San Jose Sharks captain Patrick Marleau scored the last 2 goals for the San Jose Sharks, including the game winner, pulling the Sharks out of a tight game with the Vancouver Canucks in the third period as San Jose won 4-2 in Vancouver in their second game of a back to back.
The Sharks had a tough first two periods, as Vancouver answered every Sharks goal late in both periods. Rob Blake scored his 230th career goal on the power play to put the Sharks up first in the game. But after a blocked shot brought Brian Boucher, who was spelling Evgeni Nabokov for the night and ended with 24 saves on 26 shots, out of position, Mats Sundin scored his first goal as a Vancouver Canuck with 30 seconds left in the first to tie it 1-1. Mike Grier slowed the momentum down early in the second, scoring 2 minutes into the period with a hard slapshot at the top of the faceoff circle to give the Sharks the lead again 2-1. But Daniel Sedin scored a late second goal period, as the Sharks were confused defensively and left him open in the slot. Then, after a series of penalties exchanged between Sundin and Marcel Goc resulted in a Sharks power play, Marleau tipped a shot off his skate by Dan Boyle past Curtis Sanford to give San Jose a 3-2 lead. The play was reviewed but it was determined Marleau did not have a distinct kicking motion until after the puck had already gone in the net. Late in the third, Tomas Plihal aggressively forechecked the Vancouver Canucks in their own zone, caused a turnover, and fed Marleau who put a backhand shot past Sanford to put the game away 4-2. The Canucks soon pulled Sanford for the extra attacker, but no more goals were scored for either team after Marleau's second. The game was tight throughout, as the Sharks only outshot the Canucks by one.
Vancouver was also playing their second back to back game after suffering a home loss to St. Louis on Friday 6-4. The Canucks wanted to come out and prove that they could win, despite being the 28th ranked team in the NHL in win percentage on the second game of back to backs. They came out strong and had momentum for most of the first 40 minutes, especially after Sundin scored his first goal as a Canuck and of the season, which prompted a standing ovation from the home crowd. However, Boucher made several desperation saves, including covering up a puck that nearly slided over the line, from aggressive Canucks who were constantly creating traffic in front of the San Jose netminder. That shot was reviewed soon afterwards and it was determined that it was not a goal that would've given the Canucks the lead in the second.
The Sharks won their second in a row for the first time since December 23rd, when they defeated Vancouver in San Jose 5-0 in a game where they also set a franchise record for the fastest 5 goals scored in a game. With the win, the Sharks are now past the halfway point of the season, winning 31 out of 41 games and are 1 point ahead of the Boston Bruins again for the most points in the NHL. San Jose is also ahead of Detroit in the Western Conference by 4 points. They have also now won the last 6 games against Vancouver dating back to last season. Marleau's second goal gives him a team-leading 23 goals halfway through the season, and Joe Thorton assisted on Marleau's first goal and had two in the game, giving him 40 assists in 41 games.
They now go back home where they will begin the second half of the season in a long homestand, playing 7 out of their next 8 games in San Jose beginning Tuesday against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Key match-ups include games against the Calgary Flames and Detroit Red Wings, both of whom humiliated the Sharks on their road trip 5-2 and 6-0 respectively.
Looking Back on the First Half of the 2008-2009 Season
The Sharks came out of the gates flying, meshing instantly with their new blue liners and setting all kinds of franchise and NHL records for best starts to a season. However, as the season progressed and injuries hit the team, the Sharks did not show the same intensity on the road as they did at home, and although only have 5 regulation road losses in the first 41 games, 3 of them had come in the past 2 weeks. However, the injuries to Jeremy Roenick, Torrey Mitchell, and Jody Shelley have come close to fully healing, and once they rejoin the line-up look for San Jose to once again come out and challenge every team in the NHL. The most notable games in the second half of the season are the games against Calgary and Detroit, especially after they took thrashings from both teams after defeating both earlier in the season by large margins themselves. The Sharks are proud of their 0 in the regulation home losses column, but these two games, which will both be played next week, will be one of the biggest tests they'll face all season, especially with Detroit breathing down their necks in the Western Conference standings. If they could pull out wins in both those games, and San Jose can stay relatively healthy, look for the Sharks to use that confidence to propel themselves into the #1 seed spot of the Stanley Cup playoffs, and possibly to the Stanley Cup Finals.
No comments:
Post a Comment