Author: M Walsh

Merry Little Shutout: Sharks Beat Kings 2-0, Jones Picks Up 100th NHL Win

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Photo credit: @PR_NHL

By Mary Walsh

SAN JOSE — The San Jose Sharks shutout the Los Angeles Kings 2-0 at SAP Center Saturday night. It was Martin Jones’ 100th NHL win and the first time the Sharks shutout the Kings in San Jose in over a decade. Sharks goals were scored by Marcus Sorensen and Joe Pavelski. Jones made 28 saves for the win, while Jonathan Quick made 31 saves in a losing effort for the Kings. Pavelski’s power play goal extended the Sharks’ power play success to an eight-game streak.

After the game, Sharks assistant coach Rob Zettler said:

I thought that was one of our best games of the year so far, against a division team, obviously and able to gain two points on those guys. Defensively we’ve been good all year, we’ve been starting to put the puck in the back of the net the last few games, last couple of weeks so it’s a good feeling.

Over those last couple of weeks, the Sharks have had to lean on their top lines for scoring. With Logan Couture injured, the team needs even more from the bottom six than before. That was the difference Saturday, said Zettler:

Tonight specifically I thought we got some quality minutes from our fourth line: Ward, Boedker, Sorensen, obviously scored the goal. I thought that was a major difference, being able to put those guys out in key times, key moments, and keep our big guys’ minutes down a little bit.

The game started with a strange sequence of penalties. First, Justin Braun was called for tripping Marian Gaborik, and it was a questionable call at best. 42 seconds into the Kings power play, Oscar Fantenberg was called for delay of game by concealing the puck. Depending on your bias, he either fell or threw himself down to the ice, momentarily concealing the puck. The puck was visible and moving almost immediately, so if it was an attempt to freeze the puck it was not a successful one.

Apart from penalties, it was a very rough-and-tumble game. Brenden Dillon and Timo Meier stood out, but it was a skirmish-laden event for almost everyone on the ice.

“It was fun to be on the bench, the physical part was fun. You know, Timo and Dillon and Burnsie’s hit against good players, really fun to be a part of,” said Zettler after the game. “You could feel the energy, not only in the building but you could feel it on the bench.”

The second period started with more penalties. First, Jonny Brodzinski hit Timo Meier, who responded by holding on and being dragged away from the boards. Brodzinski then threw Meier to the ice and got four minutes for roughing. Meier got two minutes for holding. During the ensuing four-on-four, the Kings were called for too many men on the ice, giving the Sharks about a minute of four-on-three action. With three penalty killers and then with four, the Kings killed off all of that.

One second past the midpoint of the game, Sorensen put the Sharks on the board. Key to his goal was that Quick was too far out of his net as the Sharks entered the zone. Sorensen changed direction abruptly right in front of Quick and was able to put the puck in with a backhand. Assists went to Mikkel Boedker and Dylan DeMelo.

The second goal came in the third period, on the Sharks’ fifth power play of the night. Tomas Hertl was in moving in front of the net, with Pavelski a little ways up in the slot. Burns took the shot from the blue line and Pavelski redirected it in. Burns took that shot right off a faceoff win by Pavelski, just six seconds into the power play.

The Sharks return to action Thursday when they host the Calgary Flames at 7:30 PM PT.

Sharks Fall to Canucks 4-3 in Overtime; Gagner gamer puts Vancouver over the top

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Canucks center Sam Gagner (89) scores the winning goal in overtime during the NHL game between the San Jose Sharks and the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, Canada. Dom Gagne/CSM (Cal Sport Media via AP Images)

by M. Walsh

The San Jose Sharks lost in 4-3 overtime to the Vancouver Canucks on Friday. Two Vancouver goals came from Markus Granlund, one from Brock Boeser, and the game winner from Sam Gagner. For the Sharks, Brent Burns scored twice and rookie Marcus Sorensen scored once. Jacob Markstrom made 34 saves on 37 shots for the Canucks, while Martin Jones made 36 saves on 40 shots for San Jose.

The Sharks were coming off a win the night before against Calgary, but they were facing a hungry opponent. Vancouver snapped a four game losing skid with the win, a skid capped off by a 7-1 loss to Nashville on Wednesday.

“This sets up all the things for them to have an A game and they did. They were outstanding early and Jonesy gave us a chance to hang around and we found a way to get an important point on a night we probably didn’t deserve one,” said Sharks head coach Pete DeBoer.

At 4:34 of overtime, Sam Gagner scored on a breakaway to win the game with a quick backhand over Martin Jones’ right shoulder. It was a tough loss after a valiant effort from the goalie to keep his team in the game. The Canucks outshot the Sharks 40-37, with 22 in the first period alone. DeBoer was asked if the three goals that Jones allowed were cause for concern. He said:

You can’t play any better than he played tonight. We didn’t give him a lot of help tonight. In defense of our guys, an emotional win last night in Calgary, the we fly in here on a back to back against a team that’s ready to go. So sometimes that’s what it looks like.

Logan Couture left the game early following a hit from Alexander Burmistrov in the third period. Burmistrov’s shoulder appeared to make contact with Couture’s face. The hit came about five minutes into the period. Couture has had an outstanding season this year, leading the team in scoring with 15 goals and 10 assists through 30 games. After finally getting most of the team healthy again, losing Couture for an extended period would be a big setback for a team that is just getting its game back. There was no update on Couture’s status after the game.

The first goal came on a Vancouver power play just 44 seconds into the game. The zig-zagging play started with Henrik Sedin on the blue line, went to a touch pass by Daniel Sedin and ended as little more than a tap-in for Granlund. Half way into the period, Brent Burns tied the game, again on a power play. His shot went through so many players that it seemed unlikely that it had not touched any of them, but it did not. Assists went to Logan Couture and Joe Pavelski.

The second Vancouver goal came just after a power play expired, while the Sharks penalty killers were trapped and perhaps out of gas in their own zone. A shot came from Daniel Sedin above the faceoff circle. Henrik caught it just above the blue paint and found Granlund. Gralund put the puck between Justin Braun and Marc-Edouard Vlasic and past Jones.

The Canucks scored again at 11:46 of the second period, again on the power play. The Sharks started the penalty kill well with a clear just three seconds in. After retrieving the puck, the Canucks came back fast, with Brock Boeser carrying the puck through the neutral zone and weaving past two Sharks defenders to give himself a short breakaway. That shot did not go in but 12 seconds later Boeser caught a pass in the faceoff circle and with a clear shot at the net he did not miss. Assists went to Daniel and Henrik Sedin.

With under two minutes left in the second, Braun, Jannik Hansen and Sorensen outnumbered the Canucks in a quick rush created when Sorensen intercepted a pass from Troy Stecher. Sorensen scored on a rebound from Braun’s shot after their odd man rush cused a little chaos by the Vancouver net. Assists went to Braun and Hansen.

The tying goal came almost right off of a faceoff in the Canucks zone. Joel Ward won the faceoff back to Burns, whose shot was at least partially screened by Melker Karlsson and Tomas Hertl fighting for position in front of the net. Like his first goal, it made its way through a lot of traffic but did not hit another Shark. The only assist went to Ward.

The overtime point puts the Sharks in third place in the Pacific Division standings with 38 points. The Calgary Flames and the Anaheim Ducks both have 35 points, which is good for fourth and fifth place in the Pacific. Both wild card spots are held by Central Division teams with 37 points.

The Sharks next play on Monday at 6:00 pm PT in Edmonton against the Oilers.

Sharks Come Back to Pick Up Point, Lose to Wild in OT 4-3

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Minnesota Wild’s Nino Niederreiter, left, celebrates his game-winning goal with teammate Eric Staal during overtime of an NHL hockey game against the San Jose Sharks Sunday, Dec. 10, 2017, in San Jose, Calif. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

by M. Walsh

SAN JOSE — The San Jose Sharks fell in overtime to the Minnesota Wild 4-3 at SAP Center on Sunday night. The point was hard won as the Sharks had to come back from a three goal deficit. Eric Staal scored twice for Minnesota, Ryan Murphy added another goal and Nino Niederreiter notched the overtime winner. Brent Burns and Tomas Hertl scored two goals for the Sharks. San Jose goaltender Martin Jones made 20 saves on 24 shots, while Minnesota goaltender Alex Stalock made 31 saves for the win.

After the game, Sharks head coach Pete DeBoer said:

It was a gutsy effort by us. It was our sixth game I think in ten nights, including traveling back from the East last week. Back to back, against a team that was rested and waiting for us. I knew we would probably start slow, we didn’t expect to be down three but I thought it was a gutsy effort to get some points tonight.

Three times in the past four days, the Sharks fell behind by three goals and came back to tie the game. In Sunday’s game, there was no back and forth in the score. It was all Wild, then all Sharks.  DeBoer was asked why the Sharks tend to score in bunches after falling behind by two or more goals:

We have a resilient group, a confident group. In all those situations, we’ve shortened the bench and we have our top players are top players. And when they get that extra ice time and the ability to play without worrying about the score, thy have the ability to create some offense and put a lot of pressure on the other team. Unfortunately though you can’t ride those guys 25 minutes a night. So we’ve got to stop putting ourselves in those holes and for me, get a little but more out of the depth of the lineup.

The Sharks gave up two goals early in the first period. The first was a power play goal from Ryan Murphy at 4:19 with assists to Jason Zucker and Eric Staal. Murphy scored after a beautiful two pass sequence starting at the blue line, then going to the goal line and back up to the far side of the net. The execution was perfect, but the Sharks probably should have gotten in the way of one of those passes.

The second goal came at 10:27 from Eric Staal with assists to Ryan Suter and Mikael Granlund. A key factor was a bump to Brent Burns near the blue paint from Staal. He pushed Burns into Jones and the two Sharks both went down. Staal retrieved the puck and took the shot before Jones could get back in position.

The third Minnesota goal was a wraparound from Staal. Staal jammed the puck between Jones’ skate and the post. The NHL reviewed the play and confirmed it. DeBoer followed up with a challenge for goaltender interference, but it was rejected. Assists went to  Murphy and Granlund.

The Sharks got a surprising opportunity during a penalty kill with less than three minutes left in the second period as Dylan DeMelo was in the box when Eric Staal and Ryan Murphy went to the box at the same time. Murphy’s penalty was delayed and Staal’s holding penalty came during the delay. With just six or seven seconds left in the five-on-three portion of the power play, Burns took a shot from the faceoff circle and scored. Assists went to Joe Thornton and Tomas Hertl.

Two minutes into the third period, Gustav Olofsson went to the box for tripping. Forty seconds into the penalty, Burns took a shot from the center of the blue line and beat Al Stalock over the left shoulder. The lone assist went to Joe Pavelski.

The Sharks tied the game after a series of three astonishing attacks on the Minnesota net. Tim Heed took a shot that Stalock stopped, but he dropped the puck and it was in play again–with the Sharks swarming. Finally, Hertl’s shot found its mark. Assists went to Kevin Labanc and Dylan DeMelo.

At the end of regulation, the shot count was 33-22 Sharks, with the third period count 14-7 in favor of the Sharks.

Overtime started with some energy from the Sharks, but in the second minute it fell into a lull with the Wild, circling the Sharks in the Sharks’ zone. After what seemed an interminable period, the Sharks finally broke out, but they had barely been able to change when Niederrieter broke in and took a shot for the win.

The Sharks next play on Thursday in Calgary against the Flames at 6:00 pm PT.

Sharks Score Five Again, Shut Out Slumping Sens 5-0

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Photo credit: San Jose Sharks

by M. Walsh

SAN JOSE — The San Jose Sharks handed the Ottawa Senators a resounding defeat to the tune of 5-0 at SAP Center on Saturday night. The win followed up a surprising 5-4 overtime win over the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday night, when the Sharks led a furious comeback after trailing by three goals. Saturday’s goals came from Logan Couture, Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Melker Karlsson, Joe Pavelski and Tomas Hertl. Couture, Pavelski, Brent Burns and Kevin Labanc all had multi-point games and back-up goaltender Aaron Dell made 25 saves for the Sharks’ shutout win. At the other end of the ice, Craig Anderson made 45 saves on 50 shots in a losing effort for the Senators.

Sharks head coach Pete DeBoer said that San Jose’s goal was to start fast against Ottawa, avoiding the slow start that marked their previous game: “I liked our game. Compared to the game against Carolina, I thought we were really sharp and really carried over the way we played in the third period against them into tonight.”

The Sharks checked a lot of boxes in Saturday’s game, killing four of four penalties and scoring on two of seven power plays. Tim Heed returned after dealing with an upper body injury, and Paul Martin is scheduled to start a conditioning stint with the Barracuda. So much rosy news begs the question of whether the Sharks have reached a turning point in the season.

DeBoer would not say that it is a turning point, but he did say that the goals are important for more than the score: “It was nice to score some goals, nice to get some power play goals. Guys have been working awful hard, we generate a lot of chances and we haven’t finished enough this year. So it was nice to have a night like that. Whether we can do that again tomorrow night I don’t know. But confidence is a big part of scoring and there was a lot of guys feeling good about themselves tonight.”

Logan Couture opened the scoring near the midpoint of the first period. The Sharks had outshot the Sens 10-0 at the 12-minute mark. Dell had just fought off the Senators’ first couple of shots in a flurry of activity on the edge of his crease. After Hertl won a defensive zone faceoff, the Sharks went the other way fast, with Labanc making a lovely pass so Couture could beat Anderson as he moved across. Assists went to Labanc and Justin Braun.

At the end of the first period, the shot count was 16-6 San Jose.

Early in the second period, the Sharks had just come off of a power play when Vlasic blasted a shot past Anderson. Tim Heed caught a pass from Kevin Labanc from behind the net, and sent the puck across the ice to the waiting Vlasic.

The Senators were keeping pace at least in shots past the midpoint of the period, but the Sharks did not let up. Joe Thornton passed the puck backward behind the net to a trailing Pavelski, who quickly sent it back up above the goal line for Melker Karlsson to pop into the net.

The Sharks’ power play came to life in the third period with two goals, one early and one late. The first third period power play resulted from a fight between Marcus Sorensen and Ryan Dzingel, when Dzingel was given an extra minor for roughing. Pavelski tipped a quick Couture shot from high in the slot. A second assist went to Brent Burns.

The Senators appeared to have scored at 5:12, in a power play that followed soon after the Sharks’ fourth goal. Braun was in the box for slashing. Matt Duchene took a shot from the face off dot and Bobby Ryan pushed it in. The official waved it off and did not even stop play. On later review, the NHL concluded that the puck had not crossed the line before Vlasic swept the puck back out.

The final power play of the game came when Alex Burrows used the butt end of his stick to bloody Dylan DeMelo’s face. Burrows was ejected with a fighting major and a roughing minor. DeMelo received roughing minor as he went to the dressing room to be patched up. Tomas Hertl scored after catching a bouncing puck off of Erik Karlsson’s hand. Assists went to Brent Burns and Logan Couture.

The Sharks next play on Sunday at 6:00 pm PT against the Minnesota Wild.

Sharks Lose to Lightning 5-2 in Tampa Bay

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San Jose Sharks center Joe Thornton (19) is knocked down by Tampa Bay Lightning left wing Ondrej Palat (18) during the third period of an NHL hockey game Saturday, Dec. 2, 2017, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O’Meara)

by M. Walsh

The San Jose Sharks dropped the third game of this road trip to the Tampa Bay Lightning by a score of 5-2. Two Lightning goals were scored by Tyler Johnson, two more by Nikita Kucherov and another by Cory Conacher. Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy made 25 stops in the game. Sharks’ goals were scored by Barclay Goodrow, who had just returned from injury, and Justin Braun. Martin Jones stopped 38 shots for the Sharks.

The loss was a modest improvement over their previous loss to Tampa Bay, a 5-1 loss in San Jose on November 8, but it ended a four-game winning streak for San Jose in Tampa Bay. The Lightning continue to dominate in the NHL standings, maintaining a slim lead over the Winnipeg Jets. Entering Saturday’s game, they had a record of 17-6-2. On the other hand, half of those losses came in their last four games.

Sharks head coach Pete DeBoer saw few bright spots in his team’s game. DeBoer said: “The good news was that our goalie was outstanding, he was by far our best player. He gave a us a chance going into the third to get some points tonight. But we didn’t have enough contributions. We would have needed 20 guys tonight plus Jonesy’s effort. They’re a desperate team and rested, and we didn’t help ourselves.”

Beyond that, DeBoer seemed willing to put the loss behind him and move on. DeBoer said: “We’re not going to be down here in a back-to-back with half our team out again so we don’t have to worry about that.”

Sharks forward Logan Couture expressed disappointment with the loss. Couture said: “They out played us again. You know, you can say we’re on a back-to-back and all, I know that but still got to show up and put forth a better effort than we did tonight.”

Later, Couture acknowledged that the team really is in a tough spot with injuries. Couture said: “You know, we’ve been playing good hockey. This is back-to-back, we got a bunch of guys go down within a few game period. It’s tough. You miss three forwards who usually play in your top nine, so other guys gotta step up and gotta find a way to be competitive.”

The Sharks’ injury list changed overnight between Florida games. Goodrow returned from injured reserve and Jones was ready to start. Joonas Donskoi and Tim Heed were placed on injured reserve, while Marcus Sorensen was called up from the AHL’s Barracuda. Sorensen did not play Saturday, but will be available Monday.

Both Heed and Donskoi’s IR status was retroactive to the last game they played. For Heed, that was November 25, and for Donskoi it was November 28.

Additionally, Melker Karlsson was not available after being injured Friday. Kevin Labanc was back in the lineup and got credit for four shots on goal, more than any other Shark Saturday.

San Jose did hang in there for the first two periods, but in the third, the Lightning took the Sharks apart. The Sharks scored first, the only goal of the first period. With just over three minutes left in the period, Ryan Carpenter made a cross-ice pass to Daniel O’Regan as he skated down the right side. O’Regan took the shot and the rebound went right to Goodrow on the left side. He had an open net from that angle and he put it away. Assists went to Carpenter and O’Regan.

The Sharks went into the first intermission with a 1-0 lead, but had been outshot 15-8 by Tampa Bay.

The Lightning’s first period effort paid off early in the second period, as Nikita Kucherov tied the game up just 27 seconds in. Ondrej Palat carried the puck in and the Sharks defense set up to prevent a cross-ice pass to Kucherov. In doing so, they left their goaltender to handle any shot from Palat. Instead of shooting, Palat took the pass and it made it through three defenders to Kucherov, who had Martin Jones moving across and not quite ready to stop his shot. Assists went to Palat and Brayden Point.

The Lightning again outshot the Sharks in the second period, this time 16-8.

Joe Thornton was called for high sticking Tyler Johnson at the end of the second period. The Lightning started the third period with 1:56 of power play time. At 1:39 of the third, Johnson scored a power play goal to give the Lightning the 2-1 lead. Palat shot the puck into the zone so that it came off the back boards while Johnson skated in and caught it right in front of Jones. Assists went to Palat and Mikhail Sergachev.

Johnson scored again after Victor Hedman got a breakaway and would have scored had Brenden Dillon not caught the puck on the goal line. As he cleared it from the crease, Johnson was coming in fast and the puck came right to him. He put it back in over Jones.

Cory Conacher scored at 11:01, after a shoot in from Dan Girardi caught Justin Braun inside the knee. Seeing the defenseman drop to the ice, Conacher skated by him and caught a cross-ice pass from Alex Killorn. His shot went over Jones’ left shoulder as the goaltender came across to follow the puck. Assists went to Killorn and Yanni Gourde.

Braun did not stay down for long, and returned to stop the bleeding at 13:37. Braun caught the puck after an offensive zone faceoff. His blue line shot went cleanly through five skaters to beat Vasilevski on the glove side. An assist went to O’Regan.

Nikita Kucherov came back with a fifth goal at 15:37 off a breakaway after Logan Couture tried to shoot the puck in from the blue line and it his Kucherov instead. The bounce gave Kucherov the head start he needed.

The Sharks next play on Monday in Washington DC against the Capitals at 4 pm PT.

Sharks Win 2-1, Pavelski Scores 300

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Photo credit: San Jose Sharks

by M. Walsh

San Jose Sharks captain Joe Pavelski scored his 300th career NHL goal Friday, in a 2-1 win over the Florida Panthers at BB&T Center. Goaltender Aaron Dell won his second in a row with 39 saves, and Chris Tierney scored his seventh of the year with the game winner. For the Panthers, Colton Sceviour scored the only goal in the first period, and goaltender Roberto Luongo made 30 saves on 32 shots in a losing effort for Florida.

Joe Pavelski’s goal was his first since November 1st, after an eleven game dry spell. That 300th tally proved elusive for the Sharks captain. Of the milestone, Pavelksi said: “Guess I’m proud of that number, a lot of hard work. But we’ve seen so many great milestones recently, last year too, with Patty and Jumbo. It’s one of those things, it’s a good number but I believe there’s, you know, so much more hockey out there and I’ll keep trying to score some goals.”

Pavelski’s goal was challenged by Florida coach Bob Boughner, the first challenge that went the Sharks way for the first time in a while. The second Sharks goal was also subjected to review, after being called no goal on the ice. Ironically, the last time the Sharks played the Panthers, on November 16 at SAP Center, the Sharks had two goals called back on review, and they lost that game 2-0. It may be that the Sharks’ streak of bad luck with goal reviews has ended.

Of finally having a challenge go their way, Sharks head coach Pete DeBoer said: “Well, yeah, first one of this year, at least it feels like it. You know, I think, we felt it was a goal, so glad to get it. We’ve had enough of those go the other way, and it’s cost us some points. So it all evens out.”

The Sharks went into the game without Joonas Donskoi, injured in Monday’s game in Philadelphia. Donskoi joined the list of injured players that currently includes forwards Tim Heed and Barclay Goodrow, and defenseman veteran Paul Martin. Melker Karlsson was back in the lineup after missing time due to injury, and he left Friday’s game during the third period. Goaltender Martin Jones was dressed as the backup after missing Monday’s game, indicating that he may be ready to play Saturday.

Of the team’s spate of injuries, DeBoer said: “We’re asking other guys to jump in. You know, Tierns makes a play, the big guys are scoring some goals for us lately, Jumbo and Pav, you know Couture’s line’s been good all year. Every injury, every guy that goes down, obviously it’s testing your depth and we don’t have a lot of margin of error. There are a lot of two-on-one games, but we’re getting comfortable in those games so that’s a good thing.”

The Sharks started the game a little slowly, but picked up the pace by the middle of the first period. Nevertheless, they still gave up the first goal in the final two minutes of the period. Dell made the first save, but juggled the puck when it came back on the rebound. The goal initially was given to Panthers captain Derek MacKenzie, but would up being Colton Sceviour’s. Assists went to Alex Petrovic and Micheal Haley.

Joe Pavelski’s tying goal came 11:20 into the second period. Joe Thornton’s pass from behind the net went off of Florida’s Aleksander Barkov and reversed direction. It went right to Pavelski, where he was set up at the corner of the net. As he gained control of the puck, his skate made contact with Luongo’s skate, which was the basis of the coach’s challenge. Luongo was looking in the other direction, which makes sense since Thornton had passed the puck in that direction. Assists on the goal went to Thornton and Timo Meier.

The game winner came 7:13 into the third period. Melker Karlsson’s backhand shot went off of Luongo and to Chris Tierney below the goal line. Tierney shot it back in, bouncing it off of Luongo’s back and into the net. The goal was initially not called as such, but after video review, the NHL made the correction. Assists went to Karlsson and Brent Burns. It was Tierney’s third goal in his last four games.

The Sharks did not get a chance on the power play, but their penalty kill went 2-0 in the game.  Marc-Edouard Vlasic led the team in shots on goal with four.

The Sharks next play on Saturday, against the Tampa Bay Lightning at 4 pm PT.

Sharks Score 4, Shut Out Jets 4-0

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San Jose Sharks goalie Martin Jones deflects a shot by the Winnipeg Jets during the third period of an NHL hockey game in San Jose, Calif., Saturday, Nov. 25, 2017. The Sharks won 4-0. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

by M. Walsh

SAN JOSE — The San Jose Sharks scored four times and shut out the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday. Goals came from Tim Heed, Tomas Hertl, and two from Logan Couture. Sharks goaltender Martin Jones made 38 stops for the shutout. At the other end, Jets goaltenders faced a combined 33 shots and each allowed two goals.

Despite giving up 38 shots, the Sharks defense got the job done. Winnipeg has one of the best records in the NHL this season, 14-5-3 going into the game against the Sharks. After the game, Sharks assistant coach Steve Spott said: “To hold them off the scoreboard…they’ve got a high powered offense over there, so to do what we did tonight, it was excellent.”

The Sharks saw yet another uncounted goal in the first period of Saturday’s game. Just 3:37 in, Joel Ward found the puck under Steve Mason’s left pad and poked it in the net. The whistle blew before the puck went in, as the official had lost sight of the puck.

Perhaps used to such setbacks by now, San Jose responded with two viable first period goals. The first was a power play goal from Tim Heed with assists to Kevin Labanc and Joe Thornton. Heed’s one-timer came from high in the slot and went in off the post. The second goal came at 19:44 of the first, from Logan Couture. Assists on the second goal went to Justin Braun and Marc-Edouard Vlasic. Mason stopped Vlasic’s shot but the rebound went to the far side of the blue paint, where Couture closed fast and beat the goalie to the puck.

At the end of the first period, the shots were 13-9 for the Sharks.

The Jets changed goaltenders to start the second period, putting Connor Hellebuyck in for Steve Mason. Mason evidently sustained an upper body injury.

Winnipeg closed the shot gap in the first five minutes, to 16-15, but the Sharks gunked up the Jets offense so that those shots were not terribly dangerous. At the 6:05, Dylan DeMelo went to the box for slashing Joel Armia and the Jets were on their first power play of the game. The Sharks penalty kill was stifling and only allowed one shot on goal to the power play.

The Sharks had to face another slashing penalty at 9:56, this time on Brenden Dillon. The Sharks held the Jets to just one shot again, only this shot was a harrowing affair. The puck slipped past Martin Jones and and was snatched back from the brink by Joel Ward’s quick stick.

Dylan DeMelo went back to the box at 13:02, this time for interference. Instead of clogging up their own zone during this penalty kill, the Sharks jumped out with a short handed rush from Logan Couture and Tomas Hertl. Couture carried the puck in with Hertl on his right, and no Winnipeg player between them and the goalie. Couture took his time selecting the shot and added a third tally to San Jose’s collection. Assists went to Tomas Hertl and Marc-Edouard Vlasic.

The second period shot count was 16-5 Winnipeg, for a total shot count of 24-18 Winnipeg.

At 5:08 of the third, Dylan DeMelo was the subject of another penalty, taking a high stick from Joel Armia. The Sharks power play did a pretty good job keeping the puck out of their own end, but could not get organized in the Jets’ end of the ice. They did get credit for two shots.

By the midpoint of the period, the Sharks had closed the gap in shots, adding eleven to their count, while limiting the Jets to just four.

The Sharks had a bit of a scare at 13:28 when Martin Jones had to take a moment to talk to one of the trainers. After the game, the team would only say that he was being evaluated.

Tomas Hertl extended the lead to four with an empty net goal at 16:50, with assists from Joe Pavelski and Brent Burns.

The Sharks will begin a four game road trip on Tuesday in Philadelphia at 4:00 pm PT.

Sharks Lose to Golden Knights 5-4 in OT

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Vegas Golden Knights center Jonathan Marchessault (81) celebrates after scoring the game-winning goal against the San Jose Sharks during overtime of an NHL hockey game Friday, Nov. 24, 2017, in Las Vegas. Vegas won 5-4. (AP Photo/John Locher)

by M. Walsh

The San Jose Sharks lost 5-4 in overtime to the Las Vegas Golden Knights Friday. After trailing 3-1, the Sharks came back to tie the game, with goals from Mikkel Boedker, Chris Tierney, Tomas Hertl and Brent Burns. The five Las Vegas goals came from Shea Theodore, James Neal, two from William Karlsson, and the overtime winner from Jonathan Marchessault. With the win, the Knights added to their already astonishing first season record of 14-6-1.

Neither team was at their best defensively, which made for a wide-open game. Both teams changed goalies at some point in the game. After the game, Sharks head coach Peter DeBoer said:

It was a track meet, it was pond hockey out there. The offense came, I think, because it was loose. We don’t want to play that type of game. We had to, we were forced to because of how we started and found a way to get a point out of it. That’s about all the good that came out of it.

Of coming back from a 3-1 deficit, Sharks forward Logan Couture said: “Yes, I guess pretty good but not good enough. We put ourselves in that hole. I thought they were better than us. We had some jump for a small period of time and that was it.”

The Knights jumped out to a fast start, scoring twice in the first period. Shea Theodore’s goal came just 2:33 in, with assists to Cody Eakin and Brendan Leipsic. The second goal came in the middle of the period, on a power play. James Neal’s goal came after a lot of movement from the power play, with several cross ice passes that drew Sharks goalie Martin Jones across the goal mouth more than once. When the shot came, it was over Jones’ shoulder just under the bar. Assists went to Erik Haula and Jonathan Marchessault.

Tomas Hertl scored late in the first off an impressive feed from Joonas Donskoi. Donskoi first jumped to catch the puck out of the air, then had to recover after being knocked down by Knights goalie Maxime Lagace. His quick reverse pass still connected with Hertl in front of the net. Assists went to Donskoi and Marc-Edouard Vlasic.

William Karlsson scored twice in the second period, the first only ten seconds in. Still on a carry over the power play from the first period, the Knights pushed the play into the Sharks’ zone in a somewhat chaotic scramble. A bouncing puck found its way to Alex Tuch below the face-off dot. His shot bounced some more as it crossed the goal mouth to Karlsson, who knocked it in. A second assist went to Reilly Smith.

The Sharks replaced goalie Martin Jones with Aaron Dell at that point, only to see Karlsson score again at 6:55, when he tipped a Marchessault shot from the blue line.

Of the goaltending change, DeBoer said: “It’s too bad we didn’t start on time. That’s the disappointing part. It didn’t help Jonesy at all and I got him out of there just because I didn’t want him to have to play a whole night in front of that.”

Just a little over a minute later, Brent Burns scored his first of the year with one of his trademark blasts from the blue line. The lone assist went to Joe Thornton.

Chris Tierney scored his fifth of the season not long after the Sharks’ first power play of the game. The Knights had just iced the puck and the Sharks gained control after the faceoff. Joel Ward won a puck battle in the corner, allowing Tierney to send the puck up to the blue line. Justin Braun took a wide shot and Tierney got to the net in time to redirect it in. Assists went to Braun and Ward.

The tying goal came with less than a minute left. Joe Pavelski’s shot got caught in traffic but bounced out to the slot where Mikkel Boedker caught it and shot it in before Lagace could get set to stop it.

The Golden Knights changed goaltenders in the third period, replacing Lagace with Malcolm Subban. There were no goals scored in the third, but late in the period, Logan Couture had a goal called back. The explanation given was that Joonas Donskoi touched skates with goaltender Malcolm Subban in the crease.

Marchessault scored the overtime winner 1:22 into overtime. Brent Burns had just broken a stick and gone to replace it. The remaining players held off the goal for several seconds before Marchessault’s shot went into defensive traffic and off of Joe Thornton’s skate into the goal.

The Sharks next play on Saturday against the Winnipeg Jets, in San Jose at 7 pm PT.

Sharks Fall to Bruins 3-1, Power Play Struggles

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Photo credit: San Jose Sharks

By M. Walsh

SAN JOSE, Calif. — The San Jose Sharks fell to the Boston Bruins 3-1 on Saturday. Boston goals came from Peter Cehlarik, Jake DeBrusk, and Danton Heinen. Bruins goaltender Anton Khudobin made 36 saves for the win, while Sharks goaltender Aaron Dell made 17 saves. The lone Sharks goal came from Timo Meier.

The Sharks played well in many short bursts, but they could not generate second chances or sustain pressure for very long. After the game, Sharks captain Joe Pavelski said:

We’ve got to be a little bit harder around the net. We had some good chances tonight, it’s just we’re one play off, it feels. You come back to the shift and it’s one play, whether it’s in your d-zone or the neutral zone or the o-zone. It just feels like it’s one play right now.

In Saturday’s loss, the Sharks extended their power-play goal drought to 22. Perhaps more improbable, they saw a fourth consecutive coach’s challenge go against them. Brent Burns continues to shoot without scoring. He now leads the Sharks with 75 shots this season.

Just 1:02 in, the Sharks seemed to have ended their 63-minute goalless streak. Joe Thornton held the puck briefly near the goal line and then passed it back in front of the Bruins net. Out of a crush of players in front of the goalie, the puck found its way over the line off of Joonas Donskoi. The Bruins challenged it and won the challenge. Instead of ending their scoring drought, the Sharks now had three consecutive goals disallowed.

Undaunted, the Sharks went back to work and did get a goal at 4:50, this time from Meier. Danny O’Regan wrested control of the puck behind the Bruins net and guided it to Meier across the goal mouth. Khudobin could not get across in time to stop it. A secondary assist went to Joel Ward.

Moments later, the Bruins came back with a goal of their own. The puck went over the line after Boston’s Jake DeBrusk slid into Aaron Dell and pushed him into the net. The Sharks challenged the play for goaltender interference. The goal held up and was credited to Peter Cehlarik. DeBrusk got an assist for his trouble. It was the fourth consecutive challenge to go against the Sharks.

Of the decision, Pavelski said: “I don’t know. They say he was tripped in there. He was already kind of going down, I think.”

The first power play of the game went to the Sharks at 8:43. Riley Nash went to the box for tripping Joe Thornton. The Bruins penalty kill was effective. It was so effective that, just as Dell was tapping his stick to signal the end of the penalty, DeBrusk broke away and scored to give Boston the lead. Assists went to Charlie McAvoy and Sean Kuraly.

By the end of the first period, the score was 2-1 Boston, though the Sharks were outshooting the Bruins 17-5.

Near the midpoint of the second, Joe Thornton was called for tripping David Pastrnak. The Sharks penalty kill started well, with Melker Karlsson and Chris Tierney leading a merry chase at Boston’s end. The Bruins got no shots with that man advantage and really had no opportunity to do so.

The next penalties called were offsetting minors at 10:46, an interference call against Zdneo Chara and an embellishment call against Jannik Hansen. The Sharks dominated the four on four play but did not change the score.

As the period came to a close, the Sharks still trailed 2-1, and still led in shots, now 25-14.

Fans in the third period saw the Sharks start slowly. It was near the midpoint of the period before they had their first shot on goal. Their game picked up after that, but so did Boston’s game. At 14:59, Danton Heinen scored his third of the season against the Sharks, catching a well-timed pass from Kevan Miller for a breakaway. Too many Sharks were too deep in the Boston zone to catch him.

The Sharks had another power play in the last two minutes of regulation, but it didn’t make a difference.

The Sharks will have a chance to repair their game on Monday when they host the Anaheim Ducks at 7:30 pm PT.

Sharks Shut Out Canucks 5-0; Dells stops 41 as Couture and Tierney combine for four goals

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San Jose Sharks’ Logan Couture (39) scores past Vancouver Canucks goalie Jacob Markstrom during the second period of an NHL hockey game Saturday, Nov. 11, 2017, in San Jose, Calif. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

by M. Walsh

SAN JOSE– The San Jose Sharks defeated the Vancouver Canucks by a score of 5-0 Saturday. Sharks goaltender Aaron Dell stopped 41 shots in his second NHL shutout. Tomas Hertl scored first, while Logan Couture and Chris Tierney each scored twice. Vancouver netminder Jacob Markstrom made 26 saves on 29 shots.

The win stood in sharp contrast to the Sharks’ previous game, a 5-1 loss. Of the 5-0 win, Sharks head coach Pete DeBoer said: “It’s a huge divisional game. Deller was our best player, which is, you know, why we have him. He was great and we found a way. ” As the Sharks’ backup goaltender, Aaron Dell has only started four games this season. Of his performance Saturday night, Sharks forward Logan Couture said:

We believe in him in this room. And 40 saves or whatever it was tonight is pretty impressive. He was tracking pucks well, he’s been great every time we put him in so we have a lot of confidence in him.

Tomas Hertl finished the game with a goal and two assists. After the game, Couture said of Hertl:

He’s been good, he’s had so many chances over these past six or seven games where you just figured he was going to get an ugly one and, you know, we need goals so we hope that this is the start of something.

In all, the Sharks scored at even strength, short-handed, into an empty net and on a penalty shot. The only thing missing was a power play goal. Couture described that missing piece as an ongoing source of frustration:

Our power play’s really draining the energy from us. I mean it’s just getting frustrating. Us guys on the power play, we can’t let that happen. We need to create some energy instead of deflating our team.

The Canucks came to San Jose after an unexpectedly good start to their season, winning eight of sixteen games and adding a couple of points for overtime losses. Those 18 points are good for third in the Pacific right now. Their scoring leader is Derek Dorsett, who has met his second best season total in just 16 games. He has seven goals in this his tenth NHL season. His career best was 12 in 2011-12. Second in scoring for Vancouver is Bo Horvat, now in his fourth NHL season. He has six goals, putting him on track to easily eclipse last season’s 20.

The Sharks scored just 48 seconds into the game, a point shot from Justin Braun that went off of Tomas Hertl in front of the net. A second assist went to Melker Karlsson.

At 11:07, Timo Meier had a very good chance during a delayed Canucks penalty. His shot went just under Markstrom’s glove but hit the far post and bounced out. During the power play, the Sharks had just two shots. The powerplay units were Brent Burns, Tim Heed, Logan Couture, Joe Thornton and Joe Pavelski, then Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Mikkel Boedker, Joonas Donskoi, Tomas Hertl and Joel Ward.

With 5:06 left in the first, Donskoi drew a hooking penalty to give the Sharks another power play chance. The sharks only mustered one shot during those two minutes, and a few seconds after the power play expired, the Canucks had their own chance with the man advantage. Timo Meier was called for slashing at 17:02. The Canucks bolstered their shot count by four but did not score. Though the Sharks led the Canucks in shots 11-4 in the middle of the period, the Canucks had closed the gap to 14-10 by the end of the period.

The Sharks had a third power play early in the second period, but it was cut short just 37 seconds in by a penalty to Joe Pavelski for hooking. During the four on four, a Brent Burns shot from the blue line hit the top bar and left the defenseman still waiting for his first goal of the year.

The Sharks drew a fourth power play at 9:30 of the second, an interference call against Alex Biega. The Canucks managed to thwart the Sharks on almost every entry, forcing them to mostly dump it in and never get set up. The Sharks did not get a shot on goal in that fourth power play. Brent Burns and Tomas Hertl were able to get in with self-passes off the boards but they were quickly stripped of the puck and sent back out by the penalty killers.

That penalty kill seemed to energize the Canucks and they put pressure on the Sharks for several shifts, racking up shots and wearing out the San Jose defenders. That push took a toll on the Sharks and resulted in a slashing penalty to Joel Ward at 15:30. The power play started with a short-handed chance for Couture and Hertl but Markstrom gloved Couture’s shot away.

That short-handed chance foreshadowed another chance for the same pair just seconds later. Hertl chased the puck down along the boards in the Sharks zone and nudged it in Couture’s direction near the Sharks blue line. Couture had enough speed to evade pursuit and take another shot at Markstrom. This time it went in. Hertl received the only assist.

The Canucks led the Sharks in shots during the second period, 14-6, but the Sharks still had the 2-0 lead where it counts.

The Canucks came out fast and furious in the third, firing five shots on goal in the first two minutes. The shot imbalance evened out as the period went on, until the Sharks scored three times in the final two minutes. Logan Couture scored into an empty net at 18:19. Assists went to Joel Ward and Tomas Hertl.

In the final two minutes, Timo Meier was charged with elbowing and given a five minute major and game misconduct.

With the net still empty, Chris Tierney scored twice in 20 seconds. The first was into an empty net and the second was on a penalty shot. It was his first NHL penalty shot goal.

The Sharks next play on Sunday in Los Angeles against the Kings, at 7:30 PM PT.