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Sharks rally to beat Predators
By Dave Fowkes March 11, 2010 |
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(San Jose, CA) -- The San Jose Sharks exploded for six goals in the third period as they rallied from a two goal deficit to beat the Nashville Predators 8-5. Joe Pavelski scored two goals and two assists, Dany Heatley had two goals and one assist and Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau, Manny Malhotra and Jay Leach each had one goal for San Jose. Evgeni Nabokov made 40 saves in net for the Sharks. JP Dumont and Patric Hornqvist each had a pair of goals and Colin Wilson scored once for Nashville. While it was an exhilarating third period for the Sharks, nobody was happy about the effort on the ice. “We won the game and that’s great but that’s not what I’ll focus on,” Coach Todd McLellan said. “We were clearly outworked and outhustled for two periods and that’s very disappointing.” The mood was no brighter in the Nashville locker room where coach Barry Trotz was not pleased with his goaltending. “They got the two goals and drove the net. They had the momentum. I thought we got the game settled down. I was feeling pretty good. I felt like we got the momentum back. It started with an unnecessary turnover from (Dan) Ellis on the fifth goal. And the sixth goal – you’ve got to save that.” Dan Ellis got the start and gave up six goals on 23 shots before being pulled in the final five minutes of the game. While it ended poorly for Ellis and Nashville, it started worse for San Jose. “At one point I looked up at the scoreboard and saw that we were getting out shot 30-10 three-quarters of the way through the second period,” McLellan said. Odds are you have no chance of winning those games. But tonight we found a way.” The first period was all about Nabokov. Nashville outshot San Jose 17-6 in the first. Nabokov made all but one save. The Predators lit the lamp first. Hornqvist found a rebound in traffic in front of the net that he was able to fire past Nabokov before he could find the puck. The Sharks answered with their first goal from the top line. It started on the forecheck with Devin Setoguchi sliding the puck around the boards to Thornton, who then made a great pass to a streaking Heatley that hit his stick right on the tape. Heatley did a quick windup in mid stride and rifled the shot past Ellis. The second period looked similar to the first with Nashville controlling the puck and the game en route to a 17-5 shot advantage. This time Nabokov was not as successful in keeping the pucks from the net. The first goal of the second period came on a three-on-two break. Steve Sullivan coming into the zone on the left side passed to Francis Bouillon who brought the defenders to him. As he skated up on goal he passed to Hornqvist standing next to Nabokov who basically redirected the pass into the net for his second of the night. The Sharks tied the game on the power play. Thornton found Heatley point blank in front of the net. The shot bounced off of Ellis to his left. While everyone was looking for the puck, Thornton skated in and wristed a quick shot behind the surprised Ellis. It was all Nashville from there. The Predators used a power play to jump back in the lead. Cody Franson took a shot from the point that Dumont deflected into the net for the 3-2 lead. It appeared that Nashville made it 4-2 about three minutes later. Dumont took a shot from the blue line that was bouncing on the ice. Nabokov made the save but could not control the puck. Dustin Boyd was tied up with Kent Huskins. As they worked into Nabokov, Boyd’s leg knocked the puck into the net. The referee ruled it a goal. However video replay overturned the call for a no goal, saying Boyd made a kicking motion at the puck. There was no reviewing the next goal. Franson again made the pass from the blue line to the side of the net where Colin Wilson was standing unmolested and was easily able to slap a shot between Nabokov and the post. The Sharks came out for the third fired up. They got the first six shots in the period with the final one going in on the power play. Dan Boyle shot from the blue line and Heatley redirected the puck that bounced through Ellis’s legs to cut the deficit to 4-3. Two minutes later the Sharks tied it up. Pavelski rocketed a shot from the blue line that bounced off of Ellis’s leg to his side. As Malhotra skated in he hit the puck with his skate and it went in. The play was reviewed. It was called a goal because there “was not distinctive kicking motion.” The Sharks would get the first eight shots of the third period before the predators got one, but once the game was tied, Nashville picked up the tempo. The Sharks would take their first lead of the game at 11:16 of the third. Manny Malhotra created a turnover against the boards with some aggressive forechecking. The puck popped up and out right to Pavelski who had followed the puck around the net. Pavelski controlled the puck and skated in on a mini-breakaway. He faked once before burying the shot glove side high for the 5-4 lead. The game was not over yet as Nashville quickly tied the score up. A turnover in the offensive zone kept the defense off balance. Kevin Klein took a shot from the blue line that Dumont redirected past Nabokov. The fireworks really went off a minute later when Pavelski scored his second goal to take the lead. As he skated the puck in 1-on-1 he spun around in a circle and with his back to the net and falling to the ice he back handed the shot that went through Ellis’s legs for the 6-5 lead. The crowd went crazy on the shot, the crowd continue do cheer as Ellis was sent to the bench for Pekka Rinne. Marleau capped the five goal rally on a two-on-one break. He faked the pass to Torrey Mitchell before nailing the shot over Rinne’s shoulder. It was Marleau’s 40th goal of the season. Jay Leach capped the six goal period by firing the puck from his defensive zone into an empty net. It was Leach’s first goal as a Shark. While it was a great end to the game, McLellan remained unpleased, “For us to have success we have to have everybody on board for the first 40 minutes and not just the last 15.” The Sharks will hope for a better effort for 60 minutes on Saturday when they host Florida. GAME NOTES: **Marleau becomes the third Shark to score 40 goals in a season. Owen Nolan and Jonathan Cheechoo are the others. **The Sharks skated the third period with just five defensemen after Douglas Murray left the game. He “took a shot in the lower body” according to McLellan. He skated it off for a bit but could not finish the game. His availability for Saturday is not known. **With his four points in the third period, Joe Pavelski ties the Sharks record for most points in a period (4) that was last set by Joe Thornton against Toronto on Dec. 2, 2008. **The six goals the Sharks scored in the third period ties a franchise record for goals in a period (6) that was previously set in the second period Jan. 30, 1996 vs. the Hartford Whalers. |
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