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Turning Point Cheechoo's 2 goals propel SJ to 3-2 series lead 4/17/08 - by Mike Lee
The team everyone thought San
Jose was bringing to the party finally showed up on Thursday night. Led by
Jonathan Cheechoo's two 3rd period goals, the Sharks grabbed a 3-goal lead,
then hung on for a 4-3 win in Game 5 to take a 3-2 lead in their Western
Conference Quarter Final series with the Calgary Flames. Joe Pavelski and
Patrick Marleau also scored for San Jose. Sharks goaltender Evgeni Nabokov
turned aside 33 shots to earn his 3rd win of the series.
The Sharks
grabbed a 2-1 lead with just under 2 minutes left in the 2nd period, then used
a 3 minute flurry early in the 3rd period to bag all the goals they would need.
Flames head coach Mike Keenan said he thought his defenseman made some poor
decisions in the 3rd period, which led to Cheechoo's goals.
"We gave
them two un-earned goals tonight," said Keenan. "Poor decision making by two of
our defensemen, and that made the decision in the game. It wasn't related to
the effort it was related to the poor decisions that they normally wouldn't
make or haven't made to this point."
Calgary seemed intent on applying
more offensive pressure on Nabokov, after their paltry 10 shots on goal in Game
4. The Flames came out with more vigor in the offensive zone in the opening
period, out-shooting the Sharks 11-5 in the period.
Jerome Iginla and
Alex Tanguay came close to scoring in the period on a 2-on-1 break just 5
minutes into the game. Iginla squeezed a shot that slipped past Nabokov, but
the Sharks goaltender reached back a swept the puck away as it rolled on end
toward the goal.
Milan Michalek continued to struggle in the series,
and a breakaway chance that was denied by Miikka Kiprusoff in the first minute
of the 2nd period didn't help matters.
A roughing penalty to Ryane
Clowe at 2:44 of the period was followed by a hooking infraction by Torrey
Mitchell 50 seconds later setup a Flames 5-on-3. Iginla would bag his 3rd goal
of the series with a blast from the right circle to open the game's scoring.
With Iginla's goal coming before either of the penalties expired, the
Sharks were still forced to kill off Mitchell's penalty. San Jose would almost
turn the tables on the Flames advantage when Joe Thornton took a short-handed
break up the ice, but failed to put a shot on net after deeking Kiprusoff.
The penalty bug would hit the Flames midway through the period when
former Shark Wayne Primeau would draw a slashing penalty and Stephane Yelle
would get called for hooking. San Jose would only enjoy 24 seconds of 5-on-3
time, but they would convert right after Primeau's penalty expired.
"We
got a pretty good performance on the power-play, 2-for-5. They were 1-for-3,"
said Keenan. "And our 5-on-5 play was good with the exception of those two
errors. There is not too much more you can say about the game. That was the
difference."
Christian Ehrhoff sent a shot on goal from the right wing
boards, as Pavelski converged on the Flames crease. Ehrhoff's shot kicked off
Kiprusoff's left pad, but right to Pavelski on the doorstep for the put back
goal at 11:32.
Marleau would give the Sharks a 2-1 lead late in the
period after Thornton feathered a pass through the slot from the right wing
boards. Marleau gathered the pass and whipped a shot from the inside of the
left circle. Marleau's shot clanked off the right post top shelf.
The
Cheechoo show would start at 4:52 of the 3rd period after Jim Vandermeer tried
to skate the puck out of his own zone, but turned it over after losing the
handle on it near the bottom of the left circle. Clowe picked up the loose puck
and fed it to Pavelski in the slot. The Sharks forward tried to deek Kiprusoff
and jam a shot in on net from in tight. As Kiprusoff tried to cover the puck
with a snow angel, it trickled out into the slot, where Cheechoo jammed it home
for his 2nd goal of the playoffs.
"It's a long ways from over," said
Sharks defenseman Brian Campbell. "We've got a lot or work left to do, so we're
going to get rested the next couple of days. It's going to be a battle on
Sunday. They come at you hard. It's going to be a close game again."
Marleau would setup Cheechoo's second tally and also exacted some revenge on
Flames defenseman Cory Sarich. Sarich leveled Marleau in Game 3, but it was the
Sharks captain who got the last laugh Thursday night. Marleau blocked a shot
attempt by Sarich in the Sharks zone, then beat him to the puck, before
floating a pass to Cheechoo on the right wing. Kiprusoff couldn't get across
the crease in time to stop Cheechoo's shot, and just like that it was 4-1.
Calgary mounted a comeback on the next sequence after Craig Rivet was
whistled for holding the stick at 8:56. Damond Langkow stuffed home a feed from
Tanguay on the ensuing power play after Dion Phanuef circled the puck along the
blueline and around the right wing boards. Tanguay took a feed from Phaneuf
near the right corner, then slid a pass to Langkow, who was parked in front of
the crease.
Keenan pulled Kiprusoff with 2 minutes to play and the
Flames would score with the extra attacker. Once again Iginla was in on the
scoring, slipping Flames right wing David Moss a pass from behind the net. Moss
tapped home the pass as Douglas Murray was trying to push him away from the
goalmouth.
The Sharks would burn the final 1:17 of clock by playing
keep-away and clearing it down rink without icing it. The sellout crowd erupted
as the final horn sounded. The win sets up a Game 6 that could spell the end of
the season for Calgary at home on Sunday.
"We've been just talking the
last week or so," said Sharks head coach Ron Wilson. "It's the team that's
going to do it. They don't put one name on the Cup, they put everybody's name
on. And no one name is going to be in bold type or anything like that.
Everyone's going to get credit and that's how we have to play. I think our team
game is starting to return."
Game Notes:
Defenseman
Kyle McLaren left the game in the 2nd period with an undisclosed injury.
McLaren missed 16 games during the regular season with a knee injury.
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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, CGY,
Iginla 3 (Huselius, Phaneuf), 4:03, (pp). 2, SJ, Pavelski 2 (Ehrhoff, Rivet),
11:32, (pp). 3, SJ, Marleau 2 (Thornton, Campbell), 18:07. |
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3rd period - 4, SJ,
Cheechoo 2 (Pavelski, Clowe), 4:52. 5, SJ, Cheechoo 3 (Marleau), 8:22. 6, CGY,
Langkow 2 (Tanguay, Phanuef), 9:06, (pp). 7, CGY, Moss 1 (Iginla, Conroy),
18:43. |
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1st period - Ehrhoff, SJ
(tripping), 1:01; Mitchell, SJ (tripping), 4:51; Aucoin, CGY (holding),
5:22. |
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2nd period - Clowe, SJ
(roughing), 2:44; Mitchell, SJ (hooking), 3:34; Primeau, CGY (slashing), 9:27;
Yelle, CGY (hooking), 11:04. |
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3rd period - Rivet, SJ
(holding the stick), 8:56. |
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Shots |
Saves |
CGY - Kiprusoff |
26 |
22 |
SJ - Nabokov |
36 |
33 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
CGY |
11 |
16 |
9 |
36 |
SJ |
5 |
14 |
7 |
26 |
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Referees: Devorski,
Leggo. Linesmen: Driscoll, Champoux. |
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