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Sharks outlast
Pens 3-for-3 on the shootout wins it 2/24/08 - by Mike Lee
Building on their win
Philadelphia on Friday night, the Sharks got back to the basics in Pittsburgh
on Sunday afternoon and kept one of the most potent young offenses in check in
a 2-1 shootout win. All three Shark shooters scored in the shootout, including
Jeremy Roenick, who has gone 3-for-3 this season. Roenick sealed the victory
with his 2nd consecutive shootout game-winner.
As has been the case
for many of the games on the season lone 8-game road trip, San Jose came out
strong, but couldn't muster any scoring. A Jarko Ruutu interference penalty
gave the Sharks an early power play, but the offense seemed to go into a shell
with the man advantage. Matt Carle had a wide open net, but Penguins goaltender
Ty Conklin made a spectacular diving save to rob the Sharks defenseman.
Missed opportunities on the power play was the story of the period for
the Sharks, who would go on to flub two other man-advantage chances. Jonathan
Cheechoo came closest to scoring by batting a puck out of the air after Joe
Thornton tried feeding Cheechoo a pass from behind the Penguins net.
San Jose would outshoot the Penguins 14-4, and out-chanced them 4-1, but the
offense continued to sputter.
The Penguins 3rd ranked power play had
two chances of their own in the 2nd period, narrowly missing on an Evgeni
Malkin shot that rang off the left post after it slipped past Sharks goaltender
Evgeni Nabokov.
Malkin also had a nifty scoring chance after splitting
two Shark defenders in the high slot then swatted at the puck as he was falling
to the ice. Nabokov stayed patient on the play, waiting for Malkin to put the
puck on goal before committing as he followed the play move from his left to
right.
San Jose dodged a bullet at the 2nd period horn when a Patrick
Rissmiller at the Penguins blueline turned into a scoring chance that had
Nabokov pushed back into his own goal. The puck bounced off the Sharks
netminder, then sat dangerously in the slot until Mike Grier swept it clear.
Cheechoo finally brook the scoring stand off with a Sydney
Crosby-esque goal 3:10 into the 3rd period. Cheechoo took a pass from Joe
Thornton at the Pittsburgh blueline, then bulled his way around Ryan Whitney on
the left wing, then cut back across the top of the goal crease before slipping
a shot past Conklin. The goal was Cheechoo's 4th in the last 5 games.
Erik Christensen would tie the game at 1-1 with a
power play goal at 10:02 after Jody Shelley took a hooking penalty. Christensen
squeezed a one-timer between Nabokov and the right post, after one-timing a
Sergei Gonchar pass from the right corner.
Cheechoo would earn a trip
to the box with a careless holding penalty in the Penguins zone with just under
4 minutes to play in regulation. Malkin would trip Torrey Mitchell with 44
seconds remaining in Cheechoo's penalty, to give the Sharks a short power play,
but again the man advantage provided no relief for San Jose.
The
Sharks got 5 shots on Conklin in the overtime period, but couldn't find a way
to put one past him.
In the shootout, Christensen scored on a deek
right to left. Joe Pavelski would counter that with a snap shot that beat
Conlkin to the stick side. Nabokov snuffed Kris Letang with a pad save in front
of the right post. Cheechoo would put the Sharks up with another wrist shot
that beat Conklin to the 5-hole.
Ruutu, would keep the Penguins in the
game for a moment more with a goal, but Roenick ended it with yet another wrist
shot that Conklin failed to stop.
Game Notes:
The game
started late because of a Zamboni malfunction right after the pre-game
warm-ups. The Zamboni broke a hydrolic line at center ice, spewing hydrolic
fluid all over the center-ice logo, melting a portion of the rink. Tomas Plihal
was placed on the injured reserve with n upper respiratory infection. Alexei
Semanov returned to the Sharks lineup, after he was activated off the injured
reserve.
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What did you
think of this game? Post your comments on the
Feeder Forums |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
OT |
SO |
T |
SJ |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
PIT |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
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3rd period - 1, SJ,
Cheechoo 18 (Thornton, Shelley), 3:10. 2, PIT, Christensen 9 (Gonchar, Taafe),
10:02, (pp). |
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Shootout - Pitt:
Christensen (goal), Letang (miss), Ruutu (goal). SJ: Pavelski (goal), Cheechoo
(goal), Roenick (goal). |
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1st period - Ruutu, PIT
(interference), 4:02; Ruutu, PIT (10 min misconduct), 4:02; Orpik, PIT
(roughing), 9:42; Whitney (hooking), 14:52. |
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2nd period - Ehrhoff, SJ
(holding), 4:38; Whitney, PIT (hooking), 9:53; Carle, SJ (interference),
14:30. |
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3rd period - Shelley, SJ
(hooking), 9:47; Cheechoo, SJ (holding), 16:06; Malkin, PIT (tripping),
17:22. |
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Shots |
Saves |
SJ - Nabokov |
21 |
20 |
PIT - Conklin |
37 |
37 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
OT |
T |
SJ |
14 |
7 |
11 |
5 |
37 |
PIT |
4 |
10 |
7 |
0 |
21 |
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Referees: McCreary,
Morton. Linesmen: Brisebois, Driscoll. |
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