• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Sharks set franchise record, win ninth straight

Mar 10, 2008 - 3:06 AM By Brian Hall PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

ST. PAUL, Minnesota (Ticker) - For those wondering when the talented San Jose Sharks were going to finally bust out, your wait is over.

Captain Patrick Marleau made a key defensive play in overtime and then scored the decisive goal in the third round of the shootout to lift the Sharks to their franchise-record ninth consecutive victory Sunday, a 3-2 triumph over the Minnesota Wild.

All-Star Evgeni Nabokov made 21 saves, rookie Tomas Plihal tallied on a penalty shot and Milan Michalek notched his 21st goal of the season for San Jose (40-21-8), which has also won seven in a row on the road and remains one point behind the Dallas Stars (42-25-5) for the top spot in the Pacific Division.

The Stars will host the Colorado Avalanche later on Sunday.

"You need a little bit of luck," San Jose coach Ron Wilson said. "Patty Marleau made a great playing coming back, batting it out of the air. It was going in the net. So, you do need a portion of luck, and we're starting to do a little better in shootouts. Guys are scoring. You get to a shootout, and you're rolling the dice. We've been fortunate that we haven't been crapping out when we roll the dice.

"A little confidence goes a long way. I think we're at a point now where a little bump in the road is not going to harm us or anything like that because of where we are in the standings."

After Pierre-Marc Bouchard's spin move kept the Wild's hopes alive in the third round of the bonus format, Marleau beat netminder Niklas Backstrom with a wrist shot to the stick side.

"I went down and tried to make a little fake," Marleau said. "I think he tried poke-checking me, and I was able to get it up enough over his pad."

Nabokov had made pad saves on both Mikko Koivu and captain Marian Gaborik in the first two rounds of the shootout and Joe Pavelski scored in the opening round for the Sharks.

The Wild almost had the game winner in the final minute of overtime, but Marleau provided the heroics. Gaborik drove the net on a 2-on-1 break and flipped the puck toward the goal, but Marleau came in and batted the puck out of the air before it crossed the goal line.

"I was just lucky enough to get it out of the air when I got back there," said Marleau, who has notched the decisive goal in three straight games.

Minnesota received a little luck on its game-tying goal with just 29 seconds left in regulation.

After Koivu won the faceoff, Brian Rolston unleashed a slap shot from the left point that hit a wall of San Jose defenders in front of the net. But the puck then bounced of the skate of blue-liner Marc-Edouard Vlasic and into the net, tying the contest at 2-2.

"I think we have something good going here and we regrouped as a team after that goal and found a way to win," Vlasic said. "It hit my shin pad and I tried to touch it any way I could because it was going in, so I tried to block it, but it was too late at that point."

Despite the loss, Rolston's goal helped pull the Wild (37-26-7) to the top of the Northwest Division. They own a one-point lead on the Colorado Avalanche (37-27-6) and Calgary Flames (35-23-10).

"We had enough breaks go against us that we felt we had it coming to us, especially the way we worked tonight," Rolston said. "We've had goals go off guys' skates, and it's nice to get one for a change."

Just 46 seconds into the contest, Michalek came free near the left faceoff circle and whipped a shot high past Backstrom's stick side.

Backstrom, who made 24 saves, was on his own on the second goal.

Plihal jumped on a turnover by the Wild near center ice without a Minnesota defender between him and Backstrom. Plihal skated free and his attempt was off the mark, but was awarded a penalty shot after being hooked.

The rookie made a similar move to Michalek in beating Backstrom stick side for the second goal of his career at 13:44 of the first.

"The way the forwards are playing, and the way we are pushing the pace, and the way we control the puck, I think it's totally five guys' effort out there and we're doing the job," Nabokov said.

Defenseman Kurtis Foster got the Wild on board 4:11 into the second when his slap shot from the left point beat Nabokov between the pads.

"We didn't start the game with a lot of confidence," Wild coach Jacques Lemaire said. "We weren't controlling the game well."