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Thornton logs 600th career save in Sharks 6-3 win over Flyers
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(SAN JOSE) Sharks' general manager Doug Wilson might have had one problem Friday night – his face might not have been large enough to contain his well-earned grin. Wilson re-manufactured the Sharks in the off-season, adding grit, and a much-needed sniper in Dany Heatley. Both factored huge in the Sharks dominant 6-3 clobbering of a very good Philadelphia Flyers team.
The Flyers were fresh off a road win at Los Angeles, 3-2, and sport a 4-2 road record. The Sharks were trying to recover from their first regulation loss in 13 games, 4-3 at the hands of Nashville Tuesday in the Sommet Center.
The Flyers scored first, somewhat of a trademark of theirs. They came into play 11-2-1 when scoring first, meaning they had done so in 14 of their 14 games and 11 of their 12 wins. Friday, Daniel Briere opened the scoring for Philly when he got fortunate with an errant attempt to pass the puck across the crease. The puck instead struck Sharks netminder Evgeni Nabokov in the side and entered the net 9:16 into the game.
With Jeff Carter in the box for high sticking, the Sharks power play struck at the 15:11 mark of the first. It was the second unit that scored, as Ryane Clowe tossed the puck from behind the Flyers net to a rushing Jason Demers, who left a sweet drop pass for Manny Malhotra at the point. Malhotra's shot pinballed its way off several Flyers en route to the net and a 1-1 tie, giving the grinding center four goals this season.
"That was from my pinball days," Malhotra said with a smile. "We stressed getting pucks to the net – they do a great job of blocking shots. Thankfully, it ricocheted, I think, three or four times."
The Sharks, who have generally dominated teams in the second period, got to Emery just 50 seconds in. Joe Thornton took a pass from Dany Heatley in the left circle and basically taunted Emery, holding the puck while first Patrick Marleau crashed the net, then slipping a pass to a crashing Heatley who put it past Emery. Flyers defenders were not active participants in the play, which gave the Sharks a 2-1 lead. It was Heatley's 15th goal of the year.
"You don't think the lane's there," Heatley said, "but with Joe, you know he's going to find the lane and you'd better keep going. He gave two pretty good examples of that tonight."
Philly evened the game at 11:24 on a scramble at the net when Claude Giroux netted his seventh, deflecting a loose puck swatted out of the air by rookie James van Riemsdyk past a prone Nabokov.
Patrick Marleau ensured the Sharks would enter the intermission with the lead when he netted his 14th of the year with 4.9 seconds left. His slap shot jumped up onto the skate of a butterflied Ray Emery, who did not know where the puck was, turned to look for it and dislodged the puck, which dribbled over the line. The third "non-standard" goal of the night allowed San Jose to look forward to starting the final period with a lead. The Sharks were 11-0-2 leading after two, while the Flyers were 0-3-0 trailing after two.
It's almost never a good idea for one of your best penalty-killers to go into the box, but when Dan Boyle went into the box for hooking at 7:23 of the third period, the Sharks got aggressive. At the 8:41 mark, lightning struck for a second time, as the Sharks swiped the puck, and carried it into the Philly end. Heatley again took the puck deep, again found Thornton in the left circle, and then went to the net while Thornton again teased emery going backhand-forehand-backhand before putting the puck right on Heatley's tape for a mirror-image of their second-period goal. The assist was a major milestone for Thornton, giving him 600 for his career, and the goal gave Heatley the league lead.
"Dany just, both times he just gave me the puck," Thornton said. "It was kind of rolling both times, the ice wasn't too good. Both times I found him in the exact same spot, he stopped in the exact same spot. A lot of guys would have curled, or kept going, but he just stopped. Eventually, it was pretty easy to get the puck to him, and it was a tap-in ultimately."
Thornton likes to talk about team over self, and did so again when asked about the milestone 600th assist. "It's just another win, really. You don't really look at milestones like that. To be honest with you, I've never looked at them before. It's just a good win for the team."
The 4-2 advantage lasted just 51 seconds before Claude Giroux netted his second of the night and third of the year, lifting a loose rebound from the edge of the crease over a sprawled Nabokov, again making it a one-goal game with 10:28 to play.
Ian Laperriere then was called for a high-stick behind the Sharks net at 12:36. His punishment was swift, and brought a capacity crowd to its feet.
Eight seconds into the power play, Dan Boyle took the faceoff at the point, fed Kent Huskins skating down the right side. Huskins found, yes, Thornton again, in the crease, and Thornton fed, yes, Heatley again, who deftly stopped the puck with his skate to allow Emery to react to it, then completed his ninth career hat trick for a 5-3 lead with 7:16 to play. Just call him "Hatley". Thornton's four assists were a season-high, and give him 24 on the season. Heatley now has 30 points in 26 career games vs. the Flyers.
One characteristic of the sometimes-disappointing Sharks teams of years past was that they didn't seem to have the "killer instinct", keeping their feet firmly on the gas with a lead. Not so Friday, as Ryane Clowe added another score, his third of the year, assisted again by the gritty Malhotra, at 15:22, effectively sealing the deal.
"That line played very well. It was a big challenge for them to go up against (Mike) Richard's line, and I thought they answered the bell very well. It got better as the game went on, in large part because we won more faceoffs than we did in the first period. That line really got going. It's a very responsible line right now."
Nabokov faced 29 shots and made 26 saves to notch his 13th win of the year, while Emery made 23 saves, also against 29 shots, and saw his record fall to 11-5-1.
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