorado would take advantage of the
ensuing 5-on-3 power play, when Milan Hejduk converted 34 seconds later. Kariya
slipped a pass under Nabokov, that trickled through the crease to Hejduk on the
far post. Nabokov made a valiant effort to stop Hejduk's shot, but it barely
crossed over the goal line.
San Jose kept the pressure on Colorado
early in the 3rd period, rather than sit back on their heels as they did in
Game 5 last Saturday in San Jose. Alexander Korolyuk missed on an open net
chance, when Andrei Nikolishin managed to get this stick on Korolyuk's backhand
attempt from the slot.
Avalanche head coach Tony Granato pulled
Aebischer with 3:30 to play, but the Sharks put the clamps on Colorado. Referee
Rob Shick passed more charity when he sent Damphousse off for high sticking
Peter Forsberg at 18:49. Even with the two man advantage, the most Colorado
could muster was a John-Michael Liles slapshot from center ice as time expired.
Play of the Game
Goc's goal was
a classic example of the team effort that the Sharks have put forth all season,
but Cheechoo's goal was the prettiest of the evening. He demonstrated the
patience of a seasoned veteran on the play, and brushed aside one of the best
players in the NHL in Paul Kariya, before beating Aebischer with a shot that
was destined for the back of the net.
The Turning
Point
Scoring the first goal was huge, but Goc's goal gave the Sharks
some breathing room. The Avalanche now had the burden of coming back from a
two-goal lead, and they had to be wondering how much magic was left in Joe
Sakic's stick after they used up two goal in Games 4 & 5. It's unlikely
that many hockey players forget the first goal they ever scored, but what are
the chances that Goc forgets his? How many rookies score their first NHL goal
in the clinching game of a playoff series?
Save of the Game
Let's call this section "Saves
of the Series" just once. The Sharks netminder finished the series with a 1.01
goals against average, and allowed no more than two goals in any game during
the series, and seven goals total in six games.
Box Scores Do No
Justice
Much of the post game attention was focused on Forsberg, who has
hinted that this will be his last season in the NHL. Forsberg wants to return
to his native Sweden to finish out his professional career with MoDo, who
recently hired his father. Forsberg was mum on any final decision after the
game.
Honorable Mention
Injuries
go hand in hand with NHL playoff hockey, and Game 6 wasn't immune from the
injury bug. Colorado skated without the services of Rob Blake and Alex Tanguay,
although they did regain the services of Kariya, who missed the last 10 games
with an ankle injury. Scott Thornton and Todd Harvey were scratched from the
Sharks lineup with undisclosed injuries.
Quotables
I've been
waiting 10 years to beat that team, and we finally did it." - Mike
Rathje
It's a pretty fun roll. For a while there, it got to be a roller
coaster, but I'm really proud of our team. To all the Sharks fans, hoist one up
for our boys tonight, because it was quite an effort out there." - Sharks head
coach Ron Wilson
"We had an unbelievable lineup, and it's too bad it
didn't work out. We didn't play good enough, and they beat us." - Peter
Forsberg
"We played the perfect first period. Although the score was
0-0, we thought we wore them down and played the style we wanted to play. It
was just a matter of time when we cracked their focus." - Vincent
Damphousse
"I think that the problem is that when we get down one goal
or so, we open up a little bit too much and too early. That's when they got the
next goals. It's tough to come back from 3-0 against that team." - David
Aebischer
"Any time you beat Colorado, it's huge. They have so much
over there. You've accomplished something when you beat them anywhere." -
Evgeni Nabokov
Right now, I really don't want to think about it. We'll
see what happens over the summer. I'll just sit back and think about it later
on." - Peter Forsberg
Milestones
Marcel Goc scored his first career NHL
goal
The Sharks advance to the Conference Finals for the first time in
franchise history.
The series loss was the first time the Avalanche
lost a Conference Semi-Final series.
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