Author: M Walsh

Sharks Fall 4-2 to Blue Jackets; CBJs Nylander gets two goals and Tarasov saves 39 shots

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Columbus Blue Jackets forward Boone Jenner (38) passes off the puck against the San Jose Sharks defenseman Mario Ferraro (38) in the second period at Nationwide Arena in Columbus on Sat Mar 16, 2024 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks lost 4-2 to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday. Boone Jenner, Alexander Nylander, Johnny Gaudreau scored for Columbus, with a second goal from Nylander into an empty net. Daniil Tarasov made 39 saves for the win. Fabian Zetterlund and Henry Thrun scored for San Jose and Magnus Chrona made 16 saves in the loss.

In a frustrating loss, the Sharks managed an unusual high of 42 shots in the game, and allowed just four shots for Columbus in the third period. After the game, Sharks Head Coach David Quinn said:

“We had plenty of chances, especially in the third period. Hit a couple posts, made some good saves in the third, but dug ourselves a little bit of a hole with our start. You know, our first period certainly wasn’t anything that we wanted it to be but I thought we gradually got better as the game went on and made a great push in the third period.”

Quinn went into more detail about what went wrong in the first period, saying: “Just really not engaged physically. I thought we gave them way too much room and way too much respect and just, it was easy for them, way too easy. But I thought as the game went on we got more engaged.”

Boone Jenner scored first, late in the first period. Johnny Gaudreau caught a pass in the neutral zone and skated in with Jenner close behind. Gaudreau passed the puck across the slot and Jenner caught it, then skated back across to the other side of the goal and backhanded it in. Assists went to Gaudreau and Damon Severson.

Alexander Nylander made it 2-0 49 seconds into the second period. Ivan Provorov made a pass from the Blue Jackets’ zone to Nylander on the Sharks’ blue line. Nylander skated in and took a quick wrist shot to score his 34th of the season.

Fabian Zetterlund cut it to 2-1 at 11:48. Mario Ferraro sent the puck to the net with a high pass. Provorov knocked it down but Zetterlund was right there to catch the falling puck and knock it into the net. Assists went to Ferraro and Mikael Granlund.

Johnny Gaudreau made it 3-1 at 15:03. Nylander took a shot from the blue line and Gaudreau gathered up the rebound to tuck it between the post and Chrona’s skate. Assists went to Nylander and Jenner.

Henry Thrun got one back for the Sharks at 11:42 of the third period. Kevin Labanc skated into the zone with the puck and made his way through some traffic high in the slot before kicking the puck to Thrun. Thrun took the shot right away and sent it into the far side of the net as Tarasov slid to the near side.

Alexander Nylander scored into the empty net at 18:55 of the third. Gaudreau got an assist.

The Sharks next play on Sunday in Chicago against the Blackhawks at 3:00 PM PT.

Sharks Fall 3-2 to Flyers, Zadina Scores Twice

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Philadelphia Flyers Joel Farabee (left) deflected the puck against the San Jose Sharks goaltender Magnus Chrona (right) in the third period at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia on Tue Mar 12, 2024 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks lost 3-2 to the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday. Joel Farabee, Morgan Frost and Owen Tippett scored for the Flyers. Samuel Ersson made 27 saves for the win. Filip Zadina scored twice for the Sharks. Magnus Chrona made 39 saves in the loss.

Although the Sharks were outshot 41-29, they kept the game close, never falling more than one goal behind. They never had a lead either. After the game, Sharks Head Coach David Quinn said:

“I just thought we played a little too slow. I didn’t think we had our pace to our game throughout all three zones. I thought in our d-zone we were slow to coverage, I didn’t think we were really ending enough plays and playing on our toes and moving as the puck was moving. There was jst a little bit of a disconnect tonight.”

The Flyers scored first, 3:29 into the game. Morgan Frost intercepted a neutral zone pass and passed it to Joel Farabee, who was into the zone before any Shark. One-on-one with the goaltender, he took a quick shot and put the puck under Chrona for his 19th goal of the season.

The Sharks tied it on the power play in the final minute of the first period. Luke Kunin centered the puck as Filip Zadina entered the zone right down the middle. He pulled the puck back and forth before using a backhand shot to score. Assists went to Luke Kunin and Alexander Barabanov.

Morgan Frost gave the Flyers a lead on the power play at 9:20 of the second period. While sliding backwards away from the net, he caught a rebound off of Travis Konecny’s shot and put the puck up under the bar. Assists went to Konecny and Cam York.

The Sharks tied it again on the power play, again with a goal from Zadina. With the Sharks at the end of the second of back-to-back power plays, Zadina redirected a pass from Luke Kunin. Assists went to Kunin and Kim Kostin.

Owen Tippett scored the game winner for Philadelphia during a delayed penalty in the third period. As the Flyers skated six-on-five, Konecny made a pass through traffic to Tippett for a redirection into the net. Assists went to Konecny and York.

The Sharks next play on Thursday in Pittsburgh against the Penguins at 4:00 PM PT.

Sharks Fall 3-2 in a Shootout with the Stars

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The San Jose Sharks goaltender Magnus Chrona (30) gets a stick on the puck for a save as the Dallas Stars Ty Dellandrea looks on at American Airlines Arena in Dallas on Sat Mar 2, 2024 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks fell 3-2 in a shootout to the Dallas Stars on Saturday. Stars goals came from Radek Faksa and Jason Robertson. Matt Duchene and Jamie Benn scored in the shootout. Jake Oettinger made 21 saves for the win.

Sharks goals came from William Eklund and Filip Zadina. Anthony Duclair scored in the shootout. Magnus Chrona made 36 saves in the loss. This is the Sharks’ sixth loss in a row, though they did get a point against the top team in the Central Division.

With Mackenzie Blackwood on IR, Chrona is bound to see a few more starts before the end of the season. His last start for the Sharks was on December 28, when he was pulled after giving up four goals in the first period. Saturday, his performance was better, giving up just two goals on 38 shots. After the game, Sharks forward Luke Kunin said, of the young goaltender:

“He was great tonight. Some huge saves for us, really kept us in that game. I thought we had a pretty good game for the most part but those stretches where we were giving up a lot, he was there to back us up. Great performance by him tonight.”

Of the Sharks game outside the net, Sharks Head Coach David Quinn said: “The faceoffs killed us. I think they won almost 70% of their faceoffs. You’re chasing the game a lot when you’re losing that many faceoffs. But I thought overall we played a good hockey game.” The Stars did win 67.2% of the faceoffs.

The Sharks scored first at 4:39 of the first period. William Eklund and Luke Kunin entered the zone two-on-one and Eklund took a shot that Oettinger kicked back out. Eklund was ready to catch the rebound and scored with a quick wrist shot. Assists went to Kunin and Jan Rutta.

The Stars tied it at 3:08 of the second period. Sam Steel deflected Craig Smith’s shot from the boards. The puck trickled through Chrona but still needed an extra push from Radek Faksa to cross the line.

The Sharks took the lead back with a goal at 17:08 of the second. Filip Zadina spun around in the faceoff circle and took his shot. The puck bounced up over Oettinger and hit the post before a Star swept it out of the net. An official review determined that the puck did cross the line. Luke Kunin got an assist.

Fabian Zetterlund blocked a shot with his ankle in the final minutes of the period. He had to be helped off the ice and back to the dressing room.

The Stars tied it again at 4:08 of the third period with a power play goal just 3 seconds into that power play. Jason Robertson took a shot from the top of the faceoff circle, putting the puck into the side of the net. Assists went to Miro Heiskanen and Jamie Benn.

Early in the third period, Nico Sturm returned to the bench with an injury, possibly an elbow or a stick to the neck.

At the end of regulation, the Stars had outshot the Sharks 36 to 20. Dallas took a penalty about half way through overtime but the Sharks could not take advantage of that. The Sharks had three shots in overtime and the Stars had two.

The shootout went to seven rounds. Matt Duchene and Jamie Benn scored for the Stars. Benn scored the winner while falling to the ice after tripping over Chrona’s stick.

Jake Oettinger stopped shots from Filip Zetterlund, William Eklund, Kyle Granlund, Filip Zadina, Mike Hoffman and Luke Kunin. Anthony Duclair scored for the Sharks. Magnus Chrona stopped shots from Jason Robertson, Roope Hintz, Wyatt Johnston, Logan Stankoven and Joe Pavelski.

The Sharks next play on Sunday at 4:00 PM PT in St. Paul, Minnesota, against the Wild.

Sharks Douse Flames 6-3, Zadina and Kunin 2 Goals Each

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The San Jose Sharks Luke Kunin (right) and the Calgary Flames Brayden Pachal (left) watch the play in front of them in the first period at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary on Thu Feb 15, 2024 (Canadian Press via AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

In their first meeting this season, the San Jose Sharks defeated the Calgary Flames 6-3 on Thursday. Mikael Granlund and Justin Bailey scored for San Jose, while Luke Kunin and Filip Zadina each scored twice. Mackenzie Blackwood made 31 saves for the win. Zadina had four points in the game, a career high. Nazem Kadri, Mikael Backlund and Andrei Kuzmenko scored for Calgary. Dustin Wolf made 25 saves in the loss.

After the game, Sharks forward Justin Bailey, who had three points in the game, said:

“Obviously things haven’t been easy for us as a group but I think the one thing that’s been a staple throughout the whole year is we’ve maintained a positive attitude, we’ve maintained trust and belief in the system of what we’re doing and nights like tonight when all things kind of seem to go in your favor, it feels good as a group.”

Nazem Kadri scored the only goal in the first period, giving Calgary a 1-0 lead at 4:19. Kadri deflected a rebound from Martin Pospisil’s shot in a three-on-one rush. The Flames had two power plays in the first period and out-shot the Sharks 13-8.

The Flames had another power play less than two minutes into the second period, but the Sharks killed that and tied the game at 4:52. Mikael Granlund scored with a wrist shot from the face-off circle. An assist went to Filip Zadina.

The Sharks took the lead at 7:50 with a goal from Justin Bailey. After a quick give and go in front of the net with Zadina, Bailey had an open net to shoot at.

At the very end of their first power play of the game, the Sharks made it 3-1 with a goal from Luke Kunin at 12:30. Kunin slipped the puck by Wolf right at the post. The goal came in what was really a 16 second power play for the Sharks, as most of the power play was eaten up by four-on-four play due to overlapping penalties. The goal was missed at first and only on review did the officials identify it. Assists went to William Eklund and Kyle Burroughs.

Mikael Backlund cut the lead down to one with at goal at 19:40. His wrist shot found its way through a crowd at the corner of the net. A scrum followed as Blackwood was knocked over by two falling skaters, one from each team. The Sharks challenged the goal on the basis of goaltender interference, but the goal was upheld. Assists went to Chris Tanev and Noah Hanifin.

Filip Zadina made it 4-2 at 4:38 of the third period. Zadina deflected Nico Sturm’s shot from the point, using the shaft of his stick while skating through the faceoff circle. Assists went to Sturm and Bailey.

Zadina scored again less than a minute later at 5:15. This time, he scored with a wrist shot while using a Calgary defender as a screen. Assists went to Bailey and Marc-Edouard Vlasic.

Luke Kunin scored his second of the game at 15:30 to make it 6-2. After the puck in the neutral zone, Kunin surprised the Flames and skated into the zone all on his own. He put the puck up under the crossbar to beat Wolf.

Andrei Kuzmenko redirected a shot by Chris Tanev to make it 6-3 at 16:40.

At 13:22 of the second period, Jan Rutta fell to the ice with some help from Walker Duehr’s wide-swinging leg that took out Rutta’s legs. He left the game.

The Sharks next play on Saturday at 7:30 PM PT in San Jose against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Jets Shut Out Sharks 1-0, Ferraro and Granlund Return, Hertl and Couture Out

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Winnipeg Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck (37) deflects the puck that goes wide as the Jets Dylan DeMelo (2) defends against the San Jose Sharks Mikeal Granlund (64) at Canada Life Center in Winnipeg on Wed Feb 14, 2024 (The Canadian Press via AP photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks were shut out 1-0 by the Winnipeg Jets on Wednesday. Morgan Barron scored the only goal in the game and Connor Hellebuyck made 17 saves for the shutout win. Kaapo Kahkonen made 38 saves in the loss.

After the game, Sharks goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen said, of the many shots he faced: “They’re a pretty high shot volume team but overall I think what we did well was, even though they got a lot of shots on net, I think we boxed out, we kinda kept them outside so that was good for me.”

Sharks Head Coach David Quinn had a more dismal view of what the Sharks were doing with the puck:

“We had plenty of opportunities to make crisp passes and didn’t do it, I thought our puck play was really slow. I thought we were standing still when we got pucks. That really was the story to me of the night. I didn’t think we had any pace to our game with the puck.”

The Sharks started well in the first period, getting four shots on net before the Jets had any. The Jets turned that around and had 15 shots without allowing the Sharks any more in the period.

With 2:13 left in the period, the Jets scored. Morgan Barron deflected Adam Lowry’s shot from the point for his ninth goal of the season. Assists went to Lowry and Neal Pionk.

The Sharks took one penalty in the first period and allowed one shot to the Jets power play.

At 17:10 of the second period, it looked like Anthony Duclair might have tied the game. A review showed that the puck was stopped by Mark Sheifele, who had slipped in behind his goaltender.

The Jets again out-shot the Sharks in the second period, 16-8. Each team took a penalty in the second period. The Sharks allowed one shot to the Jets power play, and had one short-handed shot. They had no shots in their own power play.

Midway through the third period, Nico Sturm left the game after a hit from Logan Stanley, Stanley’s knee came up behind Sturm’s legs as Sturm fell, causing Sturm to hit the ice head and shoulders first.

In the final minute, Kaapo Kahkonen sustained what appeared to be a lower body injury. He was able to get to the bench so the Sharks could add an extra skater.

The final shot count was 40-18 Jets. In the face-off circle, the Sharks won 38.5% of the draws. Nico Sturn led the team in shots with four.

Mario Ferraro and Mikael Granlund were back in the lineup after being injured before the All Star break. Both Tomas Hertl and Logan Couture were out. Hertl had scheduled knee surgery after the All Star Game. The team had advanced notice and, while the surgery was not emergent, it was needed. Logan Couture is having problems with the same lower body injury that kept him out for most of the season.

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

2024 NHL All Star Game: Team Matthews Defeats Team McDavid 7-4 in Final

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Team McDavid forward Nick Suzuki (14), of the Montreal Canadiens, celebrates his goal against Team MacKinnon with teammates Boone Jenner (38), of the Columbus Blue Jackets, and Tomas Hertl (48), of the San Jose Sharks, during the NHL All-Star Game 3-on-3 hockey tournament in Toronto, Ontario, Saturday, Feb. 3, 2024. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP) 

By Mary Walsh

Team Matthews prevailed 7-4 in the 2024 NHL All Star Game at Scotiabank in Toronto against Team McDavid on Saturday. Clayton Keller (ARI), Mitch Marner (TOR), Auston Matthews (TOR) (2 goals), Filip Forsberg (NSH), Alex DeBrincat (DET), and Matthew Barzal (NYI) scored for Team Matthews. Jake Oettinger (DAL) and Igor Shesterkin (NYR) shared the net in the win.

Boone Jenner (CBJ), David Pastrnak (BOS), Leon Draisaitl (EDM), and Tomas Hertl (SJS) scored for Team McDavid. Connor Hellebuyck (WPG) and Sergei Bobrovsky (FLA) shared the net in the loss. As they have done since 2016, teams played 3-on-3 for two ten-minute periods. Goaltenders each played one period. Winners of the semi-final games moved on to the final.

Jim Montgomery (BOS) coached Team Matthews, Peter Laviolette (NYR) coached Team McDavid, Rick Bowness (WPG) coached Team MacKinnon and Rick Tocchet (VAN) coached Team Hughes. The teams also had celebrity captains: Justin Bieber for Matthews, Will Arnett for McDavid, Tate McRae for MacKinnon and Michael Bublé for Hughes.

Team McDavid won the first semi-final 4-3 in a shoot-out against Team McKinnon. Boone Jenner (CBJ), David Pastrnak (BOS) and Connor McDavid (EDM) scored for Team McDavid. Connor Hellebuyck (WPG) and Sergei Bobrovsky (FLA) shared the net in the win. Nathan McKinnon (COL) scored twice and Oliver Bjorkstrand (SEA) scored for Team McKinnon. Jeremy Swayman (BOS) and Alexander Georgiev (COL) shared the net in the loss.

Team McDavid was down 3-1 with less than a minute left in the game. They pulled their second period goaltender, Bobrovsky, for a fourth skater. Pastrnak started the comeback with 31.5 seconds left and McDavid tied it 3-3 with 5.4 seconds left.

McDavid and Pastrnak went on to scored in the shoot-out against Jeremy Swayman. Swayman stopped a shot from Leon Draisaitl (EDM). Sergei Bobrovsky stopped shots from Sidney Crosby (PIT) and Nathan MacKinnon.

In the second semi-final, Team Matthews defeated Team Hughes 6-5, also in a shoot-out. Alex DeBrincat (DET) and Filip Forsberg each scored twice and Mitch Marner added a fifth for Team Matthews. Jake Oettinger (DAL) and Igor Shesterkin (NYR) shared the net in the win. Frank Vatrano (ANA) scored twice and Nikita Kutcherov (TBL), Elias Petterson (VAN), and Brady Tkachuk (OTT) scored for Team Hughes. Thatcher Demko (VAN) and Cam Talbot (LAK) shared the net in the loss.

Alex DeBrincat scored the only goal in the shootout, against Thatcher Demko (VAN). Igor Shesterkin (NYR) stopped shots from Kyle Connor (WPG), Nikita Kutcherov (TBL), Elias Petterson (VAN) and J. T. Miller (VAN). Thatcher Demko (VAN) stopped shots from Filip Forsberg, Auston Matthews and William Nylander (TOR).

Mary Walsh is a San Jose Sharks beat writer for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Sharks Fall 3-2 in OT, Vlasic Scores Third Game in a Row

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The San Jose Sharks center Nico Sturm (7) gets to the door step but can’t score on Anaheim Ducks goaltender Josh Gibson (36) in the second period at the Honda Center in Anaheim on Wed Jan 31, 2024 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks were defeated in overtime 3-2 by the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday at the Honda Center in Anaheim. Isac Lundestrom, Troy Terry and Frank Vatrano scored for the Ducks. John Gibson made 26 saves for the win. Anthony Duclair and Marc-Edouard Vlasic scored for the Sharks. Kaapo Kahkonen made 31 saves in the loss.

The Sharks had a lead through most of the game. To lose after that had to be frustrating. After the game, Sharks Captain Logan Couture said “I thought we were the better team for a lot of the game but third period they kind of took over. They had a lot of looks, we looked tired at the end there.”

Sharks Head Coach David Quinn said that the team is playing well now, despite this loss: “The one thing that you feel good about right now is how we’re playing now and our compete and we’re not giving up a lot of goals and just overall playing better hockey.”

Anaheim celebrated as if they had scored at 1:58 of the first period. But the whistle had blown and the puck only went into the net as Kahkonen was pushed in as well.

Less than 20 seconds later, the Ducks did score. Isac Lundestrom slipped behind the defense and scored with a wrist shot at 2:12. Assists went to Mason McTavish and Jakob Silfverberg

Anthony Duclair tied the game with a power play goal at 6:59. Shakir Mukhamadullin took a slap shot from the blue line and Duclair caught the rebound. Assists went to Mukhamadullin and Mike Hoffman. That was Mukhamadullin’s first NHL point in his third game.

Marc-Edouard Vlasic scored from the blue line with a slap shot at 17:57 of the second. Assists went to Kyle Burroughs and William Eklund. The goal extended Vlasic’s goal streak to three games.

With the Ducks net empty, Troy Terry tied the game at 18:59 of the third period. With a scrum in front of the net, Terry found the puck and put it in. Assists went to Leo Carlsson and Adam Henrique.

Frank Vatrano scored the overtime winner 4:07 into overtime. His wrist shot went past Kahkonen’s blocker as the goaltender tried moved across the goal mouth.

The Sharks were out-shot 34-28 by the Ducks. In the face-off circle, they won 45.5% of the draws. Alexander Barabanov was injured half way through the game. After the game, Quinn said that he did not believe the injury was “too serious.”

The Sharks next play on February 14 at 4:30 PM PT in Winnipeg against the Jets.

Sharks Beat Kings 4-3 in Shootout, Couture Scores in SO; San Jose wins second straight game in LA

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Logan Couture (39) the San Jose Sharks center and team captain with the Los Angeles Kings center Anze Kopitar (11) meet at center ice with former Los Angeles Rams running back Marshall Faulk (28) for the pre game puck drop ceremonies at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks defeated the Los Angeles Kings 4-3 in a shootout on Monday. Fabian Zetterlund, William Eklund, Justin Bailey scored for the Sharks in regulation. Zetterlund and Logan Couture scored in the shootout. Kaapo Kahkonen made 44 saves for the win. Trevor Moore, Quinton Byfield and Drew Doughty scored for the Kings and David Rittich mdae 24 saves in the loss.

Midway through the second period, Sharks defenseman Mario Ferraro sustained a lower body injury going into the boards after a hit by Trevor Lewis. He dragged himself to the bench and did not return to play. Sharks Head Coach David Quinn said that he expects Ferraro to miss at least “a couple games.”

Ferraro’s injury left the team short one defenseman for roughly half of regulation. After the game, Quinn said:

“Yeah, it was a gritty one. Listen, obviously we went down to five D there and you could see our D getting tired and they turned it up a little bit there in the third and towards the end of the second. But we just kept battling and competing and I give our D-corps a ton of credit. They turned it up and we answered.”

In a scoreless first period, the Sharks were out-shot by the Kings 18-6. They picked things up in the second. With an extra skater on during a delayed penalty, Fabian Zetterlund scored with a snap shot in the slot at 7:46. Assists went to Mike Hoffman and Tomas Hertl.

William Eklund made it 2-0 with a snap shot at 9:06.. Skating into the zone with Nico Sturm, Eklund caught Sturm’s pass and took the shot from inside the left circle. Assists went to Sturm and Jan Rutta

Trevor Moore got the Kings on the board with a snap shot at 17:06. From the right circle, he put the puck into the far corner. An assist went to Kevin Fiala.

Quinton Byfield tied the game with a slap shot at 1:33 of the third. Adrian Kempe centered the puck from near the goal line and Kahkonen could not get across in time to stop Byfield’s shot. Assists went to Kempe and Jordan Spence.

Justin Bailey gave the Sharks a 3-2 lead at 6:07. Skating in on a breakaway, Bailey’s wrist shot went under Rittich for Bailey’s third of the season. An assist went to Ryan Carpenter.

Drew Doughty tied it again on the power play with six Kings skaters on the ice. He scored with a slap shot from just below the blue line at 18:02. Assists went to Kevin Fiala and Quinton Byfield.

The game went through overtime, during which the Sharks had just two shots to the Kings’ five. In the shootout, Logan Couture and Fabian Zetterlund scored. Kahkonen stopped shots from Trevor Moore and Adrian Kempe.

The Sharks were out-shot by the Kings 47-27 in the game. They won 54.7% of the draws. Logan Couture led the team in face-offs, winning 9 of 14 draws.

The Sharks next play Tuesday, back in San Jose against the New York Rangers at 7:30 PM PT.

Sharks Fall to Blackhawks 2-1 in Shootout; San Jose suffers third straight loss

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The San Jose Sharks Filip Zedina (18) puts the puck on net only to stopped by Chicago Blackhawks goaltender Petr Mrazek (34) in the second period at the United Center in Chicago on Tue Jan 16, 2024 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks lost 2-1 in a shootout to the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday. Cole Guttman, Rem Pitlick and Boris Katchouk scored for Chicago. Ryan Carpenter and Kevin Labanc scored for San Jose. Petr Mrazek made 37 saves for the win. Mackenzie Blackwood made 24 saves in the loss.

The Sharks had a lot of chances and shots in Tuesday’s game. Sharks Head Coach David Quinn talked about the frustrating loss:

“I thought we played well, I thought we had a lot of grade-A’s, I thought we played well, we played hard. We’ve been having a tough time scoring goals here over the last few days. But if we play like that the pucks’ll eventuually end up going in.”

Cole Guttman scored on the power play with a shot between the legs at 10:41 of the first period. The puck bounced off of Ferraro’s skate to end up in the net. Assists went to Ryan Donato and Kevin Korchinski.

Ryan Carpenter tied the game with a snap shot at 5:13 of the third period. Justi Bailey created the play by winning a puck battle and getting the puck to Carpenter. Assists went to Justin Bailey and Mike Hoffman.

Rem Pitlick and Boris Katchouk scored for Chicago and Kevin Labanc scored for San Jose in a nine-round shootout.

The Sharks out-shot the Blackhawks 38-25 and won 50.9% of the faceoffs. The Sharks power play had three shots in two power plays and gave up one short-handed shot. Their penalty kill gave up one goal and eight shots in four penalties.

The Sharks next play on Saturday at 7:00 PM PT in San Jose against the Anaheim Ducks.

Sabres Shutout Sharks 3-0, Mittelstadt Earns 3 Points

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The Buffalo Sabres Zemgus Girgensons is in a battle for the puck with the San Jose Sharks Henry Thun (3) and William Eklund (72) in Buffalo on Mon Jan 15, 2024 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks lost to the Buffalo Sabres 3-0 Monday. It was the Sharks’ 14th loss in 15 games. Casey Mittelstadt, Alex Tuch and Jordan Greenway scored for Buffalo. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 28 saves for the shutout win. Kaapo Kahkonen made 32 saves for the Sharks.

Sharks Head Coach David Quinn has talked about the team needing to be more aggressive on the puck. In Monday’s game, he thought he saw some improvement in that department. After the game, he put more emphasis on the team’s willingness to shoot the puck:

“An area I think we really can improve on is shoot more pucks and create more opportunities for other people. Right now I think we’re in the mindset of we’re not gonna shoot unless we’re going to score. With that comes going to the net a little bit more.”

Casey Mittelstadt scored first at 11:34 of the second period. His wrist shot into traffic bounced and trickled under Kahkonen’s right arm. Assists went to Kyle Okposo and Ryan Johnson.

The second goal of the game came on the power play from Alex Tuch at 14:37. He caught Jack Quinn’s pass between the faceoff circle and snapped the puck past Kahkonen’s stick side. Assists went to Quinn and Mittelstadt.

The final goal of the game came at 16:34 of the third period. Jordan Greenway knocked William Eklund off the puck in the neutral zone and then caught a pass from Mittelstadt to score into the empty net. Assists went to Mittelstadt and Rasmus Dahlin.

The Sharks stayed within one shot of the Sabres until the third period, when the Sabres had 16 to the Sharks’ 8. The Sharks’ power play had one shot in two opportunities. Their penalty kill gave up one goal and three shots in two Buffalo power plays. Alexander Barabanov led the Sharks in shots with four.

The Sharks next play on Tuesday at 5:30 PM PT in Chicago against the Blackhawks.