|
|
No post Christmas letdown for
Sharks
SJ hits Ducks with 5-goal uppercut
With the holidays in full force, the Sharks
unleashed a little post-Christmas beat down on the visiting Anaheim Ducks on
Saturday night. San Jose has won all four meetings between the two teams this
season, but Saturday nights beat down was as effective a win as they come.
Patrick Marleau scored a pair of goals and Evgeni Nabokov stopped 30 shots in a
5-2 win at HP Pavilion. Joe Thornton added three assists to extend his lead in
the league’s points scoring race.
San Jose was poised to perform
after a lively morning skate earlier in the day.
“For the most part
I was happy," said Sharks head coach Todd McLellan. "I was really happy this
morning when the guys showed up and they were very alive, very alert. It was a
pretty good skate and left us with a pretty good feeling going into
tonight.”
San Jose landed a 1st period scoring punch, then kept
their foot on the gas until they had run up a 5-0 lead. The Sharks top line set
the tone stunned the Ducks with the first three scores of the game.
The Sharks got on the board early, when Patrick Marleau scored his 300th career
goal on a fluky play just 2:15 into the contest. Marleau was in the right place
at the right time, after Dany Heatley partially whiffed on a shot from the high
slot. Heatley’s shot attempt veered left, just as Marleau was breaking in
on net. Ducks goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere expected the puck to go one
way, but instead it sliced to the opposite post, where Marleau was there for
the easy redirect into the Anaheim net.
“Patty’s been in the
game so long, he’s been such a great player that the milestones just keep
coming," added McLellan. "I know he got his 25th goal tonight and that’s a
heck of a start for a very important player for our hockey club.”
Ducks tough guy George Parros tried to snap his teammates to attention by
dropping the gloves with Frazer McLaren on the ensuing faceoff.
Petteri Nokelainen put the Sharks on the power play at 14:32 with an
interference call, and San Jose made the most of the ensuing man advantage.
Marleau and Heatley would hook up once again, albeit on the power play. Heatley
slid a pass to the right post, where Marleau was parked for the deposit less
than a minute into the penalty.
Anaheim would get their own chance on
the power play with 4 minutes to play in the period when Scot Nichol was sent
off for hooking. Ryan Getzlaf just missed cutting the Sharks lead in half when
he put a shot attempt off the right post.
Heatley made it 3-0 just
under 8-minutes into the 2nd period on another peculiar play. The Sharks sniper
carried the puck up the slot and put a shot on net that got past defenseman
Steve Wisniewski, but Giguere made the initial stop. Heatley’s
follow-through caught Wisniewski in the face as the Duck went down to a knee to
try and block the shot. When Wisniewski went down, Heatley scooped up the
rebound and squeezed a follow-up shot between Giguere’s pads.
Anaheim shifted to a more physical approach after
Heatley’s goal, but that resulted in another Sharks power play. Corey
Perry was sent off for interference att 11:41 and San Jose would strike. Ryane
Clowe bagged his 9th of the season with assists going to two Anaheim
defenseman. The Sharks forward sent a shot in from the left side, but the puck
hit the skates of Wisniewski, then Scot Neidermayer, before sliding into the
goal for the 4-0 Sharks lead.
Jamie McGinn made it 5-0 just 15 seconds
later after the Sharks won the faceoff and carried it up ice for a quick shot.
McGinn was able to pick his spot, because there was no Duck defender within 15
feet of him as he skated in on Giguere.
Kyle Chipchura finally got the
Ducks on the board late in the period, by knocking Kent Huskins off the puck at
the Sharks blueline, then skating in uncontested on Evgeni Nabokov. The Ducks
centerman lifted a shot over Nabokov’s right shoulder for this 2nd goal of
the season.
Jamie McGinn opened the 3rd period with a hooking penalty
that setup a second Anaheim goal. San Jose managed to kill off the two-minutes,
but Bobby Ryan converted right after McGinn stepped back on the ice, cutting
the Sharks lead to 5-2.
Anaheim decided to take out their frustrations
with their fists, engaging in a pair of fights late in the game. Chipchura and
Scott Nichol engaged in a spirited bout that lent a decision to the smaller
Sharks forward. Matt Beleskey and Jed Ortmeyer also squared off with less than
two minutes to play.
“We had all kinds of shots. On one power play
we had six scoring chances," said Anaheim head coach Randy Carlyle. We just
didn’t find a way to put it over the line. That’s the difference with
a 2-0 game. It makes it 2-1 and then we get back into it.”
Marleau
earned just his third minor penalty of the season at 13:13 for high sticking,
putting the Ducks back on the power play, but the Sharks penalty killers
suppressed Anaheim ’s final push to get back in the game.
Game
Notes:
Parros missed the remainder of the 1st period after his
fight with McLaren, but returned to the Ducks bench to start the 2nd period.
Getzlaf suffered a laceration to his leg and left the game in the 2nd period.
 |
|
| What did you think of
this article? Post your comments on the Feeder Forums |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
 |
What did you
think of this game? Post your comments on the
Feeder Forums |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| ANA |
0 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
| SJ |
2 |
3 |
0 |
5 |
|
|
| 1st period - 1, SJ,
Marleau 24 (Heatley, Thornton), 2:15. 2, SJ, Marelau 25 (Heatley, Thornton),
15:19, (pp). |
|
|
| 2nd period - 3, SJ,
Heatley (Thornton, Blake), 7:41. 4, SJ, Clowe 9 (Setoguchi, Blake), 13:00,
(pp). 5, SJ, McGinn 6 (Nichol, Malhotra), 13:15. 6, ANA, Chipchura 2
(unassisted), 18:56. |
|
|
| 3rd period - 7, ANA,
Ryan 17 (Perry, Nokelainen), 4:39. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 1st period - Parros, ANA
(fighting major), 2:18; McLaren, SJ (fighting major), 2:18; Nokelainen, ANA
(interference), 14:23; Nichol, SJ (hooking), 15:55. |
|
|
| 2nd period - Huskins, SJ
(delay of game – puck over glass), 5:09; Perry, ANA (holding), 11:41;
Perry, ANA (interference), 11:41; Pavelski, SJ (roughing), 11:41. |
|
|
| 3rd period -
McGinn, SJ (hooking), 2:34; Chipchura, ANA (fighting major), 12:17; Nichol, SJ
(fighting major), 12:17; Marleau, SJ (high sticking), 13:13; Beleskey, ANA
(fighting major), 18:20; Ortmeyer, SJ (fighting major), 18:20. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Shots |
Saves |
| ANA - Giguere |
25 |
20 |
| SJ - Nabokov |
32 |
30 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| ANA |
11 |
11 |
10 |
32 |
| SJ |
11 |
11 |
3 |
25 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Referees: Banfield,
Leggo. Linesmen: Heyer, Pancich. |
|
|
|
|
|
