Patrick Marleau scored on Jonas Hiller, one way or another, in
overtime Saturday night and gave San Jose a 3-2 victory
SAN JOSE
A classic ugly Stanley Cup playoff goal kept the San Jose Sharks alive Saturday night while at least delaying a Ducks bid to pull a first-round upset of the NHL’s top regular-season team.
San Jose captain Patrick Marleau jammed in a loose puck during a frantic scramble near the Ducks net 6:02 into overtime to give the Sharks a 3-2 victory at HP Pavilion and narrow the Ducks’ series lead to 3-2.
Game 6 is set for Monday night at Honda Center, with a potential seventh game, if necessary, in San Jose on Wednesday.
Marleau, who also had the winning goal in Tuesday’s 4-3 San Jose triumph at Honda Center, capitalized after Ducks goaltender Jonas Hiller had stopped two Joe Thornton shots, only to have Thornton chase down the puck behind the net and throw it in front.
With Sharks winger Devin Setoguchi also whacking away and Ducks defenseman Chris Pronger and center Ryan Getzlaf among a growing mass of humanity, play continued for a lengthy sequence before Marleau pushed the puck across the goal line.
“The reason the puck went in the net is because their player pushed our goalie’s pad,” Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said. “The puck was loose behind him and their player pushed the goalie’s pad. As he pushed the goalie’s pad, the back of his skate knocked the puck in the net.”
Referees Dennis LaRue and Kevin Pollock huddled briefly after the goal, but there was no video review.
“I think there needs to be some clarification because my view is they’re not allowed to push the goaltender and the puck into the net to cause a good goal,” Carlyle said.
Neither Hiller nor Pronger knew exactly what had transpired.
“I didn’t really see it,” Hiller said. “I was looking for the puck, so I didn’t really pay attention to who was pushing or who did what. That’s the referee’s decision.
“I couldn’t find it. I saw it was behind me, so I just tried to lie on it, but their guy was faster.”
As has been the case through much of the series, San Jose produced a large advantage in shots, 48-25, including 7-3 in overtime, but both teams had chances during an up-tempo extra session after the Ducks had wiped out a third-period deficit on goals by Ryan Carter and Corey Perry.
“They played very well,” Pronger said. “We battled hard in the third, and obviously Jonas played unbelievable and kept us in the game. We had a couple of chances in overtime and couldn’t put it in, and they did.
“It’s going to take how we played in the third period to win on Monday. We have to come out with that same passion and that same determination.”
The Ducks forced overtime with a furious third-period rally that produced goals by Carter at 55 seconds and Perry at 4:42.
Sharks winger Mike Grier lost the puck in the neutral zone and Ducks defenseman Scott Niedermayer pushed it ahead to rookie center Andrew Ebbett, who fed Carter for a one-timer from the inner edge of the left-wing faceoff circle that beat San Jose goalie Evgeni Nabokov between his pads
Niedermayer also made the play that led to Perry’s goal, rushing the puck between Thornton and Sharks defenseman Douglas Murray before feeding Perry on right wing. Ahead of Setoguchi and before San Jose defenseman Christian Ehrhoff could slide across the ice, Perry scored with a quick shot that eluded Nabokov on the short, glove side.
After Hiller had turned aside several quality second-period Sharks scoring chances, he slid away from the goal post ever so slightly to give Setoguchi a short-side opening that resulted in San Jose’s second goal, at 17:16.
Reversing course behind the net, Setoguchi appeared to take advantage of some Ducks confusion in front and skated out to Hiller’s left before squeezing a close-range shot through a tiny opening.
Despite some solid shifts and pressure applied by the Ducks, the Sharks posted a 17-8 advantage in shots in the second period, after having had 11 of the game’s 16 shots in the opening 20 minutes.
Thornton, whom the Ducks victimized on the game’s first three goals in Thursday’s 4-0 victory in Anaheim, gave San Jose the lead with a power-play goal at 7:25 of the first period.
Thornton drew the game’s first two penalties, a cross-checking call on Perry just 46 seconds after the opening faceoff and a hooking infraction on Getzlaf at 6:51.
The Ducks killed the first penalty, but weren’t as fortunate on the second. Thornton won a right-wing faceoff from Ducks center Todd Marchant, and Marleau ripped a shot from near the faceoff dot that caught Hiller up high. Parked near the right post, Thornton easily buried the rebound.
NOTES:
Ducks center Petteri Nokelainen, who did not play in Game 4 Thursday, remained in Orange County and was scheduled to undergo an MRI exam for an unspecified upper-body concern. … The Sharks improved to 7-14 all-time in playoff overtime games, while the Ducks dropped to 14-5.
–
Story by Dan Wood, Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
