Anaheim Steals One From San Jose

“We knew they were going to be hungry,”----Devon Setoguchi.

By Barbara Mason 11/09/2010
Bay Area Sports Drive

Less than two minutes into Tuesday nights’ game against the rival Anaheim Ducks, San Jose’s #17 Torrey Mitchell scored his second goal of the season to take the early lead 1-0. He was assisted by #29 Ryane Clowe (5^th assist) and #16 Devon Setoguchi (2^nd assist). The Ducks come into this game with confidence based on a three game winning streak although HP Pavilion has not been kind to them in the win department in recent outings.

When it looked as if San Jose had taken a 2-0 lead in the first period, the goal was disallowed. Dodging that bullet, Anaheim went to work and tied up the game when #33 Jason Blake scored his third goal of the season. As the first period came to an end, the Ducks had only taken two shots on goal while San Jose had taken six. The Sharks clearly had most of the momentum throughout the period having numerous scoring opportunities but were just unable to get the puck past Duck goalie Jonas Hiller.

It was the Anaheim Ducks who came out in the second period forcing a real momentum shift. The lone score of the period came at 8:27 for the Ducks as they took the lead 2-1. #10 Corey Perry scored his 6^th goal of the season assisted by #9 Bobby Ryan and #15 Ryan Getzlaf. What happened in the locker room for San Jose, we will never know but in this period their get up and go got up and went. During that first period, it looked as if San Jose was very much in control, but the second period was an entirely different story. That’s just the ebb and flow of hockey. With 1:39 left in the second period, San Jose went on the power play. Unable to tie up the game, the Sharks would start the third period on the power play with 21 seconds left in the one man advantage.

Mid-way through the third period, San Jose had taken 26 shots on goal to the Ducks 11 yet trailed. On their fourth power play, in the last few seconds of the play, #15 Devon Setoguchi tied up the game at 2 for his second goal of the season. San Jose peppered Hiller finally getting one past him as persistence paid off big for the Sharks. Setoguchi was assisted by #22 Dan Boyle and #29 Ryane Clowe.

With the score tied at 2, the game went into overtime. San Jose came oh so close a number of times but it was Anaheim who scored with 32 seconds left on the clock for the 3-2 win. #17 Lubomir Visnovski scored his 3^rd goal of the season assisted by #11 Saku Koivu.

It was a tough loss for the Sharks especially since they outshot Anaheim 2 to 1, and they won the faceoff battle as well to no avail. “We always want to play fast,” said Devon Setoguchi after the game. “We knew they were going to be hungry coming in here after the last game they played here. We knew what to expect and they were going to come out and skate. We had tons of chances in the end of the third and even in overtime,” he said.

San Jose leaves this game with one point as they continue their five-game home stand. Will there be a change in goalie when the Sharks take on the struggling Islanders on Thursday remains to be seen. We will all find out when the puck drops Thursday evening at 7:30.