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Michalek, Cheechoo lift Sharks past Ducks

Feb 8, 2007 - 7:49 AM ANAHEIM, California (Ticker) -- Looking for a dose of revenge against a Pacific Division rival, the San Jose Sharks turned to Milan Michalek at a critical juncture.

Michalek snapped a tie late in the third period and Jonathan Cheechoo scored twice for the San Jose Sharks, who gained a split of their home-and-home series against the Anaheim Ducks with a 3-2 victory.

Coming off Tuesday's 7-4 home loss to Anaheim, San Jose won for just the second time in its last six games and raised its record against the Ducks to 2-3-0 this season. The Sharks also improved to 17-8-0 on the road.

"We weren't going to be denied tonight," Cheechoo said. "We knew how big this game was for us. We couldn't lose two straight to these guys and expect to challenge them for the division. It wasn't a must-win, but it was a big game for us."

"We had a meeting this morning and went over our mistakes (from Tuesday's game)," Sharks coach Ron Wilson said. "The easy ones are the goals against and the situations, the outnumbered attacks, and our responses to certain situations. We methodically went through that and then showed all the good stuff that we did."

San Jose took advantage of defenseman Joe DiPenta's hooking penalty when Michalek redirected rookie blue-liner Marc-Edouard Vlasic's blast from the high slot past goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov with 3:46 left.

"We were on the power play," said San Jose rookie Ryane Clowe, who also assisted on Michalek's goal. "Joe (Thornton), Cheechoo and (Patrick) Marleau were out there first, we were out there second. Their defenseman unfortunately broke his stick and Milan was able to get his stick on it."

"I put Milan in the middle and, obviously, we tried to stack the first unit to see if we could punch through," Wilson said. "Clowe has been playing great and he's got a lot of confidence. We made a nice play and it was a great shot by (Vlasic)."

Bryzgalov admitted he had no idea how the goal was scored.

"I thought it was just a straight shot," he said. "I don't know what happened. I stayed in front of the player and I didn't think anyone tipped the puck. Maybe they did. I don't know."

San Jose opened the scoring at 9:22 of the second period as Thornton, the reigning Hart and Art Ross Trophy winner, set up Cheechoo for his 19th goal of the season.

Last season's Maurice Richard Trophy winner, Cheechoo had his shot from the slot hit the bar in the back of the net and quickly come out, resulting in a continuation of play. At the next whistle, video replay confirmed the tally.

Cheechoo completed his fourth multi-goal game of the season midway through the third session, when he lifted the puck over Brzygalov's left shoulder to tie the game at 2-2.

"I'm getting my shots off well against these guys," said Cheechoo, who also scored twice Tuesday. "I can't really explain it. We just face these guys a lot more and I get to see their goalies' tendencies a lot more. That could be part of it."

Former Shark Teemu Selanne forged a 1-1 deadlock with 5:08 left in the middle session on a slap shot from the right faceoff circle that got under the crossbar. It was his 524th career goal, tying him with Hall of Famer Bryan Trottier for 27th place all-time.

"Usually, I don't get to look a lot at the stats, but today, we didn't skate (in the morning) and I had a lot of time to look at them before the meeting," Selanne said. "It makes me feel very old ... seeing names like Trottier and (Stan Mikita, who is 25th)."

Vesa Toskala made 20 saves in raising his record to 23-8-1 for the Sharks.

"We were a little disheartened (Tuesday), especially in the second period," San Jose right wing Mike Grier said. "We felt like we gave the game away. We bounced back nicely, especially with the way the third started with a little bit of a mistake. It's good to see the guys battled and rallied and picked one another up."

Shawn Thornton netted his first goal in 25 games and Bryzgalov stopped 26 shots for Anaheim, which lost for the sixth time in nine games.

"We worked hard and did a lot of things we needed to do," Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said. "They're a good hockey club. We knew that. We have to win our share of the battles in order to win hockey games."