Patrick Marleau News
2007-2008 Regular Season
| Games Played | 78 |
| Goals | 19 |
| Assists | 29 |
| Total Points | 48 |
| Plus Minus | -19 |
| Penalty Minutes | 33 |
| Shots on Goal | 185 |
2007-2008 PLAYOFFS
| Games Played | 13 |
| Goals | 4 |
| Assists | 4 |
| Total Points | 8 |
| Plus Minus | -2 |
| Penalty Minutes | 2 |
| Shots on Goal | 45 |
McLellan and Marleaus
by Doug Pollak - Mercury News
15 June 2008
New Sharks coach Todd McLellan hasn't had much chance to get to know his players yet, but he and the father of one of them - captain Patrick Marleau - are well acquainted.
Both McLellan and the Marleaus come from Saskatchewan, but it's a five-hour drive from the coach's hometown of Melville to Aneroid, where the captain grew up. Aneroid, though, is only 90 minutes from Swift Current - a short hop by provincial standards - and that's where McLellan connected with the Marleau family a decade ago.
McLellan was coaching the Swift Current Broncos, and Patrick Marleau was playing for the Seattle Thunderbirds, both in the Western Hockey League. Patrick's father, Denis, would take advantage of that when the teams played in Seattle.
"I know Mr. Marleau very well," McLellan said last week. "He used to ride the bus with us and cheer for Patty in Seattle, and then he'd ride back with us. He's a very good man and obviously he's done a tremendous job with Patty and the rest of his family."
Now one of McLellan's early decisions could be whether Marleau continues as captain. Coaches usually chose the team leader, and McLellan wants to talk with Marleau about the responsibilities that come with the role.
"My experience with Patty, my knowledge of him," he added, "would indicate he would be a very good captain, but I'd like to know what his thoughts are on it."
Sharks continue to shop Marleau
TheFourthPeriod.com
13 June 2008
The San Jose Sharks continue to dangle captain Patrick Marleau in hopes of trading him before the start of free agency.
Marleau, who will be making $6.3 million per year over the next two seasons, has a no-trade clause that kicks in July 1.
According to various reports, the Columbus Blue Jackets, Atlanta Thrashers, Florida Panthers and Toronto Maple Leafs have expressed an interested in Marleau's services.
The Sharks are believed to be shopping Marleau to free up some cap space in order to re-sign defenseman Brian Campbell and some of their other free agents.
Wilson unveiled by Leafs, talks about relationship with Marleau
by Doug Pollak - Mercury News
11 June 2008
Ron Wilson was introduced Tuesday as coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs, and while most of the 38-minute news conference for the former Sharks coach focused on the future, he couldn't escape without a question about his relationship with San Jose captain Patrick Marleau.
"I would love to coach Patty Marleau again. We had our differences, but I've had differences with just about every player I've coached along the way," Wilson said. "Patty is a great player and he's going to continue to improve and he's going to be a great leader in San Jose."
Wilson said shortly after his May 12 firing, Marleau left him a message.
"Patty thanked me for everything I did for him, in helping him grow more as a person than as a hockey player, and that he would play for me any time, any place," Wilson said.
The coach acknowledged the two had a difficult time during the 2007 post-season - "Patty struggled in the playoffs, I might have overreacted - I certainly did" - but said they quickly patched things up.
Wilson said Marleau struggled much of last season because he "worried all year about a carryover." But, Wilson added, he and Sharks General Manager Doug Wilson, "kept reassuring him that nothing was going to happen."
Still, Marleau's name appeared regularly in various trade rumors - and that didn't help, Wilson said.
"His name was in every Internet column," he added. "I don't know so much that Patty read all that, but ... it affected his play.
Once the trade deadline passed, Patty probably played the best I've ever seen him."
7 May 2008
Patrick Marleau pauses to reflect as members of the San Jose Sharks clean out their lockers at their San Jose practice facility Tuesday May 6, 2008. (Patrick Tehan / Mercury News)
Sharks players back their coach
by Doug Pollak - Mercury News
7 May 2008
Sharks Coach Ron Wilson didn't wait for the TV reporter to finish his question. All he had to hear was the premise: People are talking about your job being on the line.
"That's all irrelevant," Wilson interrupted. "You look at my record. It's second to none, literally, in the sport. So I'm not even worried about that."
Tuesday was the day for the Sharks to clean out their lockers and part ways for the summer. But it was also the day for Wilson and his players to talk about both the season that ended 36 hours earlier with a playoff loss in Dallas as well as what changes might be coming.
Because San Jose has made its playoff exit at the same point the past three years, Wilson's future with the team already is the subject of media speculation.
The TV reporter recovered well enough to ask Wilson if that kind of speculation is something every coach who doesn't win the Stanley Cup should expect.
"I guess it is," Wilson said. "Then 29 guys should get fired every year. And that's unreasonable."
General Manager Doug Wilson also was asked about his coach's future.
"We haven't even started the in-depth evaluations that we do every year at the end of the season," the G.M. said. "Change takes place; it's a natural course of this business. But we try not to make decisions on emotions and we take the time to meet with everybody."
Several veteran players backed their coach.
"He's an unbelievable guy and he's an unbelievable coach," Jeremy Roenick said. "If there is a problem, he's not it."
Sharks captain Patrick Marleau, who reportedly had past clashes with his coach, said "there's really nothing there" as far as problems he or others might have with Wilson's style.
"I think everybody knows Ron and what he expects of you. He pushes guys," Marleau said. "Everybody has their individual thing, but I think everybody knows that he wants to win, and that's what everybody wants."
Sharks' exit probably the end for Wilson in San Jose
by Al Strachan - FOXSports.com
5 May 2008
Now that the San Jose Sharks are gone, you can be sure of one thing. Coach Ron Wilson won't be far behind.
Wilson had been hanging by a hair all season long, even though to the casual viewer, the Sharks appeared to be forging a first-rate season.
In fact, Wilson barely made it back after last year's postseason collapse (hey, in San Jose, anything short of a Stanley Cup is seen as a collapse.)
On its heels, the Sharks held one of the longest exit interviews in the history of hockey, and every player was required to give full and frank views of the team, its future, and its coach. The coach didn't fare very well.
The problem is neither Wilson's hockey knowledge nor his ability to create a winning system. It has to do with his personality.
He is, to say the least, not one of those warm and fuzzy coaches that players love to play for. He is terse and sarcastic. In fact, he can be downright abusive. He thinks nothing of humiliating players in front of their peers.
On occasion, that method can produce results. But if it's the coach's only method, it wears thin.
One of Wilson's biggest failings was his relationship with team captain Patrick Marleau. At one point, the two went more than six months without talking to each other.
Wilson's defenders might say that the blame for that should be shared equally. But really, it's the responsibility of the coach to create channels of communication with his players -- and especially with his captain. If a coach isn't talking to his captain, what does that say about his relationship with the rest of the team?
Marleau is a quiet, sensitive guy who was fully aware that his coach never praised him, either publicly or privately. But finally, after Marleau was injured in mid-season, Wilson changed his tack and told the media that the team badly missed Marleau and needed his strong play.
Those comments did not go unnoticed. When Marleau returned, he played his best hockey in years -- perhaps his best hockey ever.
For a while, all was good around the Sharks. They rattled off a string of 20 games in which they did not lose in regulation time.
But then came the playoffs and with them, some of the usual postseason difficulties. Once again, Wilson reverted to the abusive tactics that he had been told by management to forsake.
Between periods in one game, he wrote the names of Matt Carle, Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Milan Michalek on the board in the dressing room.
Jabbing at the board for emphasis, he said, "These are the guys that are letting us down."
Humiliation in front of one's peers can, on occasion, be an effective weapon. But the Sharks have seen too much of it from Wilson. It did nothing to improve their overall play. As a result of this incident, and others like it, Wilson will almost certainly be replaced by a coach who is a little less acerbic.
No one is suggesting that players should not be held accountable or that they must be cajoled into playing well. They have a job to do and they're well paid to do it.
But they're also human beings and it doesn't take too deep an understanding of human nature to know that while the stick can be an effective tool, a carrot also needs to be held out on occasion.
In fact, the carrot approach was such a staple of the Edmonton Oilers' coaching staff in the early stages of the dynasty that the team's first Stanley Cup ring has a carrot on it.
But with the exception of the one incident with Marleau, the San Jose players under Wilson's regime rarely ever got to see the carrot. In fact, the reason that Wilson's predecessor, Darryl Sutter, was fired was that he was of the same mold.
So for as long as the Sharks have been among the ranks of the serious contenders, they have had a coach who relied more on intimidation than persuasion.
Where they go next remains to be seen. General manager Doug Wilson, who is one of the classiest guys in a sport known for classy people, isn't likely to tip his hand. But here's a suggestion for anyone who might be interviewed by Doug Wilson for the job.
Don't suggest that you're planning to rule with an iron hand. Instead, show up with bunch of carrots.
Dallas 2, San Jose 1, OT
Patrick: Eight shots on goal, minus 1
4 May 2008
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The Dallas Stars have finally made it back to the Western Conference finals. It took the eighth longest game in NHL history to do it.
Brenden Morrow scored a power play goal 9:03 into the fourth overtime by deflecting a pass from Stephane Robidas as the Stars eliminated the pesky San Jose Sharks 2-1 in a game that ended early Monday morning—the longest game in the NHL playoffs this season, and the longest in San Jose history.
The Stars are going to the conference finals for the first time since 2000, when they returned to the Stanley Cup finals the year after winning the franchise’s only championship. They play Game 1 on Thursday night in Detroit, which wrapped up its second-round sweep of Colorado on Thursday night.
After winning the first three games in the series, the Stars finally knocked out the Sharks on the third try and avoided having to go to San Jose for another game. The win came after having two apparent goals by Morrow disallowed following video reviews in Game 5, and Evgeni Nabokov’s sensational glove save early in the first overtime of Game 6—well before midnight.
It was the fourth overtime game in the series, and the fifth game decided by one goal.
“This whole series was a coin flip,” Sharks center Jeremy Roenick said.
The deciding game lasted 5 hours, 14 minutes—ending the third-longest in Stars history. They lost the other two, but Morrow made sure that didn’t happen again with his seventh goal of the playoffs.
Marty Turco had a franchise-record 61 saves for the Stars. Nabokov stopped 53 shots, but not the one set up after Brian Campbell was called for tripping Loui Eriksson close to the Dallas net.
“You’re trying to battle for a puck. From my point, he started flopping,” Campbell said. “I can’t do much about it.”
Coach Ron Wilson didn’t dispute the call.
“Well, it was tripping,” Wilson said. “It was a trip, we had to kill it off, and we didn’t.”
San Jose thought it had a game-winner midway through the third overtime, with Ryane Clowe poking a puck around Turco. Clowe and nearby teammates wearily lifted their arms, but the puck was under the goalie’s glove and not in the net. The Sharks even had a power play in the third overtime when Nicklas Grossman was called for hooking, but couldn’t convert.
Nabokov’s incredible glove save 1:31 into the first overtime kept the game going and prevented a series winner by Brad Richards.
Nabokov made a stab of Richards’ one-timer, grabbing the puck with his glove sweeping just inside the post and the puck above the goal line. Referee Tim Peel was behind the net and quickly waved off the goal even though the red light lit up. The play was reviewed by off-ice officials, who determined the puck didn’t completely cross the goal line.
Mike Ribeiro had three chances to score in the final 75 seconds of the first overtime. He was rejected on a pair of bang-bang attempts, then with 47 seconds left had another shot that deflected off Nabokov and then the crossbar.
Turco was sprawling out of the crease when he stopped two shots by Sharks captain Patrick Marleau with just over 8 minutes left in the first overtime.
San Jose played in overtime without Milan Michalek, who was face down on the ice when regulation ended after taking a hard hit from Morrow. Michalek, who scored the go-ahead goal in Game 4, had to be helped off the ice and never returned to the bench. He was later shown on TV leaving the locker room with his left arm in a sling.
“We have nothing to hang our heads in shame about. We showed character and kept going,” Wilson said. “We were down a player, played overtime without him — a full game with a short bench. Our guys kept going and going and going. We had a ton of chances.”
Wilson refused to discuss the injury, saying “it’s irrelevant” since the season is over.
After some spectacular saves by Turco, he appeared off-guard when the Sharks got even 1-1 only 1:39 into the third period. Craig Rivet knocked down the puck in the right circle, then Clowe spun and knocked it toward the net. The puck skirted the inside of the right post and went in for Clowe’s fifth goal of the playoffs.
At the end of the second period, three Sharks were swarming near the net when Turco pushed away a shot by Jonathan Cheechoo with his stick. That came about a minute after his pad save on a shot by Tomas Plihal.
Antti Miettinen scored on a rebound 4:49 into the second period to give Dallas a 1-0 lead.
Sergei Zubov took a shot that ricocheted off Nabokov, who then collided with Niklas Hagman. There was no whistle, and Nabokov lost his stick in a desperate dive to his right trying to stop Miettinen’s putback.
Turco got a break soon after that, when a shot by Pavelski from the side slid through the crease between the posts and the goalie on his back.
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San Jose 3, Dallas 2, OT
Patrick: Three shots on goal, even
Patrick: Game 3rd star
2 May 2008
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When the San Jose Sharks discarded all caution and finally decided to attack in Game 5, they were down two goals on the scoreboard and two games in the series, with playoff elimination just 14 minutes away.
The Sharks started pressing, and Milan Michalek got their first goal. They started taking chances, and Jeremy Roenick’s high-risk pass set up Brian Campbell’s tying score.
When overtime rolled around, the Sharks were soaring—and Joe Pavelski got the goal that put the Sharks halfway to a historic postseason comeback.
Pavelski scored 65 seconds into the third overtime game of this second-round series, and the Sharks evaded elimination for the second straight time Friday night, improbably rallying from a late two-goal deficit to beat the Dallas Stars 3-2.
The Sharks just won’t go away—and now they’re going back to Dallas for Game 6 on Sunday night with a 3-2 series deficit.
“We said, ‘Let’s go out and throw out everything we have in the third period,”’ Roenick said. “‘Let’s just empty the tanks and put out every effort we possibly have. If we do that, we’ll have a shot.”’
San Jose is just the fourth team in the past 20 seasons to stretch a series even to six games after trailing 0-3. As Sharks coach Ron Wilson has reminded his players, only two teams in NHL history have recovered from such dire circumstances to win a series: the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1942 and the New York Islanders in 1975.
“I think there’s a little bit of doubt in their mind,” Wilson said. “This (comeback) doesn’t happen very often, and then you top it off with this (game). … We’ve done a lot of things that are great for our character, to show that we have it. At times tonight we showed our nerves and our younger players showed their youth, but we survived. We really took it to them.”
The second-seeded Sharks’ inconsistent brilliance defined the NHL’s second-best regular season, and they were unsurprisingly listless before Michalek and Campbell scored in a 5:47 span in the third period, with Campbell firing home the tying goal with 8:53 to play.
Pavelski ended it before some fans had even settled in their seats for overtime, dangling in the slot and beating Stars goalie Marty Turco for an unassisted goal after defenseman Christian Ehrhoff kept the play alive with an aggressive pinch.
“I just kept pushing it and pushing it,” said Pavelski, who has a team-leading five goals in his breakout postseason. “It’s really one of the only shots I have as a shooter coming around. (Dallas defenseman Nicklas Grossman) is going to drop. If he does move at all, it’s going to open up, and the short side was just there. That’s where I was shooting the whole time.”
Jere Lehtinen and captain Brenden Morrow scored second-period goals for the Stars, who controlled play and seemed headed for an easy evening at the Shark Tank, where they dominated the home team over the past two years.
Morrow also had two apparent goals that were waved off by the officials, one for kicking the puck into the net and another for batting it with his hand.
“Our team battles through adversity, but those were two critical points of the game,” Dallas coach Dave Tippett said. “I still haven’t seen a distinct kicking motion, but I suppose somebody else did. The other one, I agree with the call … but if Brenden Morrow isn’t cross-checked in the back, he would have put the puck down and in the back of the net. Those are two critical plays in the game, and you have to find a way to overcome that.”
Evgeni Nabokov stopped 24 shots for the Sharks, and Turco made 19 saves in yet another playoff game to forget. Turco was working on a shutout before he and his defense allowed three goals in less than 15 minutes.
After holding off the defending champion Ducks in the first round, Dallas opened the second round with back-to-back victories at the Shark Tank, where the Stars were 8-0-1 in their past nine appearances before blowing Game 5. San Jose staved off elimination with a 2-1 victory in Game 4 in Dallas, the third of four one-goal games in this scintillating series.
“Every game we lose, we give them more life, but I like our position better than theirs,” Morrow said. “The third period was our downfall. We have to move on, earn our breaks. We earned this 3-2 lead.”
Lehtinen got Game 5’s first goal midway through the second period on a setup pass from Sergei Zubov for his fourth goal of the postseason. After Mike Modano rang a shot off the post moments later, Morrow appeared to score when he forced defenseman Matt Carle into Nabokov’s crease and the puck deflected off them.
Replay officials ruled Morrow had scored with his skate, infuriating the Dallas bench—but Morrow then left no doubt with a low wrist shot through Nabokov in the final minute of the second period.
Morrow put the puck in the net again during a power play early in the third, but the on-ice officials ruled he had knocked it in with his hand. The call was upheld by a lengthy video review.
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Marleau uses instincts
CBCSports.ca
1 May 2008
Sharks captain Patrick Marleau obviously is zoning in on Sergei Zubov right now. Marleau has picked Zubov's pocket twice in the past two games and scored two huge short-handed goals. Marleau is doing it on pure instincts, as he's not a regular penalty killer.
"He hasn't played penalty kill all year long,'' said Sharks center Joe Thornton. "He just has great speed. And obviously, when he gets the chance, he's going to put it in the back of the net.''
Zubov is just four weeks removed from a procedure in Germany to repair a sports hernia injury. He is clearly not 100 per cent and, in addition to the turnovers, he has been beaten down the left wing on a couple of occasions by the speedy Marleau.
"He's fighting through it and he's getting up to speed,'' Stars coach Dave Tippett said. "I have every bit of confidence in Zubie that he'll be fine.''
San Jose 2, Dallas 1
Patrick: Three shots on goal, 1 goal, plus 1
Patrick: Game 1st star
30 April 2008
Milan Michalek scored on a power play with 16:34 left and San Jose beat Dallas 2-1 on Wednesday night to avoid being swept in the Western Conference semifinals.
The Sharks were 0-for-4 on power plays in Game 4 before getting another chance early in the third period when Mike Modano drew a delay of game penalty for knocking a puck into the stands. Brian Campbell made a cross-ice pass to Joe Thornton, who then pushed the puck back to the front of the net, through the legs of Jonathan Cheechoo and onto Michalek’s stick.
Sharks captain Patrick Marleau had tied the game with another short-handed goal, getting one after a turnover by Sergei Zubov for the second game in a row.
Game 5 is Friday night in San Jose, where the Stars won the first two games of the series. The visiting team has won 14 of the past 18 games between the Pacific Division rivals, dating to last season.
The Stars missed a chance for their first postseason series sweep since 1999, when they beat Edmonton in the first round and went on to win the Stanley Cup. Dallas still has three more chances to advance to the Western Conference finals.
Like he did in Game 3 on Tuesday, Marleau converted a mistake by Zubov, this time midway through the second period.
Zubov lost the puck near the blue line in the Stars zone, and Marleau charged down the ice and shot the puck past Marty Turco. It was the fourth goal of the playoffs for Marleau, and gave him 24 since 2003-04, matching Calgary’s Jarome Iginla for the most during that period.
The short-hander came right after Brad Richards’ shot got past Evgeni Nabokov, but ricocheted off the far upper corner of the goal. That shot, and another by Trevor Daley, came during the delayed whistle before the power play that led to Marleau’s tying goal.
It was only the third game for Zubov after the 15-season veteran and two-time Stanley Cup champion missed three months after operations to place a screw in a bone in his right foot and to repair a sports hernia. He made up for the Game 3 mistake with a tying goal, and after a turnover in Game 2 had the primary assistant on Modano’s tiebreaking goal.
But Zubov never amended the latest miscue, which came when the Stars appeared to be ready to put the series away.
After San Jose started the second period with five shots in five minutes, without getting one past Turco, the Stars converted on a mistake by the Sharks.
Devin Setoguchi was behind the net, when he tried to clear the puck. Instead he passed it right to the middle of the ice onto the stick of Jere Lehtinen, whose unassisted goal, his third of the playoffs, made it 1-0.
But that was the only goal past Nabokov, who stopped 17 shots. Turco had 22 saves.
San Jose also come out firing to start the game, attacking the net without getting one past Turco, who spread out to stop a wrister by Michalek and stopping a point-blank wrister by Mike Grier.
On their two power plays in the first 10 minutes, however, the Sharks didn’t even got off a shot. It was Dallas that had scoring chances each time it was down a man. Brenden Morrow got off a shot during the first power play and Modano, in the penalty box for tripping during the first one, stole the puck off the stick of Christian Ehrhoff from behind and then charged toward the net before Nabokov came out for the save.
The Sharks had another power play before the first intermission, when Matt Niskanen got whistled for slashing. That call came seconds after his hard open-ice collision with Jeremy Roenick knocked the stick out of his hands.
San Jose finally got credited with a shot on goal while on the power play, but it was actually a crossing pass that Turco kicked away.
Dallas 2, San Jose 1, OT
Patrick: Two shots on goal, 1 goal, plus 1
29 April 2008
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Mattias Norstrom was the most unlikely scorer on the ice for the Dallas Stars. Still, he took a whack at the puck.
And it went in the net.
Norstrom’s goal 4:37 into overtime Tuesday night gave the Stars a 2-1 victory over the San Jose Sharks and a 3-0 lead in the Western Conference semifinal series.
Sharks goalie Evgeni Nabokov had already made several impressive saves in overtime, but there were too many bodies around him and he never saw Norstrom’s shot from the top of the left circle after a pass from Mike Ribeiro. The puck slipped through the traffic, clipping Jeremy Roenick’s stick along the way.
It was only the second goal in 47 career playoff games for Norstrom, a 14-season defenseman who has scored only 18 regular-season goals for three NHL teams.
“He just got it over me and it hit my stick,” Roenick said. “It was another bad break. It’s amazing how we can’t get a bounce in this series.”
Sharks captain Patrick Marleau put his team up 1-0 when he scored an unassisted short-handed goal with 35 seconds left in the first period. But he had already been denied a power-play goal because of an inadvertent whistle.
Only 4 minutes into the game, and already on a power play, Marleau jammed a loose puck past Marty Turco. But referee Don VanMassenhoven quickly waved off the score, indicating that he had already blown a whistle.
The referee didn’t realize that the puck still hadn’t been controlled after Joe Thornton’s shot because the ref’s view from behind the net was obstructed by Turco, who was completely extended and on his side after making the initial stop.
“I was surprised the whistle was blown,” Marleau said.
“(The referee) can’t see the puck because he’s standing behind the net,” Sharks coach Ron Wilson said. “The puck’s laying in the crease, he put it in. It should be a goal. He made a mistake, there’s nothing I can do about it.”
The last time the Stars had a 3-0 series lead was in the first round of the 1999 playoffs, when they swept Edmonton and went on to win the Stanley Cup. This is their 16th postseason series since then.
Dallas can wrap up the series Wednesday night at home.
Nabokov stopped 27 shots, including Niklas Hagman’s penalty shot with 9:10 left in regulation when the goalie slid to his left to deny the backhander. Hagman got that opportunity after he was taken down by Christian Ehrhoff skating toward the net with the puck.
In overtime, Nabokov denied Loui Eriksson twice. The second shot by Eriksson came as he tried to knock in the rebound of Brad Richards’ shot that the goalie kicked away.
“There’s no quit in this room. All the games have been pretty close,” Nabokov said. “It’s been little bounces here and there. … We have to regroup and forget these games.”
San Jose had a 2-1 lead heading into the third period of Game 2 before the Stars scored four goals. In the series opener, Norstrom had the primary assist on Morrow’s game-winning overtime goal.
Sergei Zubov, whose turnover led to Marleau’s short-hander, made amends in the first minute of the third when he scored on a shot from the top of the right circle.
The Stars began the third period on a power play, and 35 seconds later had a two-man advantage when Ehrhoff was whistled for hooking Morrow. On the ensuing goal, Morrow was in front of Nabokov, providing a screen when Zubov took a pass from Ribeiro.
Zubov, the 15-season veteran and two-time Stanley Cup winner, played only his second game since mid-January after operations to place a screw in a bone in his right foot and to repair a sports hernia. He had the primary assist on Modano’s tiebreaking goal in Game 2.
But with the Stars on the power play after Thornton’s cross-checking penalty, Zubov blindly passed back to an unexpecting Jere Lehtinen. The puck was instead picked up at center ice by Marleau, who drove and shot over Turco’s left shoulder.
“I thought for the first two periods we played a perfect road game,” Wilson said. “We had some good opportunities and snuffed theirs out. We took at bad penalty at the end of the second period and then we put a gun to our head with that 5-on-3 opportunity, and they converted.”
Dallas 5, San Jose 2
Patrick: Two shots on goal, minus 2
27 April 2008
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Joe Pavelski collapsed like a kid on rented skates, nudging the puck straight to Brad Richards as he fell. Richards, who has a few big playoff goals in his past, turned that turnover into the Dallas Stars’ tying score before the Sharks even knew they were doomed.
Three goals later, Mike Modano and the Stars were headed home from a building they would prefer never to leave with a two-game series lead and ample reason to think their second-round series will be a short one.
The Sharks? Just like Pavelski, they’ve lost their edge.
Modano scored the tiebreaking goal early in the Stars’ four-goal third period, and Marty Turco made 29 saves in a 5-2 victory in Game 2 on Sunday night.
Richards scored the tying goal just 32 seconds into the third period on Pavelski’s accidental gift, and Niklas Hagman added two insurance goals in the Stars’ eighth victory in their last nine trips to San Jose. Mike Ribeiro also scored an early goal before Dallas put a tremendous finish on another profitable night at the Shark Tank.
Dallas hasn’t reached the conference finals since 2000, when the Stars beat San Jose in the second round on the way to their second straight Stanley Cup finals appearance. As Modano noted, they’re thriving this season with big finishes: The Stars have four multiple-goal third periods in their eight playoff games.
Games 3 and 4 are back-to-back, starting Tuesday night in Dallas. The Sharks might have a better chance to get competitive in Texas, since the NHL’s best road team during the regular season has won three of its last four games in Dallas.
“We’ve played very well in Dallas all season long,” Sharks coach Ron Wilson said. “We can just relax now and push the pace, and play as a desperate hockey team. You just have to keep playing on. You can’t worry about your missed opportunities.”
Milan Michalek and Joe Pavelski scored for the second-seeded Sharks, who are 4-5 overall in the playoffs with none of the momentum they acquired during their 20-game regular-season streak without a regulation defeat. Evgeni Nabokov stopped 21 shots, but was no closer to top form than his teammates.
“We started good, and we had a lead after the second (period),” Michalek said. “We let it slip away. We can’t let it happen again. We have to go there and win two. We’ve been good on the road all season.”
San Jose nursed a 2-1 lead heading into the third period, but Pavelski’s giveaway encapsulated everything that’s gone poorly for the Sharks at home—and everything that’s working for the Stars, whose persistence and preparation allows them to seize such breaks.
Modano then put the Stars ahead with 16:21 to play on a goal set up by an exceptional play from defenseman Sergei Zubov, who was in Dallas’ lineup for the first time since Jan. 17. The two-time Stanley Cup winner underwent surgery on a sports hernia in Germany earlier in the month.
Late in a prolonged Dallas cycle, Zubov made a stunning cross-ice backhand pass out of a graceful pirouette, and Modano buried his second goal of the series.
When Hagman banged home his first goal, thousands of fans headed for the exits in souvenir teal T-shirts handed out by the Sharks before the game. Hagman added an empty-netter with 1:15 to play.
Dallas won the opener 3-2 on captain Brenden Morrow’s overtime goal, using its trapping defensive style to neutralize the Sharks’ offensive talent as effectively as they did against Anaheim in the opening round. San Jose has struggled to adjust to a slower pace after beating the run-and-gun Calgary Flames in the first round.
After Pavelski and Ribeiro traded first-period goals, San Jose went ahead late in the second when Rivet and Brian Campbell made sharp passes to set up Michalek on a breakaway, which he converted easily after Turco’s overeager attempt at a poke-check. Michalek, the Sharks’ second-leading scorer during the regular season, went scoreless in seven games against Calgary before notching a goal in each of his first two games against Dallas.
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Dallas 3, San Jose 2, OT
Patrick: Three shots on goal, minus 1
25 April 2008
Morrow scored his second goal 4:39 into overtime, and the Stars opened their second-round series with a 3-2 victory over the San Jose Sharks.
Mike Modano also scored another timely goal against one of his favorite opponents, and Marty Turco made 25 saves in the Stars’ seventh win in their last eight trips to Silicon Valley. They’ve thoroughly dominated the Pacific Division champion Sharks here for two years, leading Modano to jokingly rename his team “the San Jose Stars” after their sixth straight win in January.
Game 2 is Sunday night, with Game 3 in Dallas on Tuesday.
After eliminating defending Stanley Cup champion Anaheim in the first round, the fifth-seeded Stars rallied from a two-shot first period and an early deficit to take away home-ice advantage from the division rival Sharks, who needed seven games to put away Calgary in the opening round.
Jonathan Cheechoo scored the tying goal for San Jose with 3:02 left in the third period, but the Sharks’ defensive confusion allowed Mattias Norstrom to whip the puck across the ice to Morrow early in OT. The Dallas captain scored easily against an off-balance Evgeni Nabokov, who finished with 16 saves.
Milan Michalek scored an early goal for the second-seeded Sharks, who blew Game 1 for the second straight series. San Jose again endured special-teams mistakes while taking a handful of careless penalties and struggling to generate offense against the Dallas trap.
“We need to do a better job on some guys on some of their lines,” Sharks captain Patrick Marleau said. “We need to get more shots and generate more traffic. We’ll make some changes and go from there.”
The Sharks reached the second round for their NHL-best fourth straight season, while Dallas ended a streak of three straight first-round defeats by eliminating the Ducks in impressive fashion.
Both teams came out cautiously for their ninth meeting of the season. The Stars didn’t get their first shot of the game until late in their second power play with 3:36 left in the first period.
Michalek, who went scoreless in the Sharks’ first seven games against Calgary, got credit for their first goal when his shot trickled underneath Turco midway through the second period. Modano, who scored four goals in four trips to San Jose during the regular season, tied it with a power-play goal 76 seconds later, putting a one-timer through traffic.
“(On) the goals they scored, we lost the battles,” Sharks coach Ron Wilson said. “We turned it over against a great line. You don’t win the battles, (you) give somebody like Mike Ribeiro two or three shots at making plays. It should be one, and then we snuff it and get the puck out.”
Morrow then scored on a rebound of Ribeiro’s shot for his team-leading fourth goal of the postseason. The Sharks couldn’t break through until Cheechoo, the goal-scoring specialist who also tied Game 4 against Calgary with a remarkable late score, banged home Torrey Mitchell’s rebound of Matt Carle’s shot for his fourth goal of the postseason.
Dallas had a power play in the final 2 1/2 minutes of regulation, but couldn’t score.
The clubs split eight meetings during the regular season, with each winning its first three trips to the other team’s building before two late-season home victories. The Sharks and Stars racked up 160 penalty minutes in the regular-season finale 19 days earlier, with several fighting majors in both clubs’ most-penalized game of the season.
Though they were even against each other, the clubs finished the regular season on opposite trajectories. San Jose trailed the division-leading Stars by 11 points on Feb. 29, but a 20-game string without a regulation defeat catapulted the Sharks past Dallas to the Pacific title.
Dallas defenseman Sergei Zubov was scratched again despite rejoining workouts this week. Zubov, a two-time Stanley Cup winner, has been out since Jan. 17 because of a sports hernia.
Sharks' Marleau has plenty of postseason bite
The Dallas Morning News
25 April 2008
The underwhelming 19 goals that Sharks captain Patrick Marleau scored in the regular season don't matter now.
Neither does the fact he was an improbable minus-19 on a San Jose team that finished with 108 points.
The playoffs have begun, and Marleau is back in his element
Along with Ryane Clowe and Joe Pavelski, Marleau has given the Sharks another scoring line to complement Joe Thornton and Co. The three combined for nine goals in San Jose's first-round escape against Calgary.
"I think it's a time where everybody has to raise their game," Marleau said Friday before Game 1 against the Stars. "A lot of stuff that happens in the regular season doesn't happen in the playoffs.
"There's no time to dwell on things. You're only good as your last shift. It's a fun atmosphere to play in."
The line with Clowe and Pavelski has been a case of chemistry forged on the fly.
The unit played together some in 2006-07 when Pavelski was a rookie. But a reunion was put on hold when Clowe suffered a right knee injury in October and missed 67 games.
He returned just before the playoffs and had a team-high four goals in the first round.
"I felt like training camp all over again when I got back," said Clowe who passed a major mental hurdle against the Flames. "The first game against Calgary was a good test, because I knew it was going to be physical challenge."
Pavelski, a skilled player with the puck, has avoided hitting the "wall" he encountered last season as a rookie.
Then there's Marleau, 28, who has been under the microscope since San Jose made him the second pick in the 1997 draft.
"Paddy has great chemistry with anyone. He flies and works hard," Pavelski said. "You see him battle more and compete. It's big for a guy like that with the kind of skill he has to be your hardest worker on the team."
SHARK ATTACK
Since 2003-04, only Calgary's Jarome Iginla has scored more goals in the playoffs than San Jose Sharks captain Patrick Marleau (entering Friday):
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San Jose 5, Calgary 3
Patrick: Three shots on goal, minus 2
22 April 2008
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Jeremy Roenick thought Ron Wilson’s text message was an electronic fortune cookie.
The San Jose Sharks coach was counting on Roenick for big things in Game 7, he typed. The aging center should expect to be a hero.
Roenick made his coach’s prediction come true with one spectacular play after another Tuesday night, also making sure the vibrant veteran’s return from semiretirement will last longer than one playoff round.
Roenick had two goals and two assists, including the tying and go-ahead scores midway through the Sharks’ four-goal second period Tuesday night in a 5-3 victory over the Calgary Flames in Game 7, finishing their opening-round playoff series.
“I didn’t come back to have a feeling this good,” said Roenick, who was forcibly rested by Wilson in the Sharks’ loss in Game 6. “I didn’t expect to feel this good, this early. To contribute like that, I don’t want to say it’s a surprise, but it’s just so great.”
Evgeni Nabokov made 19 saves for second-seeded San Jose in front of a deafening crowd at the first Game 7 in Shark Tank history. After the Sharks fell behind 2-1 early in the second period, San Jose’s formidable talent finally overwhelmed the Flames with four goals in less than nine minutes, chasing goalie Miikka Kiprusoff.
Roenick led the way, adding two goals to his four previous scores in six career appearances in a Game 7. After 18 NHL seasons, Roenick doesn’t flinch under pressure—but in the waning years of a career without a Stanley Cup title so far, he also doesn’t want to waste any more time.
“I might be 38 years old, but now I feel like I’m 19,” Roenick said. “You don’t like to have the career that I’ve had and sit out a potential clinching (Game 6). It was nice that I could come back and contribute in this way.”
The Sharks earned their fourth straight trip to the second round, where they’ll face the Pacific Division-rival Dallas Stars.
Roenick tied the franchise record for points in a playoff game, sparking the Sharks offense with his typically relentless play in the decisive second period. Joe Thornton, Joe Pavelski and rookie Devin Setoguchi also scored for the Sharks, who took 41 shots while thoroughly controlling most of the final two periods.
The win capped an exhausting two weeks for the Sharks, who fell behind 2-1 in the series before rallying for two late goals to steal Game 4. San Jose then gave its worst effort of the series in Game 6, leaving many wondering whether the Sharks had the grit necessary to survive a physical opponent.
“For all the people who critique Joe or Patty (Marleau) or the whole organization, tonight was as dominant as a team could be in a seventh game,” Wilson said. “Our team played its best hockey when it mattered most.”
Owen Nolan, captain Jarome Iginla and Wayne Primeau scored for the seventh-seeded Flames, who fell apart defensively after forcing Game 7 with a shutout win in Calgary two nights earlier.
“We came into this game believing we were going to win,” Iginla said. “We were up 2-1 in the second period, and we didn’t sustain it and didn’t stay after them. In a game like that, it’s not something we’d believe was going to happen, so it’s definitely numbing to be out and have to watch them after a good series.”
Kiprusoff couldn’t stop the franchise that groomed him for NHL stardom, allowing four goals on 30 shots before Curtis Joseph replaced him late in the second period. San Jose put its formidable depth to full use, rolling four talented lines while racking up 35 shots in the first two periods.
“I don’t think it was controversial,” said Calgary coach Mike Keenan, who coached Roenick in Chicago way back when both men had more hair. “Kipper didn’t play very well. He just wasn’t on tonight. They started the game with a strong push, and our team didn’t respond very well. Especially when we had a 2-1 lead, we should have kicked it up a notch. We ignited their resolve, and they really turned it up, took control from there.”
The Flames pulled Joseph for most of the final 3 1/2 minutes, but couldn’t add to Primeau’s goal early in the third period. They haven’t won a playoff series since 2004, when they beat the Sharks in the Western Conference finals on the way to a seven-game Stanley Cup finals loss to Tampa Bay.
San Jose’s power play was an awful 4-for-27 in the series’ first six games, but Thornton scored his second goal of the series on a pass from Jonathan Cheechoo midway through the first period. Iginla got his own power-play score just 86 seconds later, and Nolan put the Flames ahead early in the second period when defenseman Doug Murray botched his assignment, giving a breakaway to the former Sharks captain.
The Shark Tank was morbidly silent until San Jose’s fourth line broke through. Roenick’s long, low shot slipped past Setoguchi’s screen and through Kiprusoff’s legs—and Roenick then put the Sharks ahead exactly 3 minutes later, slipping through Calgary’s penalty-killers and wiring a remarkable shot into the top corner of the net.
When Pavelski added a rebound goal, the Flames yanked Kiprusoff—but Setoguchi scored 52 seconds later on Roenick’s setup.
Calgary 2, San Jose 0
Patrick: Onee shot on goal, even
20 April 2008
The Calgary Flames stared down elimination to earn at least one more playoff game with San Jose. They’ll have to do it again to move past the first round for the first time since their Stanley Cup final run in 2004.
Miikka Kiprusoff made 21 saves, Owen Nolan and Daymond Langkow scored, and the Flames beat the Sharks 2-0 on Sunday night to force a Game 7.
The Flames were knocked out of the playoffs in the first round the last two seasons, each time in six games.
The decisive match Tuesday night of this Western Conference series will be the first Game 7 the Sharks have hosted in franchise history after playing five on the road.
Sharks coach Ron Wilson said their was no excuses for the lack of urgency that he witnessed from his team.
“Well it’s the seventh game, if you don’t win you’re out. If I have to manufacture desperation, we are in dire straits. Our players know what’s at stake,” Wilson said.
“We just didn’t get to pucks first. We let them dictate the pace of play.”
Playing in front of a raucous home crowd that braved freezing temperatures and snow to get to the Pengrowth Saddledome, the Flames checked San Jose relentlessly along the boards. Kiprusoff was outstanding during the stretches when his team’s scoring chances dried up and the Sharks were pressing.
The Flames held the Sharks’ top scorers—Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau, Jonathan Cheechoo and Milan Michalek—to zero goals.
Calgary held San Jose scoreless on three power-play chances and went 0-for-2 with a man advantage.
Nolan, a former Sharks star, opened the scoring midway through the first period and Langkow made it 2-0 with 57 seconds left in the second.
Langkow took two strides from the boards and beat Evgeni Nabokov with a low wrist shot stick side for his third of the postseason.
Nabokov made 23 saves.
The Sharks mustered some sustained pressure in Calgary’s zone after two scoreless power plays in the second period, but botched a 3-on-1 opportunity with just over three minutes to go.
Michalek hung onto the puck too long and then didn’t get a clean shot away. The Sharks No. 2 scorer during the regular season is pointless in the series.
Kiprusoff’s pad save on Ryane Clowe from close range late in the second and a quick glove on Thornton’s shot through traffic during a Sharks power play early in the second period helped preserve Calgary’s lead heading into the third.
“Kipper made some saves, but we didn’t have enough people hanging around the front of the net paying the price to score,” Wilson said. “They’ve scored a lot of ugly goals in this series. We have to find a way to manufacture a few ourselves.”
Calgary carried the play off the opening faceoff. The Flames outhit the Sharks 13-4 and won almost 70 percent of the faceoffs in the first period. They also outshot San Jose 5-1 in the first five minutes.
“The frustrating part was it wasn’t as if we brought our game and they shut us down. I thought we shut ourselves down. We didn’t do things to create scoring chances,” Clowe said.
A couple big shifts and hard grunt work behind San Jose’s net midway through the opening period set the table for the Flames’ first goal.
Kristian Huselius reclaimed the puck that was getting away from him with deft stick work and he got a backhand shot away. Nolan corralled the rebound and scored low stick side on Nabokov at 11:33 for his second of the series.
San Jose 4, Calgary 3
Patrick: Three shots on goal, 1 goal & 1 assist, plus 1
Patrick: Game 1st star
17 April 2008
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Patrick Marleau and Jonathan Cheechoo are making up for their regular-season troubles with some clutch postseason play. That has the San Jose Sharks one win away from a fourth straight trip to the second round of the playoffs.
Marleau scored the tiebreaking goal late in the second period and Cheechoo added two goals in the third that sent the Sharks to a 4-3 victory over the Flames on Thursday night and a 3-2 lead in their first-round series.
“It’s just nice to contribute,” said Cheechoo, whose 23 regular-season goals were his fewest since his rookie year in 2002-03. “In the postseason, everybody has to contribute in their own way, whether it be on the scoresheet or defensively blocking a shot. Whatever it may be, it’s time to lay all the cards down.”
Joe Pavelski also score
d and Evgeni Nabokov made 33 saves for the Sharks, who can wrap the series up by winning Game 6 in Calgary on Sunday. The series would return to the Shark Tank, if necessary, for Game 7 next Tuesday. “You’re probably not going to win too many series if you don’t string at least a couple together,” Marleau said. “We were fortunate to get one tonight. The next one is going to be the toughest.”
The Sharks hoped to pick up where they left off when they scored two goals in the final 5 minutes to win Game 4 in Calgary to even the series.
But they were outplayed early, falling behind 1-0 when Jarome Iginla scored on a two-man advantage early in the second period. Nabokov made sure the deficit wasn’t worse, turning aside 26 shots in the first two periods after facing only 10 in Game 4.
“That was a lot better tonight than the last game,” Iginla said. “Unfortunately we didn’t get it done tonight, but we’re going to do more of the same and go regroup and just get ready for Game 6. We really believe we can get Game 6 and we come back here for Game 7.”
Nabokov’s early play gave the Sharks’ skaters time to find their stride, and they outplayed the Flames for the second half of the game. Marleau drew a hooking penalty against Stephane Yelle that set up Pavelski’s tying power-play goal midway through the second period against Miikka Kiprusoff.
Marleau then came through himself when he took a pass from Joe Thornton and beat Kiprusoff with a wrist shot into the top of the net. That made it 2-1 with 1:53 remaining in the second period. That was Marleau’s 22 second postseason goal since the 2004 playoffs, one behind Iginla for most in the NHL in that period.
“Patty was doing everything: forechecking, backchecking, winning faceoffs,” coach Ron Wilson said. “He scored a great goal that gave us a chance to breathe a bit going into the third period. … Patty’s leading by example. You can’t ask for anything more.”
Marleau’s leadership and big-game ability were questioned when he went scoreless with a minus-5 rating in the Sharks’ six-game second-round loss to Detroit a year ago. He struggled through the first half of the regular season and finished with his fewest goals in eight years.
The Sharks captain has answered those questions this postseason, with the toughness he showed bouncing back from a crushing hit by Calgary’s Cory Sarich in Game 3, and the clutch play that gave the Sharks their first lead in the series.
“There were a lot of questions whether he could come back after the hit,” Pavelski said. “But he stood up right after and wanted to get right back on the ice. That’s our leader. He knew we need Patty at his best and he’s been at his best. He’s scoring big goals, setting up big goals.”
Cheechoo’s two goals in the third put it away, with his second coming off a nice pass from Marleau on a two-on-one break that made it 4-1 at the 8:22 mark.
Daymond Langkow scored 9 seconds into a power-play about a minute later for Calgary and David Moss added a goal with 1:17 to play. But this three-goal deficit was too much for the Flames to overcome.
They had done it once already in the series, after falling behind 3-0 early in Game 3. But the series that seemed in their control up until the final minutes of Game 4 is now slipping away. Calgary hasn’t won a playoff series since beating the Sharks in the Western Conference finals in 2004.
“It’s our turn to come back in the series,” coach Mike Keenan said. “We have to come back and tie it and at the same time face elimination.”
The Flames responded to their Game 4 loss by putting one more shot on goal (11) in the first period than they had in the entire game Tuesday. Calgary’s best scoring chance came when Iginla skated in on a two-on-one and fired a shot that Nabokov deflected and then swept off the goal line with his stick after it had trickled past him.
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San Jose 3, Calgary 2
Patrick: Five shots on goal, 1 assist, minus 1
Patrick: Game 3rd star
15 April 2008
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Joe Thornton picked the perfect moment to get his first goal of playoffs.
Thornton scored with just 9.4 seconds left in regulation to give the San Jose Sharks a 3-2 win over the Calgary Flames in Game 4 on Tuesday night, evening their first-round series.
The Sharks’ assistant captain, his team’s leading goal-scorer during the regular season, had been under some scrutiny after failing to score in the first three games of the series.
“I was just waiting until there was under 10 seconds left in the game,” Thornton said, joking. “Perfect time.”
He tipped Douglas Murray’s shot from the point past Flames goalie Miikka Kiprusoff to win a game the Sharks trailed twice.
“Dougie made a great shot and I just happened to throw my stick on it,” Thornton said.
The Flames set a franchise low for shots on goal in a playoff game, mustering just 10 against the Sharks’ Evgeni Nabokov. The previous low was 15.
“Any time you get outshot 32-10 at home, that means you didn’t come to work and you didn’t put in the effort,” Flames head coach Mike Keenan said. “We carried some play early, but it was all San Jose after that. The completely outplayed us.”
Ryane Clowe scored his fourth of the series and Jonathan Cheechoo had his first for the Sharks.
Flames captain Jarome Iginla had a goal and an assist and Dion Phaneuf also scored. Kiprusoff, who was pulled just 3 1/2 minutes into Sunday’s Game 3 after giving up three goals, stopped 29 shots.
Game 5 is Thursday night at San Jose.
The game was almost the reverse of Game 3 in which the Flames started slowly and gained momentum to pull off a 4-3 win. The Sharks were slow out of the gates this time, but had a strong finishing kick.
The Flames controlled the play in the opening period by scoring first, pressuring the Sharks in their own zone and taking time and space away from San Jose when they had the puck. The Sharks began wresting some momentum back in the second with Clowe’s power-play goal at 10:54.
Iginla won a faceoff and sent the puck back to Phaneuf, who beat Nabokov on a shot from the point through traffic to give Calgary a 2-1 lead with 1:31 left in the period.
Cheechoo deadlocked the game 2-2 at 15:06 of the third period with his first of the series. His sharp-angled shot found a hole between Kiprusoff’s shoulder and the crossbar.
“After the first period, we settled down and had a great second period and said to ourselves ‘If we come out and have a great third period, we can really get back in this game,”’ Thornton said. “We just kept pounding shots at Kipper, and Cheech, what a shot that was.
“The game’s not over until that buzzer rings and we played right to the end tonight.”
Iginla opened the scoring 3:19 into the game, whipping the puck across the front of Nabokov and over his stick on Calgary’s second shot of the game. The Flames didn’t have another shot on goal the rest of the period and it would be almost 24 minutes before they got the next one.
Craig Conroy missed the net on a 2-on-1 with Alex Tanguay in the first 2 minutes of the game, but the Flames retained control of the puck off that play.
Sharks winger Jody Shelley dug his stick into the back of Kiprusoff’s right leg while the Flames’ goalie was heading to the bench after a whistle late in the first. Kiprusoff dropped to his knees, but was unhurt. Shelley was penalized for roughing.
Calgary 4, San Jose 3
Patrick: Three shots on goal, 1 goal, even
13 April 2008
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Owen Nolan scored with 3:45 left as the Calgary Flames rallied from a three-goal deficit early in the first period and beat the San Jose Sharks 4-3 Sunday night.
Ryane Clowe, Patrick Marleau and Doug Murray scored in the first 3:33 against Miikka Kiprusoff. Veteran backup Curtis Joseph then replaced Kiprusoff and stopped all 22 shots he faced.
Jarome Iginla, Daymond Langkow and Dion Phaneuf scored for the Flames, who took a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven first-round series. Game 4 is Tuesday night at the Pengrowth Saddledome.
On the winning goal, Nolan curled out of the corner, and with both Brian Campbell and Joe Thornton screening goalie Evgeni Nabokov, the veteran forward blasted a slap shot into the top corner from the top of the faceoff circle.
Joseph was unbeatable in his first playoff appearance since 2004. No save was bigger than the shoulder stop he made on Ryane Clowe from close-in 6 minutes into the third period with the game tied, as the Sharks failed to capitalize on a power play.
The Sharks also got a power play at 16:39 of the third when Phaneuf cleared the puck over the glass and got a delay of game penalty. However, San Jose could not solve Joseph.
Calgary chipped away at its early deficit, getting a goal back later in the first, scoring the lone goal of the second, and finally tying game 1:18 into the third on Phaneuf’s second goal of the playoffs.
Although it originally looked like it was deflected by Langkow screening in front, it was instead a sequence of bad luck for Sharks defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic, who was covering Langkow. Phaneuf’s shot from the blue line first deflected off Vlasic’s skate, then caromed off his stick before trickling behind Nabokov.
The Flames began the comeback when Phaneuf’s wrist shot from the blue line deflected in off Iginla in front of the goal during a power play.
Calgary narrowed the deficit at 10:14 of the second when Langkow struck on the power-play.
At the start of the game, the noise was deafening as fans welcomed the Flames home after splitting the first two games in San Jose. The elation turned to boos 26 seconds in when Calgary’s Stephane Yelle was penalized for slashing.
San Jose quickly capitalized, with Clowe taking a pass from Thornton and ripping a 30-foot wrist shot inside the goal post at 1:31. Clowe was at it again less than two minutes later, controlling the puck in the Flames zone and sending a shot toward the net that was steered in by Marleau at 3:19.
The Sharks scored again 14 seconds later when Murray pinched in from the blue line and whipped a shot past Kiprusoff, who was then pulled.
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Calgary 0, San Jose 2
Patrick: Five shots on goal, 1 assist, plus 1, 2 minute slashing penalty
10 April 2008
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Evgeni Nabokov made sure the Sharks left San Jose with something to show for all those shots in their first two playoff games.
Nabokov made 21 saves in his sixth career postseason shutout, and rookie Torrey Mitchell scored a power-play goal in the Sharks’ 2-0 victory over the Calgary Flames on Thursday night, evening their first-round series at a game apiece.
Joe Pavelski also scored an early goal for the second-seeded Sharks, who outshot the penalty-prone Flames by a huge margin—43-21 this time—for the second time in 24 hours.
Calgary beat San Jose in Game 1 on Wednesday night 3-2 despite a 16-shot disadvantage and a home sellout crowd expecting big things from the NHL’s second-best regular season team.
Miikka Kiprusoff stopped 41 shots for the seventh-seeded Flames, who labored on the penalty-kill for nearly 10 minutes of the second period, in which San Jose outshot Calgary 27-3—but didn’t score until Mitchell’s goal in the waning seconds of that power-play time.
Game 3 is in Calgary on Sunday. San Jose was the NHL’s best road team this season.
Nabokov, the All-Star who led the NHL with 46 regular-season victories while appearing all but five of the Sharks’ 82 games, repeatedly used his cat-quick glove hand to dramatic effect.
Nabokov made his most uncanny save with 4:51 to play after a sharp Calgary pass left him out of position to stop former Sharks captain Owen Nolan’s shot on an open net. Nabokov somehow leaned across the crease and blindly gloved the puck, leaving Nolan chewing on his mouthpiece in disbelief.
San Jose again peppered Kiprusoff with a constant barrage of shots, using its big advantages in speed and skill to keep the Flames on the defensive—or forcing them to commit penalties, including six consecutive calls in the second period. But most of the Sharks’ shots went straight at the Calgary goalie, who really wasn’t tested as much as Nabokov despite San Jose’s 2-to-1 advantage in shots.
After a scoreless, tight-checking opening period featuring two stunning saves by Nabokov, the Sharks took their first lead of the series when Marc-Edouard Vlasic’s shot bounced off the boards behind the Calgary net and went to Pavelski, whose tricky shot slipped underneath Kiprusoff.
Calgary then took its long string of penalties, keeping San Jose on the power play for 9:52 in the second period, including two full minutes of fruitless 5-on-3 advantage. Mitchell finally scored with 9 seconds left in the final power play, slapping home a rebound on the Sharks’ 26th shot of the period.
San Jose then was hit with three straight penalties in about 10 minutes to open the third, but Nabokov and his penalty-killers stopped everything. Calgary took two more penalties in the final minutes to make Nabokov’s shutout a bit easier.
Calgary 3, San Jose 2
Patrick: Four shots on goal, 1 assist, plus 1
9 April 2008
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Something about the teal jerseys, the white pompoms and the Shark Tank’s earsplitting crowd inspires fantastic hockey from Stephane Yelle and his teammates.
Yes, nobody loves a playoff game in San Jose more than the Calgary Flames, who got off to another fine start against their favorite postseason hosts.
Yelle scored two goals, Miikka Kiprusoff made 37 saves and the seventh-seeded Flames stunned the NHL’s second-best regular season team in their first-round opener, beating the Sharks 3-2 Wednesday night.
Dion Phaneuf also scored a power-play goal for the Flames, who kicked off the best-of-seven Western Conference series with their fourth straight postseason win in San Jose. Calgary got three opportunistic goals and made a late defensive scramble to hang on for a win that’s sure to start stomachs churning in the oft-disappointed rink that the Flames love to silence.
The Sharks’ 108-point regular season and No. 2 seed were forgotten when the Flames went ahead 2-0 in the first 5:17 of yet another big victory in San Jose, where Calgary swept all three of its games in the 2004 Western Conference finals — the last playoff series the Flames won. Calgary also won two of its three games in San Jose during the 1995 playoffs, giving the Flames six wins in seven postseason games at the Shark Tank.
Yelle, the two-time Stanley Cup winner who managed just one playoff point against the Sharks four years ago, capitalized on a deflection and a rebound in the first multigoal game of his 148 career postseason appearances.
Ryane Clowe scored two goals as San Jose outshot Calgary 39-23, but the Flames generated three scores in the first 40 minutes and then held on after Clowe’s second goal with 56 seconds to play. Evgeni Nabokov stopped 20 shots for the Sharks, who hadn’t lost a home game in regulation since Feb. 14.
San Jose’s rocky playoff start was disturbingly familiar to its fans, who have watched their talented Sharks crash out of the playoffs’ second round in two straight springs. San Jose had 108 points in the regular season, finishing behind only Detroit after a 20-game streak without a regulation defeat from mid-February to early April.
“I thought we came out with the right intentions, but maybe we were kind of tight, and they were really hungry,” Clowe said. “We definitely have to be more hungry, more of that dog-with-a-bone mentality. Overall, they wanted it more.”
Joe Thornton, who had just one assist against Phaneuf and the Flames in four regular-season meetings, was shut down until he set up Clowe’s second goal from behind the net. The NHL’s fifth-leading scorer also hit the post on a breakaway chance in the opening minute of the third period.
“You want to win every game, so allow us five minutes to be disappointed, and just get ready for tomorrow, because we play right away,” Thornton said.
With hard-hitting veterans and a sturdy defense, the Flames are built like the Sharks of old—no surprise, since former San Jose coach Darryl Sutter runs Calgary’s hockey operations. Calgary came out intent on hitting the Sharks hard, finishing their checks and creating contact to follow the game plan established by Edmonton and Detroit in San Jose’s last two postseason losses.
The Flames went ahead when Yelle nimbly deflected Robyn Regehr’s slap shot past Nabokov just 2:47 in, and after Kyle McLaren took a penalty, Phaneuf added a power-play goal that quieted the Shark Tank.
“When you can defuse that enthusiasm by scoring early, especially on the road, it definitely helps,” said Calgary coach Mike Keenan, who won his first playoff game since 1996.
San Jose recovered 49 seconds after Phaneuf’s score when Clowe banged a pass from captain Patrick Marleau past Kiprusoff, who was woefully out of position. The goal was Clowe’s first since his recent return from a knee injury that kept him out for all but 15 games of the regular season.
Aside from Kristian Huselius’ deflected shot off the crossbar early in the second period, Calgary generated almost no offensive chances after its initial outburst, playing more than 20 minutes with just two shots.
Yet the Flames went up 3-1 late in the period when Jarome Iginla stole the puck from the flat-footed Brian Campbell and broke away down the right side. Yelle potted the rebound as Iginla knocked the net off the moorings, and the goal was upheld after an extensive video review.
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Dallas 4, San Jose 2
Patrick: Four shots on goal, 1 goal & 1 assist, even, 2 minute holding penalty
Patrick: Game 2nd star
6 April 2008
Stars defenseman Mattias Norstrom doesn’t mind rough-and-tumble games, especially when he scores the winning goal.
Norstrom’s rare goal put his team ahead for good late in the second period as the Dallas Stars rallied to beat the San Jose Sharks 4-2 on Sunday in a physical regular-season finale that included 160 penalty minutes, 95 for the Sharks.
The game meant nothing to either team in terms of the final standings, but a physical tone was set early with a series of fights that contributed to a playoff feel.
“Once in a while a game like that is fun,” Norstrom said. “We showed we’re professionals and have personal pride. We weren’t going to take it easy on them and they did the same. We both showed up to battle.”
Dallas erased a 2-0 deficit on goals by Antti Miettinen, Stu Barnes and Norstrom in the final 10 minutes of the second period.
With the game tied at 2 and the Stars with an extra attacker on a delayed Sharks penalty, Norstrom fired Toby Petersen’s cross-ice pass into an open net with 13 seconds remaining in the second period for Norstrom’s second goal of the season and 18th in 14 seasons.
Steve Ott’s 11th goal of the season, a blast from the right circle with 1:22 left, extended Dallas’ lead to 4-2.
Patrick Marleau and Jonathan Cheechoo had power-play goals for the Sharks, who closed out the regular season with consecutive losses following an 18-0-2 run that earned them the Pacific Division title and No. 2 seed in the Western Conference playoffs.
San Jose will play seventh-seeded Calgary in the first round of the playoffs.
Brenden Morrow had two assists and Marty Turco stopped 32 shots for the Stars, who ended the regular season in a 4-8-2 tailspin that pushed them out of first place in the Pacific and into the No. 5 playoff seed. Dallas faces No. 4 Anaheim in the first round, and the Stars expect a rough series against the Ducks.
There were 105 penalty minutes in the first period, 57 to the Sharks who collected three 10-minute misconducts and three fighting majors. Dallas’ Stephane Robidas received a game misconduct and a five-minute major for checking from behind during the opening 20 minutes.
Joe Thornton, Alexei Semenov, and Jody Shelley of San Jose, and Trevor Daley of Dallas all received misconduct penalties in the opening period. Shelley was assessed a game misconduct in the second period.
The Sharks took exception when Ott traded punches with Thornton, San Jose’s top scorer, at 8:42 of the first period. That led to a series of altercations.
“When you get cheap shots, when guys are taking runs at us, we’re not trying to prove we’re tough but we’ve got to respond,” Sharks defenseman Douglas Murray said.
San Jose had 2:29 worth of a 5-on-3 near the end of the first period, and the Sharks capitalized with Marleau’s 19th goal of the season from the right circle at 17:33.
The Sharks had two more power plays in the first five minutes of the second period and they took advantage on the second one when Cheechoo notched his 23rd of the season from the right circle at 5:46 for a 2-0 edge.
Dallas pulled within 2-1 at 11:35 of the second period on Miettinen’s 15th of the season, a one-timer from the high slot off a setup by Mike Modano.
Barnes tied it at 2 at 16:13 of the second period, skating down the right side and beating goaltender Brian Boucher to the glove side for Barnes’ 12th of the season.
Los Angeles 4, San Jose 2
Patrick: One shot on goal, 1 assist, minus 1, 2 minute tripping penalty
3 April 2008
The Los Angeles Kings caught the San Jose Sharks with one eye on the postseason and gave them quite a wakeup call, along with a valuable dose of humility.
Anze Kopitar scored twice in the final 5:38 to lead the Kings to a 4-2 victory over playoff-bound San Jose, handing the Sharks their first regulation loss in 21 games.
“Twenty games is an incredible streak. There’s nothing more I can say about it. It’s phenomenal,” Sharks coach Ron Wilson said. “I mean, we’re the only team in NHL history to go the whole month of March (without a regulation loss). It’s virtually impossible, but we did it.”
Brian Willsie and Raitis Ivanans, who totaled seven goals in the Kings’ first 80 games, both scored against Vezina Trophy candidate Evgeni Nabokov before Kopitar got his 31st of the season with 5:38 remaining for the go-ahead goal and added an empty-netter with 4 seconds left.
The loss was the Sharks’ first that didn’t involve overtime or a shootout since Feb. 20, when the New Jersey Devils beat them 3-2 in Newark. San Jose lost to Edmonton on March 16, snapping a franchise-best 11-game winning streak, then lost in overtime four games later at Phoenix on Martin Hanzal’s overtime goal.
“It’s probably good that it happened that we lose a game before the playoffs. Sometimes you just need to refocus,” Nabokov said. “We need to get back on track and get going again.”
By dropping their next-to-last game of the regular season, the Sharks won’t become the first post-1980 expansion team to put together back-to-back 50-win seasons. Nor will Nabokov get a chance to tie the NHL record of 47 victories set last season by New Jersey’s Martin Brodeur.
“I’m disappointed that we didn’t help Nabby get the job done,” Wilson said. “A couple of guys were awful and it really hurt us in our own end. They let Nabby down and it cost him an opportunity to play Sunday to tie a pretty incredible record.”
Joe Thornton had a goal and an assist for San Jose and Joe Pavelski got the tying goal on a power play with 16:57 left in the third period. But the Sharks failed to get their first-ever sweep of the four road games against the Kings.
“You want to be confident going into the playoffs, but you don’t want to be overconfident and think you’re invincible,” forward Mike Grier said. “Tonight kind of showed that if you let your guard down, even for a little bit, the game’s not going to go your way. We kind of slept through the first two periods and didn’t play with enough intensity to match them.
“Hopefully, we all realize that it’s now back to work and start doing the little things that we’ve been doing over the last couple of month that have made us successful.”
The Kings didn’t have to play short-handed until Alexander Frolov was sent off for hooking Marc-Edouard Vlasic with 17:33 left in the third. The Sharks tied it just 36 seconds later with Pavelski’s 19th goal.
Los Angeles’ first two goals came on short wrist shots by Willsie and Ivanans that beat Nabokov between the pads and trickled across the goal line. Willsie’s third of the season tied the score at 2:14 of the second period. Ivanans’ sixth goal put the Kings ahead at 10:29.
Thornton opened the scoring just 36 seconds after the opening faceoff with his 29th goal and ninth in seven games. The Sharks have scored the first goal a league-leading 55 times this season (38-12-5) and have done it 18 times during this 18-1-2 surge.
San Jose 5, Los Angeles 2
Patrick: One shot on goal, 1 goal and 1 assist, minus 1
1 April 2008
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With several Sharks shooting a T-shirt gun into the stands and others tossing jerseys to the sellout crowd Tuesday night, it was tough to remember back when San Jose was the Los Angeles Kings’ favorite place to play.
The Sharks are no longer pushovers on their own pond, and that’s one big reason they’re headed to the playoffs after the best regular season in franchise history.
Evgeni Nabokov made 16 saves in his NHL-leading 46th victory, and the Sharks gave their fans something to appreciate on Fan Appreciation night, closing out their home schedule with a 5-2 win—their 18th in 20 amazing games.
Milan Michalek scored the go-ahead goal in the second period for the Pacific Division champions, who haven’t lost in regulation since Feb. 20. Mike Grier, captain Patrick Marleau, Curtis Brown and Brian Campbell also scored as the Sharks (49-21-10) earned their 108th point, surpassing last season’s club record of 107 with two games to play.
From their record-challenging goalie to their dangerously balanced scoring attack, the Sharks look nothing like the talented but tentative club that lost three home games to the lowly Kings back in November. After hovering around .500 at the Shark Tank for much of the season, they’ve won eight of nine home games, earning a point every time out since mid-February.
“We obviously started the season real slow at home, but we’ve been on fire here at the end of the year,” said Joe Thornton, who had his NHL-best 66th assist. “Our fans are going to be a big part of our postseason success. We love playing here.”
San Jose also moved within three points of Detroit for the NHL’s best record, though the Red Wings need just one point in their final three games to clinch the Presidents’ Trophy. That award doesn’t mean much to the Sharks, who are content to head to the playoffs on an unmatched roll.
“It’s a hard game when you’ve been playing in games that have a lot of meaning, when the intensity is going to naturally be there,” coach Ron Wilson said. “I had to remind them that there’s still some things on the line.”
Nabokov guaranteed he’ll lead the league in victories this season, moving four wins ahead of New Jersey’s Martin Brodeur. He still has a chance to match Brodeur’s NHL record of 48 victories last season—but Wilson said backup Brian Boucher will start Thursday night in Los Angeles, with Nabokov closing out the season at Dallas on Sunday.
“If I play Nabby in both games looking for a record, that always comes back to haunt you,” Wilson said.
Nabokov, who has played in 75 of the Sharks’ 80 games, is fourth in NHL history behind Brodeur’s 48 victories and the 47 wins compiled by Philadelphia’s Bernie Parent (1973-74)—who did it before shootouts—and Vancouver’s Roberto Luongo (2006-07).
“I’m going to lie if I’m going to tell you I don’t care … but now, all of our goal is to get ready for the playoffs,” Nabokov said. “Whatever Ronnie thinks is right to do, we’re going to do it.”
Patrick O’Sullivan and Raitis Ivanans scored for the Kings as the clubs began a home-and-home series between the NHL’s worst team and its second-best. Erik Ersberg stopped 29 shots for Los Angeles, and the rookie goalie was duly impressed with the Sharks in his first appearance in the rivalry.
“That’s one of the best teams in the league, especially with all that talent,” he said. “It’s not just Joe Thornton. They’ve got some other guys too that can produce. You learn stuff and you take the good things with you to the next game and the next season.”
Even in a one-sided win, the Sharks rested up for the playoffs by playing without forward Jonathan Cheechoo, defenseman Craig Rivet and rookie forward Devin Setoguchi, who all sat out to rest minor injuries. Wilson kept his players’ minutes fairly even, giving bigger rests than normal to Thornton and Campbell, among others.
After Michalek snapped an eight-game goal-scoring drought on a pass from Thornton, Brown and Campbell added late goals, with Campbell scoring during a two-man advantage with 1:01 to play.
“It’s tough to beat that team when you’re playing against their power play all night,” Los Angeles coach Marc Crawford said after his club was called for eight minor penalties to San Jose’s two. “I’m proud of our guys. It was a three-goal difference in the end, (but) it was a one-goal game, and we were right in it.