SHARKSPAGE

San Jose Sharks drop tight checking 1-0 game to Wild, Minnesota earns first regulation win against San Jose in 4 years

The Minnesota Wild overcame a major hurdle early in their surprising 2010-11 season. A tight checking and disciplined Wild team lead by former Sharks assistant coach Todd Richards earned a 1-0 win at the Xcel Energy Center, Minnesota’s first regulation win against San Jose in almost 4 years. During that span the opposition side registered a 13-0-2 record, with series shutouts in two of the last three seasons. The last time the Wild defeated the Sharks in regulation was November 7th, 2006.

“To me, they are an elite offensive team, the best that we have seen,” Todd Richards told reporters post-game. “To earn a shutout against these guys is hopefully a big boost for us, but we need to string some games together here.”

Tuesday night the Wild were opportunistic when they needed to be. In a contest featuring the top rated power play (SJ, 31.8%) and the second best power play (MIN, 30.2%), Minnesota right wing Andrew Brunette capitalized on a 5-on-3 sequence for the only goal of the game. Rookie John McCarthy got a stick high to the face of Chuck Kobasew drawing a 4-minute high sticking call halfway through the second period, but referees Brian Pochmara and Don Van Massenhoven blew a subsequent hooking call on Torrey Mitchell. Going into the corner for a puck, Havlat trapped Mitchell’s stick between his arm and his shoulder. With his back to the referees, Havlat raised it up and mimicked obstruction. The move garnered Minnesota a critical 2-man advantage. After clanging one shot off the crossbar, Andrew Brunette buried a subsequent cross ice pass from Martin Havlat for the deciding goal.

The visiting team could have been upset with the call, but mistakes are part of the game. San Jose immediately had to kill off another 5-on-3, this time for 1:17. Goaltender Antero Niittymaki came up big with 3 saves, defenseman Douglas Murray and Joe Pavelski combined for 3 blocked shots, and Patrick Marleau won a critical defensive zone face off to get back to a more manageable 5-on-4 penalty kill.

The Sharks dictated the pace of the game 5-on-5, and dominated for stretches in the neutral and offensive zones. After 40 minutes the Sharks outshot Minnesota 20-9. The Wild with veteran additions Matt Cullen and John Madden, and a resurgent Brent Burns on the blueline, constricted the open space in front of Finnish goaltender Niklas Backstrom. Versus studio analyst Brian Engblom noted that Minnesota was trying to funnel the Sharks to the perimeter in the offensive zone. Another studio analyst pointed out that San Jose was trying to generate offense north-south, without enough lateral movement in front of Backstrom. Instead of a traditional 3-2 or a 1-2-2 setup in front of Backstrom, at times the Wild dropped into a 2-3 system one writer called a “prevent defense“.

Minnesota Wild head coach Todd Richards said the tight play in front of Niklas Backstrom was by design. “Letting Niklas see the puck, doing a good job in front of him. Playing their man, letting him see it and hopefully he can control the first shot. But even if he doesn’t, and we are bodying up with their guy, he is out in front of the net and they shouldn’t get any second and third opportunities,” Richards said. “If we are doing our jobs out front, hopefully it makes his job easier. In the end, it makes everybody’s job easier.”

Getting shots on goal was a priority, but the Sharks big three of Marleau-Thornton-Heatley were held to only 3 total shots in the final 2 periods. After shutting down Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals on Thursday, the Sharks top line faced a large serving of Brent Burns and Nick Shultz as the top Minnesota defensive pair. Clowe-Pavelski-Mitchell was the most effective line for San Jose in the third period, combining for 3 shots on goal during one cycle down low. Before the Sharks could generate sustained pressure, Devin Setoguchi took a flagrant holding call with a bear hug in the offensive zone. It was one of three penalties the Sharks would take in the 3rd, with defenseman Dan Boyle (tripping) and Jason Demers (interference) also called for minor infractions.

“In an 82-game season, you’re going to have five or seven games that you throw away because you’re just that bad,” San Jose Sharks head coach Todd McLellan told the media. “Tonight wasn’t one of those nights. I thought we played well, but Backstrom was better.”

The Sharks biggest test of Backstrom in the third period may have come off a low percentage Patrick Marleau shot that he took shorthanded just inside the blueline. Marleau transferred his weight, and snapped a hard shot on goal from 44 feet out. The knuckleball fluttered on net, and deflected under the arm of Backstrom. As the puck dropped to the ice, the Finnish netminder dove backwards to freeze the play. Backstrom would finish with a 36-save shutout, his first of the season. His Finnish countryman Antero Niittymaki finished with 15 saves on only 16 shots against. It was the fewest shots the Sharks have faced in 128 regular season contests dating back to January 20th, 2009. The Vancouver Canucks put only 14 shots on goal at HP Pavilion dropping a 2-1 OT loss.

Game Notes:

The national Versus broadcast from Minnesota was the second of eight times the Sharks will be featured on the network. After the season opening game against Columbus in Sweden, San Jose will also be featured on Dec. 6th at Detroit, Dec. 8th at Philadelphia, Feb. 1st Phoenix at SJ, Feb. 23rd at Pittsburgh, Mar. 14th at Chicago, and Apr. 4th LA at SJ. The full Versus television schedule is available here. Prior to the game Sharks right wing Devin Setoguchi was dropped to the third line, while center/wing Torrey Mitchell was promoted to the second line with Joe Pavelski and Ryane Clowe. Mitchell only has 1 goal and 2 assists in 10 games played this season. A hard backhand wraparound shot on goal and repeated hacks in the first period has been indicative of his play. Creating a scoring chance with the puck on his stick has not been a problem. Mitchell needs his stick on the ice and has to start firing shots away from the net to get some points on the board.

The NHL’s hit leader in 2009-10 (318) and 2008-09 (356) finished with 3 hits in 20:23 of ice time against San Jose. One hit intiated by Clutterbuck in the first came out to a net loss against 240-pound defenseman Douglas Murray, widely regarded as the heaviest hitter in the NHL, but another check by Clutterbuck in the second perios sent John McCarthy partially onto the bench. Torrey Mitchell lead the Sharks Tuesday night with 5 hits. Clutterbuck is tied with Los Angeles captain Dustin Brown for the NHL lead this season with 46.

A fake shot by Dany Heatley on a first period power play set up Joe Pavelski for a one-timer on the left side of the slot. Pavelski fired a shot inches wide of the post. “In the last 5-7 minutes, we are getting impatient, trying to force things,” Sharks head coach Todd McLellan told Versus early in the second period. “We need to get the puck on the net and try to get sticks on second and third opportunities.” Sharks captain Joe Thornton finished 15-19 from the faceoff circle, good for a 79% margin. Minnesota Wild captain Mikko Koivu finished with 1 assist. Koivu has recorded a point in his last 7 games, and 10 of 11 games overall this season. According to Yahoo.com, the Sharks were 8-0-1 at St. Paul prior to Tuesday night, last losing in regulation on Oct. 19, 2005. Goaltender Antero Niittymaki made his 3rd consecutive start. Sharks defenseman Mike Moore was reassigned to Worcester of the AHL on Tuesday. Left wing Frazer McLaren was a healthy scratch for San Jose, Clayton Stoner, Antti Miettinen and Guillaume Latendresse were scratches for Minnesota.

A photo gallery from the Minneapolis-St Paul Star Tribune is available here. This post was written listening to the Glitch Mob’s A Dream Within A Dream. You can download the MP3 for free here. Thanks for all of the birthday emails.

[Update] Missing practice, today’s NHLPA session, mopping up after that 1-0 loss — and one more baseball note – David Pollak’s Working the Corners blog.

[Update2] Wild 1, Backstrom 0 – Michael Russo at Russo’s Rants.

It was also the Wild’s first 1-0 home win in three years, the Wild’s first-ever home shutout over San Jose (19 meetings) and Backstrom’s first home shutout since the Jacques Lemaire era…

I will say this, if you’ve got to spend the entire night in the defensive end, you better be good there, and the Wild was good there and competed there. Yes, Backstrom had to make some outstanding saves, which he did, but the Wild let him see pucks and had outstanding back pressure from the forwards, which allowed the defensemen to step up and as coach Todd Richards said, “bodying up with their guys.”