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 Left winger Mike Santorelli scored early in the third period to give
the Ducks a 1-0 victory over the San Jose Sharks on Friday night in
front of 15,701 at the Honda Center.
"We did it by being aggressive," Anaheim center Shawn Horcoff said
about the win. "When we're skating like that, that's when we're at
our best. In order to do that, we need all four lines going.
Tonight, we had that."
San Jose center Joe Thornton saw how the Ducks' intensity affected
his team.
"We were hesitant a little bit, and we shouldn't be," Thornton said.
"We have good players who make good plays. We just didn't execute as
well in the third period as we did in the first two periods."
Goalie John Gibson made 23 saves for his second shutout in three
games as the Ducks (10-12-5) gave the Sharks (14-11-0) their third
loss in four games.
Anaheim center Nate Thompson praised Gibson's ability to remain calm
under pressure.
"I had the honor of watching him in the world junior championships
and you could see it then," Thompson said. "He was only 19 at the
time and he didn't have a heartbeat, in a good way. You can see it
in the way he plays. He was huge tonight."
Santorelli scored his fourth goal of the season 2:49 into the final
period. Thompson secured the puck behind the net and passed to
Santorelli, who dragged a wrist shot from the right circle inside
the right post.
"That's the type of play that was going to get the win," Sharks
center Joe Pavelski said. "Tonight, they found a way to get it."
San Jose took only two shots on goal in the third period, with 18
minutes, 28 seconds elapsing between them.
"It seemed we weren't clean enough," Pavelski said. "When we had a
chance to break out, either the puck hopped or we misread the play.
They had good pressure."
The Ducks thus ended San Jose center Patrick Marleau's goal-scoring
streak at four games.
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"That might have been our best third period in the last few years,
as far as shutting teams down," Anaheim coach Bruce Boudreau said.
"We kept attacking. That's a great hockey team with speed and a lot
of goal scorers, and to shut them down was pretty impressive for
me."
Santorelli and Thompson almost combined for the game's first goal on
a 2-on-1 breakaway with three minutes left in the first period. But
Sharks goalie Martin Jones used his chest to block Thompson's
short-range wrist shot.
Ducks defenseman Sami Vatanen also had a chance to give Anaheim an
early lead four minutes into the game. But Vatanen's wrist shot from
the top of the slot hit the upper-right corner of the goal frame and
slid across the crease.
Jones finished the game with 24 saves
NOTES: San Jose scratched C Chris Tierney, RW Ben Smith and D Dylan
Demelo. The Sharks recalled Demelo and LW Michael Haley from their
AHL team in San Jose on Friday, one day after sending D Mirco
Mueller to the AHL. ... Sharks C Patrick Marleau played in his 485th
consecutive game. Marleau also began the game tied with Hall of
Famer Mike Gartner for 17th all-time in game-winning goals. ... San
Jose D Marc-Edouard Vlasic needs two points for 200 in his career.
... Anaheim scratched D Korbinian Holzer, LW Patrick Maroon and G
Frederik Andersen, who missed his sixth consecutive game because of
the flu. ... Ducks D Cam Fowler moved past Hall of Famer Scott
Niedermayer and into fourth place in career games by an Anaheim
defensemen with 372.
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