Sharks down Flyers, ruin Boucher's first start

by Bob Herpen
The Phanatic Magazine

Manny Malhotra's pair of second period goals just over two minutes apart staked the
San Jose Sharks to a 4-1 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday at Wachovia Center.

Dany Heatley and Jed Ortmeyer also scored for the Sharks, who have won four of their last five games and finished a six-game road trip at 4-2-0. Thomas Greiss was strong in net, making 37 stops for his second victory of the season.

Darroll Powe provided the only offense for the Flyers, who had won two in a row, both at home, prior to the contest.

Brian Boucher, getting his first start of his third stint with Philadelphia, looked shaky at times in the setback, allowing all four goals on just 24 shots.

With the game tied 1-1 early in the second period, Malhotra put the Sharks ahead to stay on one of the flukiest goals of the year.

A rolling puck at the side of the net found the winger just behind the goal line to the right of Boucher, and Malhotra's intended centering pass deflected off a defenseman's skate, then ran up Boucher's stick and trickled between his pads for a 2-1 game at 7:51.

Just after the midway point of regulation, San Jose had an overload of forwards on the right wing, and Malhotra was able to take a back pass from Patrick Marleau and send a wrister home from the bottom of the circle.

"They were simple plays, simple hockey," Malhotra said. "The first, we just got to the net and we were fortunate to get that bounce. On the second, we were just trying to get them to make bad decisions and just get the puck on the net."

Boucher's night didn't get any easier as he allowed a short-side score from Ortmeyer to slip beyond his grasp with less than four minutes left in regulation.

"It would have been nice to win," said Boucher, who hadn't got the nod in goal here since the end of the 2001-02 season. "It didn't work out that way. It was a starting point."

San Jose jumped on top thanks to a mental mistake by a young Flyers defenseman a little more than five minutes into the contest. Danny Syvret was trying to clear a loose puck out of his defensive zone but wound up backhanding it 10 rows deep for a delay-of-game penalty.

Heatley cashed in at 6:20 as he was somehow able to dislodge the puck from the right post, despite the fact that Boucher appeared to have all space sealed off with his pads against the iron. Joe Thornton made the initial shot, a weak one at that, which rested against the pipe before Heatley's second-chance poke pushed the disc through.

The Flyers responded to tie at 9:44, when Mika Pyorala earned his first NHL point with a slick pass into the slot for Powe, who one-timed a shot past Greiss, who was slow to react to the play.

Notes: Danny Briere participated in his 600^th career game...Boucher's last start for Philly in the regular season was a 3-1 loss to the Islanders on April 14, 2002, while his last start in Philadelphia with the Flyers was a 4-2 loss to Boston on April 2, 2002...San Jose extended its unbeaten streak to 10 games over Philadelphia, dating back to December 21, 2000.