by Susan SlusserFiled under: Avalanche, Sharks, NHL Playoffs
SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Last year when the Sharks got unexpectedly bounced in the first round by an eighth seed, the Presidents' Trophy winners got very little in the way of secondary scoring.This time around, the West's top seed is getting lots of production from lines No. 2 through 4 -- enough to save the Sharks' bacon despite falling behind five times in Game 2 at HP Pavilion. Second-line center Joe Pavelski sent the game into overtime by slamming in a blocked Dany Heatley shot with 32 seconds left and with Sharks goalie Evgeni Nabokov out of the net, and his linemate, Devin Setoguchi, provided the game winner during a San Jose power play 5:22 into extra time, redirecting a shot by Ryan Clowe.
San Jose's 6-5 victory sends the series to Denver tied at a game apiece, and keeps the specter of losing a series to the eighth seed for a second consecutive year at bay -- at least for now.
But how long can the Sharks go while getting little from the high-profile gold-medal winning Olympic line of Joe Thornton, Heatley and Patrick Marleau? The line accounted for four assists on Friday, true, but none of San Jose's seven goals in the two games have been scored by the trio, and the three were on the ice for three of Colorado's Game 2 goals.
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