Sharks Defeat Wild 4-2

After a shaky opening to the season, Evgeni Nabokov looked like the goaltender who carried the old San Jose Sharks in the playoffs, stopping 38 of 40 shots, including several attempts on a 5 on 3 penalty kill, to ruin Todd Richard's homecoming back to San Jose.

Minnesota got off to a fast start, scoring the first 2 goals of the game. They limited the high-powered San Jose offense to 7 shots in the first period and scored the only goal of the period, as Andrew Brunette deflected a Shane Hnidy shot from the sidewall to give the Wild the 1-0 lead.
Things didn't seem to get better for San Jose, who took 6 penalties to Minnesota's 1 in the first 30 minutes of the game, with their 4th penalty negating a potential power play attempt. Minnesota had a 5 on 3 power play early in the second period, but several sensational stops by Nabokov from point blank robbed the Wild of a quick goal. However, the Wild finally capitalized on their 5th extra man opportunity, as Owen Nolan floated a soft shot that sunk at a weird angle over Nabokov's shoulder to give the Wild a 2 goal lead. But 2 minutes later, Jed Ortemeyer scored his first goal as a Shark, as he just shot a puck hard from the right faceoff circle to beat Niklas Backstrom and cut the lead in half. Then after the Sharks killed another penalty, Patrick Marleau wristed a shot that deflected off a Minnesota defender. Backstrom was not prepared for the deflection, and although he stopped the shot with his shoulder, he let a big rebound straight back to Marleau, who flipped the shot over the sprawling Backstrom to tie the game 2-2. Then on their 3rd power play opportunity late in the 2nd period, Dany Heatley took a pass from Dan Boyle in tight space, and managed to beat a screened Backstrom by sliding a puck just beyond his extended pad to give the Sharks the 3-2 lead.
The opening for the 3rd period was the worst Minnesota could possibly have had. San Jose won the faceoff, and Dan Boyle made a simple pass to Patrick Marleau, who simply skated past 3 Minnesota defenders for an easy breakaway goal against Backstrom to give San Jose the 4-2 victory. Minnesota outshot San Jose by double in the final period, but Nabokov simply did not allow a shot to get through against an offensively revamped Minnesota team.

Patrick Marleau led the Sharks with 2 goals and 1 assist. Several Minnesota Wild skaters were injured in the game, as the Sharks out-hit the Wild by double digits. Minnesota was second in the league in power play conversion percentage going into the game, but only went 1 for 8 against San Jose. The Sharks were not much better, converting only 1 for 5, including shortening 2 attempts by taking penalties of their own. San Jose went above a .500 record for the first time this season, with a 3-2-0 record. They finish their 3 game home-stand on Monday against the Phoenix Coyotes.