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Sharks
Bite BackÂ
Nail
Biter Broken Open Late
in Sharks WinÂ
May
13th, 2004
D'ARCY
MCGRATH
Despite
the start of this
series, it shouldn't
come as a surprise that
this whole playoff thing
may not come easy.
The
Flames won in San Jose
when they sat back, and
they won in San Jose
when they took the play
to the Sharks, but on
Saddledome ice a
somewhat even affair
fell to the visitors by
a 3-0 margin.
A
very tight game - the
Sharks clinging to a 1-0
third period lead was
broken open by two late
San Jose goals, both by
Alex Korolyuk, the
second into an empty
net.
I
guess it just wasn't a
night for home ice
playoff success as the
Flames and Flyers both
were tossed aside in the
warm confines of their
own rinks by three goal
margins.
The
Calgary game was close
from start to finish
however.
The
Flames came out hard on
the Sharks, running up a
10-4 shot advantage at
one point and forcing
Shark goalie Evgeni
Nabokov to be the
difference in keeping
the game scoreless.
The
Sharks opened the
scoring in the second
period when a good
Calgary chance, as so
often is the case, went
the other way and ended
up behind Flame
goaltender Miikka
Kiprusoff.
Robyn
Regehr skated into a
loose puck in the
Shark's zone and fired a
low shot that may have
hit a leg, but at any
rate slid well wide of
the net sending the
Sharks the other way.
Alex
Korolyuk fed Vincent
Damphousse who fired a
backhander past a
screened Kiprusoff to
put the visitors up 1-0.
It
was the first lead for
the Sharks in the
series, putting to an
end a Calgary streak of
over 305 playoff minutes
(that's over five full
games) without the
Flames trailing.
For
a new thing, the Sharks
took this leading thing
seriously winding out
the game with said
narrow margin.
The
Flames regained their
legs in the second half
of the period, taking
the play back to the
Sharks and outshooting
their visitors by a 10-7
margin in the second,
20-15 through 40
minutes.
The
Flames best chance in
the middle frame came
when the busted nosed
Mike Commodore took a
feed and fired high only
to be thwarted by a
lightening quick Nabokov
glove.
The
Flames had some fire in
the third period as
well, with both Craig
Conroy and Jarome Iginla
foiled when taking the
puck to the slot and
firing across the grain,
but Nabokov - the much
maligned San Jose goat
of game two - standing
very tall.
The
Flames had a good chance
late in the third, but
the puck once again went
the other way with
Korolyuk sent in on a
107 foot breakaway,
beating Kiprusoff to put
the game out of reach.
The
game turned ugly on all
fronts after that point
with Korolyuk completing
the hat trick into an
empty net. The Russian
winger was somewhat
flashy with his
execution, rifling a
close in shot to the top
of the net, a move that
sent the Flames, and
particularly Chris Simon
over the top in a finish
that will do nothing to quell
the Flame reputation for
not taking home losses
all that well.
Simon
finally found a dance
partner in Mike Rathje,
and thoroughly pounded
the somewhat unwilling
Shark defenceman.
Jarome
Iginla was tossed from
the game with a game
misconduct on the play,
for verbally accosting
an official from what we
could gather.
The
Flames will have two
full days to stew on
this one before the two
clubs get back at it on
Sunday afternoon.
Can
the Flames rebound and
take a 3-1 strangle hold
on the series before
returning to San Jose,
or will it be the Sharks
that tie things up and
ensure a very long and
interesting conference
final finish?
Can't
wait to find out.
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