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SJ ducks for
cover Marquee matchup turns into
pummeling 11/21/06 - by Mike Lee
What was billed as a battle between two of best teams in the NHL,
turned out to be a laugher. Trouble is, the Sharks weren't laughing after their
5-0 loss to the host Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday night. Anaheim throttled the
Sharks by peppering them with a steady dose of shots on goal and a smothering
defense that allowed few opportunities to score.
Jean-Sebastien
Giguere turned in his 24th career shutout, but did little more than show up as
his defense muffled the Sharks offense.
Teemu Selanne scored a pair of
goals and Chris Pronger added a goal and an assist in one of the most lopsided
victories of the season. After a scoreless opening period, the Ducks opened
thing sup in the 2nd period with a pair of goals, then rubbed salt in the wound
with a trifecta in the 3rd.
"We knew that this was going to be a big
test for our hockey club, and I think we played our best 60 minutes tonight,"
Selanne said. "We know how good we can be, and we just want to keep pushing
forward. It's all about confidence. Everybody put in a good effort out there."
Sharks goaltender Evgeni Nabokov was under siege most of the night,
stopping 39 shots. Nabokov's teammates did more harm than good, deflecting two
pucks into the Sharks net. The first came on a Pronger shot fro the point that
caught Scott Hannan in front of the net. The puck redirected over Nabokov's
left shoulder for the 1-0 Anaheim lead.
San Jose missed on a chance to
make a game of it when they failed to convert on a 5-on-3 power play. Stever
Bernier fanned on a golden chance when Patrick Marleau slid a pass across the
slot to a Bernier on the left post. Giguere was caught out of position, but
Bernier whiffed on what should have been a slam dunk.
"That was our big chance to get back in the game,"
Marleau said. "That's the way the night kind of went. But there's a lot more
things we could have done better. Hopefully in those seven other games, we'll
at least show up and play better hockey. We've got to be more tenacious,
jumping on loose pucks and getting in on the forecheck. We didn't do those
things tonight, and that's why we lost."
Ryan Getzlaf would convert on
put-back after a Francois Beauchemin shot bounced off Marc-Edouard Vlassic's
skate on the first of 5 Anaheim power plays. Beauchemin would convert on the
power play himself midway through the 3rd period to push the Ducks lead to 4-0.
His shot from the top of the right circle was redirected by Sharks defenseman
Christian Ehrhoff, who attempted to stop the puck by kicking at it.
Selanne opened the period with his 498th career goal on a one-timer from the
left post, after linemate Andy McDonald out hustled the Sharks defense to a
loose puck behind the net.
Selanne would cap the scoring with under
three minutes to play on a soft shot that slipped through Nabokov's pads.
"They have a good penalty-killing unit, so we had to be patient,"
Selanne said. "We got the goal there, and another one in the third. Those are
the things that give you even more confidence."
"I'm very satisfied,"
Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said. "It was our most complete game of the year. A
lot of things went our way, and we worked extremely hard for everything we
got."
Notes:
Scott Parker dropped the gloves for the
first time this season, squaring off with George Parros in the 2nd period.
Neither player landed any big shots, although the dance was a spirited one.
Both players will have six more opportunities to exchange pleasantries this
season.
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
SJ |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
ANA |
0 |
2 |
3 |
5 |
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2nd period -
1, ANA, Pronger 4 (Penner), 7:13. 2, ANA, Getzlaf 8 (Beauchemin, Pronger),
17:43, (pp). |
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3rd period - 3, ANA,
Selanne 6 (McDonald), 6:28. 4, ANA, Beauchemin 3 (O'Brien, Perry), 15:48, (pp).
5, ANA, Selanne 7 (Kunitz, O'Brien), 17:42. |
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1st period - Perry, ANA
(interference), 7:46; McLaren, SJ (holding), 11:22; Carle, SJ (interference),
18:29. |
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2nd period - Parker, SJ
(fighting major), 9:45; Parros, ANA (fighting major), 9:45; Neidermayer, ANA
(tripping), 12:54; Marchant, ANA (holding), 13:16; Hannan, SJ (holding), 15:49;
Ehrhoff, SJ (holding), 18:23. |
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3rd period - Davison, SJ
(high sticking), 14:33. |
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Shots |
Saves |
SJ - Nabokov |
44 |
39 |
ANA - Giguere |
23 |
23 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
SJ |
8 |
9 |
6 |
23 |
ANA |
17 |
15 |
12 |
44 |
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Referees: Dan Marouelli, Dan
O'Rourke. Linesmen: Lonnie Cameron, Vaughan Rody. |
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