San Jose Sharks frozen with 3-1 loss to Anaheim Ducks -NHL Update
San Jose was kept at bay by their state rivals, Anaheim, as the Ducks routed Sharks, 3-1, on Wednesday night, March 28, 2012, at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.
Anyone thinking that Anaheim would go easy on San Jose looking at how they are out of the playoff race and could have given the Sharks a soft hand to improve their position turned out to be very wrong indeed.
Sharks are still in the playoff race at number eight in the Western Conference with 88 points, but being only one point above Phoenix Coyotes and leading by two from 10th place Colorado Avalanche, San Jose will have to win unconditionally their
upcoming games.
"It's a rivalry, and it looks like we own them right now," said Jonas Hiller, whose team won four times against San Jose this season. "Everybody is really motivated, and we didn't want to eliminate ourselves. We wanted a different team to have to win their
games. We're still trying to play good hockey. We don't want to just give up."
Anaheim also managed to keep San Jose from retaining the top Pacific Division spot as Dallas Stars won their Wednesday night matchup against Edmonton Oilers to take the number one position.
"I told them I was really proud of them," Anaheim coach, Bruce Boudreau, said. "It just shows that we have no quit, and we're not going to quit. We're not going to lay down for anybody. We'll play this way right until the end."
Bobby Ryan kicked off the scoring with his 28th of the 2011-2012 National Hockey League (NHL) regular season at 9:22 into the second. Ryane Clowe was quick to reply with the equaliser at 10:14, forcing an intense third period contest with both
teams tied, 1-1.
Anaheim broke loose in the final 20 minutes as Teemu Selanne potted his 25th and Corey Perry added the insurance goal with nine seconds remaining.
Anaheim has a chance to down Phoenix Coyotes on Saturday or keep San Jose’s hopes of making the playoffs down, while Sharks will be facing the same team on Thursday.
Tags: