Sharks-Blackhawks: San Jose Survives Chicago's Onslaught, Win 3-2 In OT

Joe Thornton sent 17,496 Shark fans home happy when he scored 45 seconds into overtime Wednesday night, propelling the Sharks to a 3-2 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks.

For the second game in a row against Chicago, the Sharks let the Blackhawks dictate the pace for a significant portion of the game.  The Blackhawks out-shot the Sharks 15-9 in the second period and scored the only goal of the second at 12:43 when Jonathan Toews beat Nabokov through the 5-hole.

Despite the lousy second period, the Sharks found themselves in the midst of a 1-1 tie going into the final 20 minutes, thanks in large part to a first period effort that saw San Jose out-shoot Chicago 17-2.  Late in the opening period the Sharks went on a 5-on-3 advantage and Rob Blake pounded home a point shot for his third of the year at 19:43.

In that second period, the momentum turned to the side of Chicago.  The Blackhawks dominated the play and the teams spent most of the action deep inside San Jose territory.  Jonathan Toews notched his third goal of the year when he converted on a 2-on-1 odd man rush.  Skating up the left-side, the 20 year-old Chicago captain used his teammate as a decoy and slid a wrister through Nabokov's gaping 5-hole. 

With a little over four minutes to go in the second, Mike Grier was guilty of a boarding penalty when he aggressively hit Blackhawk defenseman Aaron Johnson into the boards on the fore-check.  Sharks color commentator Drew Remenda thought it was the right call, but from the replays I have seen, I vehemently disagree. 

Grier hit Johnson in the shoulder, not the back, and the only reason Johnson went down was because for some reason the defenseman didn't brace for the hit that he should have felt coming.

The questionable call gave the Blackhawks a five minute power-play where they could score as many goals as they wanted because the major penalty doesn't expire after a power-play goal.

Unfortunately the call ended up hurting the Sharks on the scoreboard. The Sharks would go down 5-on-3 at the end of the period.  And early in the third, the Blackhawks took advantage.

With Boyle in the box for an apparent hooking penalty at 19:59 of the second period, the Blackhawks only needed 23 seconds into the final period to take the lead.  Jonathan Toews was set up in front of the crease and slid home an easy tap in goal on a feed from defensman Patrick Kane.

But that would be the last puck to get by Nabokov as the Sharks started to turn things around.  After a few quality shifts in a row, the Sharks were able to tie the score at 8:23 of the third. 

San Jose's top line of Marleau-Thornton-Setoguchi was buzzing around the Chicago zone and Thornton was able to come up with the puck on the short side.  With no clear shot, Thornton spotted Marelau behind the net, and Patrick wrapped it around the other side past Cristobal Huet before the Chicago net-minder could stretch across with his left pad.

That would be all the scoring in regulation, as the teams skated to a 2-2 tie at the end of the third period.  But it didn't take long for the Sharks to send their fans home happy. 

A turnover by Chicago in their own zone led to a bouncing puck that Thornton was able to control, he then found Clowe open in the corner and fed him the puck.  Joe then crashed then net and re-directed Clowe's feed past Huet, giving him six goals on the year and the Sharks an impressive 18th win in 22 games.

My Game Notes

Chicago Defenseman Brian Campbell was booed by the San Jose fans every time he touched the puck.  Apparently the Shark faithful mistook him for Chris Pronger.

Chicago Goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin left the game in the second period with an undisclosed injury.

Marcel Goc had a very poor performance tonight, finishing with -1 plus minus rating, and registering only one shot on goal.  He seems to be the leading candidate to be replaced in the lineup when Torrey Mitchell returns from injury.

Evgeni Nabokov was solid in his return between the pipes.  In his first game back from his lower-body injury, Nabokov turned away 24 of 26 shots.