A San Jose Sharks Blog

The Canes started off the scoring with a goal from former Shark, Ray Whitney. With limited defensive pressure near the front of the net, Whitney was able to skate to the high slot and rip a shot upstairs past Evgeni Nabokov. Less than a minute later, the Canes extended their lead off of a shot from the blueline. Though the slapper was wide, the rebound came off of the endboards back out front to a waiting Erik Cole who then swatted it in for his 27th goal of the season. The final goal of the first period was scored on a different type of rebound; a simple shot from the near boards was initially stopped by Nabokov, but Andrew Ladd chipped the puck home for his 10th on the season.

In the second period, the Sharks pulled Nabokov in favor of Vesa Toskala. Nearly seven minutes in, the Sharks finally got on the board. On the power play, Patrick Marleau slid a neat pass from the top of the far circle to winger Bill Guerin. From roughly 40 feet out, Guerin ripped a one-timer that went in to cut the lead to two goals. Unfortunately, the Canes shortly got the goal back off of Eric Staal's stick; the young center put a strong move towards the front of the net and scored his 28th of the season, all with Marc-Edouard Vlasic draped on his back.

Fortunately, in the third period, the Sharks began to mount a comeback. At 2:42 into the period, Jonathan Cheechoo scored his 31st goal of the season giving assists to Craig Rivet and Joe Thornton. The goal kept Thornton's current 10 game point scoring streak alive which started back on March 6. Eight minutes later, Steve Bernier scored off of a pass from Mike Grier. The young Sharks winger played strong all afternoon and finally was rewarded with his 14th of the season. With less than three minutes left in the game, Ladd scored his second of the afternoon on the power play which put the lead back up to two goals. However, 24 seconds later, Thornton put in his own power play goal to continue the Sharks late comeback. With little time left, Coach Ron Wilson pulled Toskala for an extra attacker, but this only led to a Canes empty-netter.

It was good to see the Sharks come back and show some life in the third period; unfortunately, it was too little, too late. By spotting the Canes three goals in the first period, Team Teal had to battle uphill all afternoon and they simply could not tie the game. Bottom line: the Canes came out ready and simply outplayed the Sharks; they were the first to all of the loose pucks and really controlled play in the Sharks' defensive zone.