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HP Pavilion is a house of
horrors for Ducks
Sharks score first 5 goals then
cruise
There were two popular Halloween costumes being
donned by Anaheim Ducks players on Saturday night at HP Pavilion. The first was
a sieve, which was most popular among Ducks defensemen throughout the evening.
Other Duck players elected to go with the punching bag costume after taking
more than their share of punches in the head in San Jose’s 5-2 white
washing of the Ducks. Nine Sharks skaters recorded points in another goal-fest
at home.
Twelve fighting majors were handed out, in a punch-a-thon
that evolved from early Shark goals. The game was the first of six games
between the two teams, so all the physical drama sets the stage for a great set
of games this season.
The Sharks top line picked up right where they left off on
Wednesday night, when Dany Heatley and Joe Thornton teamed up for a goal just
36 seconds into the game. The Sharks capitalized on a nice forecheck, deep in
the right corner of the Anaheim zone. Thornton sent a pass from the corner to
the front of the net, where Heatley was parked. Ducks goaltender Curtis
McElhinney failed to cover the backside of the net, which allowed Heatley to
redirect the puck into the open goal.
“When we came back from
Europe we didn’t have any rhythm in our game, and I used that word
before," said Sharks head coach Todd McLellan. "Now we’re starting to find
that even in practices you can see they’re settled in a little more.
They’re prepared to go. Routine is real important with us and I think
we’re starting to see the benefits of that.”
An interference
penalty to Danny Syvret put the Sharks on the power play at 3:22 to setup the
Sharks next goal, but not before Saku Koivu almost bagged a short-handed goal
after the Sharks defense was crossed up on a two-on-two break. Once again, it
was Thornton with the primary assist, sliding the puck out to the slot, after
Heatley cranked a shot on net. Logan Couture was Johnny on the spot, pouncing
on the Thornton pass in the high slot before pivoting his body to square
himself to the goal and depositing his 4th of the season.
Two more
power play chances in the period setup a bushel of juicy chances for the
Sharks, but McElhinney weathered the storm. San Jose would outshoot Anaheim
16-4 in the period.
Sharks fan favorite Correy Perry would put San
Jose right back on the power play to start the 2nd period after he ran into
Sharks netminder Antero Niittymaki. Heatley would convert his 2nd of the night
on the man-advantage after Joe Pavelski made a nifty pass through the crease.
Ducks head coach Randy Carlyle decided to try and send a message by
having his tough guys drop the gloves. Kyle Chipchura and Aaron Voros would
simultaneously drop the gloves with Scott Nichol an Jamal Mayers. That preceded
fights between George Parros & Frazer McLaren, and Sheldon Brookbank &
Ryane Clowe a period earlier.
Niitymaki made the save of the game on
Bobby Ryan, after the Ducks forward undressed Sharks defenseman Douglas Murray
with two stick-handling moves in the slot. Niittymaki held his position and
stopped Ryan’s scoring attempt by pinning his right skate against the
post.
The hapless Ducks would miss on a wide open net with 8 minutes
to play in the period when Teemu Selanne took a split second too long to get
the shot off. Dan Boyle would block the shot and just like that San Jose was
headed up ice.
The would be Anaheim goal turned into San Jose’s
4th tally of the night, when Scott Nichol skated the puck to the left corner,
then sent a centering pass to the slot. Defenseman Niclas Wallin pinched from
the point and deflected a rebound off his shin pad past McElhinney at 12:32 for
the 4-0 Sharks lead.
Patrick Marleau got in on the act less than three
minutes later when he picked up a deflection in his own zone then raced up the
left wing and snapped home his 4th goal of the season. Marleau beat Andreas
Lilja, the former Red Wings defenseman who tried out with San Jose during
training camp, before sending the puck between McElhinney’s pads.
“It was scrambling hockey, we were running around trying to do too
many things," said Carlyle. "We were puck chasing. We didn’t have our
positional play. I don’t know if we were over aggressive from the
stanbdpoint of defending. It was one of those games where we didn’t look
like we had much structure to it.”
Jason Demers would give the
Ducks their first power play of the evening 4 minutes into the 3rd period and
the league’s 9th ranked power play took all of 12 seconds to cash in when
Ryan Getzlaf swept home a deflection from Perry in front of the net.
Murray leveled Chipchura with an open-ice hit midway through the period that
sent the Ducks centerman staggering back to the Anaheim bench. Voros would
engage Murray later in the period in retaliation, but the big Sharks defenseman
tattooed the Ducks left winger with a series of upper cuts.
Wallin
would earn a two-minute rest for planting Jason Blake with a hit from behind,
and Anaheim would convert once again on the power play. This time, Perry would
deposit a 10-foot shot from the right side after Selanne skated the puck toward
the net from the right corner before dishing to his linemate.
A
tripping call on Logan Couture made things a bit more interesting, allowing
Carlyle to pull McElhinney to setup a 6-on-4 chance to possibly generate some
offense, but it was too little too late. Game Notes:
Wallin’s
goal was only the second form a Sharks defenseman this season. Dan Boyle has
the other. Thornton set a Sharks record for contributing points in 9
consecutive Shark goals with his three helpers.
“Usually these
games end up being frustrating," added McLellan. "I was walking off the bench
and I was frustrated and unhappy but you have to take a deep breath as a coach
and take a look at it from a player’s perspective. They did a lot of good
things. We’re begging them to be perfect all the time and there’s no
such thing. If they can learn from some of the mistakes they made tonight then
we’ll be a better team when we get in this situation again. If they
don’t then we have some work to do.”
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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 |
| ANA |
0 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
| SJ |
2 |
3 |
0 |
5 |
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| 1st period - 1, SJ,
Heatley 4 (Thornton, Boyle), 0:36. 2, SJ, Couture 4 (Thornton, Heatley), 4:45,
(pp). |
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| 2nd period - 3, SJ,
Heatley 5 (Pavelski, Thornton), 2:08, (pp). 4, SJ, Wallin 1 (Nichol, Clowe),
12:32. 5, SJ, Marleau 4 (Boyle), 15:17. |
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| 3rd period - 6, ANA,
Getzlaf 4 (Perry, Selanne), 4:20, (pp). 7, ANA, Perry (Selanne), 11:18, (pp).
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| 1st period - Parros, ANA
(fighting major), 2:23; McLaren, SJ (fighting major), 2:23; Syvret, ANA
(interference), 3:22; Blake, ANA (delay of game), 5:52; Brookbank, ANA
(fighting major), 7:01; Clowe, SJ (fighting major), 7:01; Syvret, ANA
(hooking), 14:10. |
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| 2nd period - Perry, ANA
(goaltender interference), 1:18; Voros, ANA (fighting major), 2:10; Chipchura,
ANA (fighting major), 2:10; Nichol, SJ (fighting major), 2:10; Mayers, SJ
(fighting major), 2:10; Mara, ANA (holding), 16:59; Carter, ANA (elbowing),
17:46. |
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| 3rd period -
Demers, SJ (interference), 4:08; Carter, ANA (fighting major), 5:16; Nichol, SJ
(fighting major), 5:16; Voros, ANA (fighing major), 10:11; Murray, SJ (fighting
major), 10:11; Wallin, SJ (boarding), 10:22; Couture, SJ, (tripping), 17:13.
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Shots |
Saves |
| ANA - McElhinney |
41 |
36 |
| SJ - Niittymaki |
24 |
22 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| ANA |
4 |
7 |
13 |
24 |
| SJ |
16 |
22 |
3 |
41 |
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| Referees: O'Rourke,
Meier. Linesmen: Nelson, Gibbs. |
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