It wasn’t pretty but the San Jose Sharks managed to walk away with two points after defeating conference rival Chicago Blackhawks 2-1 last night.
Like a commercial knife, the Sharks’ performance started out sharp only to dull away throughout the game.
"It’s a win," said Sharks defenseman Kyle McLaren. "We’ve been fighting for a win the last couple of games and tonight there’s nothing else more to say but we got the two points."
The Sharks pounced early but were shut down by Blackhawk’s goalie Craig Anderson. In the past month, Anderson has been with three teams. He faced 16 shots in the first period alone and looked stellar until Sharks’ captain Patrick Marleau went top shelf on Anderson at 17:13 in the first period.
Marleau picked up a pass from Steve Bernier behind the net and shot it at Anderson. Grabbing his own rebound, Marleau went up high after Anderson was sprawling on his back for the loose puck.
"We did a simple thing," said Bernier "We dumped the puck and we tried to work their defense down low. I tried to bring the puck to the front of the net, but Patty did a good job to take his rebound and score a nice goal."
Nearly 45-seconds later, Joe Thornton put the Sharks ahead by redirecting defenseman Tom Preissing’s shot. After winning the face-off, Thornton parked himself in front of the net and redirected the shot, which slipped through Anderson’s pad.
Toskala finished the night making 30 saves, including 14 coming in the final period of regulation. While Niko Dimitrakos was serving a hooking penalty for the Sharks, Toskala managed to rob former Shark Curtis Brown late in the third period. He double-stacked his pad to take away the tying the goal.
"His last seven starts he’s been excellent," said Sharks’ head coach Ron Wilson on Toskala’s performance. "It was a tough game for him. He didn’t see the rubber a lot early and it’s hard to keep your focus."
The Sharks will return Friday night to face-off against division rival Dallas Stars at 7:30 p.m.
