2010 Compuware NHL Premiere Series – Minnesota Wild win 1-0 against the San Jose Sharks
The match between the Minnesota Wild and the San Jose Sharks was the 162nd game of the 2010 Compuware NHL Premiere Series. The match took place at the Xcel Energy Centre, home of the Minnesota Wild. The match took place this Tuesday in front of
16,500 fans that came hoping to see their team winning the match. This was the 10th match for the San Jose Sharks and the 11th game for the Minnesota Wild of the regular thus far. One of the intense matches saw the Minnesota Wild win
it with one goal to their advantage.
1st Period
The Minnesota made a few early shots after which the San Jose Sharks tightened their defence. This resulted in the Minnesota Wild managing no more shots on the opposing goal. Coupled with this was the fact that the away team was very strong on the offence.
They not only dominated play in the midfield but the deliver to forwards was regular that saw them in open positions.
The San Jose Sharks dictated the period as they slowed the game a little and kept possession for quite some team. The mistakes were less as compared to previous matches. Both the goal keeper played their role at the end of the 1st period as they
didn’t let the puck get past them.
The period ended with the teams deadlocked at 0-0. During the course of the period, the Minnesota Wild made 6 goal attempts without any goals while the San Jose Sharks made 11 goals without any goals.
2nd Period
The San Jose Sharks started the 2nd period on the slower side as the home team piled up a few shots in the beginning of the period. However, like the previous 2 periods, the home team was unable to score as everybody eagerly waited for the first
goal to be scored.
After the early few attacks by the Minnesota Wild, the San Jose Sharks also decided to adopt the attacking mentality. This resulted in some exciting period as the puck went to and fro every now and then. However, the away team involved all of its men in
attacks which resulted in the Minnesota Wild catching them off guard.
A counter attack in the 14th minute saw the Minnesota Wild break the deadlock to take the lead. The goal was scored by Andrew Brunette from 12 feet through a superb flick shot which was perfectly placed in the bottom right corner. After scoring
the goal, the home team didn’t attack and concentrated on defence. This resulted in the San Jose Sharks coming across several scoring opportunities but they couldn’t find a way past the Minnesota Wild goal keeper.
The period came to an end with the Minnesota Wild in the lead at 1-0. During the 20 minutes of play, the Minnesota Wild scored a goal out of the 6 goal attempts while the San Jose Sharks didn’t score out of the 9 goal attempts they made.
3rd Period
The momentum was in favour of the Minnesota Wild at the start of the period. They played defensively and waited for opportunities to come their way. Though there were many scoring opportunities but they couldn’t double their lead.
However, the San Jose Sharks put all that they had in their search of a goal. With nothing to lose and trailing by just one goal they attacked the opposing goal from everywhere on the pitch but they just couldn’t score. There were some excellent pieces of
play and shots from difficult position by the San Jose Sharks. The only thing that didn’t happen was that the puck didn’t go into the goal.
The period and the match ended 1-0 in favour of the Minnesota Wild. During the final period of the game, the Minnesota Wild made 7 goal attempts and the San Jose Sharks made 16 goal attempts.
"Sometimes the shot clock doesn't really tell the whole story," Wild defenseman John Madden said.
"They had some power plays and have some guys that can find lanes and get pucks to the net. They're a shoot-and-crash team."
After the match, the Coach of the San Jose Sharks, Todd McLellan said, "In an 82-game season, you're going to have five or seven games that you throw away because you're just that bad," McLellan said. "Tonight wasn't one of those nights. I thought
we played well, but Backstrom was better."
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