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Cheechoo lifts Sharks over Red Wings

May 1, 2007 - 7:23 AM SAN JOSE, California (Ticker) -- This time the San Jose Sharks relied on a fast finish.

Jonathan Cheechoo scored a power-play goal with 6:41 to play to lift the Sharks to a 2-1 victory over the Detroit Red Wings on Monday and a two-games-to-one lead in their Western Conference semifinal series.

Ryane Clowe had a goal and an assist and Evgeni Nabokov made 29 saves, including 15 in a brilliant first period.

"I just tried to go out and give the guys a chance to win," Nabokov said. "You've got to give credit to them, they came out pretty hard and they were skating pretty fast. They were chipping the puck behind us and were shooting from everywhere, trying to create rebounds. They came ready to play."

The Sharks had jumped out to 2-0 leads in the first two games of the series, scoring all four goals in the first period and failing to hit the scoresheet thereafter.

Cheechoo reversed that trend with a superb individual effort on the go-ahead goal.

Defenseman Kyle McLaren unleashed a bullet that goaltender Dominik Hasek made the initial stop on but couldn't control the rebound.

Cheechoo corralled the loose puck, drew it around a fallen Hasek and, with three defenders draped around him, poked the puck into an open net.

"I saw him sliding across," Cheechoo said of Hasek. "I knew ... he takes away a lot of the net when he does that because he does a two-pad stack, and it's tough to get it up and over when you're in tight. So, I had to try to bring it over to the other side. And, he's sliding ... it's hard for him to stop. He almost got back, though. I was able to put it over him."

It was only the fourth time in 33 games a team has come back to win after trailing at the end of one period, and the second time the Sharks have pulled it off.

"We felt pretty confident after two periods but in the third period, they kept coming and coming," Hasek said. "We couldn't stop them at the blue line, they spent most of the time in our zone and finally they scored one goal and that was enough."

The Red Wings peppered Nabokov with 16 shots before taking a 1-0 first-period lead on a power-play goal by captain Nicklas Lidstrom with 8:47 left in the period.

Taking a cross-ice pass from Mikael Samuelsson, Lidstrom ripped a blistering slap shot from just above the left faceoff circle that whizzed past Nabokov.

"I thought we got off to a good start, and moved the puck and had every opportunity to be well ahead," Detroit coach Mike Babcock said. "I thought Nabokov played real well early."

San Jose got the equalizer with 7:17 left in the second period, thanks to a huge effort by Joe Thornton.

Taking the puck away from two Detroit players behind the net, including four-time Norris Trophy winner Lidstrom, Thornton fed a pass to Matt Carle, whose shot was stopped by Hasek.

Clowe floated in to grab the rebound and fluttered the puck over Hasek's glove hand for a 1-1 tie.

"I don't think, between mine and Cheech's goals, either reached the back of the net," Clowe said. "It doesn't really matter in the playoffs. I actually tried to lift it over his pads, and I think the space it went through was just enough to fit a puck. I kind of whiffed on it, but I'll take it.

"Like I said, it was a good goal because it got us back into the game and rolling - it turned the tide."

Indeed, the momentum turned in San Jose's favor. The Sharks limited the Red Wings to 14 total shots in the final two periods - two fewer than they had in the first session.

"We didn't panic. We had a little breakdown, but we came out on top," Nabokov said. "We didn't panic when we were behind, 1-0, and as soon as we scored that first goal, everything started rolling. You could see the way the game was changing right after that. I don't think they had much after that. We played really well from then on."

Hasek finished with 25 saves for Detroit, which saw its comeback hopes take a big hit when Todd Bertuzzi was whistled for a tripping penalty on McLaren while moving in for a shot with 2:48 left to play.

"I know it's McLaren but I know he dove," Bertuzzi said. "He's a pretty big boy. ... I really didn't do anything. I just got around him and tried to break in and I knew he dropped right away. But we shouldn't have even been in that position."