The San Jose Sharks come out on top in a hard-fought match against the dynamic Detroit Red Wings team, narrowly winning with the score of 4-3. While the Sharks snapped the Red Wings’ win streak at five, the Sharks extend their win streak to four. Sharks forward Devin Setoguchi, currently on a hot streak with ten goals in his last thirteen games, nets two (after his first ever NHL hat trick last Saturday at the Shark Tank against the Colorado Avalanche), and Sharks captain Joe Thornton scores his 300th career NHL goal. In addition, for the first time in San Jose Sharks franchise history, the Sharks sweep the Red Wings at their home in Detroit.
From the onset, the game was rife with playoff-like tension. Earlier in the season, the Sharks had lost to the Red Wings in San Jose and the Sharks had beaten the Red Wings in Detroit. To add to the already thick tension, the fans in Detroit never forgot their elimination by the Sharks from last year’s 2009-2010 playoffs.
As expected, both teams came out playing strong, knowing each other’s team was an equally difficult opponent.
The first period began scoreless, and even with a four-minute high-sticking penalty followed by a two-minute high-sticking penalty against the Red Wings (both drawn by the Sharks’ Logan Couture), giving the Sharks ample five on three opportunity, the Red Wings still managed to keep the puck out of their net. Much of the Red Wings’ success was due to a combined effort of solid defensive play and the standout saves by netminder Jimmy Howard. With twenty minutes left in the first period, the Red Wings took another penalty, giving the Sharks a power play for the rest of the period. It did not take long for the Sharks to capitalize on their advantage, with Joe Thornton scoring a great goal in front of the net, giving the Sharks a 1-0 edge by the end of the first.
Succeeding the action-filled, relatively scoreless first period revealed a still action-filled, three-goal second period. Just over seven minutes into the second period, the Red Wings’ Daniel Cleary scored on a weird bounce in front of the Sharks’ net to even up the game at 1-1. Later in the second, Sharks forward Ryane Clowe brilliantly blocked a Red Wings defenseman shot to earn a breakaway, beating the Red Wings’ Howard with a backhand to bring the Sharks back up to a one goal lead, at 2-1. Before the Sharks could become comfortable with their lead, the Red Wings’ Daniel Cleary scored again thirty seconds later to even the game at 2-2. Before the second period could end, Devin Setoguchi tipped in a shot from Joe Thornton and Logan Couture to bring the Sharks again to a one goal lead by the time the period came to a close.
No scoring occurred between the two teams during most of the third period, much in part to the brilliant saves by both the Sharks’ Antti Niemi and the Red Wings’ Jimmy Howard. Thirteen minutes into the third period, the puck came to Sharks forward Devin Setoguchi at the point from a nice Joe Thornton pass, who let go a ripping slap shot past Howard to put the Sharks up at a 4-2 lead. After a Dany Heatley interference call late in the third, the Red Wings used their one man advantage to bring the score to 4-3 with a well-placed shot by Red Wings forward Henrik Zetterberg.
The Red Wings team surged late in the third to recover their one goal deficit, even attempting to pull their goaltender to crash the Sharks’ defensive zone with an extra Red Wings player. While the Red Wings almost scored, the Sharks successfully kept their lead until the very end, with the final score of 4-3, in favor of the Sharks.
With their win, the Sharks remain in fourth place in the Western Conference standings, behind the obvious first and second place teams, the Vancouver Canucks and the Detroit Red Wings, respectively, and just one point behind the Phoenix Coyotes, another team on a massive winning surge.
Honorable mentions go to the Sharks defensive line, who have all played strong, hard-nosed hockey and keeping our net safe. Especially with all of the criticism by some fans concerning the Sharks’ lack of defensive prowess, the Sharks have since demonstrated to have some of the league’s best defensive playing in recent times. Additional assist to the Sharks management team for picking up defenseman Ian White, who had previously been playing with the Carolina Hurricanes.
Catch the Sharks TOMORROW night as they take on the Pittsburgh Penguins in Pittsburgh’s Consol Energy Center! This will be the Sharks’ second game out of their current three game road trip.
