Coyotes Defeat Sharks 1-0 in Shootout

It took a lot less time than last year's President's Trophy winning season, but the Sharks got their first home loss, but still received a standings point for it, as the Phoenix Coyotes played solid defense all night long and won it in a shootout, scoring twice to San Jose's one to win it 1-0.

The first period was filled with fast-paced, open-ended action. San Jose dominated early, and got the first power play attempt of the game, but a minute into the man advantage, Dan Boyle took a slashing penalty which negated the power play. From then on, Phoenix seemed to dominate the Sharks offensively, not allowing any good shots on goal and keeping the puck mostly in the San Jose end of the ice. Phoenix ended up holding San Jose to just 5 shots in the second period, outshooting them 11 to 5. They also had 2 power play attempts in the period, with one carrying over to the third. But the story for the Sharks was the penalty kill, as they killed off all 4 penalties in the game with ease. However, they failed to capitalize on any of the 3 power plays they received, although 2 of them were not for a full 2 minutes because of penalties of their own. The key of the game was the match-up of Adrian Aucoin against the San Jose top line, primarily one on one with Dany Heatley. Dave Tippett made sure Aucoin was on the ice every second Heatley was on, and the Coyotes did not even allow a shot for Heatley until midway through the third period. Given the lack of scoring in the game, the overtime period was probably the most exciting for fans, as it displayed teams taking one or two shots on goal before the other team would race down the end for a scoring chance of their own. There was only one whistle in the entire overtime as teams skated freely from end to end. But ultimately, both goalies did not allow a goal, as Nabokov made 30 saves and Bryzgalov made 26 brilliant saves of his own.
In the shootout, Dany Heatley opened things up for the Sharks. He tried to fake a high shot to open up Bryzgalov's pads, but the moment he shot it the Phoenix goaltender dropped down to make a save. Radim Vrbata shot first for the Coyotes, and tried to make a backhand deke but missed the net. Devin Setoguchi shot second for the Sharks, and simply tried to rifle a wrist shot past the right side of Bryzgalov, but also missed the net entirely. Peter Mueller went after and scored the first shootout goal, sliding the puck just past Nabokov's left skate and inside the post. Dan Boyle had to score to keep the shootout alive, and he did just that, faking a forehand before avoiding Bryzgalov's poke check and flipping a backhander in to tie it at 1-1. But Lauri Korpikoski had a chance to win it for the Coyotes with his first career shootout attempt, and beat Nabokov cleanly, making one move to the glove side before shooting it past Nabokov's blocker for the win.

In 6 regulation periods and an overtime, the Coyotes have yet to score a goal. San Jose ends their home stand coming out 2-0-1 after they went 1-2-0 on the road trip that opened up their season. Both goaltenders got a shutout in the game. Bryzgalov recorded his second of the season while this was a first of the season for Nabokov. San Jose dominated the faceoff circle, winning 35 draws to Phoenix's 19, but were outshot 30-26. San Jose's next game will be the start of a road trip in Washington against the Capitals Thursday night.