The last time the San Jose Sharks visited the Chicago Blackhawks in the United Center, it was an 11 goal game where the Sharks scored 2 late power play goals to come back from behind to win 6-5. In the final meeting between these two franchises in what could be a second round matchup in the Western Conference playoffs, the Sharks and the Blackhawks lived up to the expectations set back in November, scoring 10 goals in 65 minutes of play before Chicago won in the shootout.
The Blackhawks dominated the Sharks offensively in the first period, spending most of the time in the San Jose end of the ice. Martin Havlat scored his 25th goal a little over a minute into the first period to give Chicago the early lead 1-0, as a shot off the far post bounced right onto his stick for a redirected shot into a wide open net. But San Jose took full advantage of a Chicago penalty a few minutes later, as they spent almost the entire 2 minutes in the offensive zone on the power play, before Devin Setoguchi blasted a shot from the point to tie the game 1-1. But a couple of San Jose turnovers cost them, as the Blackhawks scored 2 more goals in the first half of the opening period. Dustin Byfuglien capitalized off a neutral zone turnover, and wristed a shot that went off of Evgeni Nabokov's glove and over the San Jose goalie into the net for the 2-1 lead. Then a minute later, Havlat intercepted a pass in front of the San Jose net, and dropped it off for Andrew Ladd who rifled a shot past Nabokov for a 3-1 lead.
But San Jose got help from their young forwards in the second period, and began to chip away. Cam Barker assisted on the first goal of the second period, blasting a puck from the side boards that bounced off Nabokov's pads and off of Jonathan Toews's skate, which redirected the puck into the net to give the Blackhawks a 4-1 lead. But the Sharks went back to basics, as they began throwing pucks towards the net from all angles to try and score goals. Jamie McGinn tried to feed Ryan Vesce, who was in front of Nikolai Khabibulin, from a sharp angle, but the puck bounced off a Chicago defender's skate and into the net to bring San Jose within 2 goals. Then, strong forechecking by Jonathan Cheechoo caused the puck to bounce towards Joe Thorton, who passed the puck backhanded to Marc-Edouard Vlasic, who pinched in from the blue line and fired a slapshot past Khabibulin to cut the deficit to 1 goal. Chicago also had several opportunities to extend their lead near the end of the second, including a great centering pass that left Byfuglien alone in front of Nabokov, but the San Jose goaltender robbed him of a sure goal with the glove.
Again, the Blackhawks got off to a great start, scoring the first goal of the third period. Andrew Ladd had a nice give-and-go play with David Bolland, passing the puck to Bolland who threw a hard pass right back to Ladd's stick for a redirect into the net to give the Blackhawks a 5-3 lead. But two great individual efforts by San Jose's top point producers tied the game late in the third. Joe Pavelski intercepted a pass in the Sharks's defensive zone, and threw a long pass to Setoguchi, who was already skating behind the Chicago defense. Setoguchi went on the breakaway, skated in close to Khabibulin, then lifted the puck high and over the netminder to once again bring San Jose within 1 goal. Then with a little over 2 minutes left in the period, Thorton skated wide around Chicago's defense, got body position around one of the defenders, and quickly shot the puck between Khabibulin's pads to tie the game 5-5. San Jose had several great rebound chances in the final two minutes of the third period that they could not capitalize on, while Chicago ended the overtime period with some great scoring chances of their own, but both defenses made great blocks to send the game to overtime.
Chicago only needed two of the three rounds to win in the shootout, as Patrick Kane used multiple quick stick-handling moves to freeze Nabokov before backhanding it over his glove, and Jonathan Toews simply shot the puck hard between Nabokov's pads before the goaltender could drop down to make the save. Joe Pavelski shot first for San Jose, and had Khabibulin beat, but his high wrist shot rang off the crossbar and did not go into the net. Jeremy Roenick, who was playing in his first game back from a shoulder injury, tried to mimic Toews by making a couple of moves and shooting the puck hard between the legs, but Khabibulin read the play and made an easy save, and Chicago won the game 6-5.
San Jose continued to struggle on the road, as their first game of a back-to-back road trip snapped a 3 game winning streak that was started and ended on home ice. The Sharks continued to remain dominant on the penalty kill, stopping both Chicago attempts and limiting the shots on goal with the man advantage. The game was called rather liberally by the referees, as there were only 4 penalties despite several blatant offenses from both teams throughout the course of the game. The Sharks were down 9 skaters, as Patrick Marleau, Marcel Goc, Mike Grier, Rob Blake, Torrey Mitchell, Ryane Clowe, Claude Lemieux, Tomas Plihal, and Kent Huskins were all out of the game. Marleau was the only one not dealing with injuries, as he took the day off to celebrate the birth of his second child. With the win, Chicago holds off Vancouver's bid for fourth place, as they now hold a 2 point lead over the Canucks. The overtime loss ties San Jose with Detroit for first place in the NHL and Western Conference, but the Sharks have 1 more game left in the season than the Red Wings. San Jose's next game will be the second of a back-to-back, as they travel to Nashville to play the Predators, who are currently two points behind the Anaheim Ducks for 8th place in the West, to finish a quick two game road trip.
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