San Jose Sharks goaltender MacKenzie Blackwood stopped all 44 New Jersey Devils shots for a shutout at the Prudential Arena in Newark NJ on Sun Nov 10, 2024 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks defeated the New Jersey Devils 1-0 on Sunday. Nico Sturm scored the only goal of the game and Mackenzie Blackwood made 44 saves for the win. Jake Allen made 26 saves for New Jersey.

The Devils made a good push in the third period, keeping the Sharks mostly on their heels. After the game, Nico Sturm said

“They played last night and I thought we took advantage of that, in the first two periods especially. It’s tough to shut down that cycle game, that skill game that they have, for sixty minutes. It’s almost impossible to do. I thought we did a great job for the most part, stayed tight. Obviously Blackie, huge game by him today.”

Sharks Head Coach Ryan Warsofsky also praised his goaltender: “Blackie was outstanding. Probably the best I’ve seen him play. You could tell he was dialed in, focused, tracking pucks really well.”

Nico Sturm put the Sharks on the board at 16:21 of the first period. Sturn sent the puck to the net from a bad angle. It went off of Allen and then off of Timo Meier before slipping past Carl Grundstrom and into the net. Assists went to Grundstrom and Henry Thrun.

The Sharks had a slight lead in shots during the first period, 12-10. The Sharks had the only power play of the period.

Fabian Zetterlund pushed the puck into the net at 12:45 of the second period but it was overturned. The officials said that Zetterlund had pushed the goaltender’s pad into the net with the puck.

The Devils had the advantage in shots for the second period 15-10. The Devils took two penalties and the Sharks took one but all of the penalty kills were perfect again.

In the third period, the Devils pushed hard, out-shooting the Sharks 19-5. The Sharks took the only penalty of the period but managed to kill it.

The Sharks play again on Monday at 4:00 PM PT in Philadelphia against the Flyers.