The San Jose Sharks peppered the Calgary net for a
franchise-record 27 shots in the second period and came away with a
2-0 win Thursday night.
SAN JOSE – The San Jose Sharks peppered the Calgary net for a franchise-record 27 shots in the second period and came away with a 2-0 win Thursday night.
After falling 3-2 to the Flames in the best 4-of-7 opener Wednesday, San Jose took control in the second period Thursday to send the series to Calgary all square at 1-1. The next two games are Sunday and Tuesday, with San Jose hosting Game Five Thursday.
The previous Sharks playoff record for shots in one period, 21, was set against Colorado on April 29, 1999 in a 3-1 loss. The regular-season team record for shots in a period is 26, against Chicago Oct. 4, 1999. San Jose shattered the playoff mark by six, solving Flame goalie Miikka Kiprusoff twice in the 20 minutes.
Stellar goaltending by Evgeni Nabokov in the first period allowed San Jose to take the lead in the second. Nabokov stopped Jarome Iginla on a 2-on-1 rush in the closing seconds of the first period, his 10th save before the intermission.
The teams played at even strength for the first six minutes of the second period. Joe Pavelski came up with the game’s first goal. Sharks defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic drilled a shot on net from the blueline to begin the scoring play. Pavelski picked up the rebound at the bottom of the left circle, spun to his left and rifled a shot past Kiprusoff at the 4:56 mark. Vlasic and Patrick Marleau earned assists.
“Nabby gave us a chance to get the lead,” said Pavelski after recording his second career playoff goal. “(On offense) we had second, third and fourth opportunities. That’s how we’re going to have to beat (Kiprusoff).”
The Flames were called for three minor penalties within a span of 86 seconds, resulting in two minutes of 5-on-3 power play for San Jose. The Flames were able to repel all San Jose forays in that situation, the shots total expanding quickly while Kiprusoff and his mates kept the deficit at one.
San Jose finally did collect that second goal in the second period, finished off by rookie Torrey Mitchell.
Defenseman Craig Rivet skated with the puck through the right circle in the Flames zone, then sent a shot toward the crease. Both Milan Michalek and Ryane Clowe worked at the edge of the crease to push the puck past the goalie. Michalek’s stab at the puck left a tantalizing rebound to the left of the net. The speedy Mitchell wasted little time in one-timing the puck into the open net at the 18:09 mark.
Each team mustered eight shots in the scoreless third period. Nabokov, named the game’s First Star, cemented that honor when he robbed Owen Nolan with a lunging glove save with 4:51 to play and the outcome still in the balance. Nolan appeared to have most of the net with which to shoot as he accepted a centering pass from the left flank, but Nabokov foiled that attempt and his former teammate could only skate away, having seen his lone shot on net denied.
“We played right from the drop of the puck,” said Joe Thornton. “We played a 60-minute
effort, got rid of the first-game jitters. We just played hard and have to continue that in Game Three.”
San Jose finished with a 43-21 edge in shots on net.
“We were great penalty-killing tonight,” said Flames coach Mike Keenan.
“They were 1-for-10 with some 5-on-3’s. I mean, you couldn’t do any better than what we did. For the length of time we were shorthanded, that was very much a positive.”
San Jose coach Ron Wilson thought “we were pushing the pace and forcing them into taking some penalties. Took a while to wear Kipper down, but we actually got to him. Our goal was to create some more traffic and we did a better job there.”
