Sharks vs Coyotes - 3.15.07
Sharks Offense and Defense keep rolling
Glendale, AZ - The San Jose Sharks continued their winning ways by defeating the struggling Phoenix Coyotes, by a score of 5 - 1. Coach Wayne Gretzky's team was simply overmatched in almost every aspect of the game and could not get anything going until the third period, but by then, it was too late.
A little over a minute into the first period, Jonathan Cheechoo scored his 24th goal of the season off assists from Joe Thornton and Milan Michalek. Though Cheechoo was marked by a Phoenix defenseman, he was able to get his stick free to shoot the puck off of the far post and in. Early in the second period, Cheechoo followed up his first period performance with his 25th goal of the season; again, giving assists to Thornton and Michalek.
Also in the second period, Bill Guerin scored his 4th goal as a Shark off of a drop pass from Patrick Marleau. Using his speed, Marleau cruised into the Phoenix zone, dropped the puck to Guerin, who then quickly snapped a shot through two defensemen and over the shoulder of Tellqvist.
Phoenix finally got on the board by scoring a power play goal early in the third period. Though Nabokov let the shot in, he continued his stellar play by saving 20 of 21 on the night. His recent performance has Coach Ron Wilson leaning on the hot goaltender even though Toskala appears healthy and ready to play. This goes against much of what Wilson said in a recent Mercury News article (see my post: Sharks' Goalie Rotation) regarding his commitment to rotating goalies.
In the third period, the Sharks added goals by Thornton and Matt Carle. Thornton's goal was a beautiful back-hander that went top shelf for his 18th on the year. As for Carle's power play goal, it was an easy tap-in off of a rebound. The goal was his 11th on the year; the most by any Sharks rookie defenseman (1999-2000: Brad Stuart 10).
Overall, the Sharks dominated a team that has very limited talent. However, it is still great to see all of the forward lines clicking; especially Thornton, Cheechoo, and Michalek. These guys combined for three goals and seven assists on the night...a very solid outing.
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Comments
Where's the love for the outstanding goaltending from Naby? Although he did have a shot off the crossbar in the final minutes...
Posted by: Jonathan Bercovitch | March 16, 2007 12:14 PM
It seems like Nabby has been seeing a lot of shots go off of the crossbar recently. Like Randy Hahn said last night, Nabokov is playing very well AND getting lucky.
Posted by: PdR | March 16, 2007 12:43 PM
Was Toskala wearing his helmet for the end of the 3rd period? Maybe with a 5-1 lead he thought he'd get some playing time.
Posted by: Jonathan Bercovitch | March 16, 2007 12:54 PM
Hmm...I did not notice that...nice catch. Nabby has been playing a lot recently and Wilson may have wanted to rest him. However, he probably changed his mind since Tosk will be going tonight in the second game of this back-to-back stretch.
Posted by: PdR | March 16, 2007 01:02 PM