Sharks one up Wings in game, series

By: Andrew Torrez

Posted: 5/1/07

With a future Hall of Fame goaltender between the pipes, the Detroit Red Wings came into San Jose looking to take a one-game lead over the Sharks.

But it was the play of Evgeni Nabokov that stole the show against Dominik Hasek and the Red Wings in San Jose's 2-1 victory on Monday.

The visiting team came out firing on all cylinders, but Nabokov's spectacular play kept the Red Wings off the board for most of the first period.

Just like in Game 2, costly turnovers and bad penalties hurt the Sharks in the opening period. The Red Wings struck first with a power play goal at 8:47 from defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom.

The veteran's shot from the point beat Nabokov on the glove side to give the Red Wings a 1-0 lead. The goal was the first point of the series for Detroit's captain.

Nabokov kept the game close in the first by flashing his glove and kicking away pucks. Turnovers by San Jose in its own zone forced Nabokov to bail the Sharks out of bad situations.

"We didn't get off to the start we wanted," said Sharks forward Ryan Clowe. "(Nabakov) is great. He's playing with a lot of confidence and that's great for us. Sometimes you can cheat a little bit because you know he is going to bail you out."

Detroit looked like a far more aggressive and hungry team for most of the first period and barely tested Hasek.

"We were giving the Red Wings a lot of room in the neutral zone and giving our blue line away," said Sharks' coach Ron Wilson. "A team that is that dangerous, and they are not different that us, you are going to get picked apart."

With less than two minutes left, the Sharks got their best chance of the period to even the score during a power play.

San Jose came close to scoring, but a sprawling Hasek kept the puck out of the net with his body. The video goal judge ruled the shot a no-goal after the on-ice referees could not determine if the puck fully crossed the goal line.

Midway through the second period, the Sharks seemed to wake up and dominated the Red Wings.

Clowe tied the game at 7:17. The Sharks forward controlled a rebound off a Matt Carle shot and put it past Hasek.

"He's just playing great," said Sharks center Joe Thornton about Clowe. "He's probably our most underrated player. He's so affective, uses his body really well … he's just a tank out there. He seems to be in the right spot to score those big goals for us."

Clowe's fourth goal of the playoffs reenergized the Sharks, who were being out-shot 22-11 at the time.

San Jose put Detroit on its heels with a strong fore-check and continuous cycling of the puck and the Shark's aggressive play carried over into the third period.

Jonathan Cheechoo's power play goal at 6:41 off the third period gave the Sharks a one-goal lead and sent the sell-out crowd at the HP Pavilion into pandemonium.

The San Jose forward showed patience as Hasek did snow angels on the ice before tapping in a backhander to give the Sharks a 2-1 lead.

"I saw him sliding over and he takes away a lot of the net," Cheechoo said about his second goal of the playoffs. "I was just trying to get it around him."

Cheechoo's goal stood out to be the winner, giving the Sharks a 2-1 series lead.

After the game, Sharks' head coach Ron Wilson praised Clowe, who assisted on the game-winning goal and for Thornton, who led San Jose with seven hits.

"Ryan Clowe had an unbelievable game," Wilson said, "And Joe (Thornton) was easily the best player on the ice making big hits."

The Sharks will try to take a 3-1 lead over the Red Wings on Wednesday night at the HP Pavilion.