SHARKS NIP DUCKS TO SOLIDIFY HOLD ON NHL’S BEST RECORD

The San Jose Sharks set a franchise record with their 51^st win of the season on Sunday, holding off the host Anaheim Ducks by a 3-2 score.  They also solidified their grasp on the NHL’s best overall record, now leading the Boston Bruins by 3 points in the race for the President’s Trophy which is awarded to the team with the best regular season mark.

The Ducks took the lead early in the first period when Petteri Nokelainen scored shorthanded, assisted by Scott Niedermayer and Todd Marchant.  Anaheim took a 1-0 lead into the first period intermission, but the Sharks’ Jeremy Roenick would tie the score just 2:43 into the second session assisted by Joe Thornton and Jonathan Cheechoo.  Corey Perry’s power play goal at 11:31 assisted by Teemu Selanne and Ryan Getzlaf would put the Ducks back on top, but the advantage would be short lived as San Jose’s Joe Pavelski would answer with a power play goal set up by Dan Boyle and Christian Ehrhoff less than four minutes later.  Jonathan Cheechoo would net the game winner for the Sharks on the power play at 13:19 of the final period with assists to Christian Ehrhoff and Dan Boyle.

After the game, the Sharks’ Cheechoo said that their meetings with the Ducks are always intense:

"These are fun games to be a part of. I mean, it's Anaheim. We get up to play those guys and I'm sure they get up to play us. But they're all big right now. We want to establish our game, try to build some momentum, play the way we're supposed to play them, system-wise, and play to our strengths."

Anaheim came into the contest having won nine of their previous ten games.  Despite this torrid pace, they still need to get four points out of their final two games to clinch a playoff berth.  The Ducks’ Corey Perry had these thoughts on the task at hand:

"We've been playing playoff hockey for the last couple of weeks, so it's nice that we get a little bit of a break before our last two games -- especially this late in the season. It's been a long haul, but we're in a great position to be where we are. But we have to prove that we belong there."

The Ducks will get the entire week off before hosting Dallas on Friday and traveling to Phoenix on Saturday to conclude the season.  San Jose will try to clinch the franchise’s first President’s Cup trophy with games at home against the bottom three teams in the Western Conference.  The Sharks will host Colorado on Tuesday, Phoenix on Thursday and the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday.