Stolen: Home-Ice Advantage

The home ice advantage for the Sharks has evaporated…for now. We witnessed, very arguably, the best game Annti Niemi has played in an Indian-head sweater. He stopped 44 shots on goal out of 45 all while standing on his head! (As the saying goes, if you will, if I may). The one that got past Neimi was by no means a softy. It came during the second Power Play out of three during the first period alone off the stick of Jason Demers at 11:19 minutes in. Demer’s shot was deflected off of a defending Duncan Keith that was redirected just over the right should of Niemi. From there on out, the “Finnish Fortress” made several exceptional saves including a few with the glove. San Jose played with seven defensemen and the Hawks saw a steady diet of Heatley, Thornton, and Marleau. The Sharks easily controlled the entire first period with three Power Plays, but were only able to capitalize on one. A possible turning point in my mind was a three on two Sharks advantage that came before there was even a goal on the scoreboard. It essentially was a three on one, but Keith skated straight back and used an active stick to break up a play that could have resulted in an open net goal and changed the complexion of the game. Both teams squandered some good opportunities. Toews and Thornton both miss out on good scoring chances simply by not squaring up the puck on the stick on spoiled one-timers that produced weak shots off the heel of their respective sticks. The Blackhawks were able to tame the Sharks from about five minutes into the second period throughout the rest of the game. They were able to out hustle San Jose and recover more loose pucks. Sharpie scored the tying goal with 12:13 left in the second period with assists from Keith and Brouwer. Keith was again a key player here as he recognized the opportunity for a four on three and sped down the ice to create the play and got a point on the assist. The Hawks ran into some trouble after a holding penalty on Seabrook at 14:01 in the second. This is when Niemi made a sick glove-save sliding from post to post in desperation mode. It was a thing of beauty especially from the goal-cam. The Sharks did however have a 31-22 shot-on-goal advantage after the second period. The third period was all Hawks though as the game was being played completely to their tempo and playing a lot of fast-paced cycle-play. Coach Q made an exquisite line change, which resulted in some Shark confusion leaving Big Buff all alone for an open-lane shot from between the circles to score the game-winning goal with 6:45 left in the game. The Hawks faced more adversity as Dave Bolland was called for a tripping penalty with :55.1 seconds left in the game. Although, the Blackhawks did receive a small break as the refs escorted Versteeg to the box instead of Bolland, who is a crucial part of the penalty-kill special team. San Jose played with an empty and had a six on four advantage, but to no avail and the Blackhawks stole a game at the Shark Tank. The keys for game two are tightening up the fore-checking and cutting down on all of the shots on goal. They can’t ask Niemi to play out of his mind for every game here on out, though it would be sweet if he did.

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