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Special teams special in 3-1
win
League's best PP continues to
thrive
1/15/07 - by Mike Lee
Special
teams carried the Sharks in October and November, so it's no surprise to
see
the San Jose at their very best when the power play and penalty kill is
clicking. The Sharks made the most of five man advantage situations,
converting on three for a 3-1 victory, over the visiting Colorado Avalanche
at
HP Pavilion on Monday night.
Rather than waiting for the other team to initiate the physical play, San Jose
teed things up when Ryane Clowe nailed Karlis Skrastins 5 minutes into the
game. Ian Laperriere went after Clowe for the hit, but Clowe opted to
fight
Laperriere, who was assessed a roughing minor on top the fighting major he
received.
The resulting power play was key, allowing the Sharks to jump out in front
early. Their recent woes were largely attributed to early deficits, but
Jonathan Cheechoo put the Sharks ahead 1-0 with his 16th goal of the season
on
a feed from Patrick Marleau.
The goal extended Cheechoo's scoring streak to seven games. The streak
coincides with the 8-0 spanking the Sharks took in Phoenix at the end of
December. After that embarrassing defeat, Cheechoo has tallied 11 points.
Marleau scored his own power play goal 2:29 later after Kyle Cumisky was sent
of for hooking, by tipping in a Jonathan Cheechoo shot.
Colorado goaltender Peter Budaj kept the Avalanche deficit to two goals by
making several highlight reel saves. The Sharks peppered Budaj with 21
shots
in the opening period, including 6 from Marleau and 4 from Cheechoo.
Marleau
tied the team record for shots in a period. Viktor Kozlov holds the team
record for shots in a game with 10, set in 1997.
Sharks goaltender Evgeni Nabokov did a Budaj impersonation with a couple of
stellar saves in the middle period, including a sliding save on Colorado
Rookie
Wojtek Wolski. Both goaltenders kept the puck out of the net in the middle
period to keep what should have been a big lead by the Sharks closer than
San
Jose would have preferred.
Colorado finally solved Nabokov on the power play after Mark Smith took an
ill-advised holding the stick penalty at the 7:00 mark. Joe Sakic made
quick
work of the man-advantage, scoring just 3 seconds into the penalty after
Paul
Stastny won the draw in the Sharks zone. Sakic ripped a shot across the
crease
from right to left, top shelf.
The momentum Colorado established on Sakic's goal was quickly erased by the
Sharks power play less than two minutes later. With Pierre Turgeon in the
penalty box for holding, Thornton converted for his 12th goal of the season
on
setup by defenseman Matt Carle.
Colorado failed to overcome the Sharks special teams onslaught, even though
Budaj would stop 38 shots. Nabokov earned his first victory since beatng
Calgary 4-1 on December 23rd.
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| COL |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
| SJ |
2 |
0 |
1 |
3 |
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| 1st period - 1, SJ,
Cheechoo 16 (Marleau, Thornton), 7:03, (pp). 2, SJ, Marleau 21
(Cheechoo, Ehrhoff), 9:32, (pp). |
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| 3rd period - 3, COL, Sakic 19 (Stastny),
7:03. 4, Thornton 12 (Carle, Marleau), 8:45, (pp). |
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| 1st period - Laperriere, COL (roughing),
5:48; Laperriere, COL (fighting major), 5:48; Clowe, SJ (fighting major),
5:48;
Cumisky, COL (hooking), 8:28; Svatos, COL (hooking), 18:03. |
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| 2nd period - Pavelski, SJ (hooking),
5:41. |
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| 3rd period - Stastny, COL (hooking), 1:12;
Smith, SJ (holding the stick), 7:00; Turgeon, COL (holding), 7:56. |
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Shots |
Saves |
| COL - Budaj |
42 |
38 |
| SJ - Nabokov |
27 |
26 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| COL |
10 |
8 |
9 |
27 |
| SJ |
21 |
7 |
14 |
42 |
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| Referees: Kelly Sutherland, Don
VanMassenhoven. Linesmen: Mike Cvik, Shane Heyer. |
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