Sharks hold off Canucks, trail series 2-1
Associated Press
san jose, calif.
Patrick Marleau scored twice in the first period and Antti Niemi made the early lead stand up with 27 saves to get the San Jose Sharks back into the Western Conference final with a 4-3 victory over the Vancouver Canucks in Game 3 on Friday night.
Ryane Clowe and Dan Boyle also scored and Joe Thornton had three assists for the Sharks, who still trail the series 2-1 after winning a conference final game on home ice for the first time in franchise history.
San Jose looked like a completely different team than the one that was outscored 10-5 in losing the first two games in Vancouver. The Sharks scored three times in the first period and had 15 of the first 16 shots on goal to snap an eight-game losing streak in the conference final, including a sweep last year to Chicago.
Game 4 is Sunday.
Lightning-Bruins
TAMPA, Fla.
The Tampa Bay Lightning are looking to overcome a resurgent Tim Thomas and even up the Eastern Conference finals.
Tampa Bay trails Boston 2-1 heading into Game 4 today, thanks in part to a strong rebound effort by Thomas. The Bruins’ goalie stopped all 31 shots he faced in a 2-0 victory on Thursday night.
“We need to step up our game another notch,” Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman said.
Thomas, the favorite to win the Vezina Trophy as the top regular-season goalie because of a 2.00 goal-against-average, had given up nine goals through the first two games against the Lightning.
But Thomas and the Boston defense, which allowed an Eastern Conference low 195 goals during the regular season, returned to form.
“He’ll give credit to the people in front of him,” Boston coach Claude Julien said.