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Sunday, Apr. 9 8:00pm ET
Sharks' loss nothing next to next challenge | |||||
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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) -- The San Jose Sharks ended their regular season with a loss, and now head to St. Louis to begin the playoffs against a team they have not beaten all year. A 5-2 defeat Sunday night by the Vancouver Canucks left the Sharks in eighth place in the Western Conference, meaning they will face the top-seeded Blues in the first round of the playoffs. If the Sharks had won or tied, they would have jumped past Edmonton into seventh place in the conference and faced Dallas in the first round of the playoffs. San Jose was 4-2-0 against Dallas this season, and 0-4-1 against St. Louis. Brent Sopel had a goal and two assists as Vancouver ended the season 30-37-15, in ninth place in the conference with 83 points -- four behind the Sharks. Todd Bertuzzi, Brad May, Trent Klatt and Andrew Cassels also scored for the Canucks, and Garth Snow made 20 saves. Vincent Damphousse and Marco Sturm scored for the Sharks, who with a win would have finished at .500 for the first time in the franchise's nine seasons. San Jose entered the contest with a three-game winning streak. Owen Nolan, who missed the previous four games for San Jose with upper body soreness, was held without a point in his return. He finished tied for sixth in NHL scoring with 84 points, and was second in the league with 44 goals. Sopel opened the scoring 7:42 into the game on a shot on which starting Sharks goalie Steve Shields was screened. Bertuzzi made it 2-0 just 45 seconds later after taking a cross-ice pass from Cassels, and May scored on a backhander with 1:39 remaining in the first period. The Sharks, with Evgeni Nabokov taking over as goalie at the start of the second period, pulled within 3-1 on Damphousse's goal early in the second period as both teams skated a man short. But Klatt made it 4-1 in the third period when he knocked the rebound of his own shot past Nabokov. Sturm scored with 1:02 left, but Cassels added a goal into an empty net with 32 seconds remaining. | ALSO SEE NHL Scoreboard Vancouver Clubhouse San Jose Clubhouse RECAPS Buffalo 1 Washington 1
Vancouver 5
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