CHICAGO -- The brooms were back in the closet early.
Any thoughts the Sharks entertained Monday night of sweeping their season series with the Chicago Blackhawks disappeared well before the end of a second period that saw San Jose give up five goals en route to a 6-3 thumping.
"They skated, we glided. They were hard on the boards, we were soft," Sharks coach Todd McLellan said. "They were determined at the net, we played 'I hope' around the net. We were looking for a win the easy way."
The second period was a San Jose collapse -- and Blackhawks accomplishment -- of epic proportions.
The last time the Sharks coughed up five goals in one period was a Jan. 14, 2006, loss to the Montreal Canadiens. From the Chicago perspective, right wing Patrick Sharp had a career-high four assists, something no Blackhawk had done in one period in 38 years.
Both San Jose goalies were shelled in what even generally upbeat captain Joe Thornton described as a meltdown.
When starter Antti Niemi -- who beat his former teammates the first three times he faced them this season -- gave up four goals on 18 shots, McLellan yanked him in favor of Antero Niittymaki, who was seeing his first action in more than two months.
Niittymaki gave up two goals on the first 10 shots he faced before settling down and stopping the six shots thrown his way in the third period.
"I was basically trying not to embarrass myself," Niittymaki said. "That
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second period, that last 12 minutes, I don't think I ever felt that bad in my life with the skates on."
Still, the game didn't start out badly for the Sharks.
Joe Pavelski ended a 10-game goal drought with a power-play tally at 2:20 of the first period to give San Jose a 1-0 lead. Chicago forward Viktor Stalberg evened the score at 12:13, but the Sharks regained the lead at 18:36 when Thornton skated into a perfect pass from Patrick Marleau and beat Blackhawks goalie Corey Crawford.
Chicago, however, scored the next four goals in a little more than 11 minutes -- taking a 5-2 lead on a pair by right wing Marian Hossa and one each by center Jonathan Toews and defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson.
When the Sharks closed the margin to two on a rebound shot by Logan Couture late in the second period, Chicago center Patrick Kane needed only 22 seconds to dash comeback hopes with the 100th goal of his career.
"A couple bad decisions and they just kind of escalated to more bad decisions and the game was over," Thornton said. "Maybe guys got comfortable. I don't know what it was."
Some of the bad decisions were more glaring than others.
On Hossa's first goal, for example, Pavelski was on the penalty kill and in good position to clear the puck. That didn't happen, and seconds later, Hossa swept the puck under Niemi from close range to tie the score 2-2.
"I thought I made a fine play to (Thornton), and obviously I didn't," Pavelski said. "We talk about it all the time -- clears, clears, clears. You can't give the No. 2 power play a second chance as it always ends up in your net."
Toews scored Chicago's fourth goal after an odd-man rush that began when former Blackhawks left wing Ben Eager, covering the right point, left that spot to go after a loose puck.
"I just made a bad read on the play," Eager said. "I thought I could grab the puck that was laying there, but they kind of popped it by me and I was caught in no man's land. With those guys on the ice, you can't make that decision."
Toews' goal ended Niemi's night at 7:25 of the second period.
"I didn't think Nemo was as sharp as he needed to be, and I'll bet he'll tell you that because he's a pretty honest guy," McLellan said.
Niemi didn't have a ready explanation for his part in what went wrong.
"I thought I felt pretty good going into the game, so I don't know what the problem was," Niemi said. "We've got to check out the video."
The Sharks did like the fact that they wouldn't have long to linger over this loss, because they face the Dallas Stars on Tuesday night in a game filled with Western Conference playoff implications.
"That's a real test for us because we have to get as many points as we can," Thornton said. "We're not guaranteed anything right now, and we realize that."
# McLellan will not be behind the bench for Saturday's game at HP Pavilion against the St. Louis Blues in order to attend a memorial service in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, for his brother-in-law, who died last week.
الرئيسية 
موضوع: Sharks lose to Blackhawks after giving up five second-period goals 
الثلاثاء مارس 15, 2011 2:36 am
