Another night, another win for the San Jose Sharks. What else is new? The Kings jumped out to an early 2-0 lead thanks to goals by Matt Greene and Ted Purcell, but because they refuse to lose in regulation (or at any point, really) the Sharks managed to tie the game with tallies from Ryane Clowe and Patrick Marleau.
The game remained tied throughout the third period and overtime, leading to a shootout where the Sharks picked up goals from Clowe and Dan Boyle, while Brian Boucher turned aside two of the three Los Angeles shots, giving San Jose a 3-2 win.
The Sharks win, combined with Detroit's loss (more on this in a bit) gives San Jose an eight point lead for the top spot in the Western Conference. The victory also gives San Jose the best record in NHL history through the first 30 games of the season, as the Sharks currently boast a 25-3-2 mark. They haven't lost a game in regulation since November 9, which is a 15-game streak where San Jose has picked up at least a point.
Boucher made 26 saves in the win, while Los Angeles snapped its modest two-game winning streak.
As of right now, the NHL is the San Jose Sharks -- and everybody else. It remains to be seen how long they can keep playing at such a pace, and who knows, it may hurt them in the long-run that they're playing their best hockey in November and December as opposed to, say, May and June. But none of that changes the fact this is quite an incredible stretch of hockey. Kudos, San Jose.
Colorado Beats Detroit for First Time in 8 AttemptsIn four regular season games against Detroit a season ago, the Colorado Avalanche scored exactly two goals, while being shutout the final three times the two teams faced off. The Avalanche were able to match that goal total in the first five minutes of Monday's game at Joe Louis Arena, as Colorado picked up a 3-2 win.
Aside from dropping all four regular season games to the Wings during the 2007-08 season, Colorado also lost four straight to Detroit in the postseason, so the win snapped a rather lengthy losing streak against the winged wheels.
Wojtek Wolski put Colorado on top just 1:07 into the game, when Tyler Arnason jumped all over a Red Wings turnover in the neutral zone, which led to a two-on-none break on goalie Chris Osgood. Arnason slipped the puck ahead to Wolksi who beat Osgood with a nifty backhand, putting the Avalanche on top. Paul Stastny added a power play goal just four minutes later, extending the lead to 2-0.
Jordan Leopold scored on a penalty shot -- because Brett Lebda covered the puck in the crease -- just 1:30 into the third period providing what would turn out to be the game-winning goal. Tomas Holmstrom and Marian Hossa provided the offense for Detroit, while Andrew Raycroft turned aside 34 shots in the win.
Just because Detroit-Colorado brings back fond memories, here's one of the many classic moments:
Great games.
Newsmakers in the NHL: Record Setting Night for San Jose originally appeared on NHL FanHouse on Tue, 16 Dec 2008 01:50:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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