SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Vesa Toskala couldn't help staring in awe when the Detroit Red Wings took the ice.
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| Vesa Toskala makes 25 saves for his first shutout.(AP) |
Toskala made 25 saves for his first career shutout as the San Jose Sharks interrupted the Red Wings' late-season surge with a 3-0 victory Thursday night.
Patrick Marleau, Mark Smith and rookie Lynn Loyns scored as San Jose won for just the fourth time in 14 games. The Red Wings, still jockeying for home-ice advantage throughout the playoffs, lost for just the third time in 22 games since Feb. 8 -- and Toskala's inspired performance was the biggest reason.
"I was much more nervous than ever before," Toskala said. "(Detroit) has future Hall of Famers on their fourth lines. ... They're such good passers. It was a big game for me. I didn't watch the clock, and I stayed focused. I only started to watch the clock after we scored that third goal."
Toskala, who apparently has passed Miikka Kiprusoff as Evgeni Nabokov's backup of the future, earned just his fourth career NHL victory. The Finnish goalie spent most of the season at the Sharks' AHL affiliate in Cleveland.
The high point came when Toskala closed his pads to stop a short-handed breakaway chance by Sergei Fedorov. Toskala's teammates mobbed him at the final buzzer.
"I couldn't call my parents -- they're asleep still," he said with a grin. "I'll wait until tomorrow morning."
The Sharks lost their first three games against the Red Wings this season, but they avoided the sweep with a solid defensive effort -- and what's more, they did it with seven rookies or minor-leaguers among their 18 skaters.
"The win was a massive pickup for this team," said rookie forward Jonathan Cheechoo, who played an outstanding forechecking game. "We just beat a great team. It gives us something to build on. Everyone knows how good they are. They're a puck-control team, and we broke that up."
Curtis Joseph stopped 14 shots for the Red Wings, who had earned a point in 19 of 21 games, winning 18 of them to streak to the top of the Western Conference.
But with five games left in its regular season, Detroit missed a chance to take the lead in its race with Dallas for the conference's best record. Both teams had 102 points entering the night, but the Stars earned a point in an overtime loss to Calgary. Detroit has a game in hand on Dallas.
It was the Red Wings' fourth game in six nights, but their veterans didn't consider road weariness to be a legitimate excuse.
"We played terrible -- just floated through it, trying to get an easy game," captain Steve Yzerman said. "We were sluggish a bit early, and it went on from there. Regardless of the team you're playing or the situation they're in, if you don't play hard, even a talented team won't win."
Marleau got his career-best 27th goal midway through the first period when he skated through a huge hole in the Red Wings' defense and beat Joseph.
San Jose went up 2-0 when Smith tipped Adam Graves' pass into the net at the end of a long cycle. Loyns scored his third career NHL goal into an empty net.
The Red Wings killed a two-man disadvantage that lasted 1:48 early in the first period, holding the Sharks to just one shot. But San Jose -- the NHL's worst penalty-killing team -- killed Detroit's four-minute power play later in the period, setting the tone for a hard-hitting effort against the Red Wings.
"They had a young lineup that was excited about the game, and I don't think early on, we matched their battle," Brendan Shanahan said. "Their goaltender started to get more confidence as the game went on, and we got what we deserved."
As usual, thousands of jersey-wearing Red Wings fans turned the Shark Tank into Joe Louis Arena West, with chants of "Let's go, Red Wings!" piping up throughout the game.
"It was an outstanding effort," San Jose coach Ron Wilson said. "We were energized by them and the crowd. I think this was as close as we're going to get to a playoff atmosphere this season."
Notes
- Just like most stadiums, the Shark Tank displays studio photographs of San Jose's starters on the overhead scoreboard when they're introduced -- but none of the Sharks' six starters were with the team at the start of the season when the pictures were taken.
- Detroit made its first trip to San Jose since the season opener. The Wings won 6-3 in coach Dave Lewis' debut.
- Teemu Selanne hasn't scored a goal in 15 games -- the longest drought of the San Jose star's career.
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