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  Saturday, Nov. 4 10:30pm ET
Smith under observation at hospital
 
  RECAP | BOX SCORE

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) -- After watching teammate Mark Smith knocked unconscious by a scary hit, the San Jose Sharks knew they had to win.

Mark Smith
The Sharks' Mark Smith later was checked hard from his blind side and taken to the hospital for observation Saturday after laying unconscious on the ice.

"I think the guys were kind of rattled," said Mike Ricci, who had a goal and two assists in the Sharks' 4-1 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday night. "We just tried to rally around it and get some breaks."

With the score tied at 1-1 in the second period, Carolina's Bates Battaglia struck Smith from behind. After laying unconscious and bleeding along the boards for several minutes, Smith was taken from the ice by stretcher.

"It's the worst feeling in the world seeing your buddy down," Ricci said.

The Hurricanes, who have lost six of their last eight games, went up 1-0 on a first-period power play when Ron Francis' pass from behind the net was swatted by Sami Kapanen past goalie Evgeni Nabokov.

Scott Thornton rebounded Ricci's shot past Arturs Irbe to tie it with 2:41 left in the period.

Battaglia's hit on Smith came in the second period and occurred behind the play.

"He didn't see it at all," coach Darryl Sutter said. "He was probably out before he hit the ice."

Smith, a 1997 San Jose draft pick who made his NHL debut earlier this season, was down for about 10 minutes as team trainers hovered about him.

According to the Sharks, Smith was knocked out and had a laceration to the head -- but had feeling in his extremities. He was taken to San Jose Medical Center for X-rays and observation.

Battaglia was ejected and given a major penalty for charging.

"It was a clean hit, the question is how late was it?" Hurricanes coach Paul Maurice said. "The guy wasn't in a position to protect himself."

Seconds after play resumed, the Sharks went up 2-1 on Ricci's power-play goal from out in front of the crease. Ricci recorded an assist on Niklas Sundstrom's power-play goal at 9:12.

Sundstrom, who also had assists on the Sharks' other two goals, leads the team with 11 points -- but the goal was his first of the season.

"I think once we realized (Smith) was awake and off the ice," Thornton said, "we wanted to score a couple of goals for him."

Patrick Marleau added his seventh goal in the final period. Marleau has scored in a career-high five straight games.

Nabokov, still subbing for injured goalie Steve Shields, made 19 saves for the Sharks (8-2-1), who extended their unbeaten streak to seven games (6-0-1). Nabokov is 7-1-1, allowing just 15 goals, since Shields was injured.

Former Sharks goalie Irbe stopped 24 shots for the Hurricanes (3-7-3).

Game notes
Shields went down with an ankle injury in the Sharks' second game. ... The Sharks were without defenseman Marcus Ragnarsson, who will miss at least two weeks with a strained ligament in his right knee. He has been replaced on the roster by Greg Andrusak, who has played just 28 NHL games over the past five seasons. ... Hurricanes forward Martin Gelinas needs just one point for 400 for his career. ... The Sharks signed free agent defenseman Bobby Dollas on Saturday. Dollas, 35, had a goal and two assists this season with the Manitoba Moose of the IHL.
 


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