A San Jose Sharks Blog

In the first period, the Blackhawks were the first ones to score and they did it early. On the powerplay, Brent Seabrook scored his 9th goal of the season at 3:35. However, 17 seconds later, San Jose evened the game with a goal of their own. At 3:52, Jonathan Cheechoo scored his 22nd of the season and 17th in the last 24 games.

Nine minutes later, San Jose scored again and it came off of the stick of Kyle McLaren; his 3rd of the season. On the play, Joe Thornton found the pinching defenseman crashing the slot. With a quick one-timer, Number 4 put the puck behind Patrick Lalime and gave the Sharks a one goal lead. However, the Blackhawks weren't done scoring themselves. At 18:09, Jonathan Toews scored his 19th of the season. This goal evened the score at 2 and at the end of 20 minutes, nothing had been settled.

In the second period, both teams continued to go to the body. On the night, Chicago posted 28 hits while San Jose generated 25...but the middle 20 didn't just have body checking. At 14:31, captain Patrick Marleau scored his 14th of the season and gave the Sharks the lead again. On the play, Number 12 made a quick move and separated himself from the nearest Chicago defenseman. This gave him some space and the opportunity to get a quick snapper past Lalime. This goal was his 4th in the last three games.

The third period was relatively quiet; more hitting, saves, and solid defense. The only exciting thing that happened in the final 20 minutes was the no-goal scored by the Blackhawks with less than 40 seconds left. The replay clearly showed that the puck was directed in with a glove, so it wasn't too tough of a call. With all of the San Jose checkers on the ice, Chicago wasn't able to tie things up and the Sharks skated away with two more points for the standings.

San Jose has now won eight straight games...that's basically a tenth of the season. What's equally amazing is that the Sharks are still fourth in the Western Conference standings. The Dallas Stars remain one point ahead of San Jose, keeping the Sharks out of the top three. With that in mind, let's hope that Team Teal keeps on winning so that we can hang another Pacific Division banner at the tank and guarantee home-ice advantage in the playoffs.

Notes:

• Nabokov recorded his 38th victory of the season, a San Jose Sharks record.
• Thornton picked up two assists and just dominated every time he had the puck.
• San Jose killed a crucial 5 on 3 in the first that kept the game tied.
• McLaren and Murray had a number of big hits that really kept the momentum going for San Jose.
• Murray fought James Wisniewski in the second period and handled the smaller defenseman pretty well.