|
|
|
|
|
Easy win for Sharks
By Jeremy Harness January 16, 2010 |
||
|
|
|||
|
SAN JOSE - Devin Setoguchi shaved his head on Friday night, but even though he said he did it to “switch things up,” who knows if that played any part of his breakout game the very next afternoon. After not scoring since Dec. 28, Setoguchi had two of them while the Sharks looked every bit the better team than the Edmonton Oilers, who had rolled into town having lost 13 of their past 14 games. In cruising to a 4-2 win in front of a - not entirely sure of the accuracy of this - sellout crowd of 17,562 fans, they outshot and generally outplayed their overmatched opponent. Backup goalie Thomas Greiss, who got the start in place of a resting Evgeni Nabokov, was also impressive in only his 10th appearance of the season and was certainly helped with a solid offensive performance against the worst team in the Western Conference. After Patrick Marleau’s goal after only 3:51 gone by gave the Sharks the early lead, the Oilers actually tied the game late in the period when defenseman Denis Grebeshkov beat Thomas Griess, who started in place of regular starter Evgeni Nabokov on Saturday. From that point on, it was nearly all Sharks. Setoguchi scored consecutive goals late in the first period and then early on in the second to put San Jose firmly in the driver’s seat. “I’ve been trying to get to the net and work hard on getting shots,” said Setoguchi, who had his first multi-goal game in nearly three months. “In order to score goals, you’ve got to work, you’ve got to do the things that make you successful. If I’m shooting the puck, I’m getting the chance to score goals. I had a lot of shots (today), and I moved my feet well.” Usually, it’s Joe Thornton who feeds his teammates for incredibly-easy goals in front of the net - just ask Dany Heatley about that - but at the 15:36 mark of the second period, Douglas Murray capped off a brilliant San Jose passing sequence by finding a streaking Thornton to give the Sharks a 4-1 lead. With those two points, Thornton moved into a second-place tie with longtime Sharks standout Owen Nolan for total points scored in franchise history with 451 of them. In the third, the Oilers attempted to crawl back into the game when Patrick O’Sullivan converted a turnover into a shorthanded goal at the 9:43 mark to cut the lead down to 4-2. Notes: The Sharks recalled forward Ben Fereiro from Worcester, San Jose’s top development affiliate, of the American Hockey League. Fereiro has played 22 games for the big club this year and has knotted five points - two goals and three assists. In bringing him up, the Sharks sent forward John McCarthy back to Worcester. “Benny has played extremely well in Worcester,“ McLellan said. “He’s scored a lot of goals, and we’re looking for some secondary offense. We thought that we could bring him in and give him another taste here. |
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||