Recap: San Jose vs. Nashville
Sports Network | November 12, 2008
San Jose, CA (Sports Network) - Ville Koistinen's goal 2:28 into overtime lifted the Nashville Predators to a 4-3 win over San Jose at the Shark Tank.
Vernon Fiddler, Jason Arnott and Ryan Suter all scored for Nashville, which halted a three-game skid. Dan Ellis was stellar between the pipes with 54 saves in the victory, including 21 in the second period.
"We stole this game, plain and simple," said Nashville coach Barry Trotz. "Danny Ellis stole it. Bottom line, they dominated us. We took too many penalties, We got some fortunate penalties because we stayed with it and worked. To me, San Jose was clearly the better team, and Danny Ellis was the reason that we won it."
Devin Setoguchi scored two goals and finished with an amazing 10 shots on goal for the Sharks, who lost for the first time on home ice this season (9-0-1). Rob Blake also scored in the losing effort.
"We evaluate our team on the process not the end result, and tonight we played a heck of a game," said Sharks coach Todd McLellan.
San Jose goaltender Brian Boucher started his third consecutive game in place of starter Evgeni Nabokov, who remains sidelined with a lower body injury suffered last Thursday against the St. Louis Blues. Boucher allowed four goals on 29 shots.
In the OT, the Preds had an offensive faceoff inside the left circle and the draw was won back to the area above the near circle for Koistinen, who wound up and sent a rocket slap shot that flew over the far right shoulder of Boucher as Nashville celebrated the win.
The Sharks opened the scoring with under four minutes to play in the first period. Brad Lukowich carried the puck across the blue line on a 3-on-2 rush and, from the high slot, passed into the left circle for a one-timer by Setoguchi that flew into the back of the cage at 16:52. It was Setoguchi's eighth goal of the season.
San Jose dominated the offensive play in the second period and totaled 22 shots on goal in the stanza. Ellis was strong between the pipes and made several nice saves -- including a glove stop on a one-timer by Joe Pavelski -- before he finally yielded to Blake with 3:07 remaining before the second intermission.
The Blake goal occurred via the power play after Rich Peverley was called for hooking. San Jose sent several shots toward Ellis from the point, one of which he failed to control the rebound. The puck sat loose in the low slot and after several players on both teams tried to gain control, Blake, who had drifted in from the blue line, punched it home from the inner rim of the right circle.
Only 66 seconds later, Arnott's seventh goal surprised the Sharks. A routine dump-in from the neutral zone by Patric Hornqvist was gloved by Boucher, but Arnott sped behind the Sharks' defense corps unnoticed, and when Boucher tried to put the puck back in play, the disc fluttered away from him and Arnott was there for a low backhander near the left post.
After Fiddler's wrist shot from the slot tied the score 5:42 into the third period, the Sharks moved ahead 3-2 only 27 seconds later on Setoguchi's second tally of the game. The puck caromed along the lower left half-wall and eventually Thornton gained control behind the net along the rear boards. Thornton, facing the glass, sent a blind backhand pass that perfectly found the stick of Setoguchi for a snap shot one-timer at the left post.
With 6:27 remaining in regulation, Suter's goal knotted the score again.
Nashville has still lost seven of its last nine in San Jose despite the win...The Preds are now 1-3 are their current six-game road trip...The Sharks were 1-for-7 on the power play and the Preds were scoreless on their two chances with the extra skater.
