The San Jose Sharks were shutout for the first time this season, coming off a disappointing loss at the hands of the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim last night.
“That was just a collective dud with the exception of Nabby [Evgani Nabakov],” said Sharks’ head coach Ron Wilson. “Nabby had one of his better efforts this year. He was on top of his game and we wasted it.”
Nabakov came out strong in the first two periods stopping many of the chances created by the sloppy defense in their own zone. However, Andy McDonald managed to weave one through past Nabakov at 17:09 into the second period. After a failed offensive attack by the Sharks, the Ducks counterattacked with a nice setup dish pass from Keith Carney to McDonald.
“I don’t think we came out very prepared tonight,” said Sharks’ defenseman Scott Hannan who was on the ice during McDonald’s goal. “We came out flat and we weren’t working together. Defense was just two guys and offense was just three forwards and you can’t play that way.”
Nabakov robbed McDonald of another goal by making a glove save off a hard slap shot during the Kyle McLaren hooking penalty.
Despite the relentless effort by Nabakov, the Sharks couldn’t create any opportunities in the second period, managing only three shots.
Ducks’ Jonathan Hedstrom and Vitaly Vishnevski received minor penalties giving the Sharks a two-man advantage for nearly 1:47 seconds. The Sharks failed to capitalize.
“We usually set the tempo,” said Sharks’ captain Patrick Marleau. “We had our opportunities on the power play, but we didn’t capitalize on those.”
Nils Ekman came close after being fed a pass from Joe Thornton, but was shut down by Ducks’ goalie Ilja Bryzgalov.
Later in the period, the Sharks’ forward Milan Michalek was robbed twice by Bryzgalov, allowing him to head into the locker room with a shutout.
Wilson was disappointed his team’s performance and some players not participating to his expectations.
“We can’t have any passengers,” said Wilson. “Some people have been hiding for three or four games.”
The San Jose Sharks will face off against divisional rivals Phoenix Coyotes this Saturday at 6 p.m.
