Defenseman Hannan makes most of minutes By Victor Chi- San Jose Mercury News Denver- Defenseman Scott Hannan is starting to add points along with his monster minutes. Hannan had four points--all assists--in 19 playoff games entering this season. He has four points (one goal, three assists) in eight games this year. Hannan earned the primary assist on Vincent Damphousse's goal Monday in the Sharks 1-0 victory over Colorado. ' I was coming in off a change, "Hannan said. ' The puck was up there, and I tried to get it anywhere on net. Actually, it deflected off one of their guys and then the endboards. It came right back out, and Vinnie was right there." Hannan logged 26:04 of ice time in Game 3, the most of any skater. Hannan's offensive contributions have been part of the club's emphasis to get more production from the defensemen. All six of the Sharks' regular defenseman have recorded at least one point in the playoffs. Hannan and Brad Stuart are tied for the lead with four points each. After playing the opener of the Sharks-Colorado playoff series, center Alyn McCauley has sat out two in a row. McCauley was again out of the Sharks' lineup Monday. He hurt his shoulder in Game 1 of the first round against St. Louis and missed the rest of that series. Colorado continued to go without left wing Paul Kariya, who injured his ankle in the last regular- season game. Right wing Teemu Selanne, a healthy scratch in Game 2 for the first time in his playoff career, was back in the lineup, but defenseman Rob Blake suffered an upper-body injury in the first period and did not return. Damphousse moved into a tie for fourth place on the Sharks' all-time playoff goals list with 11. Ulf Dahlen and Sergei Makarov also have 11. Patrick Marleau (18), Owen Nolan (15) and Mike Ricci (13) are ahead of them. Evgeni Nabokov has three of the Sharks' four playoff shutouts. All four have been 1-0 games. Nabokov's previous two were against St. Louis: Game 2 of the 2001 first round and Game 1 of the first round this year in which Niko Dimitrakos scored in overtime. In the first round in 1998, Mike Vernon beat Dallas in overtime on Andrei Zyuzin's goal. The only teams in NHL playoff history to come back from a 3-0 series deficit were the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs ( over Detroit) and the 1975 New York Islanders ( over Pittsburgh). Dimitrakos gets another entry in the Sharks' playoff record book, albeit belatedly. Dimitrakos was awarded a secondary assist on Jonathan Cheechoo's power-play goal in Game 2 on Saturday. That gives the rookie right wing three assists for the game, tying the club record for most in a playoff game. Dimitrakos tied the mark for the first time in Game 1. Posted on Tue, Apr. 27, 2004 |