Sharks 3, Ducks 2.
Sharks defenseman Marc-Eduoard Vlasic pushed Ryan Getzlaf into his own goaltender, Brian Boucher, and Getzlaf was assessed a two-minute minor for goalie interference.
Ah, those "Ducks penalties." Gotta love 'em.
It wasn't nearly the most important sequence in the Ducks' 3-2 loss to San Jose, but it was the last one. The one that made Getzlaf charge after Vlasic a second later. The one that motivated little guys Andrew Ebbett and Teemu Selanne to jump into the middle of an eight-player scrum with 0:00 on the clock. The one all 17,398 in attendance at Honda Center, and everyone on the ice, takes with him into the next time the two teams meet.
One can only hope that comes in the Stanley Cup playoffs, a hockey sadist's dream matchup after 48 hours that witnessed the two teams chomping at each other's necks.
But let's not get ahead of ourselves.
While the Ducks still control their own playoff destiny, they will be biting their nails that much more between now and their next game Friday, after failing to grab two points that were entirely within their reach Sunday.
Jonathan Cheechoo broke a 2-2 tie with 6:41 left in the third period, on a deflection over the glove hand of Ducks goalie Jonas Hiller, with 12 seconds left in a 5-on-4 Sharks power play.
Corey Perry also scored on a power play, and Petteri Nokelainen scored short-handed for the Ducks (41-33-6), who could have tied Columbus for sixth place in the Western Conference with a victory. Hiller stopped 23 of 26, and Boucher stopped 19 of 21 -- the fifth-lowest shot total for the Ducks this season.
About J.P.
J.P. Hoornstra has been covering the Anaheim Ducks since 2007. Eight months after the University of Wisconsin won its third NCAA hockey championship, he was born in a frigid Madison winter. He betrayed his blue-blooded beginnings by graduating from UCLA in 2003, and welcomes any and all dialogue on the finer points of hockey.
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