Joe Thorton scored his 250th career goal and Douglas Murray had his second career multi-point game with two assists as the San Jose Sharks destroyed the Tampa Bay Lightning 7-1 as they begin the second half of their season and what looks to be a difficult four game homestand with a convincing win.
Devin Setoguchi started the scoring early, as he shot a hard one-timer past Tampa Bay's backup goaltender Karri Ramo, who got the start because Tampa Bay was playing their second game of a back to back. Thorton then scored his career milestone goal, after he attempted to pass a puck to Patrick Marleau in front of the net, but the pass deflected off a Lightning defender's stick instead and into the net to make it 2-0 after the first. Tampa Bay began fighting back in the second, however. They dominated control of the puck in the first half of the second, with the Shark's only scoring chance wiped out after a goalthat bounced off Milan Michalek's skate was negated after video review determined it was put in with a kicking motion. Soon after, Steven Stamkos, Tampa Bay's first round pick and the first overall pick of the 2008 draft scored his fifth goal to bring the Lightning back to within 1. But Tampa Bay imploded after that. Setoguchi tipped a shot from Marleau into Ramo, which rebounded onto Thorton's stick for an easy tap in and his second goal of the night. Tampa Bay then took 4 penalties in the last half of the second period, as Michalek and Ryan Clowe added two power play goals, with Clowe's coming in the last 5 seconds of the second. Things only got worse for the Lightning, as San Jose came out strong in the third period. Joe Pavelski scored 30 seconds in and Tomas Plihal added another one two minutes later to make it 7-1. Frustration then began to set into the Tampa Bay bench. Evgeny Artyukhin laid a hard check on Mike Grier well after the whistle was blown. Tampa Bay then took 5 more penalties in the last half of the third, with two of them being 10 minute game misconducts as Vaclav Prospal and David Koci were sent to the locker room early. Evgeni Nabokov also made several key saves throughout the night, including a glove save to rob Lightning captain Vincent Lecavalier, and Nabokov finished with 24 saves on 25 shots. Nabokov's counterpart Ramo played well despite the score, stopping 35 of San Jose's 42 shots.
The San Jose Sharks did not even need the help of their NHL leader of points by a defenseman, Dan Boyle, who had his four game point streak snapped against his former team. Boyle was traded to San Jose during this past off-season, and stated earlier in the season that he felt betrayed by the new management of the club he spent most of his career playing for. Before the game, Boyle said that it was only human for him to feel that playing a game against his former team was a little more important than other games. Brad Lukowich, who was also part of the deal that brought Boyle to San Jose, did not play against his former team, as he was out with a hernia injury.
The win continues a dominating home winning streak by San Jose, as they have not lost a game in regulation at home in the last 31 home games, dating back to February 14th. This season, they are 20-0-2 at HP Pavilion. The Sharks were also surpassed by the Boston Bruins earlier in the day for the lead in points in the NHL, but reclaimed the title of the best team in hockey with the win against Tampa Bay. The win looks to be a good start for the Sharks, as they jeapordize their spotless home record against the Calgary Flames, Detroit Red Wings, and Vancouver Canucks in the next three games. Calgary and Detroit both beat San Jose badly earlier in the season after suffering equally horrible defeats from the hands of the Sharks near the start of the season. Vancouver has not won against San Jose yet this season, but in both meetings they were without their superstar goaltender Roberto Luongo, who looks to get back onto the ice by the game against the Sharks next Tuesday.
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