From: nlu@Xenon.Stanford.EDU (Nelson Lu)
Subject: Sharks defeat Kings 7-2
Organization: Computer Science Department, Stanford University.
Date: Sun, 27 Dec 1992 07:51:31 GMT

Saturday, December 26, 7:30 P. M., at the Cow Palace:

Jeff Hackett turned in a performance that is certainly his best of the season,
and maybe the best in his career, as he set a Shark team record (previously
held by himself too) by stopping 57 of 59 Los Angeles shots to help the Sharks
end a franchise-record 13-game losing streak.  Hackett stopped 54 shots in a
losing effort against the Vancouver Canucks on last season's opening night.
Robb Stauber, meanwhile, didn't get much help from the short-handed Kings, who
only were able to dress 17 healthy skaters, but did not have a particularly
strong game either, as he stopped just 33 of 40 San Jose shots to take the
loss.  The Sharks have now out-scored the Kings 19-14 in splitting 4 games
this season.

The Sharks got on the scoreboard just 1:04 into the contest.  Jeff Odgers,
after he shot the puck into the zone, went into the right corner to dig it
free, and sent it right back to Sandis Ozolinsh, whose attempt at one-timing
it was blocked in front, but Ozolinsh recovered the puck, skated into the slot,
and beat Stauber with a wrist shot.  After that goal, the Kings went on a
flurry, as they out-shot the Sharks 22-14 in a wild, end-to-end period, but
were unable to score early, as Hackett made incredible stops left and right.
The Sharks, then, took a 2-0 lead at 7:04 on the power-play.  Ozolinsh, after
getting a pass from Pat Falloon just inside the Shark zone, brought the puck up
and head-manned the pass to Michel Picard, who entered the Kings zone, and
just ripped a slapshot past Stauber.  The lead became 3-0 at 10:18.  Mike
Sullivan, killing a penalty, intercepted a Kings pass in the Sharks zone, and
cleared the puck, and Falloon broke out at this right moment and took the
puck at center ice, and went in on a break-away on Stauber, beating Stauber
between the pads.  The Kings finally broke an >80 minute shut-out string (over
three games) at 16:43, while working on the power-play.  After Hackett stopped
a Paul Coffey point shot, Guy Leveque tried a shot close on the rebound, and
was stopped as well, but then Tony Granato took the puck in front and wristed
it past Hackett for the goal.

The Kings out-shot the Sharks 16-11 in the second period, and it
appeared that they would get back into the game, as they got within 3-2 at
5:53.  After Stauber made a save, Coffey took the rebound, and went on a 2-on-1
with Pat Conacher, and the speedy Conacher, after catching Doug Wilson leaning
the wrong way, then went in alone on Hackett and beat Hackett easily.  However,
that was the closest the Kings would get, as the Sharks scored a 5-on-3 goal at
17:49.  After some passing between Wilson and Rob Gaudreau at the point, Wilson
sent the puck to the right boards to Kelly Kisio, who quickly centered it in
front for Johan Garpenlov to deflect past Stauber to make the lead 4-2.

The Kings (for the first part of the period, at least) wouldn't quit, and
out-shot the Sharks 21-15 for the third period, but came up empty, as the
Sharks scored three more goals to make it a blowout.  Gaudreau scored at 5:47
to extend his franchise-record scoring streak to 11 games, as he, Garpenlov,
and Ozolinsh went on a 3-on-2, and after an exchange between Garpenlov and
Ozolinsh, Garpenlov slipped the pass to Gaudreau, who wristed the shot through
Stauber's legs for the goal.  The lead became 6-2 midway through the period
(sometime after 9:20, when the penalty was called) while the Sharks were on
the power-play.  Off a faceoff won by Kisio, the puck went back to the point
to Wilson, whose blistering shot was deflected in front by Odgers past
Stauber.  Picard struck again on the power-play to end the scoring with less
than a minute left, as he, Falloon, and Mark Pederson went on a 3-on-1, and
Pederson, after entering the zone, dropped the puck to Falloon, who centered
it in front for Picard to shot by Stauber.

Tonight's three stars:

1.	Jeff Hackett
2.	Sandis Ozolinsh
3.	Johan Garpenlov

Tonight's lines:

Johan Garpenlov		Kelly Kisio		Rob Gaudreau
Mike Sullivan		Pat Falloon		Mark Pederson
Michel Picard		Dean Evason		Jeff Odgers
John Carter		Ray Whitney		Lyndon Byers

Tonight's defensive pairings:

		Doug Wilson		Doug Zmolek
		Tom Pederson		Rob Zettler
		Sandis Ozolinsh		Neil Wilkinson

Scratches:	Arturs Irbe (knee), Yvon Corriveau (back), Jayson More (groin),
	Perry Berezan, Larry DePalma, David Bruce, Pat MacLeod.

Notes:

1.	Great game.  (Too bad it had to come against the Kings.)

2.	Coach George Kingston gave the Garpenlov-Kisio-Gaudreau line (and,
	on a lesser extent, the Sullivan-Falloon-Pederson line) an awful lot
	of ice time, while not giving much time to the Picard-Evason-Odgers
	line, and giving the Carter-Whitney-Byers line perhaps 3-4 shifts
	for the entire game.  This is a degree of using the top lines that I
	have yet to see Kingston doing.  Is he up to something?

3.	Talking about the Sullivan-Falloon-Pederson line, Falloon played the
	entire game almost exclusively at center this game, and seemed to
	respond well to it.

4.	Ozolinsh had three points (1 goal and 2 assists), which puts him (with
	23 points) into the lead among the league's rookie defensemen.  Of
	course, with how bad the Sharks have been playing, he probably won't
	get many votes for the Calder, but I think he deserves mentioning.

===============================================================================
"M. C. Hamrlik: Can't Touch This Lightning."
GO LOS ANGELES KINGS!  Luc Robitaille for Hart!
GO SAN JOSE SHARKS!  Sandis Ozolinsh for Calder!  Jeff Hackett for Vezina!
===============================================================================
Nelson Lu (claudius@leland.stanford.edu)
rec.sport.hockey contact for the San Jose Sharks
Newsgroups: rec.sport.hockey