The last time the Detroit Red Wings and San Jose Sharks faced off, it was considered by many to be the best regular season game ever played. In the rematch and the final meeting between the two teams in the 2009 regular season, the Red Wings brought the same intensity and skill to the tables. The Sharks did not, as both Detroit's #1 ranked power play and San Jose's #2 ranked power play faced off, but Detroit capitalized on the man advantage and even scored shorthanded to give the Red Wings the win, ending the series between the top two teams in the Western Conference at 2 wins each.
Similar to the last time San Jose went to Joe Louis Arena, the Red Wings were the ones who got to a quick start. On their first power play of the game, Marian Hossa scored his team leading 34th goal of the year, walking in on Evgeni Nabokov and quickly shooting it between his legs. In the final minutes of the first period, Ville Leino, the highly praised rookie, took advantage of a floating puck, whacking it out of the air with his stick and into a wide open net to give the Red Wings a 2 goal lead going into the second period (it would eventually be the game winning goal).
After solid penalty killing to end the first and start the second, San Jose got a quick power play of their own in an opportunity to turn the table. But the puck deflected into the netting, causing confusion on the ice by the players. Players on both sides were even pointing at the netting as the puck bounced back on to the ice. The referees, however, did not blow the play dead, and Henrik Zetterberg took advantage of a blocked shot that bounced behind Christian Ehrhoff, and scored a shorthanded goal after taking a 360 degree spin in front of Nabokov to give Detroit a 3-0 lead. 2 minutes later, after another penalty to Detroit, the Sharks finally got on the board after a blast by Ehrhoff went through everyone and past Ty Conklin for San Jose's only goal of the game. The Sharks had plenty of offensive chances at the end of the second and to start the third, but two penalties in a row by the San Jose Sharks, including a bad penalty taken by Dan Boyle after he retaliated to a check, clearly out of frustration, gave the Red Wings a 5 on 3 opportunity, and Zetterberg scored his second goal of the game after squeezing the puck through Nabokov's legs from the side of the net to end the game with a Detroit victory 4-1.
The Sharks had 35 shots on goal compared to the Red Wings with 33, which was only the 7th time this season Detroit had been outshot in a game. But it didn't matter, as they took advantage of special teams play. Each team had 8 power play opportunities, but San Jose only converted on 1, while Detroit had 2 power play goals and a shorthanded goal. Detroit controlled the offensive tempo in the first two periods, as San Jose took multiple penalties in a row and spent most of the time in their defensive zone. Detroit even had 17 shots on Nabokov in the second period, compared to San Jose's 11. 2 minutes into the game, Joe Thorton was driven into the boards head first by Daniel Cleary, but he returned immediately on the ensuing power play after he was slow to get up from the ice. Marian Hossa left midway through the game for an undisclosed reason and did not return. Joe Pavelski almost made the game 1-2 in the first period, after a shot went off Ty Conklin's glove, off the post, and on to the red line. It was initially ruled a goal by the referee, but video review determined that the puck had not completely crossed the red line; only a part of the puck was passed. For the second straight game, the Sharks were held to only 1 goal. The last time they failed to score more than 1 goal in two consecutive games was after a 1-2 overtime loss to Columbus, followed by a 0-6 shelling by the Red Wings in mid-December. A win for Ty Conklin gave him 12 consecutive wins at home. All 4 games in the season series were won by the home team, which could have huge implications if these teams meet in the playoffs, which would be in the Western Conference Finals if the playoffs started today. The game was Claude Lemieux's first game back to Joe Louis Arena since retirement, and was greeted with loud boos everytime he touched the puck because of his history. Detroit welcomed back defenseman Brad Stuart, who missed 14 games due to injury. The Red Wings have reduced the Sharks's point lead over Detroit to 3 with the win, although they have played 2 more games than San Jose. The Sharks will play their second game in a back to back against the Ottawa Senators tomorrow, but San Jose is one of the best teams in second games of back to backs.
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