Author: M Walsh

Senators Sink Sharks 6-2 in Ottawa

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Photo credit: @SanJoseSharks

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks gave up six goals for the second time on this road trip. The Ottawa Senators got goals from Ryan Dzingel, Ben Harpur, Mikkel Boedker, Mark Stone, Magnus Paajarvi and Bobby Ryan. Sharks goals came from Joe Thornton and Barclay Goodrow. It is worth noting that Mikkel Boedker earned four points in the game. Ottawa goaltender Craig Anderson made 36 saves for the win and Martin Jones made 21 saves for San Jose.

It was not an ideal first game back in Ottawa for Erik Karlsson (he had nine shots on goal but was still a minus 2), but he was grateful for the tribute before the game. He also talked about how the Sharks are struggling: “At the end of the day it’s up to us in that room to figure that out and find a way to get back to the team that we know we can be. As of right now it’s going to be tough to do that but we’re going to do everything we can to figure that out and we’re going to sort this thing out for tomorrow’s game against Montreal.”

He was asked about the experience of returning to Ottawa for the first time since being traded to San Jose, and whther he was glad to have this game behind him. He said:

I was happy to be able to play this game, yes. It’s not a lie that we’ve all known when it was coming up. There’s been a lot of talk and I’ve been trying to stay focused on the games that we had before that and I think I did a good job at that. I was happy and this was a great experience I had a lot of fun out there even though this was not a great game at all and I’m not happy by any means. But it’s going to be nice to move on now here. I’m excited to be able to play tomorrow in Montreal and hopefully sort this mess out.

Sharks captain Joe Pavelski was with the team when they played their first game against Ottawa after Dany Heatley came to San Jose. After Saturday’s loss, he said: “Yeah, yeah very disappointing. You know, you come back in this situation, I remember when we came back when Heater was with us, you know, and winning that night. It always feels good that you can support a guy in an emotional night. We came out, we had a good first I think, we were right there, it felt like we were on top of them. We just didn’t sustain it.”

After a scoreless first period, the Senators got a power play just a few minutes into the second period. While Marcus Sorensen and Justin Falk were in the box with fighting majors, Evander Kane tripped Bobby Ryan. In the second minute of that power play, Marc-Edouard Vlasic’s stick broke in the Senators’ end, inspiring an odd-man rush for the Senators. Justin Braun and Martin Jones handled that well, with Vlasic doing what he could without a stick.

Once the power play had ended, though, Ottawa took the lead at 7:30. A shot from Thomas Chabot on the blue line got through to Jones, who kicked the puck out. But two Senators were right in front of him and Ryan Dzingel got to the rebound before Brent Burns could. It was Dzingel’s 11th goal of the season, with assists to Chabot and Matt Duchene.

The Sharks got a power play not much later when Cody Ceci hooked Joe Pavelski. That turned into a five-on-three for under a minute when Tom Pyatt tripped Evander Kane. Two seconds after the five-on-three expired, Joe Thornton tied the game off a tic-tac-toe play from Burns to Pavelski by the goal line. Pavelski’s pass went through the crease to Thornton. The play had Anderson moving from post to post and that left Thornton an open net to shoot at. It was Thornton’s fourth of the year with assists to Pavelski and Burns.

Ryan Dzingel almost had another goal at 11:17 when he broke away and took a shot that hit the the crossbar.

The Senators did score the next goal at 12:56. Ben Harpur received a pass from Zack Smith in the neutral zone, then took a shot off the rush for his first NHL goal. Assists went to Smith and Magnus Paajarvi.

Less than a minute later, two former Sharks combined to give the Sens a two-goal lead. Bobby Ryan’s pass found Chris Tierney on the Sharks’ blue line. Tierney sent the puck ahead of Mikkel Boedker, who was flying to the Sharks net. Boedker put the puck under Martin Jones with a last-moment backhand. It was Boedker’s third goal of the season, with assists to Tierney and Ryan.

The third period was more of the same, with Ottawa not letting up at all. A power play goal came at 4:03, off a three-on-one created when Vlasic was tied up briefly in the offensive zone. It was Mark Stone’s goal, with assists to Boedker and Chabot.

Pete DeBoer opted to pull Martin Jones with over five minutes left in the game. That lasted only seconds after the next faceoff, as Magnus Paajarvi’s shot went all the way down the ice and into the empty net.

Barclay Goodrow got one back for the Sharks with two minutes left. Goodrow deflected Brenden Dillon’s hard shot from the blue line for his third of the season. Assists went to Dillon and Joakim Ryan.

Bobby Ryan was able to restore the four-goal lead in the final minute, deflecting Boedker’s shot from above the faceoff circle. Assists went to Boedker (his fourth point of the night) and Cody Ceci.

The Sharks next play on Sunday in Montreal against the Canadiens at 4:00 PM PT.

Sharks Fall to Leafs 5-3, Matthews Scores Two In Return

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Photo credit: @SanJoseSharks

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks were defeated 5-3 by the Toronto Maple Leafs Wednesday at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.

Leafs goals came from John Tavares (2), Patrick Marleau and Auston Matthews (2). It was the first game back from injury for Matthews after a 15-game absence.

Sharks goals came from Tomas Hertl, Joe Pavelski and Melker Karlsson. Leafs goalie Frederik Andersen, made 38 saves for the win, while Sharks goalie Aaron Dell made 24 saves in the loss. Both teams did well on the power play, with Toronto scoring three times in four tries, and the Sharks scoring twice in three power plays. The Sharks dominated on the shot clock 41-29, but the Leafs won in the faceoff circle, winning 60% of them.

After the game, Sharks head coach Peter DeBoer identified special teams as the story of the game:

The story was the three power play goals. I mean they went three for four. So, you’re not going to win on the road giving up two power play goals, never mind three. Our attention to detail on the P.K. is as good as anybody in the league. You know, it wasn’t tonight. You’ve got to give them credit, they’ve got a pretty potent power play and they executed and they stuck it in the net.

Sharks forward Timo Meier was out with an injury Wednesday. Asked how that changed things, DeBoer said: “It changes, you know. But guys gotta get the job done. I thought it’s an opportunity for some other guys to jump in and do the job. I didn’t feel like we could play four lines tonight and that’s unfortunate because you want guys to grab opportunity.”

The first period was fast and furious for both teams. The neutral zone saw a lot of traffic and puck possession was hotly disputed. The first goal came just 3:38 in on a Toronto power play with Kevin Labanc in the box for tripping Mitchell Marner.

The Sharks penalty kill started pretty well, with Tomas Hertl keeping the puck behind the Toronto net so that the Leafs didn’t get set up in the Sharks zone for almost 30 seconds. Once in, however, it only took Toronto about 15 seconds to score. The play started with a point-to-point pass between Morgan Reilly and Mitchell Marner. Marner made a cross-ice pass to Auston Matthews in the faceoff circle, who passed it to John Tavares in front of the net. No one was there to give Tavares any grief and he tapped it in. It was Tavares’ 16th of the season, with assists to Matthews and Marner.

The Sharks responded with their own power play goal at 10:40, after Andreas Johnsson was called for interference on Joonas Donskoi. The Sharks had a couple of good chances before finally scoring. Tomas Hertl had already spent a lot of time fighting his way to the front of the net when Logan Couture found Kevin Labanc near the boards. Labanc moved the puck quickly to Hertl who was able to put it away neatly. It was Hertl’s 6th of the season, with assists went to Couture and Labanc.

Less than 30 seconds later, Toronto took the lead again with another power play goal. The penalty was to Barclay Goodrow for holding Auston Matthews. This time the shot came from Auston Matthews, almost the top of the faceoff circle. The puck had moved from behind the Sharks net to the point and back down to Matthews for the shot. Assists went to Reilly and Marner.

John Tavares scored his second of the game with just 18 seconds left in the period. The Leafs came through the neutral zone at speed three-on-two, making two cross-ice passes before Tavares took the shot. Assists went to Marner and Zach Hyman.

Toronto lost no momentum going into the second period and got a power play just 54 seconds in. It was Kevin Labanc’s second tripping penalty of the game. Patrick Marleau made them pay with a goal at 1:53. Gardiner’s shot from the blue line touched the stick of Tyler Ennis and turned into a pass from Andreas Johnsson away from the net. That pass went to Marleau in the faceoff circle. Marleau had an open net and did not miss. It was his first goal against his former team. Assists went to Ennis and Johnsson.

Moments later, the Sharks were back on the power play, this time a tripping penalty to Travis McDermott against Melker Karlsson. Toronto had a little short-handed time but spent it on a quick shot that Dell stopped. With the faceoff in the defensive zone, the Sharks had to make their way through the neutral zone. That gave them some trouble, once interrupted by an off-side call. Once they did get in the zone, they took their time moving the puck around the outside until finally Joe Pavelski saw an opening from the below the faceoff circle. He took a quick shot and beat Anderson to the short side. Assists went to Brent Burns and Logan Couture.

That was it for goals and penalties for the second period.

The Maple Leafs were back on the power play just 33 seconds into the third, when Justin Braun went for holding Zach Hyman. The Sharks killed that off, their first successful kill of the game. Evander Kane had a good breakaway chance near the midpoint of the period, but two Leafs caught up with him and hauled him down before he could shoot.

At 10:59, Auston Matthews scored again to give the Leafs their three-goal lead back. Aaron Dell had just fought off a deflection on a shot from the blue line. The puck went back to the blue line, where Jake Gardiner caught up to it and sent it back below the goal line for Kasperi Kapanen. Kapanen brought it out the other side of the net and passed it to Johnsson, who took a shot that hit Matthews on the way in, beating Dell over his left shoulder. Assists went to Johnsson and Kapanen.

The Sharks tightened up the score in the final two minutes with a goal from Melker Karlsson at the 18-minute mark. Evander Kane’s pass found Joonas Donskoi just as he crossed into the offensive zone with Melker Karlsson steps behind. Karlsson went to the net and Donskoi’s pass hit his stick just as he arrived. It was Karlsson’s second goal of the season, with assists to Donskoi and Kane.

The Sharks next play on Saturday in Ottawa against the Senators at 10:00 AM PT.

Golden Knights Sink Sharks 6-0; Game Misconducts for DeBoer, Kane

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Photo credit: @SanJoseSharks

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks lost 6-0 to the Vegas Golden Knights at the T-Mobile Arena on Saturday night. This was a stunning reversal following a good homestand that included two 4-0 wins for Sharks goaltender Aaron Dell. Goals came from William Karlsson, Colin Miller, William Carrier and Max Pacioretty (2). Knights goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury made 33 saves for the win, with Dell making 30 saves in the loss. Sharks’ Evander Kane and Barclay Goodrow were both ejected from the game as well as the team’s head coach Peter DeBoer.

On the Kane expulsion, DeBoer said after the game: “Just absolutely no feel. You’ve got a team down five-nothing, already short on the bench with Couture hurt, you’re going to kick a guy out for arguing a call ’cause emotions are high. Have a little feel for the game.” As for his own eviction, he said: “I just asked… I didn’t even swear, I just asked him ‘did that feel good, kicking Evander out under these circumstances.’ I guess that was enough, I guess he wanted another victim.”

Discussing the game in a more general sense, Sharks captain Joe Pavelski said: “It was a tough night. They were obviously… it was one of the better they’re going to play I think and we weren’t ready, you know, by any means. But we would have liked to have been a little bit better. It happens, it’s a good lesson at this time of year I guess. So, I don’t know, it was just a tough night.”

When pressed on the idea of not being ready, Pavelski said:

It felt like we were ready, we were ready to go and it didn’t happen. It snowballed on us and one thing leads to the other. You know, they get a bounce on that first goal and… You know, I’m not saying guys weren’t ready. Just, you’ve got to understand that’s a heavy team over there and they play hard and they’re really good at home. And this has happened to us a couple times now when we’ve come in here.

The Sharks had an abysmal first period. The Golden Knights took control from puck drop, knocking the puck into the Sharks’ zone. Dell went behind the net to retrieve it, but even with his help there the Sharks could not get control of it. Brayden McNabb took a shot from the blue line that first touched Timo Meier, then William Karlsson before bouncing past Dell. That came 14 seconds in. The goal went to Karlsson, with assists to McNabb and Jonathan Marchessault.

Vegas scored again at 4:40. Colin Miller took three shots on his shift, one of which hit Logan Couture and put him in distress. Couture was still down but trying to move the puck when Miller got it away from him and put it past Dell. An assist went to Reilly Smith.

The third and fourth Vegas goals of the first came from Pacioretty. Near the midpoint of the period, with Karlsson in the penalty box for holding, the Sharks’ penalty killers had just cleared the puck and gotten fresh legs on the ice. Smith was moving down from the blue line, looking like he might shoot. Instead he sent it behind Tomas Hertl to a waiting Pacioretty in the slot. Pacioretty sent it in past Dell’s glove. Assists went to Smith and Miller.

Pacioretty’s second goal came right after Dell had poke checked the puck away from Alex Tuch. Pacioretty was there to clean it up and put the puck past Dell while he was trying to get reset.

The second period started less badly because the Sharks only gave up the one goal. The Sharks started with some good pressure, but that fizzled into a hard-to explain breakaway for Carrier, as there were a number of Sharks around him in the neutral zone. None of them moved quickly enough and his shot slipped by Dell. Ryan Reaves got an assist on that one.

The Sharks got into some unusual penalty trouble at 15:41. Evander Kane had been called for high-sticking at 13:06, which penalty the Sharks killed off. Half a minute after they killed it, Kane was called for tripping Tomas Nosek. Kane expressed his disapproval of the call and received an additional unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.

Kane described the hit after the game as: “The guy has the puck, I step in his lane, hip on hip. It’s a five-nothing hockey game.” That seems like a fair description of the hit, but the officials saw it differently. An abuse of officials penalty was added and a game misconduct.

Less than a minute later, Jonathan Marchessault ended the four-minute Vegas power play by slashing Barclay Goodrow. DeBoer shared his opinion about these events with the officials, which got him a game misconduct as well.

Some frustration came out early in the third period when Hertl hit Cody Eakin and Eakin retaliated. They both went to the box for two minutes of four on four time. A little over a minute into that, Justin Braun’s pass from behind the net went off the boards, out of the reach of Marc-Edouard Vlasic. Shea Theodore was right there to take it and pass it to Alex Tuch in the slot. Pacioretty moved between Tuch and Dell for a fleeting screen and Tuch scored his seventh of the season. Theodore got the assist.

More frustration bubbled up before the half way mark as Carrier and Brenden Dillon got into it by the Sharks net. Some cross-checks from Dillon got a response from Carrier and Dillon’s helmet came off. Carrier went to the box for roughing. A couple of minutes later, Goodrow got an unsportsmanlike conduct for going after Carrier. With less than three minutes left, Braun got into it with Carrier and went for roughing. At the same time, Reaves went to the box with a misconduct, apparently for some words from the bench.

The Sharks next play on Tuesday against the Sabres in Buffalo at 4:00 PM PT.

Sharks Blank Canucks 4-0; Dell shuts out Vancouver with 19 saves

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Photo credit: @SanJoseSharks

By Mary Walsh

SAN JOSE — The San Jose Sharks defeated the Vancouver Canucks 4-0 at SAP Center on Friday night. Three power play goals came from Logan Couture, Timo Meier and Erik Karlsson. The only even-strength goal of the game came from Melker Karlsson. Erik Karlsson had two assists along with his goal for three points on the night. Sharks goalie Aaron Dell made 19 saves for the win, while Canucks goalie Anders Nilsson made 20 saves in a losing effort.

After the game, Dell talked about the Sharks’ defensive success: “They were great tonight. Most of the shots they had were long, ones I could see them all the way. I don’t think they had any second opportunities the whole night. That goes to show how solid defensively we were tonight.”

Sharks head coach Peter DeBoer commented on the six-game homestand in general:

We played some tough teams during this home stand and found a way to win some games, and did it different ways too. I thought we tightened things up the last few games defensively. Got some great goaltending from Deller in a couple of the last games. Some special teams tonight, the power play. And the pk’s been solid the entire time. So, a lot of good stuff. It’s never perfect, you always want to be a little better. And heading on the road, I think we’re going to have to be a little bit better to win games.

The Sharks had three power plays in the first period and made good use of them. Logan Couture scored at 10:54 just four seconds into the second of those three. The Sharks won an offensive zone faceoff and got the puck to Erik Karlsson at the blue line. He got it right to Couture across the ice and he took the shot from above the faceoff circle for his eighth goal of the season. Assists went to Karlsson and Kevin Labanc.

Timo Meier scored their second goal, at the tail end of a four-minute power play drawn by Lukas Radil. Joe Thornton took a shot that rebounded off Nilsson’s pads, and scooped the puck back up just above the goal line. He took another shot from a very tough angle. Meier was right at the blue paint to nudge it over the line at 19:50 for his 13th goal of the season. Assists went to Thornton and Brent Burns.

The Sharks outshot the Canucks 12-8 in the first period. During the second period, the penalty scale tipped in Vancouver’s favor, but the Sharks killed all three Canuck power plays. They did lose something in the shot count, with Vancouver again getting eight shots during the period and the Sharks only getting credit for five.

Just over a minute into the third period, Logan Couture took a stick to the eye area and went to the dressing room. None of the officials observed the incident so no penalty was called. San Jose did get a power play at 2:54 when the Canucks were penalized for delay of game. The Sharks were moving the puck well when, halfway through the power play, Joe Thornton made a sneaky no-look pass to Erik Karlsson in the slot. His shot went over Nillson’s pad for Karlsson’s second of the season. Assists went to Thornton and Kevin Labanc.

The Sharks were not done yet. Melker Karlsson scored his first of the season redirecting an Erik Karlsson shot at 9:35. Barclay Goodrow’s faceoff win got to Brenden Dillon, whose pass found Erik Karlsson in the middle of the blue line.

The Sharks next play tomorrow in Las Vegas against the Golden Knights at 7:00 PM PT.

Sharks Shut Out Blues 4-0, Erik Karlsson Scores

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Photo credit: @nbcbayarea

By Mary Walsh

SAN JOSE — In an unusual twist, the San Jose Sharks defeated the St. Louis Blues 4-0, a mirror image of their loss in St. Louis eight days ago. Joe Pavelski scored twice, with additional goals from Erik Karlsson and Evander Kane. It was Karlsson’s first goal as a Shark. Logan Couture had assists on three of those goals. Aaron Dell, who was also in net on the eighth in St. Louis, made 30 saves for the shutout. Blues goaltender Chad Johnson made 25 saves in the loss.

After the game, Sharks captain Joe Pavelski said:

Tonight was kind of classic Shark hockey and that’s good, that’s what we were striving for. No breakaways, that was nice. I don’t know if they had any two on ones, you know there was a couple of breakdowns here and there and Deller was great for us. But we got the offense off of being smart and it comes if you do it right, for the most part. Tonight was a good bounce back game for us.

Sharks head coach Peter DeBoer credited the team’s attention to detail: “I thought our attention to detail was much better. It helped getting the lead and getting a couple goals and playing out in front. I thought Deller made a couple saves at the right time. There were some scrambles there where, you know, if we let one in maybe the game swings a little bit, but I thought overall our attention to detail all over the ice was the best it’s been in probably a week or so.”

The first period was contentious, with the teams exchanging good chances without many whistles. The Blues had a power play very early in the period, a tripping call against Couture 48 seconds in. The Sharks killed that off and had their own power play start in the final seconds of the period. David Perron went to the box for interference at 19:38. The Sharks had the lead in shots 14-9, but overall, the period did not favor either team.

The conclusion of that Sharks’ power play started the second period. San Jose did not score, but the Blues could not clear the puck either. The Sharks did not even get a chance to change units until the penalty expired. Just as it did, Kevin Labanc was tripped, giving the Sharks another power play.

As the final seconds of the second power play wound down, the Sharks gained the zone and a Couture shot rebounded right up the slot for Karlsson. Karlsson picked a corner over Johnson’s shoulder and scored his first goal as a Shark. Assists went to Couture and Kane.

The Blues responded with furious energy in their offense. They got a three on one shortly after the goal, and then spent a long spell in the Sharks zone, thwarting efforts to clear the puck. They did not, however, get many shots on goal. It was the Sharks who scored next.

Pavelski went into the zone 2-on-1 with Timo Meier. He passed it to Meier for the shot, but Johnson stopped that. Pavelski got to the rebound just as he reached the goal line and muscled a shot past Jay Bouwmeester by the post. Assists went to Meier and Couture. It was Pavelski’s 12th goal of the season.

The Sharks did not wait long to stretch out their lead. 1:14 later, a pass off the rush from Karlsson found Kane in the slot as both skaters moved to the net. Kane took the shot for his seventh goal of the season. Assists went to Karlsson and Antti Suomela.

At the break that followed the third goal, the shots for the period were 11-2 San Jose. That count shifted a little as the period went on, with some important saves from Dell. The Blues in their own zone a couple of times, wearing them down so that a stop by Dell was the only option for relief. By the end of the period, the shots were 13-10 for the Sharks, or 7-2 Blues for the second half of the period.

That shot disparity carried on through the third period, with the Sharks only getting credit for two shots in the final frame. The Blues got 11 shots during the third, but the only goal was scored by Pavelski. Couture pushed his way across the blue line with the puck and created a two on one opportunity with Pavelski. Couture’s timely pass found Pavelski inside the faceoff dot with the goaltender still coming across the goal mouth. It was Pavelski’s 13th of the season. Assists went to Couture and Meier.

The Sharks next play Tuesday against the visiting Edmonton Oilers at 7:30 PM PT.

Sharks Douse Flames for 3-1 Win

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Photo credit: @SanJoseSharks

By Mary Walsh

SAN JOSE — The San Jose Sharks started a six-game homestand with a 3-1 win versus the Calgary Flames. Sharks goals came from Evander Kane, Joonas Donskoi and Joe Pavelski, who were on the same line. For San Jose, Martin Jones made 29 saves for the win. For Calgary, Mike Smith made 26 saves and their lone goal came from Sean Monahan. It was Logan Couture’s 600th NHL game.

50 seconds into the game, Joe Pavelski picked up a wandering puck as it made its way out of some confusion along the Calgary blue line. He turned with it and found Kane moving into the zone. Kane took his time and then the shot zipped over Smith’s outstretched glove. Assists went to Pavelski and Donskoi. That was Pavelski’s first assist of the season.

The Sharks outshot the Flames in the first period 12-8. The Sharks had one power play in the first, and it carried over into the second period without generating a goal.

At 1:28 of the second period, the same line of Kane, Donskoi and Pavelski scored again. Kane held the puck behind the Calgary net long enough for Donskoi to get to the front of the net, then made the pass to Donskoi under Mikael Backlund’s stick. It was Donskoi’s fourth goal of the season. Assists went to Kane and Pavelski.

Calgary struck back at 6:02 of the middle frame with a goal from Monahan. Erik Karlsson lost his footing just above the Sharks blue line, giving the puck up to Mark Jankowski, who was headed into the Sharks’ zone with Monahan right behind him. Monahan overtook him and Jankowski passed the puck up to him for an unobstructed shot. The lone assist went to Jankowski.

After that goal, Timo Meier left the ice with what appeared to be a cut on his leg. Kevin Labanc stepped into his spot with Couture and Hertl. Meier was not gone long and only missed the one shift.

The Sharks put a lot of pressure on the Flames late in the period. Marcus Sorensen had a nice breakaway with just under six minutes left in the second, but Mike Smith stopped his shot. The Sharks followed up with a two on one moments later, but couldn’t convert. With 2:45 left in the period, Evander Kane carried the puck in with Donskoi on a two on one. Kane passed and Donskoi shot, but Smith got across for a great save.

At the end of the second, the Sharks again led in shots, this time 11-8 for the period.

Just over three minutes into the third period, the teams played four-on-four after Sean Monahan was called for tripping Meier and Meier was called for embellishment. Neither team scored but the Sharks did put some pressure on the Flames, who were outshooting them 4-0 in the opening minutes of the period.

The Sharks got credit for their first shot of the period at 6:38. The shot came during a delayed penalty on Calgary, which sent Mark Giordano to the box for hooking. The Flames killed that penalty off just as they had the two previous Sharks power plays.

At 8:22 of the third, Martin Jones had to preserve the Sharks’ lead against a penalty shot awarded to Sam Bennet. Bennet was awarded the shot after Brenden Dillon was called for holding during Bennet’s breakaway chance.

As the clock ticked past the 15-minute mark of the third, the Flames were outshooting the Sharks 12-4. Logan Couture went to the locker room in the second half of the period with an injury.

With under a minute left, Pavelski scored into an empty net, securing the win despite the lack of effective Sharks’ offense in the third period. Hertl got an assist on the goal.

The Sharks next play on Tuesday against the visiting Nashville Predators at 7:30 PM PT.

Blues Shut Out Sharks 4-0

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Photo credit: @StLouisBlues

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks fell 4-0 to the St. Louis Blues at the Scottrade Center on Friday–their second loss in a row, both to Central Division teams. Goals came from Alex Pietrangelo, Ryan O’Reilly, Jaden Schwartz and Alexander Steen. Chad Johnson made 33 saves for the shutout. Sharks goaltender Aaron Dell made 27 saves on 31 shots for the Sharks.

Each team had four power plays, but all of the goals were at even strength. It was the sixth win of the season for St. Louis and the sixth loss for the Sharks.

After the game, Sharks head coach Peter DeBoer said: “I think yesterday we were reckless but we had energy. Today we were reckless without energy.”

Sharks captain Joe Pavelksi said: “We’re a better team than we showed the last two games. Just the simple breakdowns, kind of getting out of the system, we kind of see what happens. It can cost you.”

Asked about the Sharks’ defensive game, Pavelski said: “I’m fine with our foundation, you know, I’m really satisfied with that. It’s about us executing it a little bit better. And we need to be a little bit more committed to it.”

Asked if the breakdowns might be attributed to having new faces on the team this season, Sharks forward Logan Couture said: “We’re 17 games in. It’s almost a quarter of the season. You can use that excuse for one or two or maybe even three, you can’t use it for 17. So, we’ve got to figure it out.”

After the game in Dallas on Thursday, coach DeBoer made some line changes. Marcus Sorensen was with Joe Pavelski and Joe Thornton, while Evander Kane was on a line with Antti Suomela and Joonas Donskoi. Barclay Goodrow was on a line with Rourke Chartier and Melker Karlsson. With Tomas Hertl still out with concussion symptoms, Kevin Labanc was on the top line with Logan Couture and Timo Meier. On defense, Tim Heed stepped into Joakim Ryan’s spot with Brent Burns. Aaron Dell was in net, which was to be expected in the second game of back to backs.

The Blues scored at 14:50 of the first period. The teams were playing four on four, with Joe Pavelski and Vince Dunn in the box for mutual slashing penalties. Ironically, no one was in the box for Alex Pietrangelo’s stick to Barclay Goodrow’s face, which sent the Sharks forward to the room for repairs.

Just over 30 seconds into the penalties, Pietrangelo caught a pass from Vladimir Tarasenko right in the slot. He had time to pick a spot and shoot over Dell’s shoulder. Assists went to Tarasenko and Ryan O’Reilly.

The Sharks ended the first period in the middle of a power play. That power play wound down without a goal to start the second period. The Blues extended their lead with a goal at 5:28 from Ryan O’Reilly. The Sharks had been outshooting the Blues 5-0 on the period, including some short-handed chances, but play went the other way and Tarasenko got the puck out from behind the Sharks net to Jaden Schwartz. Schwartz sent the puck across the slot to O’Reilly, who caught Dell moving across.

Almost ten minutes later, the Blues scored again. This time, the goal followed a prolonged assault from St. Louis. The Sharks were forced to ice the puck and the Blues took advantage of tired defenders. Jaden Schwartz went to the net an awaited a pass from Tyler Bozak to his right. the short pass set him up for a nice shot over a moving goalie. Assists went to Bozak and Alexander Steen.

The Blues ended the second period on a power play and started the third finishing it off. The Sharks got their third power play of the game at 8:11 of the third. The power play was not very strong and the Sharks gave up a short-handed breakaway to Bozak in the final seconds. Dell was able to prevent another goal.

At 12:21, Steen scored a fourth for the Blues while Sharks got tangled up with a flurry of Blues skaters in the slot. Steen skated around and through the traffic and put his shot over Dell’s pads. Assists went to Bozak and Colton Parayko.

Brent Burns took a tripping penalty moments later, putting the Sharks on the penalty kill. The Blues did not take chances with their power play and killed time, holding the zone. Dell made a good glove save on Parayko, but didn’t have to make many saves for that penalty kill.

The Sharks next play on Sunday back in San Jose against the Calgary Flames at 6:00 PM PT. That game will kick off a six-game homestand for Team Teal.

Sharks Sink Flyers in Overtime 4-3

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Photo credit: @SanJoseSharks

By Mary Walsh

SAN JOSE, Calif. — The San Jose Sharks defeated the Philadelphia Flyers 4-3 in overtime Saturday. In the process, Timo Meier scored two goals, breaking Patrick Marlowe’s team record by scoring 11 goals in the first 14 games of the season. Goalie Martin Jones played his 200th game with the Sharks, the third goaltender to do so. He made 23 saves for the win. Joe Pavelski and Joe Thornton also scored for the Sharks. For the Flyers, Nolan Patrick, Jordan Weal and Jakub Voracek scored, while their goalie Calvin Pickard stopped 31 shots.

For the first time in 10 games, the Sharks gave up the first goal just 37 seconds in. Philadelphia’s Nolan Patrick carried the puck through the neutral zone, passed it to Oskar Lindblom on his left, who passed it back across behind Patrick to Travis Konecny on the right wing. Konecny found Patrick at the edge of the blue paint, and Patrick pulled the puck across in front of Jones, putting it under Jones as Jones moved left. Assists went to Konecny and Lindblom.

Meier tied the game at 3:15. Vlasic sent the puck in around the boards, where Hertl caught it behind the net. He carried it back over the goal line and made a pass almost behind him. Meier met the puck right in front of the blue paint and took the shot before Pickard could get across. Assists went to Hertl and Vlasic.

The Flyers took the lead again at 16:40 of the period with a goal from Jordan Weal. Wayne Simmonds brought the puck out from behind the net and centered it for Weal. Weal turned and took the shot quickly, with Dale Weise screening the goalie.

The Sharks started the second period with eleven seconds of penalty yet to kill. They had a second penalty to kill at 2:47. Midway through the kill, Brenden Dillon started an impressive short-handed attack with Couture and Burns. They created some good chances but did not score during the Flyers power play.

The Sharks tied the game at 10:35 of the second, on the power play. Kevin Labanc made a pass that looked enough like a shot for the goalie to commit to stopping it. Pavelski, below the faceoff circle across the ice from Labanc, caught the pass and took the shot too quickly for Pickard to get across. Assists went to Labanc and Burns.

A few minutes later, Hertl took a hit from Christian Folin and looked shaken up. Folin and Hertl appeared to have bumped helmets. There was was no call on the play and Hertl did not return to the game. Melker Karlsson took Hertl’s spot with Meier and Couture.

Jakub Voracek gave the Flyers another lead with just 30 seconds left in the second. Brent Burns had just taken a penalty and the Flyers were playing with delayed penalty time. Lindblom sent the puck up from below the goal line to Voracek high in the slot. Voracek took a quick shot and beat Jones glove side. Assists went to Lindblom and Ivan Provorov.

The Sharks had a power play early in the third period. The Sharks showed some urgency but the Flyers penalty killers were very aggressive and made it hard for the Sharks to come through the neutral zone or do much in the offensive zone. The Sharks made amends for that power play a few minutes later with an impressive shift in the Flyers’ zone. They kept the Flyers scrambling for what seemed like minutes. They got credit for two shots in that spell.

It ended with a too many men on the ice call as the Sharks slipped up trying to change. The Sharks made another short-handed attempt right at the start of that penalty kill, keeping the Flyers busy in their own zone for nearly a minute. They finished the kill off in a more traditional manner.

Thornton tied the game again with a strong shot from above the faceoff cirle, his first goal since January. An assist went to Labanc, who had carried the puck across the blue line and into the slot. His path blocked, he made the pass across to Thornton for the shot. The second assist went to Dillon.

At the end of regulation, the Sharks led in shots 34-25, though the big difference there came in the first period. In the second and third, the Flyers had just one less shot than the Sharks.

Meier ended the game just 13 seconds into overtime. Logan Couture bulled his way by Voracek to bring the puck into the offensive zone where he found Meier skating down the slot. Meier took the pass and the shot without hesitation.

Sharks head coach Peter DeBoer made some line adjustments prior to Saturday’s game. The successful trio of Couture, Meier and Hertl was reunited. Antti Suomela sat out while Rourke Chartier came in on the third line with Labanc and Joonas Donskoi. On defense, Erik Karlsson started with Dillon while Vlasic was paired with his partner of many seasons, Justin Braun.

The Sharks next play on Tuesday at 7:30 PM PT, hosting the Minnesota Wild.

Sharks Lose to Blue Jackets 4-1

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Photo credit: @SanJoseSharks

By Mary Walsh

SAN JOSE, Calif. — The San Jose Sharks fell to the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets Thursday by a score of 4-1. Despite outshooting Columbus 45-27, beating them soundly in the faceoff circle and taking the early lead with a goal from Kevin Labanc, San Jose could not beat the Blue Jackets’ defense or goalie again. Columbus goals came from Anthony Duclair, Seth Jones, Nick Foligno and Josh Anderson. Columbus goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 44 shots for the win. Sharks goaltender Aaron Dell made 23 saves for San Jose. The special teams were all penalty killers: the Sharks’ power play had three tries and did not score, and the Blue Jackets also failed to score with their power play.

After the game, Sharks captain Joe Pavelski said:

You look up at the end of the night and we have those shots. Didn’t probably feel like a 45 shot night. You know… the energy level was just a little bit off for us. But throughout that game we were right there at times, we just never found that spark we needed.

Logan Couture was asked about the ice, as the puck was bouncing a lot. He did not consider that a valid explanation: “Can’t blame the ice. Both teams play on it. It’s simple: we just didn’t play well enough. There’s no excuse of the ice being bad. We weren’t very good.”

When asked to elaborate, Couture said: “We weren’t good. We didn’t pass well, we didn’t play hard enough. We didn’t spend enough time in their end, we didn’t forecheck, we turned pucks over. I mean, you go down the list, we did a lot of things wrong tonight and we got what we deserved.”

The first period was balanced in scoring and shots. The Sharks spent a spell in the Columbus zone before finally scoring first at 11:50 of the first period. Couture was in front of the net, trying to get a shot off but the puck slipped away from him. Labanc was right on the spot to catch it and take the shot. Assists went to Couture and Marc-Edouard Vlasic. It was Labanc’s second goal of the season.

The Blue Jackets tied it up at 16:30 with a goal from Anthony Duclair. The goal came after a lot of pressure from the Blue Jackets all around the Sharks’ zone. Ryan Murray sent the puck down from the blue line to bounce off the back boards where Duclair picked it up and took it behind the net for a wraparound. Assists went to Murray and Alexander Wennberg.

Columbus scored twice in the second period, the first at 9:15. Duclair, near the goal line, moved the puck out in front of the net where it went off the skate of Seth Jones as Jones was stopping in front of the blue paint. Assists went to Duclair and Lukas Sedlak.

Foligno gave the Blue Jackets a two goal lead at 18:40 of the period. Erik Karlsson’s pass to Vlasic along the blue line missed and went off the boards to Markus Nutivaara. He made a quick pass up to a fast-moving Foligno in the neutral zone. Foligno skated in and beat Aaron Dell on the left side.

The only goal of the third period came with just 1:01 left in the game, a short-handed, empty-net goal from Josh Anderson.

The Sharks ended the game with a 5-on-3 power play, but it only lasted 22 seconds before they ran out of time.

The Sharks will host the Philadelphia Flyers for their next game on Saturday at 7:30 PM PT.

Sharks Fall to Hurricanes in Shootout 4-3

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Photo credit: @SanJoseSharks

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks were defeated 4-3 in a shootout by the Hurricanes in Raleigh, North Carolina. Carolina goals came from Dougie Hamilton, Brock McGinn and Teuvo Teravainen, with the shootout winner also scored by McGinn. Petr Mrazek made 20 saves on 23 shots for the win. Sharks goals came from Timo Meier, Antti Suomela and Tomas Hertl. Aaron Dell made 38 saves on 41 shots for San Jose. The Hurricanes outshot the Sharks and beat them in the faceoff circle 61%-39%.

After the game, Sharks captain Joe Pavelski talked about the overtime point the team earned:

We win in a shootout there, you know we feel a little better about ourselves but we still understand that they took over the second half of the game. If we had the first, they took over the second. These points are big though.

Sharks head coach Peter DeBoer said:

What a tale of two games! I walked out at the end of the first period, I thought we could have been up four-nothing. And then we never won another race or a battle the rest of the night, or shift. So I guess the lesson in that is the NHL still plays 60 minute games not 20 minute games and our goalie got us a point for playing 20 minutes.

By the end of the first period, the Sharks had a 2-0 lead thanks to goals from Antti Suomela and Timo Meier. Suomela’s goal, his first in the NHL, followed some pretty skating around two Carolina defenders. He took the shot while hopping over some skates for a nice flourish. Assists went to Evander Kane and Brent Burns.

Meier’s goal came on the power play at 8:16. Burns’ shot rebounded off the goalie’s pads and Meier was right in position to clean it up. The goal extended a six game point streak for Meier and was his sixth of the season. Assists went to Burns and Erik Karlsson.

Carolina started the second period very well, with a goal just 1:16 in from Hamilton. The Hurricanes had been in the Sharks’ zone for some time, moving the puck well and refusing to be pushed out. Micheal Ferland pulled the puck away from the boards and skated to the slot, then passed it to Hamilton who was ready just above the circle. His hard shot beat Dell over the shoulder. Ferland got the assist.

At 4:28, Lucas Wallmark went to the box for slashing Logan Couture, putting the Sharks on their second power play of the game. Burns kept the puck in as Carolina tried to clear it, and got it to Kevin Labanc along the boards. Labanc got it to Couture across the ice, who passed it quickly to Hertl, right in front of the blue paint. He to knocked it in before Mrazek could get across to stop him. Assists went to Couture and Labanc.

The Sharks successfully killed a slashing penalty to Karlsson, followed by a brief chance for Karlsson and Marcus Sorensen. The Hurricanes intercepted the pass and went the other way for a shot that Dell stopped. The Hurricanes then took up residence in the offensive zone and the Sharks could not get things going the other way.

Dell had just returned to the net after passing the puck to Karlsson up the boards. Karlsson sent it back around to Dillon on the other side of the net but it went off Dillon’s stick to the front of the net. In the scramble that ensued, Dell went down and Brock McGinn put the puck over him into the net.

Carolina completed the comeback at 15:14 when Kane’s pass went awry, right to Sebastian Aho, who gave it to Teravainen. Teravainen took a shot from the top of the faceoff circle and it went right by Dell, who had some traffic in front of him. Aho got the one assist, extending his point streak to ten games.

In the process of outscoring the Sharks 3-1 during the second period, the Hurricanes outshot the Sharks 16-5.

Hertl was missing at the start the third period, triggering some line adjustments.

After the game,  DeBoer said of Hertl’s absence: “He’s been dealing with something here most of the year. He’s been playing through it and he just re-aggravated it.”

Couture took the first faceoff between Kane and Joonas Donskoi. Pavelski then took a faceoff between Meier and Labanc. Each line generated a chance right away but the score remained tied. Suomela centered Sorensen and Karlsson.

At 7:13, Couture lost an edge and went into the back of the net. He consulted with the trainer and returned to the ice. Dell was busy early in the period, facing a couple of breakaways and some other good chances for Carolina. By the middle of the period, the Sharks were being outshot 6-1. The Sharks managed a flurry of offense near the midpoint, registering a couple of shots and wearing down the Hurricanes defense. Carolina pushed right back after the next line change, keeping the Sharks on their heels.

With 5:29 left, the Sharks had been trapped on defense for too long when they were called for icing. The Sharks got a partial change after Couture cleared the puck, but still needed some good saves from Dell to keep the game tied. They still had just three shots in the period. Their fourth and fifth came in the last two minutes of the period.

DeBoer put Karlsson, Pavelski and Meier out to start overtime against Jordan Staal, Warren Foegele and Brett Pesce–all of whom started for Carolina.

With 44 seconds left in overtime, Dell went down after Foegele caught him in the neck with his stick while trying to cut across the crease. After having the goalie checked out, play resumed with no penalty.

The Sharks got credit for two shots during overtime. It was their goalie who held them in it, making four important saves.

Justin Williams shot first for Carolina: a wrist shot right into Dell’s pads. Couture shot next: a very similar shot trying for the five hole.

McGinn shot second for Carolina: a hard shot through Dell, just inside his arm. Pavelski shot second for San Jose, trying a quick shot from in close, but he hit the post.

Aho tried the same thing, shooting third for Carolina. He also hit the post. Donskoi shot third for San Jose, trying his signature backhand from in close, but he missed the net.

The Sharks next play on Sunday in Anaheim against the Ducks at 5:00 PM PT.