-----------------------------
Ottawa 1 0 1--2
San Jose 0 0 1--1
-----------------------------
FIRST PERIOD -- Scoring: 1, Ottawa, Alfredsson 22 (Mceachern, Yashin),
16:58. Penalties: Roy, Ott (fighting major), 5:15; Nolan, S.J. (fighting
major), 5:15; Rachunek, Ott (high sticking), 5:46; Bonk, Ott (hooking),
8:16; Mceachern, Ott (roughing), 11:24; G Suter, S.J. (interference),
17:20.
SECOND PERIOD -- Scoring: None. Penalties: Ragnarsson, S.J. (elbowing),
4:39; Redden, Ott (fighting major), 12:17; B Marchment, S.J. (fighting
major), 12:17; Roy, Ott (roughing), 14:09; Roy, Ott (slashing), 17:13.
THIRD PERIOD -- Scoring: 2, Ottawa, Yashin 34 (unassisted), 0:20. 3, San
Jose, P Marleau 24 (Matteau), 19:46. Penalties: Bonk, Ott (cross
checking), 4:51; Redden, Ott (tripping), 9:17; Hnidy, Ott (roughing),
15:52; Thornton, S.J. (roughing), 15:52.
Shots on goal:
---------------------------------
Ottawa 7 4 6--17
San Jose 14 9 10--33
---------------------------------
Power-play Conversions: Ott - 0 of 2, San - 0 of 7. Goalies: Ottawa,
Hurme (33 shots, 32 saves; record: 11-4-4). San Jose, Nabokov (17, 15;
record: 29-19-6). A:17,496. Referees: Jackson, Warren. Linesmen: Mach,
Sartison.
INDIVIDUAL PLAYER STATISTICS
Ottawa San Jose
G A +/- Shots G A +/- Shots
Alfredsson 1 0 +2 2 B Marchment 0 0 even 0
Arvedson 0 0 even 1 B Stuart 0 0 even 4
Bonk 0 0 even 0 G Suter 0 0 +1 5
Dackell 0 0 even 2 Hannan 0 0 even 1
Fisher 0 0 even 2 Harvey 0 0 even 1
Havlat 0 0 even 1 Korolyuk 0 0 +1 0
Hnidy 0 0 -1 0 Lindsay 0 0 even 0
Hossa 0 0 -1 2 M Sturm 0 0 even 3
Leschyshyn 0 0 even 0 Matteau 0 1 even 0
Mceachern 0 1 +1 1 Nolan 0 0 even 4
Phillips 0 0 even 1 P Marleau 1 0 +1 3
Rachunek 0 0 +2 0 Ragnarsson 0 0 -2 3
Redden 0 0 +1 1 Rathje 0 0 -1 0
Roy 0 0 even 0 Ricci 0 0 -2 4
Sillinger 0 0 even 0 Selanne 0 0 even 1
Yashin 1 1 +1 3 Smith 0 0 even 0
York 0 0 even 1 Sundstrom 0 0 -1 1
Zamuner 0 0 even 0 Thornton 0 0 -1 3
Salo Foot Injury Norton Healthy
Lacroix Healthy Granato Healthy
Rivers Healthy Heins Healthy
Persson Healthy
Game Story
SAN JOSE, California (Ticker) -- Rookie Jani Hurme made the most
of a rare start and Daniel Alfredsson and Alexei Yashin scored
as the Ottawa Senators regained a share of the Eastern
Conference lead with a 2-1 win over the San Jose Sharks.
Starting for the first time since February 22, Hurme turned away
32 shots and improved to 11-4-4. The 26-year-old Finn made 14
saves in the first period and nine in the second. He was headed
toward his third shutout when Patrick Marleau flipped a wrist
shot by his glove side with 14 seconds remaining.
Hurme was tested almost immediately as he made a sprawling save
on Owen Nolan's wrist shot from the bottom of the right faceoff
circle 72 seconds into the contest. He also turned away Marco
Sturm's one-timer with 13:24 left in the first.
"I was very excited to play tonight because I think I played
something like a month ago in my last game and there was a big
crowd here tonght," Hurme said. "It was kind of like a playoff
game. The first period was very busy because I hadn't played a
lot and my legs were feeling a little shaky. But after that the
guys played better and better in front of me, so it makes my job
a little bit easier."
Despite getting outshot, 14-7, in the opening period, the
Senators grabbed a 1-0 lead when Alfredsson took a pass from
Shawn McEachern and put the puck by rookie Evgeni Nabokov's
glove side with 3:02 left.
"The biggest part of our game tonight was the penalty killing
and the goaltending," said Alfredsson. "We had a lot of
penatlies called against us. A lot of which weren't fair, but we
battled through a lot of adversity."
It was Alfredsson's second goal in as many games and 22nd of the
season.
After a scoreless second period, Yashin doubled Ottawa's
advantage 20 seconds into the third. He intercepted a pass in
the neutral zone, skated into the slot and took a wrist shot
that nicked Nabokov's glove before going in for his team-leading
34th goal.
The Senators improved to 2-1-0-0 on a four-game road trip and
pulled even with New Jersey atop the East.
"We're in the race with the Devils," said Ottawa coach Jacques
Martin. "It's important for us to win our games. We don't
play them anymore this year so how we do against other teams
determines who's going to be first in our conference."
San Jose was 0-for-7 on the power play and fell to 1-9-1-2 in
its last 13 games. The Sharks remained seventh in the West, two
points behind Edmonton and four in front of Los Angeles and
Phoenix.
"We've got to start winning," Nolan said. "In close games we've
got to find a way to win. We can't look for excuses. We can't
say we had good periods and one bad shift killed us. We've got
to play strong all the way. If we're going to play that way in
the playoffs ... it carries over and you've got to start now.
You can't just turn it on."
"We got a strong goaltending performance and our penalty killers
did an outstanding job," Martin added. "It was hard for San
Jose to generate an attack."
The Sharks had several chances in the third period in the final
five minutes. With 4:30 remaining, Hurme hugged the left
goalpost and denied a wraparound attempt by Mike Ricci. San
Jose controlled the rebound and six seconds later, Hurme closed
the pads to deny a one-timer by Niklas Sundstrom.
Hurme's most acrobatic save came with 3:29 to go when he was on
the ice and reached up to knock away Marleau's shot from below
the right circle.
The Sharks sent Nabokov to the bench for an extra attacker with
one minute left.