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FLAMES FORCE GAME 7 WITH WIN OVER SHARKS
April 21, 2008
CALGARY, Alberta -- The Calgary Flames capitalized on some gracious bounces and thrived off their home ice crowd to stave off elimination with a 2-0 shutout victory over the San Jose Sharks on Sunday night at the Pengrowth Saddledome. With the victory, the Flames forced a decisive Game Seven set for Tuesday night in San Jose.
An early-arriving crowd flooded the “C of Red” as the hometown fans hoped to energize their Flames to victory. In front of an electric capacity crowd, the Flames came out flying, controlling the play in the game’s opening minutes.
Less than two minutes in, Calgary held the lead in scoring chances and shots due in part to a pair of defensive zone turnovers. A point-blank chance by Flames forward Alex Tanguay nearly snuck past Evgeni Nabokov, but the Sharks netminder was sharp.
San Jose withstood the early Calgary push and earned a key scoring chance of their own with 16:45 to play in the first. Hard work by Devin Setoguchi behind the Calgary net nearly led to a Sharks goal when Joe Pavelski jumped on the Setoguchi feed and put a shot on net from the slot, but Miikka Kiprusoff made the save.
A tough-luck turnover at the midpoint of the period led to a three-on-one for Calgary, but Marc-Edouard Vlasic made a key play to step into a passing lane and single-handedly diffused the Flames chance.
The Flames, however, would not be denied and broke through at 11:33 of the first. Owen Nolan found a puck at the edge of the Sharks crease after it deflected off Douglas Murray’s stick and Christian Ehrhoff’s skate and beat Evgeni Nabokov for the first goal of the game. Kristian Huselius and Robyn Regehr earned assists on the busted play, giving the Flames the 1-0 lead.
Calgary had a chance to extend their lead with 3:23 to play in the opening period when Patrick Rissmiller was whistled for hooking Eric Nystrom. The Flames threatened, but Nabokov stood tall and closed out the opening frame. Calgary took the 1-0 lead into the locker room after 20 minutes of play.
The Sharks opened the second period with some good energy and were rewarded for their play. Drawing back-to-back power plays, first on Huselius for tripping Rissmiller at 2:38, then on Tanguay for hooking Joe Thornton at 12:05, the Sharks nearly netted the equalizer, but a pair of scoring chances by Ryane Clowe would be turned aside by Kiprusoff.
A three-on-one led by Milan Michalek looked promising, but Michalek was unable to find Torrey Mitchell or Mike Grier with a pass and the chance went without a shot on Kiprusoff, who challenged Michalek’s shot the whole way.
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| Sharks right wing Mike Grier and Flames forward Stephane Yelle get tangled up on Sunday, April 20, 2008. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press) |
Late in the second, an innocent looking play in front of the Calgary bench became disastrous when Daymond Langkow found the puck and some space down the left wing in the Sharks zone. Ehrhoff was back to defend and seemingly took away the shooting lane, but a nice shot by Langkow snuck inside the near post and the Flames forward extended Calgary’s lead to 2-0 with 56.2 seconds to play in the second frame.
Though the Sharks matched the Flames shot for shot in the second, and even out-chanced the home team, they headed into the locker room in a 2-0 hole after 40 minutes of play.
San Jose drew their third consecutive power play just 2:03 into the third when David Moss was called for hooking Rissmiller on the hands, taking a shot away from the San Jose forward.
The Sharks found the net with a pair of shots on the power play, but were unable to solve Kiprusoff on the man advantage.
Team Teal looked poised to go on their fourth straight power play when Matt Carle took a blatant cross-check to the mouth with 11:30 remaining in the third, but the play went uncalled by both referees. The fortune would swing in Calgary’s favor when less than two minutes later, the Flames were sent on their second power play of the game on an Ehrhoff tripping call against Wayne Primeau.
San Jose survived a barrage of Flames shots while on the advantage (Calgary’s first shots of the period) and kept it a two-goal deficit.
The Sharks pulled Nabokov for an extra attacker in the late stages of the third, but were unable to find any last minute heroics as the Flames held on for the 2-0 victory, forcing the first Game Seven in HP Pavilion's 16-year history.
LINEUP
Curtis Brown and Patrick Rissmiller made their return to the lineup, dressing in place of Jeremy Roenick (healthy) and Kyle McLaren (day-to-day, groin).
Marleau – Thornton – Clowe
Cheechoo – Pavelski – Setoguchi
Michalek – Mitchell – Grier
Shelley – Brown – Rissmiller
Murray – Campbell
Ehrhoff – Vlasic
Carle – Rivet
Nabokov – Boucher
NEXT GAME
The Sharks and Flames will return to San Jose for Tuesday night's decisive Game Seven at HP Pavilion at San Jose. The game is set for 7:00 PM (Pacific) and will be broadcast on Comcast SportsNet Bay Area in HD, KFOX 98.5 FM, Sharks Radio Network Affiliates and SJSHARKS.com.
From the AP Wire
CALGARY, Alberta (AP) -- The Calgary Flames stared down elimination to earn at least one more playoff game with San Jose. They'll have to do it again to move past the first round for the first time since their Stanley Cup final run in 2004.
Miika Kiprusoff made 21 saves, Owen Nolan and Daymond Langkow scored, and the Flames beat the Sharks 2-0 on Sunday night to force a Game 7.
The Flames were knocked out of the playoffs in the first round the last two seasons, each time in six games.
"Everyone was really committed and determined tonight," Flames captain Jarome Iginla said. "We believed we were going to find a way to win that game and force a Game 7.
"We're going to need the same type of effort and be more determined. They're going to be desperate like we were tonight and both teams are facing it now."
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| San Jose Sharks' goalie Evgeni Nabokov, left, of Kazakhstan, gets pressured by Calgary Flames' Matthew Lombardi during the third period of Game 6 NHL hockey playoff action in Calgary, Alberta on Sunday, April 20, 2008. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Jeff McIntosh) |
The decisive match Tuesday night of this Western Conference series will be the first Game 7 the Sharks have hosted in franchise history after playing five on the road.
Sharks coach Ron Wilson said their was no excuses for the lack of urgency that he witnessed from his team.
"Well it's the seventh game, if you don't win you're out. If I have to manufacture desperation, we are in dire straits. Our players know what's at stake," Wilson said.
"We just didn't get to pucks first. We let them dictate the pace of play."
Playing in front of a raucous home crowd that braved freezing temperatures and snow to get to the Pengrowth Saddledome, the Flames checked San Jose relentlessly along the boards. Kiprusoff was outstanding during the stretches when his team's scoring chances dried up and the Sharks were pressing.
"The big thing we did tonight was we capitalized on our chances and we were much better in our own zone," defenseman Robyn Regehr said.
"We know that when (the Sharks) get down they get very aggressive pushing down the wall to keep pucks in, and I thought our wingers really did a great job tonight."
Calgary held San Jose scoreless on three power-play chances and went 0-for-2 with a man advantage.
Nolan, a former Sharks star, opened the scoring midway through the first period and Langkow made it 2-0 with 57 seconds left in the second.
Langkow took two strides from the boards and beat Evgeni Nabokov with a low wrist shot stick side for his third of the postseason. Nabokov made 23 saves.
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| San Jose Sharks' Douglas Murray, top, of Sweden, hits Calgary Flames' Craig Conroy during the third period of Game 6 NHL playoff hockey action in Calgary on Sunday April 20, 2008. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Larry MacDougal) |
The Sharks mustered some sustained pressure in Calgary's zone after two scoreless power plays in the second period, but botched a 3-on-1 opportunity with just over three minutes to go.
Michalek hung onto the puck too long and then didn't get a clean shot away. The Sharks No. 2 scorer during the regular season is pointless in the series.
Kiprusoff's pad save on Ryane Clowe from close range late in the second and a quick glove on Thornton's shot through traffic during a Sharks power play early in the second period helped preserve Calgary's lead heading into the third. "Kipper made some saves, but we didn't have enough people hanging around the front of the net paying the price to score," Wilson said. "They've scored a lot of ugly goals in this series. We have to find a way to manufacture a few ourselves."
Calgary carried the play off the opening faceoff. The Flames outhit the Sharks 13-4 and won almost 70 percent of the faceoffs in the first period. They also outshot San Jose 5-1 in the first five minutes.
"The frustrating part was it wasn't as if we brought our game and they shut us down. I thought we shut ourselves down. We didn't do things to create scoring chances," Clowe said.
A couple big shifts and hard grunt work behind San Jose's net midway through the opening period set the table for the Flames' first goal.
Kristian Huselius reclaimed the puck that was getting away from him with deft stick work and he got a backhand shot away. Nolan corralled the rebound and scored low stick side on Nabokov at 11:33 for his second of the series.
San Jose Sharks Staff
Associated Press
| Three star selections: |
| 1st: |
MIIKKA KIPRUSOFF |
| 2nd: |
DAYMOND LANGKOW |
| 3rd: |
ROBYN REGEHR |
Winning Goaltender:
Miikka Kiprusoff |
Losing Goaltender:
Evgeni Nabokov |
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