Clowe: Sharks had more energy in Game 3

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Sharks power forward Ryane Clowe broke through Friday night for his first goal of the Western Conference Finals, scoring on a power-play rebound at 8:22 of the first period to give the Sharks a 2-0 lead against Vancouver.

Clowe was one of six Sharks to post at least one point in their 4-3 win at HP Pavilion. He also had a pair of hits and blocked a shot in 17:30 of high-energy ice time.

After the Sharks' crucial win, which cut Vancouver's series lead to 2-1, Clowe pointed to an increased sense of urgency for San Jose's improved play in Game 3:

Q: You obviously knew where you were in the series. How much of that performance was determination not to put yourself in that hole that nobody wants to go into?

A: You don't want to be down 3-0. A little bit of a must-win. We definitely played like that. We played with urgency. We're still behind the eight-ball. Our backs are against the wall again, so hopefully we come out with that urgency again next game. They still lead the series. So we've got to regroup here. Good effort. It shows what we do when we play. We've got to take the positives, that's for sure.

Q: Was the improved play the result of home-ice advantage, or did you guys change a lot of things?

A: I don't know if it was home ice. Obviously the crowd gives you a bit of a lift, but the way we played was just a lot of energy. We skated very well. We were getting some 2-on-1s, a couple breakaways. We didn't get too many odd-man rushes the last couple games, so I think it was us putting pucks in places where we can get them back and executing. Obviously the power play was sharp early, which is good. It was more just us playing our game and more than anything the jump we had. The energy was a little different than the last couple of games.

Q: You had a little bit of a scare at the end.

A: Yeah. I mean, they had a five-minute power play there. We did a pretty good job. It was just a tough break on that goal when it went off (Ian White's) skate. Besides that we did a pretty good job there in that five minutes I thought. We scored that goal on the power play, (Dan Boyle) scored on the 5-on-3, so it turned out to be a big goal. I liked our poise. I don't think we were too nervous at the end. I'd like to see how many shots we blocked. It seems like we blocked a lot of shots. That was good.

Q: How do you account for having so much more pace and more legs in this game?

A: Obviously the urgency was there. If you're ahead in the series or tied or whatever, I'd like to see us have that all the time at this time of year. We're still behind in the series. They still hold the lead. We have to have that urgency, that desperation. We had that tonight. If we had the puck, they weren't getting it from us – that mentality. That drew a lot of penalties, and the power play was good.