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“We just need to regroup and recharge and put this behind us.”--Goalie Evgeni Nabokov

By Barbara Mason 9/14/07
Bay Area Sports/Raiderdrive.com

An internal problem plunged the San Jose HP Pavilion into darkness Saturday night just as the Sharks were about to take on the Boston Bruins.  The power outage not only put the game nearly 30 minutes off the scheduled start time but also curtailed the pre-game festivities, a huge part of the Sharks home opener.  The presentation of former Sharks Mike Ricci, now an advisor to hockey operations, and Bryan Marchment, working with scout/player development, was scheduled. According to Senior Director of Communications Ken Arnold, it was unclear whether or not the scheduled ceremony would take place at a later date.

Getting the players on the ice and the game under way was the main priority, and at 7:59 the game was finally underway.  Facing former teammate Joe Thornton, as well as the frustrating game delay, didn’t faze the Bruins at all, as they put up the first score of the evening, taking the 1-0 lead into the locker room as the first period ended.  It was the Bruins Patrice Bergeron scoring, assisted by Marco Sturm and Glen Murray, that burned San Jose, taking the early lead.

The second period was scoreless with San Jose starting to really pick things up and in fact controlling the entire period.  The one shot of the period that came painfully close for San Jose was delivered by #9 Milan Michalek.  With the puck careening off the post, the tying goal just wouldn’t come.  San Jose had five power plays through the two periods, unable to capitalize on any of them.

At 6:24 in the third period, Michalek limped off the ice after another near miss. The goal he was looking for just wasn’t coming.  He left the ice for the locker room to be evaluated and eventually returned to the game.  With 37.6 seconds left in the game, the Sharks fought harder than they had the entire game, and it paid off as Michalek got the goal that had eluded him all evening, assisted by #19 Joe Thornton and #10 Christian Ehrhoff. When it looked as if the teams would go into overtime, Boston delivered the final blow, scoring 25 seconds later and ending any hopes of overtime and, at the very least, one point. The final score of 2-1 was the Sharks second loss of the young season.

“We could have had a better start.  We battled down to the very end,” said a downcast Craig Rivet.  It was a bitter loss for the entire team after a miserable first period.”  He did emphasize that the game delay absolutely had no impact on the outcome of this game as did many of this teammates.

“We went for it,” said Marc-Edouard Vlasic after the game.  “We wanted to keep pushing.  We had to play catch-up hockey all night,” he said.  “We’ve got a big game coming up in Vancouver, and we’ve got to build on this.”

Goalie Evgeni Nabokov felt that the team played well for two periods.  “We played really hard for the second and third period.  It could have easily been 5-1.  In the second period, we took off and we controlled the game completely,” Nabby said.  “We just have to regroup and recharge and put this behind us.”

It was a bitterly disappointed Coach Ron Wilson who explained his frustration over the outcome of this game.  “There are some things we need to work on: Our ‘D’ needs to move the puck quicker and crisper, and that will get our offense going--simple as that.  A lot of times, that first game at home is tough.”

Monday night the Sharks will be on the road against Vancouver.  They hope to make the changes necessary that will result in a far different outcome.  They will be back at HP Pavilion on Thursday October 18^th taking on the Detroit Redwings.  The puck drops at 7:30.