Sharks' Thornton finally makes presence felt

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CALGARY -- It was all there for the taking -- a 2-1 win, a 3-1 series lead, a chance to bury their foes under a mound of doubt, and dirt.And then the Calgary Flames went to pieces.They gave up a fluke goal to the San Jose Sharks' previously unheard from Jonathan Cheechoo. That came at 15:06 of third period Tuesday night. Then the Flames gave up the clincher, the arrow in the heart.With less than 10 seconds to go in the third period of a 2-2 score, the Flames couldn't clear the puck out of their own end with a bazooka. A scramble ensued, the puck was directed to the point and Joe Thornton, another previously unheard from Shark, was credited the winner.It was a most fortunate time for Big Joe to make his presence felt. Not only did his goal even this Western Conference quarterfinal at 2-2, it brought Thornton back into a battle he was clearly losing.In the one-on-one superstar versus superstar affair, Calgary's Jarome Iginla had been vastly out-performing the Sharks' top scorer. And by vastly we're not stretching a point.You could see it starting in Games 1-3 and it was evident early Tuesday night at a then joyous Pengrowth Saddledome. On one play, Iginla and Thornton lined up for a face-off in the San Jose zone to the left of goaltender Evgeni Nabokov. In one quick motion, Iginla won the draw to teammate Dion Phaneuf, whose point shot appeared to hit someone on the way to the net and beat Nabokov.For Iginla, it was his second point on the night. His first came in the first period on another willful effort. On one shift, Iginla batted down a clearing attempt to keep the puck in at the San Jose blue line, made a pass to Alex Tanguay, tried to take a return pass from Tanguay, instead picked up the rebound from Daymond Langkow's shot on goal and wristed the puck past Nabokov.As a kicker, Iginla fired his shot while dropping to one knee. Like he meant to do that; likely he did."He has another level and great players do," Flames' coach Mike Keenan said of Iginla even before his Game 4 showing. "He has (that level) through intensity and fitness and he's a competitive individual. He thrives on those situations. He wants to be the absolute best player in the league."Iginla has been near his best for most of this series, In Game 1, he muscled past San Jose defenseman Brian Campbell, fell down, got up then blasted a slap shot that led to Stephane Yelle's game-winning goal.It was the sort of gusto showing the Flames have come to expect from their leader, and the sort of thing Iginla is now known for throughout the NHL.As for Thornton, he had two assists in Game 3 but his team lost a heartbreaker by blowing a 3-0 lead. Losing that way didn't sit well with the Sharks. Even their resident heavyweight Jody Shelley vowed to "re-write" a new story in Game 4, and that's what they did.They hung tough, they hung together and Cheechoo and Thornton delivered in dramatic fashion.That shouldn't come as too great a shock since most hockey observers called this to be a tight series with enough ebb and flow to make things interesting.Now the question is: how do the Flames bounce back? Iginla will lead them but it's going to take others contributing. As he said earlier in the day, "As a group, all the way around, we've gotten big plays from different guys. That's part of a team."But Keenan's post-game assessment was about getting more -- more shots, more effort."We didn't go to the net often enough," said Keenan, "and we didn't shoot enough (just 10 for the game)."The Flames are facing a team that believes it can win with Thornton leading the way. At long last, he has checked into the playoffs and both sides know it."Joe struggled mightily," said Sharks' coach Ron Wilson. "He hung in there and found a way ... That was Joe's best shift of the game because he wanted it."On this night he wanted it because his team needed it, and that helped take everything away from the Flames. All we can say is hold on; things are about to get rockier still.(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)