The Sharks have found an offense just in time. Maybe they just
needed to get away from San Jose.
ANAHEIM
The Sharks have found an offense just in time. Maybe they just needed to get away from San Jose.
Home ice hasn’t meant anything so far. And Tuesday’s Western Conference Quarterfinal matchup again went to the visitor.
The Sharks defeated Anaheim 4-3 in front at a sparsely populated Honda Center after scoring two power play goals and two even strength goals, doubling their offensive output from the first two games combined.
“We needed the win,” said forward Devin Setoguchi. “We knew what we needed to do going into the game. It’s good to get the win, but again you can never get too high or too low in the playoffs. Everyone always says that. Enjoy tonight, come tomorrow to practice and get ready again for Thursday.”
Patrick Marleau scored the go-ahead goal midway through the final period after a penalty on Corey Perry. Marleau leads all active players with nine game-winning goals in the playoffs.
The Sharks found their offense from an unlikely source – their defense. Dan Boyle had two goals and Rob Blake also scored for San Jose.
“We’re happy with that offensive production from them, and they did a good job getting the puck to the net,” said Coach Todd McLellan. “I thought that in our own zone, they played extremely well. Doug Murray was very physical early in the game. As a group, we haven’t been overly concerned about our back end as much as our forwards. They did a good job again tonight.”
Murray and George Parros dropped their gloves at the end of the first period earning them five-minute majors in a game that was physical right from the start.
And the Sharks came out fired up in the second period with a goal a minute in by Boyle.
Center Torrey Mitchell returned to the Sharks lineup after sitting out the whole year with an injury, playing just over six minutes.
“It’s part of my game – speed and getting in there on the floor check and trying to make things happen, and I think I did that tonight,” Mitchell said.
The Ducks never led and were forced to play catch-up most of the game. After the first period, the score was tied 2-2.
In the opening minute of play, Marleau took a four-minute high sticking penalty. But also in the first minute, Ryan Getzlaf took a penalty to negate most of the power play.
The Sharks struck first at 5:34 on a goal from Blake after Marleau, just off the bench, created interference in front of the net.
The Ducks answered with a power play goal that goalie Evgeni Nabokov stopped initially then kicked in. The goal was credited to Bobby Ryan.
After 12 power play attempts in the previous two games, the Sharks finally got one to go in. Boyle beat goalie Jonas Hiller at 13:07.
But the lead was short lived as Anaheim tied the score at 14:50 with a goal from James Wisniewski that Nabokov didn’t see.
The teams traded goals in the second period. Boyle scored his second goal. But the Ducks answered at 11:15. The Sharks checked a player into the wall on their side and had another nice check after the teams raced down the ice. But Chris Pronger found room from the top for the shot.
The Sharks and Ducks face off Thursday in Anaheim for Game 4.
