DUCKS STUN SHARKS AGAIN TO TAKE 2-0 SERIES LEAD

Despite winning the President’s Trophy with the NHL’s best record in the regular season and securing home ice advantage throughout the playoffs, the San Jose Sharks have put themselves into a position where they must win on the road.  On Sunday evening the Anaheim Ducks again shocked the Western Conference champions on home ice, using a goal midway through the third period to prevail in a back and forth game by a 3-2 score. 

The Sharks lost only five times in regulation all year in compiling the NHL’s best home ice record.  They’ve now lost twice in their own building in 48 hours.  Once again it was a gritty defensive effort by Anaheim and another stellar goaltending performance by Tomas Hiller that made the difference in the game.  For all of their success in the regular season, the Sharks have struggled mightily in the playoffs—they’ve now lost three straight postseason games, and six of their last eight.

Anaheim’s Bobby Ryan got the scoring underway in the first period with his power play goal at 3:45 assisted by James Wisniewski and Ryan Whitney.  Despite a furious tempo that saw a total of 29 shots on goal during the period, the Ducks would take a 1-0 lead into the locker room.  San Jose would even the score at 5:38 of the second period as Ryane Clowe was finally able to beat Hiller with his unassisted goal.   The Ducks would regain the lead at 9:44 of the third when Andrew Ebbett ‘rang the bell’ assisted by Erik Christensen and Teemu Selanne.  Drew Miller would put the final nail in the Sharks’ coffin with his score at 13:17 assisted by Rob and Scott Niedermayer. The Sharks’ Jonathan Cheechoo would score a few seconds later assisted by Joe Thornton and Jeremy Roenick but couldn’t manage to push across the equalizer.

After the game, Anaheim coach Randy Carlyle downplayed the perception of his goalie’s ‘inexperience’ despite never having played in the Stanley cup playoffs before this series:

"I don't think that we recognize the pressure, as much as you guys seem to want to put that exclamation mark on. Hiller played in some real intense games for us down the stretch. He's a veteran guy from the Swiss league and world championships. He knows what pressure is about. What he's got to do is just do his job. He doesn't have to win the hockey game for us. He's just got to give us a chance."

San Jose’s Ryane Clowe dismissed suggestions that the Sharks were now in ‘panic mode’ with the next two games on the Ducks’ home ice at the Honda Center:

"I don't feel a lot of panic around here, that's for sure. We're going to go on the road, and maybe we'll be a little more relaxed. We'll probably get some of those bounces. That's the way it goes sometimes in a long series. I thought we worked hard enough to get some bounces, but obviously we were hitting posts like there's no tomorrow. That's the playoffs."

Sharks’ coach Todd McLellan made no apologies for the two losses—both games where he said the Ducks were beneficiaries of favorable ‘puck luck’:

"It's not like we've been spanked and we've got our tail between our legs. We play the same way, do the same things, create the same number of chances, eventually it'll go in for us, and we'll continue on."

Games three and four will take place at the Honda Center in Anaheim on Tuesday and Thursday.  Should a game six be necessary it’ll be back at ‘The Shark Tank’—aka HP Pavilion—on Saturday.