San Jose had a much better effort in the second period, taking the play to Vancouver for long pockets of time. Patrick Marleau found the scoresheet after deflecting a point shot from Dan Boyle, and the Canucks capitalized on a bad play up the board by Antti Niemi which was compounded by some equally questionable defensive zone coverage by Niclas Wallin.
The Sharks penalty kill has been fantastic lately and tonight has been no exception, with San Jose limiting Vancouver to a mere three shots on three opportunities. The PK has even been better then that would indicate however, as the Canucks first and third opportunities of the night accounted for a whopping zero shots on net.
And what else can be said about Antti Niemi– he was phenomenal against Detroit and has ridden that wave of momentum into Vancouver. A pair of great pad saves on Janik Hansen as well as a mad loose puck battle in front of his crease at the end of the period kept the Sharks in the lead with the Canucks pressing.
Darren Pang probably said it best on air– “I just pulled my groin watching him make that save.”
Good stuff. Twenty minutes, nothing less, and expect at least two more big Vancouver flurries before that final horn sounds.
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