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Rissmiller's wild ride
Sharks lose Cheechoo to knee injury
4/11/07 - by Mike Lee

Patrick Rissmiller will remember Wednesday night for the rest of his life. The rookie forward had what some might call a roller coaster evening in a 5-4 OT thriller in Game 1 of the Western Conference quarterfinals series between San Jose and the Nashville Predators. Rissmiller helped the Sharks tie the game at 2-2, then committed a gaff with seconds remaining in regulation that led to the Predators knotting the game a t 4-4. He would top all of that by bagging the game winning goal in double overtime.

If Game 1 is any indication, this series is destined to be a barn burner. The laid back Rissmiller had the highest and lowest performance of his young career flash before his eye in the span of an hour. Clinging to a 4-3 lead with less than a minute to play, the Predators pulled goaltender Tomas Vokoun for an extra attacker.

The Sharks battled to clear the puck out of their own zone, as the clock clicked down. Rissmiller found himself in the slot with the puck at his feet. An initial attempt to clear it misfired after a Predators player tied up his stick. With Mike Grier breaking for daylight on his right wing, Rissmiller made an ill advised pass attempt to Grier, rather than simply clearing the puck down ice.

Nashville intercepted the puck, then turned around and scored the tying goal with 51 seconds remaining in regulation. J. P. Dumont cranked a shot from the blueline that had eyes, slipping just inside the right post as Sharks goaltender Evgeni Nabokov flailed at it with the glove hand.

Rissmiller would atone for his mistake 8:14 into the 2nd overtime, taking a feed from Patrick Marleau at the loft dot before racing in uncontested and slipping the puck past Vokoun.

The ups and downs started early, as the Sharks took the early lead, relinquished it on a pair of Predator goals in the 2nd period, then jumped out to a 4-2 lead on three goals to close out the middle period.

San Jose got on the board with Matt Carle's first careen NHL playoff goal at 7:18, right as Marek Zidlicky stepped out of the penalty box for cross checking Marcel Goc. Carle tried sending a diagonal pass through the crease to Milan Michalek on the right post, but the puck hit defenseman Ryan Suter in the skate. Vokoun couldn't react to the deflection in time, allowing it slip past him for the 1-0 Sharks lead.

Ryane Clowe just missed on a backhand attempt in tight a minute later after Vokoun made a nice sliding save to this left. Nabokov was forced to counter that with a stop on a breakaway attempt for J.P. Dumont on the ensuing rush.

The Sharks had three power play chances in the period, but really only converted on the Carle goal at the end of their first chance. The Predators had the 2nd best penalty kill in the league during the regular season, but the Sharks had their chances against Nashville's special teams unit.

Alexander Radulov countered at 2:35 of the 2nd period after the Sharks turned the puck over in the offensive zone. Peter Forsberg carried the puck up the right wing boards, before dropping a pass to Radulov near the right dot. The rookie winger ripped a shot that beat Nabokov over the left shoulder.

Nashville carried that momentum and took a 2-1 lead 1:21 later on a chip shot from Dumont after the Sharks failed to clear the puck out of their own end. Joe Thornton had a chance to wind the puck from behind his own net, but a weak backhand attempt was intercepted by Scott Hartnell. Jason Arnott fed Dumont from behind the net, setting up a shot that trickled under Nabokov's left pad.

The Sharks came right back and tied the game on Mike Grier's 11th career playoff goal at 5:31. Rissmiller setup the goal with spin-o-rama pass from the Nashville end boards. Grier one-timed the puck past Vokoun as he cut toward the net from the left circle.

The Sharks suffered a major blow at the midway mark when Jonathan Cheechoo suffered what appeared to be a knee injury after Predators forward Scott Hartnell hit him late with a deliberate knee-on-knee hit. Hartnell was assessed a game misconduct and a kneeing major, giving the Sharks a 5-minute power play.

Craig Zanon was whistled for interference with 1:25 remaining on the Hartnell penalty, giving the Sharks a 5-on-3 advantage. Craig Rivet cashed in with a shot from the slot to give the Sharks the 3-2 lead.

Michalek extended the Sharks lead with a one-timer out in front of the Predators net after Thornton feathered a pass from behind the Nashville net. Zidlicky and Weber elected to defend against Thornton by parking themselves inside both posts, allowing Michalek to roam unattended in the slot area. The Sharks forward buried his attempt even though the Predators had three people guarding the net.

The Sharks got another scare when defenseman Scott Hannan went down with an apparent knee injury in the 3rd period while killing a Mark Bell penalty. Hannan took a shot off his leg, just below the knee, and had to be helped off the ice, but he would return on his next shift.

Zidlicky would negate the Nashville power play with a interference infraction a minute into the Bell penalty. Grier would setup another Predators man-advantage with a tripping penalty at 9:04.

Radulov cut the Sharks lead to 4-3 with a nifty piece of foot work, capped by a move that deeked Nabokov. The rookie forward took a pass at the red line, then darted around Sharks defenseman Kyle McLaren just inside the Sharks zone before heading to the net from the right wing boards. Nabokov cut off the near post, but Radulov faked right as he slipped the puck to the left of the Sharks goaltender.

Notes:

Sharks head coach told TSN.ca that Cheechoo landed on his face after taking the hit to the knee, and knocked a tooth out. The Sharks would not provide any further details on Cheechoo's status heading into Game 2, although Joe Pavelski is available.




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Scoring
1 2 32OT T
SJ 1 3 01 5
NSH 0 2 20 4
1st period - 1, SJ, Carle 1 (Thornton, Rivet), 7:18.
2nd period - 2, NSH, Radulov 1 (Forsberg, Zanon), 2:35. 3, NSH, Dumont 1 (Arnott, Hartnell), 3:56. 4, SJ, Grier 1 (Rissmiller, Brown), 5:31. 5, SJ, Rivet 1 (Marleau), 12:57, (pp). 6, SJ, Michalek 1 (Thornton, Vlasic), 15:52.
3rd period - 7, NSH, Radulov 2 (Weber), 13:05. 8, NSH, Dumont 2 (Weber, Erat), 19:09.
1st Overtime - None
2nd Overtime - 9, SJ, Rissmiller 1 (Marleau, Grier), 8:14.
 
Penalties
1st period - Guerin, SJ (interference), 0:56; Zidlicky, NSH (cross checking), 5:15; Weber, NSH (interference), 10:15; Tootoo, NSH (boarding), 14:07; Bernier, SJ (hooking), 17:21; Nichol, NSH (diving), 17:21.
2nd period - Hartnell, NSH (game misconduct, kneeing major), 9:00; Zanon, NSH (interference), 12:39; Team, SJ (too many men), 18:57.
3rd period - Bell, SJ (boarding), 6:23; Zidlicky, NSH (interference), 7:19; Grier, SJ (tripping), 9:04; Grier, SJ (tripping), 16:48.
1st Overtime - None.
2nd Overtime - Timonen, NSH (hooking), 0:26; Guerin, SJ (roughing), 5:15; Tootoo, NSH (roughing), 5:15.
Goaltending
  Shots Saves
SJ - Nabokov 43 39
NSH - Vokoun 38 33
Shots On Goal
1 2 31OT2OT T
SJ 14 8 2104 38
NSH 6 7 13125 43
Power Play Conversion
SJ 1 of 7
NSH 0 of 5
3 Stars of the Game
Patrick Rissmiller
Alexander Radulov
Evgeni Nabokov
Attendence
17,113
Officials
Referees: Tim Peel, Don VanMassenhoven. Linesmen: Lonnie Cameron, Pierre Racicot.

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