Sharks lose 4-1 to Phoenix, but Red Wings loss supplies San Jose
with No. 1 seed in West
SAN JOSE
One mission accomplished. One more to go.
The San Jose Sharks earned the No. 1 in the Western Conference when second-place Detroit lost in a shootout to Nashville Thursday night. The Red Wings have 112 points with two games to play, leaving San Jose guaranteed for the top spot with a current total of 117.
The Sharks finish the 82-game season Saturday at 1 p.m. in Los Angeles against the Kings. Boston, with two games left and leading the Eastern Conference, has 114 points. San Jose will win the Presidents’ Cup, emblematic of the NHL team with the most points in the regular season, by taking two points Saturday.
San Jose had an opportunity to sew up the Presidents’ Trophy Thursday night against Phoenix at sold out HP Pavilion. The Coyotes upset those plans by taking a 3-0 lead after 24 minutes and rolling to a 4-1 win. The Sharks have only five regulation losses in 41 home dates.
Evgeni Nabokov was shooting for his 41st win of the season. The netminder finished with his 11th regulation loss, making 13 saves.
Al Montoya, the rookie goalie for the Coyotes, came up with 40 saves, including 19 in the third period as the Sharks put enough pressure on the Coyote defense to register their lone goal.
San Jose has been shut out only twice this season. Travis Moen assured the club that the figure would stay at two Thursday night when he shoved in a pass from Mike Grier at the left post 12:22 into the third.
Phoenix opened the scoring 9:30 into the first when Scottie Upshall scored off an offensive zone face-off. The Coyotes made it 2-0 by turning a 5-on-3 power play into an Ed Jovanovski slapslot from the top of the right circle past Nabokov with 18.7 seconds left in the first.
Phoenix enjoyed a 3-0 lead when Zbynek Michalek scored from close range four minutes into the second period. After Moen put San Jose on the board, Coyote Peter Mueller tapped in an Upshall feed on a 2-on-1 breakaway at 17:57 of the third.
