A Tough Road Ahead For the Sharks
“We were the best road team in the NHL,”--Coach Ron Wilson

By Barbara Mason 4/28/08
Bay Area Sports Drive

Despite controlling the puck for most of the first period, the San Jose Sharks found themselves tied with the Dallas Stars in the second game of the semi-finals, 1-1.  A number of scoring opportunities including three power plays turned into only one goal for San Jose when #8 Joe Pavelski got one past Turco assisted by #14 Jonathan Cheechoo and #52 Craig Rivet.  Dallas answered with a goal of their own when #63 Mike Ribeiro scored his 3^rd goal of the playoffs tying up the game.  San Jose had taken 14 shots on goal to the Stars 11 in a very tight game.

The only goal of the second period put San Jose into the lead 2-1 when #9 Milan Michalek buried one assisted by #51 Brian Campbell and #52 Craig Rivet.

It all seemed to fall apart for San Jose as the third period got underway.  #8 Joe Pavelski lost an edge and went down, and Dallas’ #91 Brad Richards took advantage and unassisted tied up the game.  This was only 32 seconds into the period.  Dallas would add three more goals, the final one an empty net goal to win the game 5-2.

“They capitalized on their chances at the end, they’re a good team, and we didn’t do that,” said Joe Pavelski after the game.

Devon Setoguchi knows the kind of team he is a part of and he also knows that none of them have thrown in the towel despite what they are now facing.  “We’ve got a great bunch of guys in this room here, and everyone is going to come out next game and play with passion and character.  We need to go in there in game 3 and try to get a big win,” he said.  “When you go out there and they score two quick goals like that it’s a little demoralizing.  We just didn’t come out and play the kind of game we needed to play in the third and found ourselves on our heels and not playing the way we were playing in the first couple of weeks.”

“We were out shooting them,” said captain Patrick Marleau in the locker room.  “We’ve got to get our power play a little better and try to get a big win in game 3. They got a couple of chances and they buried it.  We’ve got to try to limit our mistakes.  There’s still a lot of game left to be played.”

This was an especially tough loss for goalie Evgeni Nabokov.  “Anytime you lose or you win, it’s a total team effort and certain guys have to do certain jobs. We did turn the puck over but that’s why I’m there to make the saves,” he said.  “It just wasn’t there tonight.”

“We’ve played very well in Dallas all season long and we’re down 2-0,” said coach Ron Wilson.  “We can just relax now and push the pace.  We need to play as a desperate team.”  He felt that the team missed a lot of chances.  “In the second period there were plenty of opportunities but you just keep playing on and don’t worry about your missed opportunities.  We went into the third period with a lead and again there’s nothing you can do when a guy loses an edge on a play,” he said in reference to Pavelski’s mishap. 

What is important to Wilson right now is what his team believes and that is they can go out on the road and win.  “We’ve been counted out a number of times this year so we’ll bounce back.  We were the best road team in the NHL and now we have a chance to prove that,” he said.