Sharks 2-1 Victory Propels Them To Semifinal Series Win

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San Jose, CA (Sports Network) - San Jose is heading back to the Western Conference finals for the first time in six years after Patrick Marleau scored the game-winning goal seven minutes into the third period, giving the Sharks a 2-1 victory over the Detroit Red Wings in Game 5 of their conference semifinal series at the Shark Tank.

Joe Thornton added a goal and an assist for San Jose, which won the first three games of this best-of-seven series before being blown out, 7-1, on Thursday. The top-seeded Sharks bounced back on Saturday, taking down the two- time defending Western Conference champions to advance to the conference finals for the first time since 2004, where they lost to Calgary.

Evgeni Nabokov made 33 saves for San Jose, which will next face either Vancouver or Chicago in the next round. The Blackhawks lead 3-1 in that series, with Game 5 set for Sunday.

“When a team’s beat you before, it’s nice to come back and beat them,” Marleau said. “Especially a team that has had as much playoff success as Detroit and the experience that they have and all the great players that they have.”

Brian Rafalski scored the lone goal for the fifth-seeded Red Wings, who were trying to reach the conference finals for a fourth straight year. The odds were against Detroit, as only two teams in NHL history have come back to win a series when trailing three games to none.

“Obviously, we played a lot of hockey here in the last three, four weeks,” Rafalski said. “A lot of traveling. If we could have won one of those earlier games, it would have made a difference in this series. It came down to third periods and overtimes, and we needed to find a way to pull it out, and we just couldn’t do it in this series.”

Jimmy Howard, a Calder Trophy nominee, turned aside 30-of-32 shots in defeat.

With the score tied at 1-1, Joe Pavelski had a breakaway at the 3:12 mark of the third. Red Wings defenseman Niklas Kronwall hooked Pavelski from behind on the play. Pavelski was awarded a penalty shot, but his shot sailed high over the net.

Marleau brought the crowd to its feet at 6:59. Detroit turned the puck over behind its own net. Thornton collected the disc and slid a perfect pass to the right circle for Marleau, who ripped a shot past Howard for the lead.

The Red Wings continued to trail late and pulled Howard for the extra attacker. Detroit’s chances of tying the game became better when Dan Boyle was sent to the penalty box for holding with 53 seconds remaining.

Nabokov, who made 14 saves in the final frame, held strong in net to give San Jose the victory.

The goaltenders dominated a scoreless first period. Howard stopped 15 shots in the frame, while Nabokov made six saves.

The Red Wings got on the board 2:40 into the middle stanza. Rafalski’s slapper from the right point beat traffic in front and got past Nabokov.

San Jose, though, responded at the 4:54 mark with a power-play goal. After winning a faceoff in the Detroit zone, Jason Demers blasted a shot from the point that Howard turned aside with his right pad. Thornton gathered the rebound in front and jammed the disc into the back of the net to tie things up.

San Jose is 5-1 as the host in this year’s playoffs and went 27-6-8 at the Shark Tank during the regular season...Detroit went 3-4 on the road in the postseason and struggled to a 19-14-8 record as the guest prior to the start of the playoffs...Before the start of this series, Detroit and San Jose had met three times previously in the postseason with the Red Wings winning the last two series. The two clubs last met in the 2007 conference semifinals, with Detroit advancing in six games...Red Wings forward Patrick Eaves (sore right elbow) missed the game...Sharks defenseman Niclas Wallin had nearly 10 minutes of ice time Saturday after being out with a lower-body injury since Game 1 of the first round.