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Former Avs Lemieux, Blake help Sharks beat old team

By Rick Sadowski, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published January 27, 2009 at 9:30 p.m.

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Colorado's Wojtek Wolski goes after the puck being maneuvered by San Jose's Derek Joslin on Tuesday at the Pepsi Center

Photo by Michael Martin / Nhli Via Getty Images

Colorado's Wojtek Wolski goes after the puck being maneuvered by San Jose's Derek Joslin on Tuesday at the Pepsi Center

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The Avalanche welcomed a couple of old friends, Rob Blake and Claude Lemieux, back to the Pepsi Center on Tuesday night, two aging warriors with strong links to the team's glorious past.

Those days must have seemed very long ago and far away for Lemieux while his San Jose Sharks skated to a 3-0 victory before an announced crowd of 14,592.

"I was disappointed to see that many empty seats," he said. "I've only seen this building sold out. Hopefully, this was just an off night. I'm used to seeing this place rocking and loud.

"The economy's been tough everywhere, so I think we're seeing signs of it in all the buildings, but it's always great coming back here."

Lemieux, making a comeback at age 43 after last playing in the NHL in 2003, received a warm welcome from the crowd when he was shown on the videoboard with a message congratulating him on his return.

Lemieux acknowledged experiencing some pangs of nostalgia while glancing at the championship banners he helped win during his five seasons with the Avalanche.

"I took a good look up there during the national anthem," he said. "Like I told everybody, this is a real special place for me. I've always loved and still spend a lot of time in Colorado, and I love the city.

"My two youngest were born here. It's got a special place in my heart and in my kids' hearts and my family."

Prospects for the Sharks and Avalanche sure have changed since Lemieux and Blake last wore the Colorado uniform.

While the Avalanche merely is trying to remain in contention for a Western Conference playoff position, the Sharks have their eyes on a much grander prize: their first Stanley Cup.

The Sharks, tied with Boston for the NHL's top record, didn't play their best Tuesday but used two goals by Milan Michalek and strong goaltending from Evgeni Nabokov to win for the 35th time in 46 games.

The Avalanche, meanwhile, has lost five of its past six games, with three of the defeats coming on home ice.

"The reason they've got a first- place team is, they've got a goalie who can make big saves," coach Tony Granato said of Nabokov. "There's no question that we had some chances where we could have stayed in the game or made it a more exciting game.

"We missed a couple golden opportunities. When we did have a few others, he made some big saves."

Nabokov finished with 31 saves for his third shutout of the season and 43rd of his career.

"Let's be honest, a couple times I got lucky out there," Nabokov said. "But that's what hockey is about."

It's also about making the most of one's chances, something the Sharks were able to do against Avalanche goalie Andrew Raycroft, who stopped 35 of 37 shots before Patrick Marleau scored into an empty net in the final minute.

"That's what the best teams in the league do: They play well defensively and get timely saves and timely goals," Raycroft said. "After we had some good chances or just kind of missed some - we couldn't get our sticks on it - they shut us down pretty good."

Michalek, who has four goals in two games against the Avalanche this season, drove to the net to score on a power play at 8:15 of the first period after the Sharks caught a break.

They were moving through the neutral zone - and past Avalanche penalty killer Ben Guite, who had to skate to the bench after breaking his stick.

Michalek also scored with a shot from the right circle at 1:31 of the second period, shortly after the Avalanche killed off a double- minor to Cody McLeod for high-sticking Alexei Semenov.

"They played well, but they were beatable and we didn't take advantage of that," Avalanche forward Ian Laperriere said.

The Avalanche went 0-for-3 on power plays after going 4-for-13 with the man advantage in the two previous games.

"We were buzzing around, but we couldn't put it in," Laperriere said. "At the end of the day, they got the two points and we got none."

ETC.: Lemieux logged 9:30 in ice time while playing on the Sharks' fourth line with Jody Shelley and Tomas Plihal. He had two shots on goal and three official hits. "I know that my prime was many years ago, but I'm working to be the best I can be in the role that I'm going to be given at this age," Lemieux said. "To get this opportunity, I couldn't ask for more." . . . Blake played 23:43, had three shots on goal, two blocked shots and an assist.

Comments

  • January 28, 2009

    7:40 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    avs2001 writes:

    it was tjarnquist not guite who made the bonehead move and went to get a stick leaving them 5 on 2

  • January 28, 2009

    9:15 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    ZC14 writes:

    Guite just went to the bench for a line change after letting the Sharks puck carrier blow past him, leaving the Avs 2 on 5 while Guite and Tjarnquist went to the bench. 3 Sharks players were waiting in front of the net alone to put that one in. Brilliant hockey.

  • January 28, 2009

    10:30 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    Mark13 writes:

    That's what you get when you have guys like Guite and Tjarnquist on the ice. Our fearless GM seems to think balancing the books is a priority over building a champion. Giguere is just a yes man for LaCroix anyway and Pierre seems to be in hiding just collecting a salary. Nice to have a lawyer running the team.

  • January 28, 2009

    11:15 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    kilpatrick88 writes:

    Avs fans,

    I've been out of the country for a while and have lost touch with the team. What's going on?

    Are there any young prospects in our minor system to be the next Forsberg or Sakic? Is there hope in the near future for a return to our glory years?

  • January 28, 2009

    1:12 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    GJrodburner writes:

    Kilpatrick98: As of this writing we have decimated our farm club to shore up what we have lost to injury, and pay off some rather dubious moves in FA over the last 3 seasons. What is now down on the farm is going to need this entire season to be seasoned! Injuries cannot be watered down, but given our teams poor talent evaluation of Euro hockey talent, there is no way to make up for the shameful product out on the ice for this season even with that avenue. It will take a major dose of testicular fortitude by Francois to figure out how to make a trade at the deadline in order to find a quality goalie. What the rub will be with that scenario is that what we currently have at the top-club level will have to be used to create leverage to acquire such a goalie. If this team had a tip top tier goalie it would be playing for first rather than last in the NWD. Even with the lackluster play of our defence, and it has been short of abysmal all season, with that top tier goalie this team would have at least 10 more wins than what it has right now. Now mind you, this is just my opinion; I'm open to anyone else out there that has another route for this team to follow, if not to make the play-offs this season, then what should this team do for next season? As of this writing, there is no hope for a return to the glory years until we can find a better goalie and a better GM.

  • January 29, 2009

    1:58 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    Woodrow writes:

    I agree totally, we need a top tier goalie (who doesn't) and the GM has been terrible.

    I also believe we would be in the mix at this point of the season if we had consistent goal tending, even with all the injuries.

    I like our goalies but they are just average and to think you can go into the season with these guys and compete at a high level is just not realistic. That hangs on the GM.