|
|
Quick shines, Niemi chased in
Game 5
Series heads back to LA after 3-1 Kings
win
Game 5 of the Western Conference Quarter Final
match-up between the Sharks and Kings came down to good goaltending and bad
goaltending. San Jose netminder Antti Niemi couldn't buy a stop and his
adversary Jonathan Quick, turned aside 51 shots to help the Kings win 3-1 and
survive to play a Game 6 on Monday night. Niemi surrendered 3 goals on 4 shots
in the opening 9 minutes of play, to seal the Sharks fate. There would be no
comeback for San Jose, who failed to close out the series.
Quick
delivered the performance the Kings needed to keep their season alive, bouncing
back from surrendering 6 goals in back-to-back games. San Jose came out firing
from the opening faceoff, but Quick weathered the storm, stopping all 19 shots
he faced in the 1st period.
The question wasn't if Quick would keep
the Sharks off the board, but how many goals he would surrender. Those opening
20 minutes looked as if it was going to be a blood bath. San Jose had sustained
inside the Los Angeles blueline for most of the period, but when they didn't
the Kings were cashing in.
Niemi was his own worst enemy on the Kings
first goal, which came 3:36 into the game. The Sharks netminder tried to clear
the puck with a long pass to the right wing boards, but the Kings intercepted
the pass, kicked it across the ice, then sent a shot in on net. Rob Scuderi's
shot from the point hit Kyle Clifford outside the left post, pin-balling back
to the slot where it deflected off Wayne Simmonds back toward the Sharks net.
Niemi covered the post to cut off Scuderi's shot, so his positioning was
perfect for the series of ricochets.
Clifford added his 3rd goal of
the series less than 4 minutes later after Dan Boyle pinched in the Kings zone
and lost the puck, creating a 2-on-1 break for the Kings. Simmonds took a lead
pass from Brad Richardson and raced up the left wing. His shot was stopped by
Niemi, but Clifford was there to punch the rebound home.
Those two
goals were scored on the Kings first two shots of the game. The Kings wouldn't
muster much more in terms of pucks on net, but when they did, Niemi couldn't
stop them.
Dustin Penner finally made an appearance in the series
scoring his 1st goal of the playoffs at 8:42 after Niclas Wallin coughed the
puck up in his own zone. Kevin Westgarth intercepted Wallin's poor clearing
attempt near the right dot, then dropped a pass to Penner in the high slot.
Penner's 40-foot shot wasn't screened, but Niemi couldn't get his glove hand
over to the right side of the net in time, and just like that the Sharks
trailed 3-0.
That would be it for the Niemi, who was pulled for the
2nd time in the series. Antero Niittymaki stepped in and stopped all 18 shots
he would face.
Los Angeles put 6 shots on goal in the period, but the
damage was done.
The sellout HP Pavilion crowd kept the faith,
expecting to see another come from behind win. San Jose gave it a shot, but
Quick was up to the task.
Logan Couture was the poster boy for
snake-bit Shark of the night. The rookie forward hit the post on a shot from 8
feet out 3:30 into the 2nd period. He would also miss on a scoring chance right
in front of Quick in the 3rd period after the Sharks forced a turnover in the
Kings zone. The Kings goaltender would stone Couture on that latter scoring
chance, inching out to the top of the crease before gloving a point blank shot.
Kings forward Michal Handzus followed up Couture's post shot with a
scoring chance of his own that rang of the iron 2 minutes later.
The
Sharks would tease their fans with a goal 5:32 into the 2nd period. Joe
Thornton intercepted a puck deep in the Kings zone, then dropped it to Wallin
after skating out from behind the Los Angeles net. Walling fired a shot from
the left corner that Quick stopped, but Patrick Marleau ws there to stab at the
rebound, poking it home for the Sharks lone tally.
Once again, the Sharks out-shot the Kings in the
period, but they could only generate the lone goal.
Niittymaki made
what may have been the save of the series at 1:19 of the 3rd period. After
falling to his side to defend a scoring chance in front of the net, the Sharks
goaltender threw both hands up in the air as Drew Doughty snapped a shot from
the right dot. Niittymaki snared Doughty's shot to keep the Kings to within 2
goals.
San Jose would come close to scoring, but Quick was
Johnny-on-the-spot time and time again.
Matt Greene obliged the Sharks
comeback aspirations by taking a pair of cross checking penalties in the
period, but the Sharks power play went cold. San Jose finished 0-for-4 with the
man advantage.
Ryane Clowe negated most of Greene's second penalty by
taking a foolish cross-checking penalty of his own right in front of referee
Tim Peel with 5:03 to play. The infraction would seal San Jose's fate.
Quick's biggest save came with 2:41 left in the contest, waving his glove to
deny Marleau with save off another shot inside 10 feet.
 |
|
| What did you think of
this article? Post your comments on the Feeder Forums |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
 |
What did you
think of this story? Post your comments on the
Feeder Forums |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| LA |
3 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
| SJ |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
|
|
| 1st period - 1, LA,
Simmonds 1 (Clifford, Scuderi), 3:36. 2, LA, Clifford 4 (Simmonds, Richardson),
7:14. 3, LA, Penner 1 (Westgarth), 8:42. |
|
|
| 2nd period - 4, SJ,
Marleau 2 (Wallin, Thornton), 5:43. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 1st period - Brown, LA
(interference), 9:42. |
|
|
| 2nd period - Westgarth,
LA (hooking), 15:46. |
|
|
| 3rd period - Greene, LA
(high sticking), 10:09; Greene, LA (cross checking), 13:23; Clowe, SJ (cross
checking), 15:03. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Shots |
Saves |
| LA - Quick |
52 |
51 |
| SJ - Niemi |
4 |
1 |
| SJ - Niittymaki |
18 |
18 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
| LA |
6 |
12 |
4 |
22 |
| SJ |
19 |
15 |
18 |
52 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Referees: Peel,
Joannette. Linesmen: Sharrers, Wheler. |
|
|
|
|
|
