No shutout, but shootout loss

Coyotes' Keith Ballard and Sharks' Christian Ehrhoff
collide along the boards in the first period.
(photo by Steven Cabana)

Sharks' head coach Ron Wilson is irrate during a timeout he was forced
to call in the third period after the Sharks' powerplay unit wasn't producing.
(photo by Steven Cabana/BLITZ)

By Reza Kazempour / BLITZ Magazine

All good things must come to an end. And so tonight was the end of Evgeni Nabokov’s shutout streak against the Phoenix Coyotes. With the streak snapped, the San Jose Sharks managed to lose to the Coyotes 3-2 in the shootout, despite having a 2-1 lead with nearly 41.5 seconds left.

The Sharks gave up the tying goal to Shane Doan who nicely wristed the shot on a shorthanded attempt to breathe new life into the Coyotes.

With Keith Ballard in the box for cross-checking, the Sharks won the faceoff but were not moving their feet to clear the puck out their zone. That error cost them the two points and allowed the game into overtime and an eventual shootout loss.

"We got some guys who should be ashamed about simply the way they played," said Sharks' head coach Ron Wilson. "The fact that we are allowing a team who's been on the road, went cross-country yesterday, to be in the game."

In the shootout, the Sharks failed to net one goal in while the Coyotes' Peter Mueller's solo shootout goal was enough for the win.

"Start on the West Coast, come back to the West Coast and to play against a team as good as their team is, with as much talent, depth, size and speed as they have," Phoenix coach Wayne Gretzky said. "I was just so proud of how hard my guys played tonight. They played with a lot of heart and character."

Nabokov fell just nearly 10 minutes shy of the record for the longest streak of any NHL goaltender against one team. The current record belongs to Dominik Hasek with 281:57 against the New York Rangers in between 1997-1998.

The last time the Coyotes were able to score on Nabokov was on Dec. 30 of last year, when they blanked them 8-0 with the help of former Coyote and current Shark Jeremy Roenick's hat-trick effort.

The streak snapped on the first shift of the third period when Mike York tucked the puck in on the powerplay.

Quick to respond, the Sharks tied the game up with their own goal nearly a minute after York's goal. Torrey Mitchell tied the game at a goal a piece after receiving a behind-the-net pass from linemate Mike Grier.

But the intensity increased when both teams dropped the gloves. Sharks winger Steve Bernier ended up fighting Keith Yandle only to be harassed by third man in Daniel Carcillo. Roenick was forced into putting up a fight to keep Carcillo off Bernier. Carcillo eventually ended up hurting himself in the scuffle four minutes into the period.

The list of penalties that followed gave the Sharks a five-minute man advantage opportunity which later turned into a two-man advantage. It wasn't until 7:59 into the third period that Roenick gave the Sharks the lead. After missing 5 games because of an injury, Roenick tucked one in under Bryzgalov for his 7th of the season at 7:59 in the third period to put the Sharks up 2-1. On that play, Sharks’ Joe Thornton earned his 700th career assist.

The Sharks however failed to capitalize on the powerplay which might have been the biggest factor of the game. The Sharks went 1 for 9 on the powerplay last night.

"We're not moving the puck," said Wilson, who was forced into taking a timeout to vent out his frustration on the five minute man-advantage. "We aren't establishing any presence on the point on the powerplay."

The Sharks dropped to 6-8-3 on the season at home.

"We have to take care of home ice," said Sharks' goaltender Evgeni Nabokov. "That's the bottom line."

The Anaheim Ducks will be in town Saturday to finish off their third game of the week against the Sharks.