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Sharks avenge opening night loss, top Avs 3-1
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(SAN JOSE) Ryane Clowe was glad to get even part of the monkey off his back with the game-winning shootout goal against the Kings, but the smile was for real Friday night, as was the goal, which counted in the stats this time, as the Sharks topped Colorado 3-1, handing the Avalanche their second defeat of the season.
The Sharks, who lost to Colorado in Denver 5-2 on opening night, clearly took the game to the Avs in the first two periods, out-shooting their guests 32-to-13, but for 39:54 they had nothing to show for it.
With just 5.9 seconds left in the second period, a period where the Sharks out-shot Colorado 20 to 8, Clowe finally potted his first goal of the season. It was a classic blue-collar goal, as Clowe worked to throw the puck on net and then crashed the side of the net, where a rebound was just waiting for him to nudge it past a prone Anderson. Clowe had been working hard all night, and is clearly playing about 30 pounds lighter after Wednesday's game-winner.
"As soon as I shot the puck I looked up, because I thought the period was over," Clowe said with a big grin. "I started skating toward the net, and we took four whacks at it. It was a quick rebound, when it came to me, the puck was spinning, so I just wanted to make contact with it because he was out of the net."
"I'm happy for Ryane," said Sharks coach Todd McLellan. "Nobody realizes how hard he's worked here lately, off the ice and on the ice. We do a lot of extra things to try and find his game."
McLellan was particularly pleased with the effort on the goal, which was the result of his shot, two other shots on goal by Manny Malhotra and Patrick Marleau, and finally Clowe's wrister.
"That's how you have to beat (Avs goaltender Craig) Anderson right now. You're not going to beat him on the first or second shot. You have to get him out of position and find the open net."
Less than four minutes into the third period, the Sharks, who were 7-0 when leading after two periods, padded the lead when Marc-Edouard Vlasic kept the puck in at the point and slid it around the boards to Jason Demers, who saw Dany Heatley on the weak side. Heatley one-timed the pass past Anderson on his stick side at 3:59 of the third, his ninth goal of the young season.
"That's a lot of poise for a 22-year old rookie to take the time to find Heatley in the slot there," McLellan said, "and a lot of patience by a goal-scorer to wait for the play to open up."
Rookie Matt Duchene cut the lead in half at 9:34 when he broke away short-handed and slapped a shot that Duchene put through the five-hole.
Avs blueliner Kyle Cumiskey was just stepping out of the penalty box when Jamie McGinn got the goal back on a shot from the blue line that rattled off all three posts. The goal was McGinn's first of the year also, and came just 30 seconds after Duchene had given the Avs life.
"That was a huge goal for us. You could tell the fans' energy went down, and it was good for us to put the pressure back on them. If you watch the replay, I was going after the rebound, so I was glad the ref blew it down and counted it."
Colorado, the sad sacks of the Western Conference last year, came into the contest with only one regulation loss in 13 games. Goaltender Craig Anderson has been standing on his head since opening night, with a .940 save percentage and all 13 decisions, allowing 1.97 goals per game. Whether he can keep it up over the long haul of the season is another matter – he's not missed a minute of Colorado's season thus far, and that can't continue all year. Even Nabokov, known to be a workhorse, has taken two games off already, and will no doubt watch Tomas Greiss play again soon.
Anderson stopped 43 of the 46 shots he faced, but it wasn't enough. The Sharks came into the game with the intention of putting a lot of shots on goal, at his feet, hoping for rebounds. It took 32 shots for them to dent the scoreboard, and they were full of praise for the goalie who may well anchor the nets for the US Olympic team in Vancouver next February.
"He's a very good goalie, he made some very big saves for them," said Sharks captain Rob Blake.
For his part, Evgeni Nabokov posted his eighth victory of the season, stopping 24 of 25 shots. The Sharks head to Carolina to face the Hurricanes in an afternoon game Sunday. "It's funny how many times we flew over Carolina on our trip last week," McLellan said with morbid humor appropriate for Halloween, "and now we fly all the way back again to play them."
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