The San Jose Sharks head home with a 2-0 series lead after defeating the Vancouver Canucks in overtime. It was a game that was hard-fought from the beginning and more physical than game one.
At the start of the first period the Canucks controlled the action, yet after a cross checking penalty to Jason Garrison, the momentum turned. Roberto Luongo made a number of brilliant saves to keep the Sharks scoreless. Joe Thornton did change that at even strength as he dove for a rebound and put it in the back of the net for his first goal of the playoffs.
Neither team scored in the second period. Vancouver got some life after Andrew Desjardins tripped Alex Edler. On the ensuing power play, the Sharks defense got sucked in and Henrik Sedin found Ryan Kesler who blasted a shot by the screened Antti Niemi to tie the game. Daniel Sedin got credited for the secondary assist.
With the crowd involved the Sharks made their second mistake in the period. A clearing attempt didn’t go as planned and got intercepted by Kesler. He rocketed another shot by Niemi for his second goal of the game.
Unlike previous playoff series where a turnover and goal would have lasting effects. San Jose became more aggressive and got the puck into Vancouver’s zone more often. So, it came as no surprise after Niemi got pulled, that Patrick Marleau tied the game at 2-2 after knocking in a rebound. As a result the game went into overtime.
Both teams went back and forth in the overtime until Brent Burns and Raffi Torries had a two-on-one opportunity. As a result this meant the Canuck defender had to commit to Burns who slid a beautiful pass to Torres who beat Luongo for the game winning goal.
Game three is on Sunday night in San Jose with the opportunity to take a commanding 3-0 lead.