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GAME 1:
After winning their first-ever division title, San Jose got to meet the Phoenix Coyotes in the first round of the playoffs. The Coyotes had not gotten past the first round in their 10 attempts since 1987, when the club was still based in Winnipeg. An the Sharks hoped it would stay that way. Vincent Damphousse put San Jose on the board with a power-play goal just 6:48 into the contest. Then Phoenix player Daniel Briere tied it at 2:53 of the second period. But Patrick Marleau's goal 3:09 later would put the Sharks up for good for a final tally of 2-1. Evgeni Nabokov made 22 stops for San Jose, while Windsor, Ontario's Sean Burke fell tothe Sharks despite making 27 saves.
GAME 2:
Meeting again in San Jose, The Phoenix Coyotes took the game lead when Daymond Langkow poked the puck past Nabokov at 5:31 in the second period. Then the Coyotes struck again at 1:19 of the third with Dan Briere's end-to-end power-play goal. A late effort by Marco Sturm put the Sharks back within one goal, but Shane Doan regained the two-goal cushion just 40 seconds later, giving Phoenix a 3-1 victory of San Jose, with Burke making 27 saves.
GAME 3:
Playing in front of a home game crowd, Shane Doan picked up where he left off in game two with a goal for Phoenix at 1:06 of the first period. But that would be the last goal for the Coyotes, as San Jose put in four goals to take a 2-1 lead in the series. Patrick Marleau tied the game at 3:40 of the second period, followed 1:58 later by Adam Graves. Scott Thornton put the Sharks up 3-1 at 7:20 of the third period, and 23 seconds later Mike Ricci ripped one past Sean Burke to finish off the scoring for the night.
GAME 4:
The Sharks extended their lead in the series 3-1 after they picked up an early lead in game five of their Western Conference Quarterfinals series against Phoenix. Mike Rathje got a power-play goal 12:23 into the game, followed by a goal by Mike Ricci just 2:16 later to put the Coyotes down 2-0. Radoslav Suchy managed just one goal for Phoenix at 9:27 of the second period in their second straight home game loss of the series. The two teams head back to San Jose for game five, where Phoenix will face elimination with only one win in the series.
GAME 5:
After a first half of the game, Patrick Marleau record his third goal of the playoffs mid-way through the second period to give the Sharks the lead that they would keep for the remainder of the game. At 13:24 of the second, Adam Graves scored the series winner to put the Sharks up 2-0. A successful penalty shot by Mike Johnson at 19:45 in the second brought Phoenix back within one goal, but the gap was widened again with Vincent Damphousse's tally just over five minutes into the third. Marco Sturm capped the scoring with a breakaway goal at 15:24 in the final period, and the Sharks were off to meet Colorado in the conference semifinals.
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