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Sharks stay hot against
Flames 51st won of the season sets new points
mark 4/5/07 - by Mike Lee
If
you
throw the puck at the net enough, it's bound to go in sooner or later.
That's
what the Sharks and Flames did in a wild one at the Tank on Thursday
night. San
Jose took a 4-1 lead in the 3rd period with a pair of goals, then held on
to
win 4-3 before a packed HP Pavilion. The Sharks inched to within a single
point
of the Anaheim Ducks for the top spot in the Pacific Division with the
victory.
San Jose put 42 shots on Calgary netminder Miikka Kiprusoff in
the
win. Four different Sharks scored, including Jonathan Cheechoo, who
netted the
game winner with his 36th of the season.
Joe Thornton had two
assists, giving him 90
for the season. Thornton becomes only the 3rd player in NHL history to
notch
back-to-back seasons with 90 or more assists. He got his first assist of
the
night on Milan Michalek 25th of the season to open the game's scoring 8
minutes
into the 2nd period.
Thornton threw the puck at Matt Carle, who
had
pinched in on the rush and parked himself in front of the Flames net.
Michalek
followed up and cashed in on the rebound for the 1-0 Sharks lead. The
goal
4-on-4 after Ryane Clowe and Dion Phaneuf were sent off for separate
penalties
on a strange exchange.
Clowe thought he had engaged Phaneuf in a
fight
at center ice, dropping his gloves to start the parry. Phaneuf though
better of
it and skated off. Clowe circled back to pick up his gloves and stick
before
landing a check on the Flames defenseman. Phaneuf tried to return the hit
with
a late check along the boards, but Clowe got an elbow up as Phenuef
arrived.
Mark Bell would his 11th of the
season less than 2 minutes later on a similar play. Bell scooped up a
loose
puck in the slot after Joe Pavelski tried jamming home a shot from in
tight.
Kiprusoff was caught out of position while dealing with Pavelski.
Kristian Huselius cut the Sharks lead in half with a power play goal 48
seconds
later after the Flames called a timeout to regroup. Patrick Marleau gave
the
Flames the man advantage after a boarding penalty sent him off midway
through
the period.
Mike Grier would pad the Sharks lead at 3-1 early in
the 3rd period with a rocket from the top of the right circle that caught
the
opposite post for his 16th goal of the season.
Cheechoo would
add his
tally 3 minutes later to give the Sharks some breathing room. The Sharks
sniper
took a feed from Thornton near the right dot, then skated toward the goal
line
before uncorking a shot from a bad angle. Kiprusoff was pinched up
against the
near post, but Cheechoo's shot squeezed through.
The Sharks were
content with killing clock to round out the period, but Jerome Iginla had
other
ideas. The Flames captain would convert at the 10:49 mark to make it a
4-2 game
with a long wrist sot that beat Evgeni Nabokov, then he would add his 2nd
of
the night with 4:26 to play with a slap shot from close range.
Calgary leads Colorado
by 3 points for the last playoff spot in the Western Conference. The
Avalanche
still have 2 games to play, while the Flames will close out their regular
season on Saturday.
Flames head coach Jim Playfair would pull
Kiprusoff with a minute to play, but a long wrist shot by Phaneuf is as
close
as Calgary would come to the Sharks net.
Notes:
The Sharks
continued to break their franchise wins and points record. The victory
gave San
Jose 106 points, the most in franchise history, breaking the old mark set
in
2003-04. The win also gave the Sharks 51 victories on the season. Bill
Guerin
was a scratch, opening the door for Pavelski to return to the lineup.
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
CGY |
0 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
SJ |
0 |
2 |
2 |
4 |
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2nd period - 1, SJ,
Michalek 25 (Carle, Thornton), 7:50. 2, SJ, Bell 11 (Pavelski,
Marleau), 9:30.
3, CGY, Huselius 34 (Phaneuf, Iginla), 10:18, (pp). |
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3rd period - 4, SJ,
Grier 16 (Brown, McLaren), 2:29. 5, SJ, Cheechoo 26 (Thornton,
Michalek), 5:42.
6, CGY, Iginla 38 (Stuart), 10:49. 7, CGY, Iginla 39 (Tanguay,
Langkow),
15:34. |
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1st period - Bell, SJ
(hooking), 1:23; Brown, SJ (hooking), 3:08; Warrener, CGY
(hooking), 6:24;
Stuart, CGY (tripping), 10:43; Pavelski, SJ (slashing), 16:31;
Hamrlik, CGY
(hooking), 18:28. |
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2nd period - Team, CGY
(too many men on the ice), 3:19; Stuart, CGY (slashing), 4:16;
Phaneuf, CGY
(interference), 6:33; Clowe, SJ (elbowing), 6:33; Marleau, SJ
(boarding),
10:09; Nabokov, SJ (hooking), 13:33; Friesen, CGY (slashing),
18:50. |
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Shots |
Saves |
CGY - Kiprusoff |
42 |
38 |
SJ - Nabokov |
32 |
29 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
CGY |
8 |
10 |
14 |
32 |
SJ |
13 |
18 |
11 |
42 |
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Referees: Eric Furlatt, Chris
Lee. Linesmen: Lonnie Cameron, Brad Lazarowich. |
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