With all the bad luck and postseason failure that has plagued the San Jose Sharks in the past, the last thing they wanted to do was start this year’s playoff run with a loss. However, a plucky Colorado team stuck with the Sharks all night long last night, and got a fortuitous bounce in the final minute, banking the winning goal in off of Shark defenseman Rob Blake’s skate and taking a 1-0 lead in their Western Conference matchup.
After a scoreless first, John-Michael Liles torched a shot from the point past Evgeni Nabokov on a 2nd period powerplay to give the Avs a 1-0 lead that stood until the 3rd period. The Avs thoroughly dominated the 2nd period, outshooting the top-seeded Sharks 12-3 in the period, and finished the night with 30 shots to San Jose’s 26.
Ryane Clowe set up what looked like was going to be an overtime finish to a great hockey game, wristing a seeing eye shot from the corner that beat Craig Anderson fivehole to tie the game at 1-1. After a couple close calls at both end, including a redirected dump-in that nearly caught Anderson offguard and out of the net, Colorado got some late pressure on San Jose in the final minute and reaped the rewards. After a couple of shots, Chris Stewart gathered a rebound in the corner and flipped it to the front. Rob Blake was in great position to defend the pass, but it caught him on the backside of his skate and deflected right into the top corner to give Colorado a 2-1 lead with just 50 ticks left on the clock.
Not surprising, I guess, when you consider that the other three games of the night were won by the teams not expected to win. San Jose should bounce back from this one, and I still think they’ll end up winning this series, but I’m sure they got a bit of a cold shiver when that goal went in.