The San Jose Sharks once again showed how resourceful and
resilient they’ve become this season. Playing their most exciting
third period of the season against the Western Conference’s top
team, San Jose scored twice in the final three minutes of
regulation Thursday night to force overtime before ultimately
losing 5-4 to the Vancouver Canucks in a shootout.
SAN JOSE
The San Jose Sharks once again showed how resourceful and resilient they’ve become this season.
Playing their most exciting third period of the season against the Western Conference’s top team, San Jose scored twice in the final three minutes of regulation Thursday night to force overtime before ultimately losing 5-4 to the Vancouver Canucks in a shootout.
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Canucks forward Alex Burrows was the only one of five players to score in the shootout as Ryane Clowe, Kyle Wellwood and Joe Pavelski all came up short for San Jose.
The Sharks were trailing throughout the third period before Torrey Mitchell scored his first goal in three months with 2:13 left to tie the game at 3-3. That didn’t last long, however, as a goal by Daniel Sedin just 24 seconds later gave Vancouver another lead before Clowe’s second goal of the game at 19:39 forced overtime.
Vancouver goals by Alex Burrows and Sami Salo gave Vancouver a 2-0 lead at one point before two quick tallies by Devin Setoguchi and Clowe drew the Sharks even, only to have Mason Raymond give the Canucks a 3-2 edge after two periods.
And that’s where things stayed until the twists and turns of the final three minutes.
Vancouver is the NHL’s top faceoff team, just ahead of the Sharks, and McLellan had said before the game that element of the game would be particularly important.
The first period proved him right. Though both teams started strong and matched each other stride for stride, the Canucks ended up winning 62 percent of the 21 draws, going on to outshoot the Sharks 12-6 and outscore them 2-0.
Vancouver’s took the lead at 13:25 when Sedin controlled the puck behind the Sharks net for several seconds before finding Burrows in the slot for a quick shot that beat Antti Niemi high on the stick side.
That lead doubled five minutes later when San Jose’s penalty kill gave up its fifth power play goal in five games. Ex-Shark Manny Malhotra dug the puck out of a crowded corner for Dan Hamhuis and his cross-ice pass went to Salo, whose one-timer got past a screened Niemi.
Two goals 67 seconds apart early in the second period brought the Sharks right back into the contest.
Setoguchi got the first on a rush with Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau, crashing the net after his first shot hit the post and lifting a backhand rebound over Canucks goalie Cory Schneider at the 57-second mark.
The second came on a strong solo effort by Clowe who got through the Vancouver defense, held off Ryan Kesler and then dragged the puck around Schneider before tucking it into the far side of the net.
The 2-2 tie didn’t last long, however.
Vancouver took a 3-2 lead at 5:38 when a shot from the right point by Mikael Samuelsson went wide, then bounced out the other side to Raymond, who didn’t miss a wide open net.
Both goalies came up with big saves the rest of the middle period, Niemi extending his left pad to rob Burrows from point blank after he sneaked into the slot all alone and Schneider making a pad save on Setoguchi as he tried to finish off an odd-man rush with Thornton.
— Story by David Pollak, San Jose Mercury News
