SAN JOSE
– When the Los Angeles Kings lost to the New York Rangers 4-3 in
a shootout Thursday night, each of the five Pacific Division teams
had played 58 games. Phoenix was in first place with 69 points,
while the other four teams, including San Jose, had 68.
SAN JOSE – When the Los Angeles Kings lost to the New York Rangers 4-3 in a shootout Thursday night, each of the five Pacific Division teams had played 58 games. Phoenix was in first place with 69 points, while the other four teams, including San Jose, had 68.
The Coyotes improved to 71 points later that night with a 4-3 rally past Atlanta. That result left San Jose as the final division team to make a move.
The Sharks responded with a 3-2 victory over the Washington Capitals at sold-out HP Pavilion. The hosts snapped a 1-1 tie after two periods by receiving goals from Ryane Clowe and Danny Heatley, then held off a furious comeback bid by the Capitals in the final two minutes.
The Sharks continued their home-ice mastery over Washington since moving to HP Pavilion in 1993. The Capitals’ last victory over San Jose on Shark ice happened on Oct. 30, 1993, the first month the Sharks played in San Jose.
Clowe’s 15th goal of the year lifted the Sharks into a 2-1 lead 4:27 into the third period. Kyle Wellwood keyed the scoring play by controlling the puck on the left boards before whipping a low shot on net. Goalie Michal Neuvirth made the initial save but the short rebound at the edge of the crease was tapped in by Clowe.
San Jose needed 22 seconds of power play time to create a 3-1 advantage at the 10:49 mark.
Defenseman Dan Boyle controlled the puck along the blueline, then lifted a shot toward the net. The scoring sheet reflected that three Sharks touched the puck before it dropped over Neuvirth’s shoulder. Joe Pavelski’s stick hit the puck, Joe Thornton made contact with the puck in the low slot and Heatley’s deflection at the edge of the crease nudged the puck over the netminder.
“Unbelievable, those three guys,” Boyle chuckled in the post-game interview about his effective shot that ended with him getting credit for neither a goal nor an assist.
Washington cut the deficit to one when Nicklas Backstrom fired a shot from the high slot past goaltender Antti Niemi at 18:05 of the third.
The teams bunched all of the first period’s scoring into the final 71 seconds.
San Jose’s Ben Eager was whistled for tripping Alex Ovechkin at 18:40 of the first.
The ensuing face-off was taken in the San Jose zone and the Capitals gained control.
As defenseman John Carlson tried to keep the puck inside the San Jose zone at the right point, Patrick Marleau chipped the puck away from the Capital and chased up the ice after the puck. Marleau skated with possession inside the Washington blueline on a 2-on-1 rush before sliding the puck across the ice to Pavelski. As two defensemen hustled toward Pavelski, the Shark sidestepped the pressure and whipped a shot from the inside edge of the right circle that flew inside the right goal post for the shorthander at 18:49.
The San Jose lead lasted 22 seconds. Washington won the next face-off and worked inside the Shark zone. Carlson found Ovechkin with a pass at the top of the left circle. Ovechkin moved to the top of the slot and wristed a hard shot past Niemi at 19:11 mark.
NOTES: Shark defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic skated only two shifts in the first period before heading to the lockerroom with an injury. He did not return for the rest of the game…The Sharks announced during the game that winger Tommy Wingels and defenseman Nick Petrecki had been called up from the Worcester (AHL) affiliate…San Jose, tied for fourth place in the Western Conference, concludes the two-game home stand with a 7:30pm contest against the Colorado Avalanche Saturday.
