Too Close For Comfort

Sharks 3, Blackhawks 2 SO

For the third time this year, the San Jose Sharks beat the Chicago Blackhawks by one single goal. I know that the Blackhawks are an improved team, but give me a break, Team Teal should be able to dominate these guys...especially with Jonathan Toews out of the lineup.

Why have the games with Chicago been so tight this year? Not only have we only outscored them by three goals total in three games, but this most recent match took four rounds of shootout. Fortunately, the Sharks ended up on top, but they had to come from behind to do it.

For the first 60 minutes, both teams traded goals and kept things close. As usual, Joe Thornton assisted on both San Jose goals, but interestingly enough, so did Craig Rivet. The first Sharks goal was scored on the powerplay by Jonathan Cheechoo who continues to heat up...it was his 11th of the season. As for the other San Jose tally, it belonged to Marc-Edouard Vlasic; his first of the season.

In the overtime, the Sharks outshot the Blackhawks 6 - 2, but both Evgeni Nabokov and Nikolai Khabibulin stood their ground. The scoreless five minute period brought both teams to the shootout which isn't usually good news for San Jose.

However, this time around, Team Teal got things done. The Sharks were on their way to another shootout loss when Joe Pavelski, Jeremy Roenick, and Nabokov finally decided to take over. Thanks to these three, San Jose walked away with the extra point and stayed within striking range of the Dallas Stars.

A San Jose Sharks Blog