A point is better than no point at all. 

    The San Jose Sharks almost went home with a loss off a short-handed goal scored by St. Louis Blues Ryan Johnson with 10:24 remaining in the game.  However, thanks to the resilient effort by Mark Smith and Nils Ekman in the final two minutes, the Sharks were able to skate into the locker room with a point in the shoot-out loss Friday night.

    ”We could have quit – we didn’t – we managed to find a way to get a point,” said Shark’s head coach Ron Wilson.  “We’ll get a rest for the next few days and then get ready for LA.”

    With 1:04 remaining in the game, Smith pursued the puck behind Blues’ goalie Jason Bacashihua.  After controlling the puck with one hand on his stick, Smith managed to feed a pass to Ekman who was waiting to put it in front of the net.    That goal sparked the excitement that was to continue into overtime and eventually the shootout period. 

    In overtime, the Blues almost managed to put the puck into the net when Eric Weinrich crashed the net after Shark’s goalie Evgeni Nabokov lost sight of the puck.  The puck landed near the goal line, but Nabakov managed to stick the puck between his legs to freeze the puck.

    The Sharks tried to answer back with an attempted effort by defensemen Christian Ehrhoff who streaked into the net after missing a centering feed by Patrick Marleau.

    The shootout began with Marleau and Joe Thornton missing on their scoring chances.  Blue’s Doug Weight scored past Nabokov, putting the Blues ahead 1-0 in the shootout period.

    Forward Jonathan Cheechoo kept the Sharks alive after his shot managed to slip by Bacashihua.  The officials reviewed the play and confirmed the goal.

    Blue’s center Petr Cajanek put the game away with his wrist shot.  Ekman, on the follow-up attempt, failed to put the puck in after attempting several maneuvers.

    The Sharks will travel down south to face off against the Los Angeles Kings on Monday at 7:30 p.m.