SAN JOSE
– Cam Ward had started the last 17 games for the Carolina
Hurricanes before coach Paul Maurice gave the netminder the night
off Thursday in San Jose.
Michael Leighton made 37 saves, then two in the shoot-out as
Carolina rallied past the Sharks 4-3 at sold-out HP Pavilion.
SAN JOSE – Cam Ward had started the last 17 games for the Carolina Hurricanes before coach Paul Maurice gave the netminder the night off Thursday in San Jose.
Michael Leighton made 37 saves, then two in the shoot-out as Carolina rallied past the Sharks 4-3 at sold-out HP Pavilion.
The Hurricanes improved to 26-22-5, while San Jose finished a 1-1-1 three-game homestand with a 36-7-6 mark. The Sharks open a five-game roadtrip Saturday night in Columbus against the Blue Jackets.
Milan Michalek assisted on all three San Jose goals, leaving the winger with 21 assists and 35 points for the year.
Michalek’s first helper gave San Jose a 1-0 led 12:23 into the first period.
Michalek accepted a pass from Joe Pavelski inside the Carolina blueline. Michalek’s long pass into the low slot bounded off the leg of Ryane Clowe and into the net.
Michalek skimmed a cross-ice pass to defenseman Alexei Semenov inside the Hurricanes zone early in the second period to begin the next scoring play. Semenov netted his first goal of the season and seventh in 187 NHL games when his hard shot deflected off the skate of Carolina’s Anton Babchuk and between Leighton’s pads at the 3:10 mark.
Carolina sliced the deficit in half 4:55 into the second period when Matt Cullen converted a penalty shot. Cullen was hooked by Shark defenseman Christian Ehrhoff while on a breakaway. Cullen’s penalty shot flew inside the left post past goalie Evgeni Nabokov.
San Jose took a 3-1 lead on Marc-Edouard Vlasic’s fourth goal of the season 7:16 into the second on a Sharks power play. Michalek kept the play alive by chipping the puck off the sideboards and into the right corner. Clowe collected the loose puck and backhanded a pass through the blue ice to an advancing Vlasic for the 15-footer into the open net.
Sergei Samsonov garnered his 10th goal of the season when he redirected a pass from Jakub Petruzalek in the left corner of the Sharks zone. Samsonov had inside position at the edge of the crease to finish the Carolina scoring play.
Carolina drew even at 3-3 with an even-strength goal 7:30 into the third period.
Cullen jetted around the San Jose defense with the puck in the low slot before backhanding a pass to Ray Whitney for a 10-footer past Nabokov.
San Jose posted a 3-2 edge in shots on net in the five-minute overtime, completing the night with a 40-29 advantage.
Tuomo Ruutu scored on the first Carolina effort in the three-round shoot-out. Trailing 1-0 after two rounds, Michalek kept the Sharks alive when his backhander into the top right corner of the net beat Leighton. Samsonov ended the suspense when he glided toward the right post and sent a backhander over a sprawling Nabokov for the game-winner.
NOTES: Dan Boyle returned from a four-game absence because of an injury to play 29:41 against the Canes, Boyle and Pavelski each had six shots to lead the hosts…Defenseman Douglas Murray did not return from an injury in the first period, skating just eight shifts as the Sharks played the remainder of the game with five defensemen.
