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Lineup changes pay off 4-2 win in Tampa Bay 10/29/06 - by Mike
Lee
Having lost two straight games, Sharks head coach Ron Wilson
shook up his lines on Sunday night in Tampa Bay in order to resuscitate some of
the energy that's been missing on their current five-game road trip. The
result was a 4-2 win over the host Lightening, spearheaded by two power play
goals. Joe Thornton scored his 1st of the season so pace the Sharks to their
8th win of the season.
Wilson decided to move Milan Michalek up to the Thornton-Jonathan Cheechoo
line, and bounce Mark Bell to the Patrick Marleau-Steve Bernier Line. The
Michalek move added more speed to a line that was more accustomed to the
attribute last season when Nils Ekman skated on the left wing.
Moving Bell to the Marleau line means that the Sharks captain has two big
wingers to clear out lanes with. Doug Murray and Ryan Clowe were also moved
into the lineup at the expense of Ville Nieminen and Josh Gorges.
What didn't change with the lineup moves, was the Sharks ability to convert on
the power play. The league's top ranked power play converted on two-of-three
chances, including a 1st period goal by Thornton and the game-winner by Marleau
midway through the 3rd period.
Thornton scored from the bottom of the right circle after Nick Tarnasky was
sent off for tripping just 2:44 into the game. Michalek setup the goal with a
pass from the slot while two Lightning defenders converged on him.
Marleau was the beneficiary of a pin-balling Scott Hannan shot that hit him in
the skate then ricocheted off Lightning defender Dan Boyle, before sliding past
Marc Denis.
"We have the best power play in the league, so maybe the memo's gone out and
the referees are not going to give us power plays to see if we can figure out
another way to win," Wilson said.
Clowe made the most of his ice time by scoring his first NHL goal at 2:51 of
the 2nd period. Mike Grier dropped a pass from behind the Tampa Bay net to
Clowe in the slot. The young Sharks forward held on for a second, waiting for
Denis to commit, before lifting a shot over his right shoulder.
"I really stopped thinking about it," said Clowe. "When you just go out and
play, it will happen. That's what I tried to do this year. It's really special.
It feels great."
Vincent Lecavalier cut the Sharks lead to 2-1 with 3:52 remaining in the 2nd
period on a Tampa Bay power play. After Marleau restored the two-goal lead in
the 3rd period, Martin St. Louis struck with his own power play goal two
minutes later.
St. Louis was in the right place, at the right time, sliding home a rebound
from just outside the right post.
Lightning head coach John Tortorella pulled Denis with just under two minutes
to play in regulation, but Mike Grier ended things with an empty-netter.
Patrick Rissmiller intercepted a Lightning pass in his own zone, then hit a
streaking Grier with a pass up ice to secure the win.
Evgeni Nabokov had a relatively quite night, stopping 18 of 20 shots en route
to his 3rd win of the season. More importantly, the win stopped the Sharks
two-game skid, their first multi-loss stretch of the season.
Denis stopped 25 of 28, including a point blank glove save off Michalek in the
2nd period.
"The one that bothers me, Clowe, he scores the second goal," Tortorella said.
"We're trying to keep Thornton and Marleau off the board, their lines, and get
beat on really just a dump in. It wasn't a lack of effort, we didn't get the
job done."
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
SJ |
1 |
1 |
2 |
4 |
TB |
0 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
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1st period - 1, SJ,
Thornton 1 (Michalek, Cheechoo), 4:02, (pp). |
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2nd period -
2, SJ, Clowe 1 (Grier, Hannan), 2:51. 3, TB, Lecavalier 6 (Prospal,
Boyle), 16:08, (pp). |
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3rd period - 4, SJ,
Marleau 6 (HAnnan, Vlassic), 10:51, (pp). 5, TB, St. Louis 7 (Alexeev, Boyle),
13:02, (pp). 6, SJ, Grier 2 (Rissmiller, Goc), 18:39, (en). |
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1st period - Tarnasky, TB (tripping), 2:44;
Cheechoo, SJ (hooking), 7:49; Marleau, SJ (diving), 11:45; Murray, SJ
(roughing), 15:32. |
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2nd period - Murray, SJ (fighting, major),
7:23; Sarich, TB (fighting, major), 7:23; Murray, SJ (hooking), 14:46; Clowe,
SJ (slashing), 18:30. |
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3rd period - Kuba, TB (hooking), 6:06;
Fedotenko, TB (interference), 8:55; Goc, SJ (delay of game), 11:37; Cheechoo,
SJ (interference), 19:22. |
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Shots |
Saves |
SJ - Nabokov |
20 |
18 |
TB - Denis |
28 |
25 |
TB - empty net | 1 | 0 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
SJ |
8 |
11 |
10 |
29 |
TB |
7 |
8 |
5 |
20 |
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Referees: Dave Jackson, Greg Kimmerly. Linesmen:
Jean Morin, Tony Sericolo. |
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