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Havlat's Hattie Hertl returns and Havlat leads Sharks
The Sharks wrapped up the second to the last day of
the season by treating the home crowd to an entertaining 5-1 victory over the
Colorado Avalanche on Friday night at SAP Center. The home crowd was energized
by the return of Czech rookie Tomas Hertl, who has missed the last 45 games
after suffering a knee injury in Los Angeles. The crowd left buzzing after the
Sharks other Czech, Martin Havlat, recorded his first hat-trick in 9 years to
pace San Jose.
* Hertl's return was a bit of a surprise, as no formal
time table on a return had been announced by the Sharks. Hertl had the game
Friday night and Saturday night's regular season finale in Phoenix on Saturday
night to get back into the swing of things. He was held off the score sheet,
but his presence was felt from the opening faceoff.
* Havlat turned
into the scoring machine that everyone envisioned after his acquisition from
the Minnesota Wild for Dany Heatley, at least for one game. The often injured
forward turned a close 2-1 game into a 5-1 laugher with three goals in the 3rd
period.
* Havlat was credited with his 10th goal of the season 5:26
into the 3rd period after Log Couture weaved through traffic from the right
side before uncorking a shot from the slot. Havlat deflected Couture's shot
while parked in front of the right post.
* Bracken Kearns helped setup
Havlat's 2nd of the evening by pushing a puck up through the neutral zone,
creating a breakaway chance. Havlat raced on Jean-Sebastien Giguere, bouncing a
shot off the goaltender. The rebound bounced right back to Havlat for the put
back chance that found twine.
* With a three-goal deficit and 6
minutes to play, Avalanche head coach Patrick Roy pulled Giguere for an extra
attacker, which did nothing more than simplify Havlat's quest for his natural
hat trick. Couture did the heavy lifting, vaulting himself to glove a deflected
puck in the Sharks zone before feeding Havlat up the left wing. Havlat simply
whipped the puck into the empty net for his first trifecta as a Shark.
* Giguere was in net for Colorado as a replacement for rookie goaltender Reto
Berra, who was yanked by Roy after surrendering two goals on 5 shots to start
the game.
* Dan Boyle opened the game's scoring 3 minutes into the
contest by whipping a shot from the right wing that clanked off the left post
and into the Colorado net. San Jose had worked the puck into the Avalanche zone
before Joe Thornton whipped a pass that deflected off the end boards, winding
around to Boyle on the right side.
* Patrick Marleau gave San Jose a
2-0 lead 7 minutes after Boyle's goal by winding up for a big slap shot from
the slot. Havlat setup Marleau with a drop pass at the blueline as Marleau
raced up the middle of the ice. There was little Berra could do on the blast,
but Roy was not very inspired by his netminder's play.
* The Avalanche cut the Sharks lead to 2-1 late in the
2nd period when Patrick Bordeleau deposited a deflection past Alex Stalock for
his 6th of the season. Maxime Talbot tried putting a puck on net, but Matt
Irwin slid in front of the shot, changing the trajectory of the shot. Bordeleau
was floating on the far side, and easily pumped home the redirect.
*
Jason Demers laid out Tyson Barrie with an open-ice hit in the Sharks zone that
buckled the Avalanche defenseman. Barrie stumbled to the bench and took a pair
of shifts after getting leveled, but he did not return from the locker room to
start the 3rd period.
* Joe Pavelski was named Sharks Player of the
Year before the game. Hertl and Mattt Nieto were named Co-Rookies of the Year.
Pavelski added an award for Fan Favorite, displacing Marleau who had been the
perennial winner of the award.
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
COL |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
SJ |
2 |
0 |
3 |
5 |
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1st period - 1, SJ,
Boyle 12 (Thornton, Burns), 3:01. 2, SJ, Marleau 33 (Havlat, Couture),
10:11 |
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2nd period - 3, COL,
Bordeleau 6 (Talbot, O'Reilly), 15:18. |
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3rd period - 4, SJ,
Havlat 10 (Couture, Marleau), 5:26. 5, SJ, Havlat 11 (Kearns, Desjardins),
13:40. 6, SJ, Havlat 12 (Couture), 15:04, (en). |
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1st period - Pavelski,
SJ (tripping), 6:13; Johnson, COL (holding), 19:29. |
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2nd period - Parenteau,
COL (high sticking), 15:35. |
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3rd period - Bordeleau,
COL (10 min misconduct), 18:49; Hertl, SJ (boarding), 18:49. |
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Shots |
Saves |
COL - Berra |
5 |
3 |
COL - Giguere |
24 |
22 |
COL - empty net |
1 |
0 |
SJ - Stalock |
33 |
32 |
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1 |
2 |
3 |
T |
COL |
11 |
11 |
11 |
33 |
SJ |
7 |
11 |
12 |
30 |
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Referees: Martell,
Sutherland. Linesmen: Sharrers, Murray. |
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