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Roenick clutch again as Sharks edge Ducks

Mar 22, 2008 - 6:45 AM SAN JOSE, California (Ticker) -- Jeremy Roenick continues to reward the San Jose Sharks for taking a chance on him.

Roenick snapped a tie 72 seconds into the third period and the Sharks played air-tight defense in the session en route to a 2-1 victory over the Anaheim Ducks on Friday.

Joe Thornton also scored and fellow All-Star Evgeni Nabokov made 12 saves for San Jose (45-21-9), which extended its streak of earning at least one point to 15 games (14-0-1) and moved seven points ahead of Anaheim (42-26-8) in the Pacific Division.

"I don't think anybody can play better than we played today," Nabokov said. "I think our effort was tremendous. I thought we were hungry, and we want to prove that we're a good-enough team to beat them. To be honest with you, I don't remember a game like this. ... It was just an unbelievable job."

Todd Marchant netted the lone goal and Jonas Hiller turned aside 41 shots for the Ducks, who failed to register a shot on net in the third period.

"We didn't execute," Anaheim coach Randy Carlyle said. "They trapped in the neutral ice and we kept turning the puck over. We didn't make any decisions with the puck that put us in a position to establish our forecheck until right at the end."

"That's the one thing we take pride in, is our defensive play," Thornton said. "That's a well-coached and good, skilled team. To give them no shots in the third, it says something about our game and how committed we are to it right now."

It marked the second time in franchise history Anaheim has gone an entire period with a shot. On December 27, 2000, the Ducks accomplished the dubious feat in the first period at Dallas.

"We kept our mistakes to a minimum and we stayed disciplined, didn't give them too many power plays and made the first pass quick and hard to get it out of the zone," Sharks All-Star defenseman Brian Campbell said.

With his mind set on retirement last summer, Roenick received an offer from the Sharks to lace up the skates once more and signed as a free agent on September 4. The decision could not have worked out better for either side, as the 38-year-old has reached the 500-tally plateau and climbed into 36th place on the all-time goals list this season.

With Friday's contest even at 1-1 after two periods, Roenick passed Hall of Famer Jean Beliveau for that 36th spot early in the third. During a 5-on-3 power play, Campbell dished the puck to Roenick, who walked toward the net from the bottom of the left faceoff circle and deposited a shot past Hiller at 1:12 for his 13th goal of the campaign.

Of those 13 tallies, an incredible nine have been game-winners, putting Roenick one behind Washington's Alex Ovechkin for the league lead.

Instead of commenting on his personal achievements, Roenick elected to keep the focus on the team.

"Going into the playoffs, we have to prove to ourselves that we can beat these teams and play like we did," he said. "When you outshoot a team like that 43-13, that tells us something. That's what we wanted coming into this game.

"They have such a great team, too. I think the guys in this room respect the fact that they're the Stanley Cup champions and that they are as good as they are. We try not to take them lightly."

Thornton opened the scoring just 40 seconds into the contest with his 21st of the season. Milan Michalek grabbed a loose puck in the right circle and fed Thornton, who waited for defenseman Scott Niedermayer to skate by and slid a backhander by Hiller from the doorstep for a 1-0 edge.

The goal gave Thornton 12 points in his last 11 games.

However, the Ducks pulled even at 5:35 of the middle period, when Marchant received a cross-slot pass from Chris Kunitz and beat Nabokov from the right circle for his ninth of the campaign.

Spelling starter Jean-Sebastien Giguere, Hiller was brilliant, stopping 16 shots in each of the final two periods.

"Roenick's goal, I'm sure he'd like to have it back," Carlyle said. "But he made some outstanding stops for us and gave us a chance in the game."

"He played great for us," Ducks All-Star center Ryan Getzlaf added. "We've got to get him ready for the playoffs as much as we've got to get Jiggy ready. Tonight, our goalie played well against a good hockey club."

Giguere came up lame during pregame warmups and watched from the bench. It is unknown whether he will even dress for Saturday's game at Phoenix.

"He skated this morning and was fine," Carlyle said. "I would think we'd be in a position to possibly have to recall a goaltender for (Saturday)."

"We were shocked," Marchant added. I still don't even know what's wrong with him. All of a sudden after warmup, he didn't feel like he could go. But we've got a very capable backup in Jonas, and he played unbelievable for us tonight."

The loss dropped the Ducks to 5-1-1 against the Sharks this season and ended their six-game winning streak at HP Pavilion.

"We just wanted to play our game and show them how much we have changed since the last time we played them," San Jose coach Ron Wilson said. "At the end of the night, if you do your job, you will probably win, and we did that tonight."

"We struggled with this team all year," Roenick added. "We've had great games against them. I think two or three have gone to shootouts. But (we're) getting over the hump."