Dany Heatley was already on the
”
must boo
”
list at Rexall Place because of his refusal to be traded to the
Edmonton Oilers in the summer of 2009. Saturday night, he earned
the catcalls, scoring twice and adding one assist to lead the
Sharks to a 4-3 victory over the Oilers in a nerve-racking game
that saw San Jose survive an Edmonton comeback to make things close
after being three goals down with less than eight minutes left to
play.
EDMONTON, Alberta
Dany Heatley was already on the “must boo” list at Rexall Place because of his refusal to be traded to the Edmonton Oilers in the summer of 2009.
Saturday night, he earned the catcalls, scoring twice and adding one assist to lead the Sharks to a 4-3 victory over the Oilers in a nerve-racking game that saw San Jose survive an Edmonton comeback to make things close after being three goals down with less than eight minutes left to play.
The San Jose victory ended a six-game winless streak on the road as the Sharks picked up two points away from HP Pavilion for the first time since its last visit here five weeks earlier.
The victory, however, came at a price. First-period injuries to Niclas Wallin and Kent Huskins left the Sharks with only four defensemen for the bulk of the game — and one of them was playing in only his second NHL game.
But rookie Justin Braun ended up providing the offensive spark that San Jose has been lacking all season from the blue line, picking up two assists and jumping ahead of both Wallin and Marc-Edouard Vlasic in the scoring column.
Goalie Antero Niittymaki was back in net for the Sharks and improved his record to 8-2-3 with a 22-save performance.
The loss of the two defensemen brought the total to four players lost on the Sharks’ quick two-game trip to Western Canada.
Scott Nichol and Devin Setoguchi were hurt Friday in Vancouver and the Sharks turned to their Worcester development team for reinforcements before the game with the Oilers, recalling forwards Benn Ferriero and Tommy Wingels to take their place.
Coach Todd McLellan put Ferriero on a line with Ryane Clowe and Logan Couture, and on their first shift together it was Ferriero who gave San Jose a 1-0 lead at just 70 seconds into the game when he pounced on a loose puck just outside the crease after a shot by Braun.
The Oilers tied the game at 3:55 of the first period with Douglas Murray in the penalty box for tripping. Center Sam Gagner drove to the net all alone from the left faceoff circle, and though Niittymaki made the initial save, he lost track of the rebound and Gagner made his second effort count.
San Jose got a power-play goal of its own in the second period after Oilers rookie Taylor Hall boarded Joe Thornton. At 2:06, Thornton found Heatley in the high slot and Oilers goalie Devan Dubnyk had no chance on the quick one-timer that followed.
San Jose took a 3-1 lead at 17:04 of the same period when Braun took another shot from the right point and the puck ended up on Heatley’s stick behind the Oilers’ goal line, where he was able to bank it into the net off the back of Dubnyk’s skate.
The Sharks made it a 4-1 game at 9:02 of the third period when the Oilers muffed a chance to clear the puck out of their own zone and Patrick Marleau poked it to Joe Pavelski who hammered it past Dubnyk on the short side.
But two Edmonton goals 57 seconds apart later in the period tightened things up in a hurry as Oilers center Shawn Horcoff fired the rebound of a shot by Jordan Eberle into the San Jose net and defenseman Jim Vandermeer’s shot from the blue line eluded Niittymaki through traffic.
Wallin was the first Sharks defenseman injured when he collided with Oilers center Andrew Cogliano and fell awkwardly into the boards less than five minutes into the game.
The veteran defenseman stayed on the ice for several minutes in apparent pain and wasn’t putting any weight on his left leg as he eventually was helped from the ice by trainer Ray Tufts.
Huskins was hurt late in the first period after he both blocked a shot by Oiler forward Randy Jones and absorbed a hit.
— Story by David Pollak, San Jose Mercury News
