Playing the role of
the sleeper isn't
exactly the dream of
each hockey player at
the dawn of each hockey
season.
But that doesn't mean
it doesn't amount to a
whole lot of fun.
The Flames turned the
tables on the streaking
San Jose Sharks last
night, scoring four
straight third period
goals to erase both a
Shark 2-0 lead, and much
of the Southern
California team's
playoff momentum.
The game featured
some instant revenge for
a Flames club that was
humbled to the tune of
5-2 to Silicon Valley
just five days earlier.
From the outset the
game looked to be like
many others seen in
Calgary this winter,
with the home team
surrendering an early
lead, and then
struggling to cash in on
their own chances.
The Sharks opened the
scoring just 59 seconds
in when Niko Dimitrakos
beat Roman Turek with a
hoisted short side back
hand.
Seven minutes later
the game looked to
already be on ice when
Mark Smith found himself
all alone in front of
Turek and beat the
goaltender for a 2-0
Shark lead.
From then on it was
pretty much all
Calgary.
The Sharks has six
shots in the games first
seven minutes, but had
only 13 by the game's 57
minute mark.
|
2003
Draft Watch |
|
If
the draft was held
today ... |
|
Pick
|
Team
|
Player*
|
| 1 |
Carolina |
M.-A.
Fleury |
| 2 |
Atlanta |
Milan
Michalek |
| 3 |
Buffalo |
Nikolai
Zherdev |
| 4 |
Calgary |
Nathan
Horton |
| 5 |
Columbus |
Braydon
Coburn |
| *ranking:
Red
Line 2/26/03 |
|
The
Flames out shot the
Sharks by 10-6 and 8-4
margins through two
periods but failed to
get on the scoreboard.
All
that changed in the
third.
The
club's second line - yes
that's right, a second
line - featuring Chris
Drury, Oleg Saprykin and
Martin Gelinas was the
club's best all night,
but they stepped it up
another notch in the
third, scoring three
times.
First
Chris Drury jumped on a
deflected pass, spun and
fired a low shot past
Evgeni Nabokov's inside
pad and into the cage to
cut the lead to one.
Three
minutes later Martin
Gelinas deflected a hard
Oleg Saprykin pass past
Nabokov to square the
score at two.
The
clubs' topline went to
work to put the team
ahead when Jarome Iginla
found Craig Conroy in
the slot, and Conroy
made no mistake sliding
a low shot into the cage
to make it 3-2 Calgary.
The
Flames found an
insurance market with
two minutes to play when
Saprykin found Drury
cruising through the
slot and slipped him a
pass from behind the
net. Drury beat Nabokov
to make it 4-2.
The
Sharks scored a late one
to make it 4-3 but with
just 2.4 seconds left on
the clock there was no
time left to press for a
tie.
The
game ended on a sour
note when Shark captain
Owen Nolan was helped
off the ice after taking
a cross check from Robyn
Regehr. The Shark
captain looked to be in
a great deal of pain, a
fact that may quell many
a trade rumour that has
the power forward moving
East.
Get
Your
Calgarypuck
Gear!
