Sharks salvo extinguishes Flames' playoff hopes
SAN JOSE: The San Jose Sharks scored four second period goals in less than nine minutes to seal a 5-3 home victory over the Calgary Flames in a decisive Game 7 of their Western Conference quarterfinals series on Tuesday.
Veteran Jeremy Roenick scored his first two goals of the salvo and added a pair of assists as the second-seeded Sharks finally prevailed over the seventh-seeded Flames, 4-3, to move on to a second round showdown against the Dallas Stars.
The 38-year-old Roenick was ready to retire last season after 18 NHL campaigns without a Stanley Cup win.
He was used primarily as a role player in the regular season and scored his 500th career goal, but was benched for Game 6 after failing to register a point in the first five contests of the series.
He responded in Game 7 by tying the franchise record for points in a playoff game and his second goal at 9:04 of the second period put the Sharks ahead to stay.
"This is fantastic," Roenick told reporters.
"We have so much character in that dressing room and it really came out tonight.
"This will probably be the best opportunity for me to win a Stanley Cup, so I want to take advantage of it. My legs feel great right now and this was a tremendous win for all of us."
The Sharks carried the play for most of the final two periods, out-shooting the Flames 41-22 overall before a boisterous towel-waving crowd of 17,496 fans.
"That's why we love it here and worked so darn hard to get home ice advantage for the playoffs during the regular season," San Jose's Joe Thornton said.
"We love our fans, we love this building and we love playing here."
Thornton and Calgary's Jarome Iginla exchanged powerplay goals in the first period and the Flames went ahead 2-1 early in the second period on a goal by Owen Nolan.
Roenick then electrified the crowd with his goals three minutes apart and Joe Pavelski and Devin Setoguchi scored before the second period ended to make it 5-2.
Calgary goalie Miikka Kiprusoff was pulled for the second time in the series after the fourth goal in favor of Curtis Joseph and the Flames managed to get back within two on Wayne Primeau's goal five minutes into the third period.
The Flames pulled Joseph for an extra attacker for a majority of the final three minutes but could not get any closer as Evgeni Nabokov made 19 saves in goal for San Jose.
In another Game 7 showdown Tuesday, Joffrey Lupul scored a power-play goal at 6:06 of overtime to lift Philadelphia to a 3-2 win over Washington.
Scottie Upshall and Sami Kapanen tallied in regulation for Philadelphia, which will take on the top-seeded Montreal Canadiens in the conference semifinals.
Martin Biron made 39 saves for the Flyers, who went two-for-six with the man advantage.
Rookie Nicklas Backstrom and superstar Alex Ovechkin scored for the Capitals, who were attempting to become the 21st team to overcome a three-games-to-one deficit in a best-of-seven playoff series.
Agencies/AFP
(China Daily 04/24/2008 page24)
