A San Jose Sharks Blog

In the first period, the Sharks were the first to get on the board. At 3:14, the reunited line of Joe Thornton, Milan Michalek, and Jonathan Cheechoo teamed up to grab the lead from the Colorado Avalanche. On the play, Michalek scored his 8th goal of the season from five feet out, giving assists to both Number 14 and Number 19. Unfortunately, 12 seconds later, Colorado's Milan Hejduk was given way too much room by the San Jose defense. The speedy winger was able to skate in on Evgeni Nabokov and score his 9th goal of the season. Similar to last Friday, San Jose went to the body and it seemed to create a number of chances, but the first period ended with the score tied at one.

In the second period, San Jose again took the lead on a goal from Steve Bernier, his 5th of the season. On the play, the gritty winger was able to put one in the back of the net thanks to Jeremy Roenick's partial screen. This tally was the only goal of the period and the Sharks headed into the locker room with a one goal lead.

For the majority of the third, the Sharks seemed to be in a bit of a defensive mindset, only putting seven shots on goal. However, at 8:30 , Mike Grier scored his 4th goal of the season on a very odd play, giving him two goals in two consecutive games. This goal was extremely lucky; in fact, I would call it accidental. On the play, Sharks rookie Torrey Mitchell skated past the blue line and in on Jose Theodore. Seeing this, Grier dumped the puck towards the net looking to create a chance for a rebound. However, the puck ended up skipping along the ice and beating Theodore on the near side. Much to Colorado's dismay, this goal gave the Sharks a two goal lead.

However, Colorado didn't quit. With three minutes left in the game, the Avs cut the Sharks' lead in half with a goal coming off of Andrew Brunette's stick. This made for a somewhat dramatic finish, but San Jose held strong and gained the two points thanks in large part to Evgeni Nabokov's solid performance (33 saves).

After the game, Jamie Baker interviewed Thornton and asked him about the Sharks ability to win on the road, and inability to win at home. All the big center could say was: "I don't know". Hmm...that's how most Sharks fans feel about it as well. At any rate, thanks to a solid performance, the Sharks now have 30 points and maintain their second place standing in the Pacific.