SAN JOSE
– San Jose regained the NHL lead with 71 points Saturday night
with a 6-5 rally past the defending Stanley Cup Champion Detroit
Red Wings at sold-out HP Pavilion.
The Sharks improved to 21-1-2 by scoring twice in the third
period to snap a 4-4 deadlock.
SAN JOSE – San Jose regained the NHL lead with 71 points Saturday night with a 6-5 rally past the defending Stanley Cup Champion Detroit Red Wings at sold-out HP Pavilion.
The Sharks improved to 21-1-2 by scoring twice in the third period to snap a 4-4 deadlock.
San Jose will finish the pre-All Star Break portion of the schedule with a home date with the Vancouver Canucks Tuesday at 7:30pm.
Milan Michalek and Patrick Marleau scored breakaway goals in the third period as the Red Wings were rebuffed attempting to take over first place in the Western Conference.
Michalek scored his 11th goal of the season at 10:18 of the third when he ignited past Wings Brad Stuart and Valtteri Filppula at the red line, then snapped a shot over goalie Chris Osgood’s glove for the go-ahead goal.Dan Boyle, finishing with two points to remain atop the NHL defenseman scoring list, and Christian Ehrhoff assisted.
Marleau netted his team-leading 24th goal of the year at 13:24. Ryane Clowe fed Marleau the puck behind the Detroit defense and right at the blueline to set up the dash to the five-footer overe Osgood’s blocker. Clowe established a personal high with four assists.
Detroit closed to within one goal when Brian Rafalski blasted a 25-footer inside the left post with 1:56 left in the game.
Trailing 2-1 after one period, Detroit responded in the second period by taking leads of 3-2 and 4-3. San Jose was able to produce a pair of power-play goals to tie the score at both 3-3 and 4-4 by the end of the second period.
Marian Hossa scored his team-leading 22nd goal of the season when he one-timed a pass from Pavel Datsyuk 1:34 into the second during a Red Wing power play. Rafalski earned his 27th assist of the year as Detroit evened the score at 2-2.
The pace never slowed in the second period. The Red Wings delivered an even-strength goal at the 4:31 mark for the 3-2 advantage. Johan Franzen went to the left post unmarked and awaited a pass from Datsyuk. Franzen’s stuff from point-blank range behind goalie Evgeni Nabokov gave Detroit its first lead of the night, 3-2.
San Jose had three seconds left on a power play when Ehrhoff pounced on a long Chris Osgood rebound to flick a 15-footer from the slot into the net at 7:56.
Detroit came up with another goal from close range at the 15:37 mark. The Wings won an offensive zone face-off, Dan Cleary went to the net for a short shot and left a rebound at the edge of the crease for Henrik Zetterberg to follow up for the go-ahead goal past a prone Nabokov.
San Jose used 1:23 of power play to make it a 4-4 game with 1:05 left in the period. Marc-Edouard Vlasic’s shot from the high slot bounded off both Clowe and Jonathan Cheechoo. The puck settled five feet out toward the right circle, Cheechoo collecting the puck and whipping a shot high over Osgood for the equalizer.
The Sharks opened Thursday’s regulation loss to Calgary 4-3 by scoring a goal in the first minute of play. San Jose needed 2:59 of action to take a 1-0 lead over the Red Wings.
Douglas Murray, on the way to his second two-point game of the week, assisted on the Sharks scoring play when he sent the puck behind the Detroit net. Clowe chased down the puck, finding an advancing Boyle at the top of the right circle. Boyle skated to the bottom of the circle and lofted a shot over Osgood.
Detroit evened the score 1:08 later when Filppula crossed the high slot before lining a shot past Nabokov. Jiri Hudler and Niklas Kronwall assisted Filppula’s sixth of the season.
San Jose took a 2-1 lead on a delayed-penalty goal from Joe Pavelski at 7:22 of the first period. After ex-Shark Brad Stuart was called for boarding Pavelski, San Jose was able to keep the puck away from Detroit until Milan Michalek sped through the slot and dropped a pass to an unmarked Pavelski in the left circle for the one-timer behind Osgood.
