Thursday, March 20, 2008
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Roenick Stars in Sharks' Win

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[March 20, 2008]  SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) -- Jeremy Roenick scored his 507th career goal and added the decisive shootout score as the San Jose Sharks clinched a playoff berth with their 13th victory in 14 games, 4-3 over the Minnesota Wild on Wednesday night.

Roenick and Curtis Brown each had a goal and an assist, and Evgeni Nabokov made 21 saves in his NHL-leading 42nd victory for San Jose, which has 27 points in its 14 games since Feb. 21 after beating Minnesota for the seventh straight time.

Joe Pavelski put the Sharks ahead with 2:02 left in regulation on an awkwardly angled shot set up by Milan Michalek, who stole a puck behind the Minnesota goal and fed Pavelski for the go-ahead score. But after a penalty and an empty net gave the Wild a 6-on-4 power play, Marian Gaborik slammed home his second man-advantage goal of the night with 28 seconds to play.

Roenick scored the decisive shootout goal in the third round when Niklas Backstrom couldn't hold on to his hard shot. Nabokov stopped Mikko Koivu to end the meeting of division leaders, gleefully kicking the puck after dropping it out of his glove.

Edmonton won a shootout in the Sharks' last home game on Sunday, snapping San Jose's franchise-record 12-game winning streak.

Gaborik also scored a quick power-play goal early in the third period for the Wild, who lost defenseman Kurtis Foster to a potentially serious injury in the opener of a four-game road trip. Stephane Veilleux also scored for Minnesota, and Backstrom stopped 29 shots in the Wild's sixth loss in eight games.

Foster went face-first into the boards after San Jose rookie Torrey Mitchell hit him from behind, and the Minnesota defenseman left the ice on a backboard and a stretcher with a splint around his left leg. He was taken to a hospital with an unspecified leg injury, the Wild said.

Foster, a third-year pro who assisted on the Wild's first goal, was slightly ahead of Mitchell as they chased a puck toward the boards behind the Minnesota net. The 5-foot-11 San Jose center put out his arms just enough to disrupt the precarious balance of the 6-foot-5 Foster, who already appeared to be falling when he slipped and went hard into the boards.

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Foster remained on the ice for 12 minutes, but was moving his head and talking to paramedics when they lifted him off the ice. Mitchell got only a two-minute penalty for tripping, prompting anger from Minnesota coach Jacques Lemaire.

Roenick scored late in the first period when captain Patrick Marleau forced a turnover to set up a 3-on-1 rush. Brown, who had missed the Sharks' past 25 games with a hand injury, later got his second goal of the season by flipping a backhand over Backstrom's glove.

Notes: Sharks D Kyle McLaren got the night off to rest his surgically repaired left knee, and C Marcel Goc was a healthy scratch with Brown in the lineup. ... The game was further delayed with 4:50 left in regulation when Sharks rookie Devin Setoguchi tripped and went awkwardly into the boards. Setoguchi eventually went to the locker room holding his arm. ... Minnesota LW Derek Boogaard pounded Sharks enforcer Jody Shelley in a first-period fight. The bout was just Shelley's fourth in 23 games since arriving in a trade with Columbus on Jan. 29. ... Gaborik had just one goal in his previous 10 games against San Jose. ... Nabokov got just his third night off this season on Tuesday when Brian Boucher backstopped the Sharks' 2-1 win at Los Angeles, but returned to make his 70th start.

[Associated Press; By GREG BEACHAM]

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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