Cheechoo comes to life as Sharks triumph

0 Comments | Oakland Tribune, Oct 16, 2007 | by David PollakSTAFF

VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Sharks coach Ron Wilson was sending Jonathan Cheechoo a message when he plucked the right wing off Joe Thornton's line Monday for the first time this season.

Cheechoo's demotion lasted only one period, but it got the results Wilson wanted.

With Cheechoo getting his first points of the season -- a goal and an assist -- the Sharks exploded early in the third period for three goals in a span of 3 minutes and 20 seconds, breaking open what had been a 1-1 contest and turning it into a 4-2 victory. It was the Sharks' second win in Vancouver in 10 days.

"We've got to get Cheech's attention," Wilson said before the game of his decision to replace Cheechoo with rookie Torrey Mitchell alongside Thornton and Ryane Clowe. Cheechoo, who scored 93 goals the past two seasons, didn't have a point in his first five games.

Cheechoo only got three shifts in the first period before returning to Thornton's line, but Wilson wasn't finished driving home his point. When the Sharks got an early power play in the third period, he put Joe Pavelski on the ice in Cheechoo's customary spot - - and Pavelski scored.

"I think I got his attention again," Wilson said.

Cheechoo indicated he was well aware of what his coach was doing.

"Sure, but I thought I was working hard," he said. "The chances have been there, for the most part every game. It's just a matter of me capitalizing on them. Hopefully a goal like this propels me to get some more."

Thornton called Cheechoo's goal "a weight off his shoulders" and seconded the idea that his linemate had been working hard despite the lack of production.

Wilson's highest praise after the game was reserved for Thornton, who had a goal and two assists in that third-period rally, and goalie Evgeni Nabokov, whose second-period save on a shot by left wing Daniel Sedin. Vancouver held a 1-0 lead at the time and Wilson called Nabokov's play the turning point.

Nabokov had no chance on the Canucks' first goal when a shot by left wing Brad Isbister bounced directly off the post and into the path of Taylor Pyatt. The puck hit Pyatt's skate and ended up in the net, but it was ruled there was no kicking motion.

The Sharks tied it at 14:52 of the second period when Patrick Marleau fired the puck from his own zone to a streaking Steve Bernier who split the defense, and, after some deft stickhandling, beat goalie Roberto Luongo. Nabokov earned a second assist on the play.

That set the stage for the Sharks' third-period explosion. First Pavelski, then Thornton, then Cheechoo all seemed to show patience in getting the puck past a goalie considered among the NHL's best.

"It was just a scramble with rebound after rebound there, and finally I got one up and over him," Cheechoo said of his goal that gave the Sharks a 4-1 lead.

Around the NHL

Ales Kotalik scored a power-play goal with 4 seconds left in overtime to give the Buffalo Sabres a 5-4 come-from-behind win over the Toronto Maple Leafs in Buffalo, N.Y. ... Samuel Pahlsson scored a tiebreaking short-handed goal with 10:58 left in the third period to lead the defending champion Anaheim Ducks to a 6-3 victory over the Detroit Red Wings. ... Jesse Boulerice, who last week was given a 25-game suspension, the longest single-season suspension in NHL history, for hitting a player in the face with his stick, was placed on waivers by the Philadelphia Flyers.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.