Ekman keeps Sharks even with Avs, 2-2
SAN JOSE – The San Jose Sharks remained in seventh place in the bunched Western Conference standings Thursday by surviving a 2-2 tie with the Colorado Avalanche at HP Pavilion in front of 15,360 fans.
Nils Ekman struck for two goals in the first period for the Sharks. The Avalanche rebounded with two goals in the first 7:09 of the third period. San Jose goalie Vesa Toskala is 5-2-4 after recording 25 saves.
“(Toskala) played great,” said coach Ron Wilson. “He hasn’t made very many mistakes since he’s been given an opportunity to play.”
Toskala has made six consecutive starts in place of injured Evgeni Nabokov. Wilson indicated Nabokov may be able to back-up Toskala in Saturday’s home game against Dallas, then play in an least one game next week.
“After the road trip (San Jose went 2-1), I was hapy with this effort,” said Wilson. “We had a boatload of chances in the second period (to put Colorado away). We shouldn’t have let a two-goal lead slide. (Colorado) played good for seven minutes.”
Ekman gave San Jose a 1-0 lead 3:42 into the first period with a short-handed goal.
Ekman controlled the puck near the San Jose blueline and found linemate Wayne Primeau open in the neutral zone. Primeau drove through the righ-wing circle and rocketed a shot that bounded off goalie David Aebischer’s right leg pad. The rebound skidded to a trailing Ekman, who fought off defenseman John-Michael Liles to swat home the goal from 10 feet out.
“(Liles) could have stopped the scoring chance,” Ekman said of the late-arriving Avalanche.
No Colorado Avalanche defenseman could stop the second Ekman tally. Marco Sturm’s quick pass allowed Ekman to challenge Aebischer from the right circle.
“I didn’t look at all at the goalie,” Ekman said of his approach into scoring range. “I tried to do a quick release.” The wrist shot flew outside Aebischer’s right pad and inside the left goalpost for a 2-0 cushion at the 11:45 mark.
“I’m happy about the two-goal game, but on their second goal, I missed an assignment,” said Ekman, who has six goals and six assists in 26 games.
Rob Blake solved Toskala from the right flank 2:53 into the third period. Teemu Selanne had tried a wrap-around that resulted in the puck skimming uder Toskala’s pad to Blake for the put-back.
“Blake’s goal was kind of lucky, because Tosk thought he had the puck under him,” said Wilson.
Liles pounced on a feed from Joe Sakic from the endboards at 7:09 of the third period. Ekman was one of several Sharks skaters in the slot when Liles delivered the tying goal.
“They’ve got three or four defensemen who love to join of the play,” Wilson said of the Colorado style of play.
San Jose is 8-7-9-2 worth 27 points. Nashville is sixth in the West with 29 points, while Calgary turned a 4-1 win over Vancouver into 26 points and eighth place in the West. Dallas is ninth with 25 points heading to Saturday’s showdown.
