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Sluggish start
Offense lackluster in
season opener 10/4/07 - by
Mike Lee
The quest for Lord
Stanley's Cup may need a kick start. Opening the
2007-08 regular season in Edmonton on Thursday night,
the Sharks looked nothing like the world beaters that
all the pundits are making San Jose out to be. A late
gift by referee Greg Kimmerly enabled the Sharks to
salvage a point, but the host Oilers prevailed from a
bad call to win in the shootout.
Hopefully the Sharks got the message after their lack
luster performance, that the NHL doesn't hand out
Championships based on what preseason prognosticators
say in September. The absence of any fluid flow and
energy left the Sharks with little to show for it on
the score board.
The chances were there, but the shots were just good
enough to kiss the post on four occasions. Steve
Bernier rang a shot off the left post on the Sharks
first power play after Shawn Horcoff was sent off for
tripping Joe Thornton. Rookie Torrey Mitchell,
defenseman Christian Ehrhoff and Mike Grier would all
add post shots that equated to zero goals.
Things got chippy early after Raffi Torres decided to
run at Kyle McLaren along the boards after an offsides
call. The Sharks responded by having 4 of the 5
players on the ice respond en force. Christian
Ehrhoff pounced on Torres, who would draw a roughing
penalty for this misdeed.
Torres' shenanigans, which date back to the 2006
playoffs when he knocked out Milan Michalek with a
dirty hit, tried to take liberties with Sharks rookie
Torrey Mitchell by sticking his knee out. Mitchell
escaped injury, but Sharks defenseman Douglas Murray
went after Torres. The two squared off after dropping
the gloves, fighting to a draw. Murray drew an
instigator penalty and an extra 10-minute misconduct.
It took 40 minutes and 26 seconds to break the ice,
but the Sharks finally drew first blood with the first
goal of the season. Patrick Marleau snapped home his
first of the season on a quick redirect in front of
the net on a feed from Joe Thornton. Craig Rivet
started the play by keeping the puck deep in the
Oilers zone.
The Oilers would answer 1:11 later after Tom Gilbert
redirected a feed from Andrew Cogliano with his skate,
after the Oilers created traffic in front of Sharks
goaltender Evgeni Nabokov in front of the San Jose
net. Cogliano carried the puck up the right wing
before exchanging passes with Sam Gagner before
whipping a pass into a crowd. Nabokov never saw the
redirect, as it trickled through his pads.
The momentum had clearly shifted, tilting the ice in
Edmonton's favor. The Oilers controlled the puck
right after Gilbert's goal and made San Jose pay.
Edmonton struck again a minute later on a loose puck
after Nabokov failed to control a blast from Sheldon
Souray from the left point. Kyle Brodziak poked home
the puck as it sat behind Nabokov, who got a glove on
Souray's shot.
The Sharks waited until the last 11 seconds of
regulation to knot the game up on a questionable
penalty to Souray late in the contest. As San Jose
tried to create some kind of offensive chance in the
final minute of the period, Thornton carried the puck
along the end boards, before getting tied up with the
Oilers defenseman. Souray was whistled for holding,
which gave the Sharks a power play with 42 ticks left.
Thornton tied the game at 2-2 by roofing a wrist shot
from the bottom of the right circle at 19:49, bouncing
the shot off the right post and the crossbar. The
Rexall Place crowd voiced their displeasure with the
call on Souray, then really let the officials have it
after Thornton knotted the game.
After a touch and go overtime period that generated
few scoring chances for either team, the game moved to
the shootout, where the Sharks faltered. Jonathan
Cheechoo was stuffed by Roloson on a weak wrist shot
to the glove side. Ales Hemsky then bounced a
backhand attempt off the left post after making 5 or 6
moves. Ryane Clowe let a weak backhand attempt
bounce meekly past the right post to continue the
Sharks woes.
Robert Nilsson would score on a wrist shot that beat
Nabokov to the stick side, before Joe Pavelski snapped
home a shot that beat Roloson to the 5-hole. Marty
Reasoner was snuffed by Nabokov by throwing his body
across the face of the goal, but Marleau continued his
shootout ineptitude with a weak wrist shot that sailed
wide right.
Jarrod Stoll ended things with a wrist shot that
slipped past Nabokov, who got a glove on the shot.
Notes:
Jeremy Roenick made his Sharks debut as a game time
addition to the roster after Devon Setoguchi was
scratched with an undisclosed injury. Mitchell made
his NHL debut and had a strong game, drawing a
tripping penalty on Stoll in the 3rd period.
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1 |
2 |
3 |
OT | SO | T |
SJ |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 | 0 | 2 |
EDM |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 | 1 | 3 |
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3rd period - 1, SJ,
Marleau 1 (Thornton,
Rivet), 0:26; 2, EDM, Gilbert 1 (Cogliano, Gagner),
1:37; 3, EDM, Brodziak 1 (Souray, Reasoner), 2:51; 4,
SJ, Thornton 1 (Rivet, Vlassic), 19:49, (pp). |
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Shootout - SJ:
Cheechoo (miss),
Clowe (miss),
Pavelski (goal), Marleau (miss). EDM:
Hemsky (miss), Nilsson (goal)
,Reasoner (miss),
Stoll (goal)
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1st period -
Horcoff, EDM (holding), 3:47; Michalek, SJ (tripping),
6:32; Torres, EDM (roughing), 14:20, McLaren, SJ
(tripping), 16:48; Sanderson, EDM (high sticking),
19:47. |
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2nd period - Clowe,
SJ (holding), 2:40; Rivet, SJ (delay of game - puck
over glass), 6:09; Torres, EDM (kneeing), 8:32;
Torres, EDM (fighting major), 8:32; Murray, SJ
(instigator), 8:32; Murray, SJ (fighting major), 8:32;
Murray, SJ (10 min misconduct), 8:32; Cheechoo, SJ
(high sticking), 11:38; Stoll, EDM (tripping),
13:27; |
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3rd period -
Staios, EDM (roughing), 6:39; Michalek, sJ (roughing),
6:39; Tarnstrom, EDM (holding), 12:47; Souray, EDM
(holding), 19:18. |
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Overtime -
Cheechoo, SJ (high sticking), 4:49. |
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Shots |
Saves |
SJ - Nabokov |
25 |
23 |
EDM - Roloson |
30 |
28 |
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1 |
2 |
3 | OT |
T |
SJ |
9 |
4 |
15 | 2 |
30 |
EDM |
7 |
4 |
11 | 2 |
25 |
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Referees: Greg Kimmerly,
Chris Lee. Linesmen: Lyle Seitz, Vaughn Rody. |
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