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Sharks grab foothold in
West
2-1 win in Edmonton extends lead to 6
points
The tail end of the Sharks swing through Alberta
started well for San Jose and ended with the first sweep of the Edmonton and
Calgary on the road in franchise history. Thursday night’s 2-1 squeaker
over the Oilers ended an 18-year quest, but it didn’t come easy. Evgeni
Nabokov’s 25 saves made goals by Jonathan Cheechoo and Dan Boyle stand up
as the Sharks extended their lead in the Western Conference to 6 points over
the Detroit Red Wings.
Cheechoo wasted little time scoring his 2nd
goal in as many games. The Sharks forward grabbed a Jeremy Roenick feed along
the left wing, then cut back toward the slot, sliding underneath a Joe Thornton
screen before whipping a shot past Dwayne Roloson for his 11th goal of the
season.
Boyle just missed on a chance to extend the Sharks lead early
in the 2nd period, but he rang a shot off the post after San Jose opened the
period flying.
An interference penalty to Denis Grebeshkov at 7:49 of
the 2nd period, gave the Sharks a power play chance after controlling much of
the play early. Boyle would convert on the power play, the Sharks 9th
consecutive game scoring on the man advantage. Boyle pinched from the right
point to lift a Christian Ehrhoff deflection over Roloson for the 2-0 lead.
Shawn Horcoff put yet another shot off the post, after Ales Hemsky
misfired on a breakaway chance.
Milan Michalek clipped Hemsky late in
the period, giving the Oilers a man advantage, but an Ales Kotalik tripping
call on Joe Pavelski 45 seconds later should have even things up. Instead,
Pavelski was also whistled for diving on what appeared to be a high sticking
penalty against him. Rather than 4-on-4 hockey, the Pavelski infraction would
open up the ice for Edmonton .
Sheldon Souray would use that extra ice
to hit Dustin Penner with a pass from the end boards to the Oilers forward at
the Sharks blueline. Penner sent a diagonal pass to Robert Nilsson, who tapped
a drop pass to Sam Gagne back in the slot. Gagner slid toward the net and
lifted a shot over Evgeni Nabokov’s right shoulder with 1:42 left in the
period.
The Oilers season hinged on the final period, so they came out
firing. With the ice tilting in Edmonton ’s favor, San Jose didn’t
help themselves by icing the puck on two chances to gain center ice. Travis
Moen made things interesting by taking an interference penalty with 12 minutes
to play.
The Sharks penalty killing unit dispatched the Oilers,
and then almost turned the tables on Edmonton when Milan Michalek had a
breakaway chance right before Moen’s penalty was about to expire. Roloson
stood up Michalek, denying the Sharks forward.
Douglas Murray gave the
Oilers their 5th power play of the game with 6:46 minutes to play in regulation
by taking a tripping minor. Once again, the Sharks were able to kill the
penalty, but the Oilers aided the effort by putting several shots wide of the
net.
Edmonton outshot the Sharks 9-5 in the final period, but they
couldn’t get anything past Nabokov. Oilers head coach Craig MasTavish
pulled Roloson with 1:07 left in the game, but the Sharks tied the puck up,
preventing any rubber from even reaching Nabokov.
Game
Notes:
Defenseman Rob Blake and forward Marcel Goc returned to the
lineup after nursing injuries. Tom Cavanagh was reassigned to Worcester to make
room for Goc.
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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 |
T |
| SJ |
1 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
| EDM |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
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| 1st period - 1, SJ,
Cheechoo 11 (Roenick, Blake), 0:52. |
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| 2nd period - 2, SJ,
Boyle 16 (Pavelski, Ehrhoff), 8:16, (pp). 3, EDM, Gagner 15 (Nilsson, Penner),
18:18, (pp). |
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| 1st period - Roloson,
EDM (delay of game – puck over glass), 13:33; Roenick, SJ (goaltender
interference), 14:17; Michalek, SJ (hooking), 16:12. |
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| 2nd period - Grebeshkov,
EDM (interference), 7:49; Hemsky, EDM (hooking), 12:02; Michalek, SJ (high
sticking), 16:50; Pavelski, SJ (diving), 17:35; Kotalik, EDM (tripping),
17:35. |
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| 3rd period -
Moen, SJ (interference), 8:05; Murray, SJ (tripping), 13:14. |
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Shots |
Saves |
| SJ - Nabokov |
26 |
25 |
| EDM - Roloson |
22 |
20 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| SJ |
8 |
9 |
5 |
22 |
| EDM |
6 |
11 |
9 |
26 |
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| Referees: LaRue,
Lee. Linesmen: Cvik, Wheler. |
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