SAN JOSE, Calif. – The Sharks came home with an obvious sense of urgency for game three, after losing the first two games in Vancouver in the Western Conference Finals. The Sharks demonstrated why they have made it to this level of the playoffs, as the game opened, showing the Canucks they were not giving up easy.
Following a roughing penalty against Vancouver’s Maxim Lapierre, the Sharks had their first of nine power play opportunities. Joe Thornton passed the puck from behind the Canucks net to a waiting Patrick Marleau, situated near the crease, and he redirected the puck past Roberto Luongo for the first goal of the night, after 3:56 of play.
“Things are just starting to go in. I’m playing with some pretty good players obviously. Just getting into some good areas,” Marleau said after the game. “The puck is starting to go in.”
A second Vancouver double minor penalty was called against Christian Erhoff for high-sticking. Thornton made a long slapshot from just inside the blue line, which was blocked by Luongo. Then a series of quick rebounds, ultimately Ryan Clowe beat Luongo for the second goal of the night.
“Every game for us right now is Game 7. We realize how important tonight was. Next game is just going to be more important,” Thornton said in the press room after the game. “We realize what’s at stake. The guys showed up and the fans were into it. They gave us an extra boost. But we know the importance of winning tonight.”
Then with 2:35 remaining in the first period, Marleau picked up a turn-over from just inside the Sharks zone, and raced back to the Canucks net in a one-on-one break-away, beating Luongo for the third Sharks goal of the night.
A notable difference early in this game and games 1 and 2 was the amount of time spent in the Canucks zone. The Sharks had 16 shots on goal at the end of the first period, while the Canucks had eight. The second period was more even at 13 and 12 respectively.
The second period was riddled with penalties and scoring chances that were stopped as a result of the excellent goaltending. In the later part of the period, during a Canucks five-on-three man advantage for over three minutes, Antti Niemi managed to block anything that came his way. By the end of the second, the score remained at 3-0.
In the third period, after several blocked shots on the Sharks net, Niemi failed to clear the puck out of the zone, when it landed on the stick of Alexandre Burrows, who banged it into the back of the net for the first Canucks goal of the night.
Just after the five minute mark, following back-to-back tripping penalties by Ryan Kessler and Burrows, the Sharks had a five-on-three advantage. They continued to pound away at Luongo. Dan Boyle got a stick on the puck and wristed a shot that finally past him to give the Sharks the three goal lead again.
In a nasty turn of events, the Sharks lead began to unwind. About midway through the third period, Jamie McGuinn was moving fast towards the corner and hit Aaron Rome hard against the boards in the Canucks zone, garnering a five minute boarding penalty and a game misconduct, forcing the penalty kill unit to again try to fend off the Canucks special teams. Rome did not return to the ice for the duration of the game.
The Canucks would come back to within a single goal, beginning midway through the five minute power play, beginning with a shot by Dan Hamhuis that went past Niemi, with Henrik Sedin getting the assist on the play.
Then, with only 18 seconds remaining on the penalty clock, Kevin Bieska took a long slapshot from the top of the circle.
By the end of the game, despite the Canucks pulling Luongo for the last two minutes, and a slashing penalty to Ryan Kesler, the Sharks were able to keep Vancouver out of their net, to go on for the win in game three with a final score of 4-3.
Contact the writer at Shellie.Lima@prohockeynews.com .
You must be logged in to post a comment.