Hurricanes Defeat Sharks in Shootout 4-3

The Sharks had not played since last Saturday in their loss to the Blackhawks.  Despite the extra rest, San Jose failed to finish, giving up two seperate two goal leads and eventually lossing in a shootout to the Carolina Hurricanes, giving them two losses in a row at home for the first time all season.

The Sharks came out of the gates flying, taking full advantange of having four days of rest.  They unloaded on Hurricane backup goaltender Michael Leighton, who got the start to give Cam Ward some extra rest.  12 minutes into the first period, Ryane Clowe took a Milan Michalek shot which bounced off two Carolina players and put it past Leighton for the first score of the game.  3 minutes into the second period, Alexei Semenov scored his first goal of the year, putting a bounce on the puck from the point that eventually slid under Leighton to give the Sharks a 2-0 lead.  A minute later, however, a turnover in the Sharks's offensive zone led to a Matt Cullen breakaway.  Christian Ehrhoff slashed Cullen's stick, and the referee rewarded Cullen with a penalty shot.  Cullen showed lots of patience in the shot, waiting until Evgeni Nabokov made a move before putting it past the San Jose netminder.  Soon after, Marc-Edouard Vlasic scored on the power play, jumping on the weak-side unnoticed by defenders and put a backhand pass from Clowe into the back of the net to once again give the Sharks a 2 goal lead 3-1.  But Carolina took over the game from that point on.
A bad pass out of the Sharks's defensive zone led to a 2 on 1 opportunity for Carolina.  Jakub Petruzalek, playing in his first NHL game, passed the puck right in front of Nabokov to Sergei Samsanov, who redirected the puck into the net, to notch his first career point with an assist.  The Carolina defense then stifled the Sharks's rush, plugging up the neutral zone and waiting for a turnover.  They got it, and Matt Cullen drew all San Jose defenders towards him, leaving ex-Shark Ray Whitney wide open in front of Nabokov for an easy game-tying goal.  Tuomo Ruutu and Sergei Samsanov scored in the shootout for Carolina to seal the win 4-3.

Dan Boyle played in his first game since the All-Star game, recovering from an upper body injury that caused him to miss the last three games.  Although his impact on the power play was immediately felt, the Sharks's power play was once again horrific, going 1 for 5.  Boyle had a several opportunities to score, including a great cross-ice pass from Joe Thorton which gave Boyle a wide open net.  However, Leighton quickly slid over and robbed the All-Star defenseman of an easy goal.  Leighton finished with 37 saves on 40 shots, and was easily the best player on the ice for the Hurricanes.  Milan Michalek was lone bright spot on the Sharks's roster, assisting on all three goals.  The highest scoring line in the NHL, the San Jose first line, was held scoreless for the fourth time in four games since the All-Star break.  The win gave Carolina a win over San Jose for the first time since March 4, 2000.  San Jose now begins a long road trip, including a game in Boston on Tuesday which may end up determining home-ice advantange for the Stanley Cup Finals.