Author: M Walsh

Lightning Scorch Sharks 8-1, Score Five in First period

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Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Emil Lilleberg (78) knocks the puck away from San Jose Sharks Ty Dellandrea (53) in first period action at Amalie Arena in Tampa Bay on Thu Dec 5, 2024 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks were defeated 8-1 by the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday. Cam Atkinson, Conor Geekie, Brandon Hagel, Jake Guentzel, Anthony Cirelli, Nick Perbix, and Nick Paul scored for the Lightning. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 20 saves for the win. Alexander Wennberg scored for San Jose. Vitek Vanecek made 7 saves in the first period. Mackenzie Blackwood made 20 saves in the second and third periods.

The Sharks gave up a stunning five goals in the first period. The Lightning outshot the Sharks in the period, but not by an enormous margin (12-9). “Not a great start. I don’t know, we didn’t play to our identity tonight at all. We kind of took our foot off the gas on a lot of little things,” said Sharks defenseman Mario Ferraro. Of the team’s defensive woes, Ferraro said “I feel like most of it was the chances we gave up were sort of grade A, some shots from the point. So it has a lot to do with our box-outs and then when we recover the puck to be able to get the puck out. “

Sharks Head Coach Ryan Warsofsky described the game as a reality check: “When you don’t skate, and you don’t compete against really good hockey teams or any team in the National Hockey League, this is what’s going to happen.”

Cam Atkinson tipped in a shot from Conor Geekie 1:26 into the game. Geekie took a pass from Atkinson at the Sharks blue line, then carried the puck in and scored on the blocker side at 7:29. Victor Hedman also got an assist on that goal. That second goal triggered a flurry of three goals in less than 90 seconds.

Brandon Hagel scored at 8:32. Shortly after an offensive zone faceoff, Hagel caught a pass from Jake Guentzel on the blue line. He skated in front of the goal and then backhanded the puck in. Ryan McDonagh got a secondary assist.

Brandon Hagel scored again just 23 seconds later. This time he carried the puck in from the blue line, skated across in front of the goal to the other side before backhanding the puck in. Erik Cernak got an assist.

Jake Guentzel made it 5-0 with a power play goal at 17:45 of the first period. Guentzel tipped in a shot from Victor Hedman with Brayden Point picking up an assist as well.

The Sharks changed goaltenders after the first period, putting Blackwood in net.

Anthony Cirelli made it 6-0 at 4:16 of the second period. He tipped a shot from Ryan McDonagh and Brayden Point picked up another assist.

Nick Perbix made it 7-0 at 18:32. Brayden Point pass the puck up out of the faceoff circle to Perbix high in the slot. Perbix scored with a wrist shot. Point and Emil Lilleberg got the assists.

Alexander Wennberg scored the only Sharks goal 14 seconds into the third period. Fabian Zetterlund carried the puck into the zone, then found Wennberg with a pass in the faceoff circle. Wennberg carried it across the slot and scored with a wrist shot. Assists went to Zetterlund and Jan Rutta.

Nick Paul made it 8-1 at 6:01 of the third. Paul caught a cross-ice pass from Brayden Point, then skated in to score with a backhand shot. Point and J..J. Moser got the assists.

The Sharks next play on Saturday in Sunrise against the Panthers at 3:00 PM PT.

Sharks Beat Capitals 2-1 in OT, Win Streak at Three

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San Jose Sharks center Macklin Celebrini (71) takes a shot on goal in front of the Washington Capitals center Lars Eller (20) in the second period at the Capital Center in DC on Tue Dec 3, 2024 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks defeated the Washington Capitals 2-1 in overtime on Tuesday. The win capped the Sharks’ second three-game win streak of the season,. It qualifies as an upset since the Capitals are currently ranked third in the League and first in the Eastern Conference.

Tyler Toffoli and William Eklund scored for the Sharks. Mackenzie Blackwood made 27 saves for the win. Nic Dowd scored for the Capitals and Logan Thompson made 29 saves in the loss.

The Sharks took the lead at the end of the first period. With just a minute left, Tyler Toffoli intercepted a pass I the neutral zone, carried the puck the other way and scored from just over the blue line.

The Capitals outshot the Sharks 16-8 I the first period. The Sharks took two penalties in the first half of the period, and the Capitals took one in the second half of the period.

Nic Dowd tied the game at 13:02 of the second period. Martin Fehervary sent the puck across the ice to Dowd in front of the net. Dowd shot as he dropped to one knee and beat Blackwood on the stick side. Assists went to Fehervary and Ivan Miroshnechenko.

The Sharks took the only penalty in the second period. The Capitals again outshot the Sharks, but by a much smaller margin, 9-7.

The Sharks pressed during the third period, outshooting the Capitals 13-4. They balanced the shot count but could not score, even with two power plays.

One of those power plays was a double minor at the end of the period, carrying 1:43 into overtime. That was Tom Wilson, high-sticking Macklin Celebrini. It was during that overtime power play that the Sharks scored.

39 seconds into overtime, Mikael Granlund’s pass found William Eklund in the faceoff circle. Eklund used a slap shot to put the game away. An assist also went to Macklin Celebrini.

The Sharks next play on Thursday at 4:00 PM PT in Tampa Bay against the Lightning.

Sharks Win 4-2 Over Kraken, Back-to-Back Wins for San Jose

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Seattle Kraken left wing Brandon Tanev (13) watches the puck it’s deflected off San Jose Sharks defenseman Mario Ferrero (38) and goaltender MacKenzie Blackwood (29) in the third period at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle on Sat Nov 30, 2024 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks beat the Seattle Kraken 4-2 on Saturday. It was the second win against the Kraken in two days. Mario Ferraro, Luke Kunin, Cody Ceci and Will Smith scored for the Sharks. Mackenzie Blackwood made 36 saves for the win. Jaden Schwartz and Jared McCann scored for the Kraken. Joey Daccord made 19 saves in the loss.

After the 8-5 game just a day earlier, it would have been easy to expect a low-scoring game Saturday. That is not exactly what came to pass. The Sharks defense was somewhat more effective in this game than the last. After the game, Blackwood said: “They’re great. They really care. They commit to taking away the seams, they block shots when they can and they clear the rebounds.”

The Sharks finished scoring about half way through the game. Nonetheless, Sharks Head Coach Ryan Warsofsky said:

“What I like about our group tonight is we did that. We had a 4-1 lead opening night and we gave it up. And tonight we came into the third period and I thought it was one of our better periods of the night. So we learned how to play the right way.”

Mario Ferraro gave the Sharks a 1-0 lead late in the first period. Mikael Granlund carried it over the blue line and then gave it away to Seattle. The Seattle player gave it back to the Sharks as Timothy Liljegren intercepted a pass. Liljegren sent it right back to Granlund, who found the Trailing Ferraro with a pass. Ferraro took some time before seeing his chance for a shot.

At the end of the first, the Kraken were outshooting the Sharks 13-9. The Sharks took two penalties and had one power play.

The Sharks scored early and often in the second. At 1:51, Luke Kunin followed Ty Dellandrea into the zone. Dellandrea made a drop pass as they approached the net and then continued on, acting as a screen for Kunin to shoot through. Assists went to Dellandrea and Jake Walman.

Cody Ceci made it 3-0 at 8:59, scoring his first road goal in more than three years and 127 road games. Maccklin Celebrini sent the puck to the net and it ended up going behind the goal and bouncing off the boards on the other side of the net. Ceci was on his way and met the puck in a perfect spot to shoot it in. Assists went to Celebrini and Walman.

Will Smith scored the Sharks’ fourth goal less than a minute later. Mikael Granlund carried the puck from the Sharks’ blue line almost to the Kraken net, skating two-on-one with Smith. Granlund made the pass and Smith shot it in. Assists went to Granlund and Klim Kostin.

The Kraken got on the board at 10:17. Matty Beniers shot the puck into the end boards from the blue line. The puck came back fast and Jaden Schwartz caught the pass and put it on net. It seemed like Blackwood did not expect that puck to come off the boards quite so fast. Assists went to Beniers and Oliver Bjorkstrand.

The Kraken again outshot the Sharks in the second period, 17-10. There were no penalties in the second.

Jared McCann scored the second Kraken goal at 6:27 of the third period. McCann Carried the puck into the zone and then shot it through traffic. Assists went to Ryker Evans and Brandon Montour.

With the net empty and a sixth skater on the ice, the Kraken put the puck in the net at 19:52. Beniers caught a rebound out of traffic in front of the net and shot it back in. The goal was called back, however, for goaltender interference. Yanni Gourde made contact with Blackwood’s head shortly before the goal was scored. The review was initiated by the Situation Room.

The Sharks next play on Tuesday in Washington, D.C. against the Capitals at 4:00 PM PT.

Sharks Blow Out Kings 7-2, Celebrini With 2 Goals

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Macklin Celebrini center (71) who scored two goals for the San Jose Sharks celebrates his third period against the Los Angeles Kings at SAP Center in San Jose on Mon Nov 25, 2024 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharls defeated the Los Angeles Kings 7-2 on Monday. Nico Sturm, Macklin Celebrini, Fabian Zetterlund, Alexander Wennberg and Luke Kunin scored for the Sharks. Yaroslav Askarov made 22 saves for the win. Brandt Clarke and Anze Kopitar scored for the Kings. David Rittich made 14 saves in the loss.

The game generated some very good numbers for San Jose. Macklin Celebrini became just the third 18 year old Sharks player to have a multi-point game. The first was Jeff Friesen, the second was Patrick Marlowe. Additionally, the last time the Sharks scored five goals in a period at home was in 2015.

After the game, Mario Ferraro talked about how the game felt early: “They had a good start to the game. They were hemming us in quite a bit at the beginning. And then I think [Sturm] finishing that off just helped calm us down, calm the game down a bit.” It took the team a while to turn that calm into scoring but they got there.

The above-mentioned goal came at 1:47 of the first period. Nico Sturm scored with a wrist shot off of a breakaway and a pass from Mario Ferraro. Askarov also got an assist.

That was it for scoring in the first period. The teams finished even in shots on goal at six. The Sharks had one power play and another a few seconds before the end of the period.

The Sharks did not score on that power play to start the second. Soon after it elapsed, the Kings tied the game. Brandt Clarke took a shot from inside the right faceoff circle, after the Kings entered the zone with a lot of puck movement. Assists went to Adrian Kempe and Anze Koptar.

Anze Kopitar gave the Kings a lead at 8:58 with a backhand shot, cleaning up a stray puck after Adrian Kempe’s shot did not go in. An assist also went to Warren Foegele.

Fabian Zetterlund tied the game back up at 13:59. His attempt to center the puck from below the goal line went off of a Kings defender and into the net. Assists went to William Eklund and Macklin Celebrini.

In the second period, the Sharks started on the power play but took two penalties after that and were outshot by Los Angeles 12-5.

1:03 into the third period, Macklin Celebrini carried the puck up the ice and into the zone and then scored with a shot into the top corner. Assists went to Henry Thrun and Jan Rutta.

A little more than a minute later, Timothy Liljegren made it 4-2. His shot came from just above the faceoff circle. An assist went to Will Smith.

Los Angeles challenged that goal for goaltender interference. Mario Ferraro did skate through the crease but he made no contact and was out of the crease before the shot happened. The goal stood up, putting the Kings on the penalty kill. Ealry in that power play, Warren Foegele was called for tripping Celebrini, giving the Sharks more than a minute of five-on-three power play time.

Celebrini scored a power play goal with a slap shot off of a William Eklund pass. Will Smith got the secondary assist.

Alexander Wennberg made it 6-2 with a power play goal at 10:46. Wennberg deflected a shot from Jake Walman on the blue line. Wennberg won the face off to get the puck to Walman as well.

Luke Kunin made it 7-2 at 18:39. He chased down a stray pass in the neutral zone and then carried it through traffic to the net for the shot.

The Sharks next play on Wednesday at 7:30 PM PT in San Jose against the visiting Ottawa Senators.

Sharks Fall 3-2 in Shootout to Blues; Forth loss for SJ in five games

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The St Louis Blues left wing Jake Neighbours (63) scores the game winning goal in the shootout past San Jose Sharks goaltender Yaroslav Askarov (30) at the Enterprise Center in St Louis on Thu Nov 21, 2024 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks lost 3-2 in a shootout to the St.Louis Blues Thursday. Nathan Walker, Jordan Kyrou and Jake Neighbours scored for the Blues. Jordan Binnington made 22 saves for the win. Alexander Wennberg scored twice for the Sharks. Yaroslav Askarov made 29 saves in the loss.

Despite the loss, postgame comments were still fairly upbeat. Sharks goaltender Yaroslav Askarov said, of the team’s effort: “The boys played really good in front of me and battled before the end of the game. I appreciate it and I am happy to be part of this team.”

Sharks goal scorer Alexander Wennberg said, of his contribution to the game: “It’s nice to, when the team needed, to kind of like step up and then score the goals. But it’s a full team effort, it’s not one player. I mean obviously we’re all working together, six on five, we have a game plan so it’s just a full team effort.”

The Blues scored on the first shot of the game, 11 seconds in. Nathan Walker was in front of the net to catch a pass from Radek Faksa on the boards. Askarov had just gotten back to the net after playing the puck and was not ready to stop the shot.

The Sharks tied the game with their third shot, on the power play at 8:23. Mikael Granlund carried the puck behind the net before sending it ahead to Alexander Wennberg. At the side of the net, Wennberg took a shot. That did not go in, but he reached behind the goaltender and nudged the puck over the line. Assists went to Granlund and Macklin Celebrini.

St. Louis outshot the Sharks 15-7 in the first period. The Sharks took one penalty and the Blues took two.

The game remained tied until 11:47 of the second period when Jordan Kyrou tipped in a shot from Pierre-Olivier Joseph. That was the Blues’ third shot of the period. Assists went to Joseph and Robert Thomas.

The Sharks were much closer in shots in the second period, with six to the Blues’ seven. There were no penalties called in the second.

The Sharks tied it up in the final seconds of the third period with their goaltender out for an extra skater. Alexander Wennberg scored at 19:51 with a shot through traffic. Assists went to Granlund and Celebrini.

The shots were even at nine in the third period. In Overtime, the Sharks had two shots and the Blues had one. In the shootout, the Sharks sent out Mikael Granlund, Machlin Celebrini and William Eklund. The Blues sent Brayen Schenn, Jordan Kyrou and Jake Neighbours. Only Neighbours scored

The Sharks next play on Saturday at 5:00 PM PT in San Jose against the Buffalo Sabres. It’ll be Joe Thornton night where the Sharks will be paying tribute to the hockey legend retiring his number. Thornton played in the NHL from 1997 to 2022. Thornton played for the Sharks from 2005 to 2020. The Sharks will be raising his sweater number 19 to the rafters next to former teammate Patrick Marleau whose number 12 is also retired.

Sharks Lose 5-2 to Dallas, Give Up 2 Empty Net Goals

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San Jose Sharks goaltender MacKenzie Blackwood (29) deflects a shot by the Dallas Stars center Logan Stankoven (11) as defenseman Mario Ferrero (38) looks on in the first period at the American Airlines Center in Dallas on Wed Nov 20, 2024 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks were defeated by the Dallas Stars 5-2 on Wednesday. Jason Robertson, Wyatt Johnston, Jamie Benn, Roope Hintz and Evgenii Dadonov scored for the Stars. Jake Oettinger made 21 saves for the win. Mikael Granlund and Jake Walman scored for the Sharks. Mackenzie Blackwood made 26 saves in the loss.

After the game, Jake Walman described the Sharks game as being close despite small problems: “For the most part we’re doing the right things but it’s just those little parts in the game. We got to hold each other accountable.” William Eklund also sounded like he thinks the team is close to finding a new level: “Turnovers cost us a little bit, some mistakes cost us a little bit today. We still find a way to keep it tight, keep it close.”

Sharks Head Coach Ryan Warsofsky said:

“We shoot ourselves in the foot in goals that we give up that are completely preventable. Until we learn how to play in the National Hockey League against really good second period teams, which are most teams that know how to transition in the second period, we’re going to be fighting this uphill battle in games.”

Jason Robertson opened the scoring at 15:33 of the first period. Mathew Dumba made a pass from the blue line and found Robertson as he entered the slot. Robertson spun and shot, beating Blackwood on the short side. Assists went to Dumba and Thomas Harley.

Mikael Granlund tied the game at 18:44. Short-handed, he broke away and skated almost to the blue paint before taking his shot. An assist went to William Eklund.

Dallas outshot San Jose 14-9 in the first period. The Sharks took three penalties and had one power play. They had two shots on their power play and gave up seven shots while short-handed.

Wyatt Johnston made it 2-1 for Dallas 56 seconds into the second period. Johnston and Roope Hintz skated into the Sharks zone two on one. Hintz put the puck behind the Sharks defender for Johnston to gather up and shoot in. Assists went to Hintz and Jason Robertson.

Jamie Benn made it 3-1 at 10:56 of the second. Benn was lurking beside the Sharks net while Sharks chased Logan Stankoven behind the net. Stankoven got the puck out to Benn for a shot.

The shots were much closer in the second period, 8-6 Dallas. The Sharks took no penalties in the second and they had one power play. They had one shot on goal during that power play.

Jake Walman made it 3-2 at 13:25 of the third period. Granlund carried the puck into the zone, then made a pass from the boards that caught Walman as he skated in. Walman took his shot from just inside the faceoff circle. Granlund and Cody Ceci got the assists.

With the Sharks net empty, Roope Hintz scored to make it 4-2. Johnston and Robertson got assists. Two Sharks collided with an official in the corner and went down, helping Johnston take control of the puck for that play.

Evgenii Dadonov also scored and empty net goal to make it 5-2. An assist went to Oskar Bäck.

With a little more than two minutes left, Granlund was called off the ice after he took a hit to the head from Ilya Lyubushkin. No penalty was called but the Sharks were without Granlund for the final minutes. There were no updates about his condition right after the game.

The Sharks next play on Thursday in St. Louis against the Blues at 5:00 PM PT.

Sharks Fall 4-3 in SO to Penguins, Come Back From 3-0 to Tie Game, Again

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Pittsburgh Penguins Bryan Rust (17) celebrates his goal with Evgeni Malkin (71), Jack St Ivany (3) and Michael Bunting (8) first period against the San Jose Sharks at PPG Pants in Pittsburgh on Sat Nov 16, 2024 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks lost 4-3 in a shootout to the Pittsburgh Penguins Saturday. Bryan Rust, Evgeni Malkin, Jesse Puljujarvi and Sidney Crosby scored for the Penguins. Alex Nedeljkovic made 26 saves for the win. Tyler Toffoli and Mikael Granlund scored for the Sharks. Vitek Vanacek made 8 saves on ten shots in the first period. Mackenzie Blackwood made 25 saves on 26 shots in the second, third and overtime periods.

The Sharks earned points in three games in this four game road trip. Of this tally, Tyler Toffoli said: “We’re staying in games and giving ourselves a chance to win. It’s a matter of time before we are able to play with leads and finish games off.”

The Sharks have made some impressive comebacks recently. Of this trend, Sharks Head Coach Ryan Warsofsky said:

“Credit to the guys, we stuck with it. It’s a hole we don’t want to be in and we’re in it too often right now. But I give the guys a lot of credit for battling back and getting a point in this game where it wasn’t looking pretty for a long time. We’ve got to look and find some ways to start on time.”

Blackwood said that he had about five minutes to prepare to get in the game. “It’s tough, you know. Obviously you’re cold and you have no feel of the game so you gotta go in there and get into the game quick. Typically, I struggle with that, I’ve struggled to come off the bench and put up a good performance. So I’ve been working on it.”

Warsofsky said, of his goaltenders: “I haven’t gotten an update yet on Vitek, just told he wasn’t coming back. Outstanding by Blackwood. Some of the best saves you’ll see in this League this year I assume.”

The Penguins scored just 1:01 into the first period. Bryan Rust carried the puck up from behind the net and backhanded it under Vitek Vanacek. Assists went to Michael Bunting and Evgeni Malkin.

Evgeni Malkin put the puck in the net at 5:46. Carrying the puck in, he cut across the slot and shot the puck off the post and in with a backhand. The Sharks challenged the goal as offside and the goal was overturned.

Jesse Puljujarvi got that goal back at 6:34. Drew O’Connor took a shot from the boards, and the rebound from that shot slid in front of Puljujarvi as he arrived at the net. Vanacek could not get across in time and Puljujarvi had an open net. A secondary assist went to Owen Pickering.

The teams were tied in shots at the end of the first period at 10-10. The Penguins took the only penalty of the period. Vanacek did not return for the second period due to injury. Blackwood stepped in.

Sidney Crosby made it 3-0 at 4:19 of the second with a shot through traffic from the point. Assists went to Erik Karlsson and Anthony Beauvillier.

Tyler Toffoli got the Sharks on the board with a power play goal at 12:05 of the second. Will Smith got the assist. Macklin Celebrini carried the puck into the zone but his pass was intercepted. Will Smith got the puck back and sent it to the net. Toffoli arrived at the net just in time to gather up the puck and score.

The Penguins outshot the Sharks 10-7 in the second period. The Sharks had two power plays and one shortened penalty kill in the period.

Mikael Granlund cut the lead to one goal at 6:56 of the third period. William Eklund made a pass off the boards to Fabian Zetterlund in the neutral zone. Zetterlund carried it over the blue line and made a cross-ice pass to Granlund, who caught the puck in the slot and shot without breaking stride.

Tyler Toffoli tied the game with his second goal of the night. Ty Dellandrea carried the puck in along the boards before finding Toffoli on his way to the net. Toffoli skated around several defenders to get in position for the shot. Assists went to Dellandrea and Jake Wallman.

Third period shots were close again, 11-10 Sharks. The Penguins took the only penalty in the period. In overtime, the Penguins dominated 6-1 in shots but Blackwood shut the door.

Mikael Granlund and William Eklund scored in the shootout. Macklin Celebrini, Will Smith and Alexander Wennberg were stopped by Nedeljkovic.

Sidney Crosby, Anthony Beauvillier and Evgeni Malkin scored in the shootout. Bryan Rust and Rickard Rakell were stopped by Blackwood.

The Sharks next play on Monday back in San Jose against the visiting Detroit Red Wings at 7:30 PM PT.

Sharks Fall 4-3 to Flyers in Shootout

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San Jose Sharks Tim Liljegren (left), clears the puck away from the Philadelphia Flyers Ryan Poehling (right) in the second period at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia on Mon Nov 11, 2024 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks were defeated by the Philadelphia Flyers 4-3 in a shootout Monday. Eric Johnson, Travis Konecny and Matvei Michkov scored for the Flyers. Samuel Ersson made 27 saves for the win. Jack Thompson, Mikael Granlund and Barclay Goodrow scored for the Sharks. Vitek Vanacek made 39 saves for the Sharks.

The game was fairly one-sided, but changed sides midway through. The Flyers scored three, then the Sharks scored three. What accounted for this shift, at least on the part of the Sharks? Barclay Goodrow said:

“We had to tighten things up. I think by this point in the year we know how we need to play in order to be successful and when we stray away from that you get the results that you saw early in the game. So I think we dialed it back in and we’ve just got to find a way to play like that from the start.”

Sharks Head Coach Ryan Warsofsky also talked about reasons for the slow start: “Back to back probably would be the first part. We just couldn’t get into the game, we had some pushes at times, we did some good things at times. But just couldn’t play with that same energy and competitiveness I would say as last night.”

Eric Johnson opened the scoring 1:40 into the game. Anthony Richard got control of the puck coming out of the Flyers’ zone and skated into the Sharks’ zone with Johnson. A cross-ice pass got around Jack Thompson to Johnson for a wrist shot that beat Vanacek. That was the first shot of the game.

Travis Konecny made it 2-0 with a power play goal at 15:56. In a very pretty play, The puck went from Emil Andrea on the blue line to Matvei Michkov near the goal line and back up to Konecny in the slot for a snap shot.

Michkov scored his own goal at 5:09 of the second period, breaking away in the neutral zone. Two Sharks chased him into the zone after he caught a pass right on the Sharks blue line. His shot went under Vanacek and in. Ryan Poehling and Egor Zamula got the assists.

Barclay Goodrow fought Nicck Seeler at 12:09 of the period, possibly motivating the Sharks for the comeback that started a few minutes later. The fight was the only penalty called in the period. Givani Smith also fought Eric Johnson right after the first goal of the game, but that fight did not lead to a scoring spree.

Jack Thompson got the Sharks on the board at 15:29 of the second. William Eklund carried the puck in and sent it across the goal mouth at the last moment. It went off of Thompson’s skate and in. Mikael Granlund also got an assist.

Granlund made it 3-2 at 18:33 of the second. Eklund controlled the puck off an offensive zone draw and skated behind the net. Instead of continuing around, he doubled back with a pass to Granlund for a shot on the short side. Granlund’s wrist shot squeaked in under the bar. Assists went to Eklund and Fabian Zetterlund.

Early in the third period. Givani Smith made an impressive save as Sharks and Flyers scrambled in front of the net. The puck was on its way to the line but Vanecek couldn’t see it. Smith swept it back and under his goaltender.

Barclay Goodrow tied the game at 17:36 of the thirds period. Henry Thrun sent the puck to the net from the point. Goodrow snapped it in from a bad angle. Assists went to Thrun and Cody Ceci.

At the end of the third period, Michkov took a penalty for punching Macklin Celebrini in the face a couple of times, putting the Sharks on the power play to start overtime. The Sharks had four shots in overtime and the Flyers had two.

Owen Tippett, Matvei Michkov and Travis Konecny shot for the Flyers. Michkov and Konecny scored.

Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith shot for the Sharks but Ersson stopped both of them.

The Sharks next play on Thursday at 4:00 PM PT, in New York against the Rangers.

Sharks Win 1-0, Blackwood Shuts Out Devils

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

By Mary Walsh

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sharks Beat Blue Jackets 2-1 in OT, Wennberg With 2nd OT Winner; Celebrini is back from injuries

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San Jose Sharks Macklin Celebrini (71) returned after suffering a hip injury his presence has fired up the team in their win over the Columbus Blue Jackets at SAP Center in San Jose on Tue Nov 5, 2024 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets 2-1 in overtime Tuesday. Jack Thompson and Alexander Wennberg scored for San Jose. This was the second time this season that Wennberg scored the overtime winner. Vitek Vanecek made 49 saves for the win. Kirill Marchenko scored for the Blue Jackets and Elvis Merzlikins made 25 saves in the loss.

Vitek Vanecek was the difference in the game, keeping the Sharks in it despite a very lop-sided shot count. After the game, forward Alexander Wennberg talked about Vanecek’s performance: “He made so many good saves and key saves as well that makes us stay in the game. So, we wouldn’t win this game without him. So it’s just great to have that goaltending that you really can rely on.”

Macklin Celebrini made his return to the roster Tuesday. In 17:06 of ice time, he had three shots and one penalty. He also won 7 of 13 faceoffs. Sharks Head Coach Ryan Warsofsky said, of Celebrini’s performance: “I thought you could see the rust in his game. Kinda what we expected. Obviously impacted the game in some other ways in a positive side.”

The first period saw several penalties. The Sharks had one power play and killed two penalties. The shot count at the end of the period was 13-6 Columbus.

Carl Grundstrom seemed to score his first as a Shark and the first of the game midway through the second period. The goal was called back as offside after a coach’s challenge from Columbus.

The first goal of the game came very late in that period, Just as a Columbus penalty expired, Jack Thompson scored his first NHL goal. He caught a cross-ice pass from Will Smith and put the puck in the net with a wrist shot at 18:49. A secondary assist went to Fabian Zetterlund.

In the second period, Columbus took the only two penalties. The shot count for the period was 17-11 Columbus.

The Sharks took a timeout at 8:06 of the third period. Columbus had just come very close to scoring, requiring four quick saves from Vanecek. After the timeout, Columbus continued to apply pressure and finally broke through with a goal at 9:17.

Kirill Marchenko gathered up a rebound from Damon Severson’s shot. He dragged the puck around Vanecek and poked it in on the far side. Assists went to Severson and Yegor Chinakhov.

The Sharks had a late power play but had no shots goal with the man advantage. The shot count at the end of regulation was 49-25 Columbus.

Alexander Wennberg scored the overtime winner 3:11 into overtime, skating around and between all three Columbus skaters before shooting into the top corner. Assists went to Zetterlund and Vanecek.

The Sharks next play on Thursday at 7:30 PM PT at home against the Minnesota Wild.