San Jose will try to clinch during next two games in
Edmonton
By Bob Burch
San Jose – The San Jose Sharks used another 2-1 victory over the Edmonton Oilers to take a 2-0 lead in the Western Conference Semifinals Monday night.
Each of the four semifinals in the NHL is at 2-0. Carolina and Buffalo are in control in the East, San Jose and Anaheim in the West.
The series switches to Edmonton for the next two games, Wednesday and Friday. A fifth game, if needed, will begin at 7pm in San Jose on Sunday May 14.
The final seven minutes of the second period created most of the excitement for the sold-out HP Pavilion at San Jose throng.
The Oilers earned 1:42 of 5-on-3 power play with 6:40 left in the period. Patrick Rissmiller was whistled for interference at the 13:01 mark and Josh Gorges followed him into the penalty box at 13:20 on a boarding call.
The trio of Mark Smith, Scott Hannan and Kyle McLaren played the first 1:25 of the 5-on-3. The aggressive defense led to Edmonton staying out of the Sharks’ net, even after both Hannan and Smith had to drop broken sticks. As Edmonton failed to take advantage of that edge, Hannan finally dove along the ice and punched the puck out of the zone.
“It was kind of an all or nothing play,” Hannan, voted the game’s First Star, said of the lunge that led to a clearing of the zone. “I got the puck out and tried to get off the ice as fast as I could.”
“That was an unbelievable cheer,” said San Jose coach Ron Wilson of the fan reaction to the closing seconds of the 5-on-3. “I’ve never heard anything that loud. I’ve never seen that before, two guys without sticks.”
When Rissmiller came out of the box, the Oilers made one final push for a tying goal. Edmonton was finally successful three seconds after the Gorges penalty expired. As happened in the first San Jose goal, Edmonton took advantage of a mass of bodies in front of the Sharks net to allow Sergei Samsonov to whack the puck past a screened and sitting goalie Vesa Toskala for the equalizer at 15:23.
Joe Thornton teamed with Jonathan Cheechoo for the Sharks’ second goal, coming at the 17:29 mark of the second during a San Jose power play.
Thornton set up in the right circle with the puck, finding Cheechoo available at the left post. Cheechoo was able to pull away from one defender, but a short shot was deflected across the crease to an unmarked Thornton for the 10-footer into an open net. Patrick Marleau earned his 11th point of the post-season with the secondary assist.
San Jose parlayed a 14-10 edge in shots on net and a 3-0 cushion in power play opportunities to emerge from the first period with a 1-0 lead.
Tom Preissing whipped a 15-footer through a mass of bodies in front of the Edmonton crease to find the back of the net 4:26 into the contest for the 1-0 San Jose margin.
“I was at the point and all five of the Oilers had their backs to me. I tried to creep in a little. When I shot at the net, my only concern was that there was little room to shoot at,” said the defenseman of his first Playoff goal in 18 games.
“The first round helped solidify our confidence,” added Preissing. The Sharks finished with 38 shots on net, 13 more than the visitors. “We did a better job of getting guys to the net, although it didn’t show on the scoreboard.”
The Marleau line created the scoring chance. Left winger Milan Michalek controlled the puck along the left boards with Marleau in the middle on a 3-on-2 rush. Michalek skidded to a stop at the goalline and dropped a pass to Marleau at the inside edge of the left circle. Marleau’s shot was stopped by goalie Dwayne Roloson, but both Steve Bernier and Michalek took turns pulling the puck from a pile of players to keep the play alive.
The puck slid innocently toward the right circle before Preissing moved up and whacked the puck past a severely screened Roloson.
“We’re a resilient group,” said Edmonton coach Craig MacTavish. “Give San Jose credit, they played two good games. We stood toe-to-toe with them tonight. We squandered outstanding goaltending by Dwayne Roloson.”
