Category: NHL

San Jose Sharks podcast with Mary Lisa: Sharks conclude 4 game road trip in Pittsburgh tonight

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San Jose Sharks Tim Liljegren (center) celebrates his goal with teammates Cody Ceci (left) and Luke Kunin in the first period against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Thu Nov 14, 2024 (AP News photo)

On the San Jose Sharks podcast with Mary Lisa:

#1 New York Rangers Mika Zibanejad Jimmy Versey, Vince Trocheck, scored a goal each in the second period and that was all the scoring the Rangers needed to defeat the San Jose Sharks 3-2 on Thursday night.

#2 Sharks head coach Ryan Warsofsky said that the Sharks did improve their first period which they had lost in most games this time they shutout the Rangers 1-0. They didn’t win the game but they did figure out how to improve in the first period

#3 The Rangers got goaltending help from Igor Shesterkin who stopped 25 shots and held the Sharks to just two goals enough to win the game by a goal.

#4 Former Rangers and current Shark Barclay Goodrow who played three seasons in New York got a standing ovation from the Madison Square Garden fans during a third period break in the action.

#5 Mary Lisa, the Sharks complete this four game road trip tonight against the Pittsburgh Penguins at PPG Pants Arena. The Penguins have lost four of their last five games. The Sharks have lost three of their last four games. How do you see the match up between the Sharks and Penguins tonight?

Mary Lisa covers the San Jose Sharks road games at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Vegas Forwards Lay Down Two Pair as Golden Knights Defeat Utah HC 4-2 

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Utah Hockey Club Mikhail Sergachev (98) celebrates with teammates after scoring against the Vegas Golden Knights at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Fri Nov 15, 2024 (AP News photo)

Tomas Hertl and William Karlsson each score twice in Vegas victory over Utah

SALT LAKE CITY–Coming off of a heart-stopping 4-1 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes on Wednesday night, the Utah Hockey Club faced another stiff challenge on Friday squaring off against the Pacific Division leading Vegas Golden Knights.  The two teams had already faced each other in Las Vegas two weeks earlier where Utah found itself losing 4-3 in overtime.

Utah forward Logan Cooley drew first blood at 11:16 of the first period with his third goal of the season, assisted by Matias Maccelli and Dylan Guenther. Utah finished the period besting Vegas 16-9 in shots on goal and winning 86% of faceoffs.

Moving on to the second period, Utah defenseman Mikhail Sergachev notched his 4th goal of the season at 6:59 on the power play to make it 2-0, assisted by captain Clayton Keller and Alexander Kerfoot. With the goal, Sergachev extended his home goal-scoring streak to four consecutive games. 

Later in the period, with Utah defenseman Michael Kesselring in the penalty box for hooking against Keegan Kolesar, Tomas Hertl brought the Golden Knights back to within one on a power play goal assisted by Nicolas Roy and Jack Eichel.

Unfortunately for Utah, the third period was all Vegas. At 8:23 Tomas Hertl evened things up with his second power play goal of the game, assisted by William Karlsson and Jack Eichel.  With a minute and eighteen seconds left in regulation, Karlsson gave the Golden Knights their first lead of the game which also turned out to be the game-winner, assisted by Kaedan Korczak and Cole Schwindt.  With Utah netminder 

Karel Vejmelka on the bench to give his squad an extra attacker, Karlsson struck again unassisted into the empty net with 29 seconds left to send fans to the parking lots as Vegas came away with a 4-2 victory. 

Utah Hockey Club Head Coach André Tourigny addressed the media following the game. “Well, I don’t think we played as good with the puck, but I think it started in the second. I think in the second we were not as urgent defensively giving a few men rush…It’s not like they generate the few man rush we give them, so that started there. I think in the third we…it’s not like we collapsed, and we still had a few chances, but I don’t think we connected really well on our power play, and that cost us momentum.” 

Tourigny, commenting on the difference between the first and third periods, said, “There (was) two teams on the ice, in the first there (was) only one. When they showed up, there started to be a game. I think from there it was 50/50. I don’t think it’s for them or us. I think it was 50/50. It’s a good team, Stanley Cup champion contender. And you know what? One thing you can learn from them in that game is, even when we dominate, they just hang there. They just hang there and hang there. We could not get the big goal. It’s the killer goal, (would) have probably changed everything, but we could not separate ourselves, like you mentioned, after the first period, you know, we had (a) 1-0 lead instead 2-0 or 3-0 lead. And that (would) have separated us. Instead of that, they stayed in it and scored a goal in their power play and scored another goal in their power play, and then they get a tip at the end of the game.”

One highlight for the home team was finishing with a season-high 34 shots after averaging 25.9 shots per game over the previous 16 matches.

Utah still has a chance to wrap up its three game homestand on a winning note on Monday as Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals make their first NHL visit to Salt Lake City for a 7:00pm (MST) matchup.

NHL podcast with Len Shapiro: Tampa Bay’s Vesilevskiy fastest goalie to reach 300 wins; New Jersey’s Bratt gets hat trick defeat Panthers 6-2; plus more news

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The Tampa Bay Lightning’s defenseman Victor Hedman (77) congratulates goaltender Andrei Vesilevskiy (88) after he picked up his 300th career NHL win in Tampa Bay on Thu Nov 14, 2024 (AP News photo)

On the NHL podcast with Len:

#1 The Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Andrei Vesilevskiy became the fastest goalie to reach 300th win as the Lightning defeated the Winnipeg Jets 4-1 at Amalie Arena in Tampa Bay on Thursday night. It was the Jets second loss in 15 games.

#2 The New Jersey Devil’s Jesper Bratt’s hat trick help beat the Florida Panthers 6-2. It was Bratt’s second career hat trick. New Jersey got goals from Stefan Noesen who scored twice, Nico Hischier and Jack Hughes picked up a goal a piece in the win.

#3 The Philadelphia Flyers Matvei Michkov scored a game winning overtime goal to defeat the Ottawa Senators 5-4 in at Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa on Thursday. Michkov’s game winner was a sharp angle shot that went past Senators goaltender Linus Ullmark with just enough daylight to get the Flyers the win.

#4 For the New York Rangers Mika Zibanejad the nine game drought without a goal has ended as Zibanejad scored off a rebound on Adam Fox’s shot at 11:41 in the second period that tied up the game 1-1. The Rangers would add two more goals for a total of three goals in the second period that was all the scoring they would need to edge the San Jose Sharks 3-2 at Madison Square Garden.

#5 The Buffalo Sabres edged the St Louis Blues Thursday night 4-3 in overtime. Tied 3-3 in the overtime stanza the Sabres Rasmus Dahlin scored at 1:33 on a power play goal to lift Buffalo to victory. It was a back in forth game that saw the Sabres score twice in the first period to make it 2-1, the Blues came right back with two goals to take the lead 3-2, the Sabres would score in the third period to tie it and get the win in the overtime.

Len Shapiro does the NHL podcasts each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Rangers 3 goals was all they needed to edge Sharks 3-2 at Madison Square Garden

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The New York Rangers Vincent Trocheck (right) battles with the San Jose Sharks William Eklund (left) for the hockey puck in the first period at Madison Square Garden on Thu Nov 14, 2024 (AP News photo)

By Jessica Kwong

NEW YORK. — The San Jose Sharks played one of their best first periods of the season, but could not keep it up in the second and fell to the New York Rangers 3-2 at Madison Square Garden on Thursday night.

New York scored three unanswered goals in the second period, and the Sharks failed to make a comeback in the third.

“I think our first period was obviously our identity and the way that we need to play. We’ve got to do that more often,” said Sharks head coach Ryan Warsofsky. “Hope this is a learning moment.”

Timothy Liljegren made the first goal of the game at 17:09, when the puck went off a few players and he got it past Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin to put the Sharks up 1-0. Liljegren was assisted by Luke Kunin and Nico Sturm.

“Just a lot of people in front, in front of the net, so just tried to get it there and had the lucky bounce so good to see it go in,” said Liljegren.

The Sharks played fast and got pucks deep and got them back, but got away from that in the second and third periods.

In the second, Mika Zibanejad scored a goal at 8:19 assisted by Adam Fox and Reilly Smith to tie the game at 1-1. Then at 6:45, Jimmy Vesey made a goal assisted by Sam Carrick to put the Rangers up 2-1. A few minutes later, Vincent Trocheck scored assisted by Artemi Panarin and Alexis Lafrenière to boost New York up 3-1.

“I think our first period overall was really good and then obviously it was tough to follow it up in the second,” said Sharks right wing Barclay Goodrow. “We were just playing simple. Playing the game we have to play to be successful.”

In the third period, the Sharks did too little too late. Fabian Zetterlund scored on a power-play with 27 seconds remaining, assisted by William Eklund and Tyler Toffoli, to cut the Rangers’ lead to 3-2.

“If you give these guys too many chances they’re going to score and that’s what they did,” Liljegren said. “So, got to learn from it and play more of a 60-minute game like we played in the first.”

Shesterkin had 25 saves, helping the Rangers notch their fourth win in six games and improve to 10-4-1.

During a stop in the first period when Goodrow was shown on the jumbotron, the crowd gave him an ovation. Goodrow spent three seasons with the Rangers and had six goals during the playoffs last spring.

“It was good,” he said. “Obviously, would’ve been nice to get the win, but yeah it was good to be back.”

The Sharks (5-10-3) finish off their four-game road trip facing the Pittsburgh Penguins (6-9-3) on Saturday. The puck drops at 4 p.m. PT.

Utah HC Rocks Carolina Like a Hurricane in 4-1 Victory 

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Utah goaltender Karel Vejmelka stopped 49 of 50 shots and teammates rain down three goals in the third period to win first game of homestand 4-1 against the Carolina Hurricanes at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Wed Nov 13, 2024 (AP News photo)

By Tom Walker

SALT LAKE CITY–The Utah Hockey Club returned home to Delta Center on Wednesday night having completed a two-week, four-game road trip against Las Vegas, Winnipeg, St. Louis, and Nashville in which they finished with a 1-2-1 record. The visiting Carolina Hurricanes entered the night’s play having won 9 of their last 10 games with an 11-3 record overall on the season.

The two teams played physically throughout a first period which seemed like it would end in a scoreless draw until Utah forward Nick Bjugstad found the back of the Carolina net for his first goal of the season, unassisted, with a little more than two minutes remaining in the frame to give Utah HC the first lead of the game.

The Hurricanes came back in a fury in the second period, peppering goaltender Karel Vejmelka with 17 shots. With defenseman Ian Cole in the penalty box for holding against Jordan Staal, Carolina forward Martin Necas capitalized on the ensuing power play with his ninth goal of the season at 10:04 to even things up, assisted by Shayne Gostisbehere and Sebastian Aho.

At the end of two, Carolina held a whopping edge in shots on goal, 32-13. If not for a defense which was both stingy and lucky, Carolina could have easily taken a commanding lead in the period.

Utah forward Jack McBain gave his squad a 2-1 lead at 5:09 of the third period, assisted by defenseman Michael Kesselring. Before anyone could blink, Utah thought it had its third goal of the game, but upon further review it was ruled that the puck did not cross the goal line.

Two minutes later, however, defenseman Mikhail Sergachev lit the lamp for his third goal of the season, assisted by Dylan Guenther and Matias Maccelli, chasing Carolina netminder Pyotr Kochetkov in the process. Just 17 seconds later, Nick Bjugstad welcomed Spencer Martin to the game, scoring his second goal of the game and the season to make it 4-1, assisted by Michael Kesselring and Nick Schmaltz.

It was just a couple of weeks ago that Utah had a 4-1 lead in the third at home against the Sharks, only to stumble and lose to San Jose in overtime, so when forward Michael Carcone took two minute instigator, five minute fighting, and ten minute game misconduct penalties at 8:03, Utah needed to hunker down to preserve their lead.

Six minutes and 26 seconds into the penalty kill, Maveric Lamoureux was called for hooking, giving the Hurricanes a two man advantage for nearly a minute and a half. Karel Vejmelka stood on his head and his teammates sacrificed their bodies over and over again to keep Carolina off the boards throughout.

In total, the penalty kill lasted eight minutes and 26 seconds. When Lamoureux was sprung from the box, the sellout crowd roared louder than for any of the previous four goals. At 17:09 of the third, Nick Bjugstad was assessed a delay of game penalty which gave Carolina one last chance to come back, but Utah’s defense slammed the door shut and shut the Hurricanes down the rest of the way.

Karel Vejmelka stopped a career high 49 of 50 shots for his first win of the season. His teammates chipped in 26 blocked shot attempts in the winning effort.

In the locker room, Nick Bjugstad spoke of the team’s grit on the third period penalty kill. “Starting with (Karel Vejmelka), all night, unbelievable. We’re thankful for him. He had an amazing night. The PK came up big.

I think (Mikhail Sergachev) took one to the head. He had a few big blocked shots. Unbelievable. We were really feeling the crowd. Everyone was pumped up. (Michael Carcone) had a big fight. Everyone was kind of going.

It was a fun game.” When asked about the third period goals, Bjugstad commented, “It was getting in their zone. We were rolling the lines. Everyone was kind of making plays. We didn’t play the best in the second, I thought. We found a way in the third. It was good. Guys really stepped up tonight, most importantly (Vejmelka). I don’t know that I’ve seen many 50-shot games. We appreciate him.”

Karel Vejmelka was asked about his mindset facing the extended penalty kill in the third. “It didn’t change much. I just tried to focus for another shot and help my team…It was the same mindset all night long.” His reaction to fans shouting his name late in the game, “It was surreal. This is a moment to remember for sure, a night to remember for me and for everybody. This is a huge game for us and a big two points.”

Head Coach André Tourigny was also asked about his team’s penalty kill. “It was amazing. Goaltending for sure is your best (penalty) killer. The blocked shots and the determination in that situation was great. There was adversity in that game for us, and mentally we’re not the most confident team at this point offensively. In the second period, they had a push and we held on. (To) come back in the third the way we came back, we had a lot of confidence with the puck and made big plays. Even when we scored our second goal, we didn’t sit back; we went right back at them right away. We scored two more goals and (Lawson Crouse) could have scored another one, almost…I think we had a good first period, second period was too many bad plays with the puck. (Carolina’s) a good team, they’re tough to contain when you make mistakes–they capitalize. But the way we came back in the third and the confidence we displayed in our game, that was great.”

Tourigny had high praise for his goaltender. “He was extremely good. Everything’s a chain-connector. (Vejmelka) was good, the guys were blocking shots, we defended the slot pretty good in our zone. We’re not as good (lately) as we’ve been on the rush against…We gave up too much of the rush. But in our zone, we’re pretty stingy. I’m really proud of the way the boys fought.”

On shuffling his defensive lines, Tourigny added, “I think Olli (Määttä) and (Mikhail Sergachev) played well together. I was pleased with them playing together. I thought there was some chemistry there…(Juuso Välimäki) and (Michael Kesselring) had ups and downs in the game…I don’t think they were terrible, I’m just saying they had ups and downs. An example, I thought (Kesselring) made a hell of a play on our second goal. That’s a key play in the game. It’s important to be able to make plays, but the timing and making key plays is great. The shift before was not as elegant. I think that showed character; he came back on the next shift and made a big play. It was a key play for us.”

The Utah Hockey Club will play host to the Pacific Division leading Vegas Golden Knights on Friday at 7:00pm (MST). Earlier in the day the first batch of official Utah Hockey Club team jerseys with Inaugural Season shoulder patches will go on sale at the team store.

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.

San Jose Sharks podcast with Mary Lisa: Sharks embark on five game eastern swing; Open up in New Jersey Sunday

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San Jose Sharks Macklin Celebrini scored two goals against the Minnesota Wild on Thu Nov 7, 2024 at SAP Center in San Jose (San Jose Sharks X photo)

On San Jose Sharks podcast with Mary Lisa:

#1 The Minnesota Wild’s Matt Boldy scored two goals. Kirill Kaprizov had three assists as the San Jose Sharks lost 5-2 on home ice on Thursday night.

#2 The Wild Mats Zuccarello scored a second period goal on a no look pass from Kaprizov that had Zuccarello went through numerous defenders to score the go ahead as the Wild took the lead 2-1.

#3 It was also a thrilling night for the Sharks Macklin Celebrini who scored twice for all of the Sharks scoring. Once in the second period at 4:36 and his second goal of the night at 16:08 in the third period. Not a bad night’s work for the NHL first round draft pick?

#4 Despite Celebrini’s two goal effort the Sharks still couldn’t stop the Wild attack. In the third period with the Wild ahead 3-1 the Wild picked up two more goals one from James Brodin at 6:02 and Matt Boldy’s second goal of the night at 18:25 to put the final touches for the win.

#5 The Sharks open with a five game east coast swing starting in New Jersey this Sunday at 4:30pm PST. New Jersey has won four of their last five games. In their last game the Devils defeated the Montreal Canadiens 5-3 and got two goals from Jesper Bratt. Mary Lisa how do you see this one?

Join Mary Lisa for the Sharks podcasts each Saturday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com


NHL podcast with Len Shapiro: Bruins Marchand scores gamer in OT to beat Flames; Panthers win 6th straight game with 6-2 win over Preds; plus more NHL news

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Boston Bruins left wing Brad Marchand right celebrates his goal with teammate defensemen Charlie McAvoy (left) in overtime at the Boston Garden on Thu Nov 7, 2024 (AP News photo)

On NHL podcast with Len Shapiro:

#1 The Boston Bruins Brad Marchand with 20 seconds left in the overtime stanza to help the Bruins with a 4-3 win over the Calgary Flames at Scotiabank Arena in Calgary. The Flames battled earlier scoring two goals in the third period forcing a tie.

# 2 The Florida Panthers are hot they have now won six in a row defeating the Nashville Predators on Thursday night 6-2. The Predators have won five of their last six games. The Panthers Carter Verhaeghe had three points scoring a goal and with two assists.

#3 The New York Islanders Bo Horvat scored a goal and had two assists and stopped the Ottawa Senators from coming back in the Isles 4- 2 win at Canadian Centre in Ottawa. The Isles Anders Lee scored a goal and an assist, Jean-Gabriel Pageu and Oliver Wahlstrom added goals.

#4 The Utah Hockey Club’s Dylan Guenther scored what later be the game winning goal with 3:21 left in the game as Utah defeated the St Louis Blues 4-2 at Enterprise Center in St Louis on Thursday. Guenther had an assist at 16:39 intercepting a pass by the Blues Jordan Kyrou when his centering pass deflected off of the Blues defensemen Colton Parayko.

#5 Winnipeg Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck stopped all 35 of the Colorado Avalanche’s shots for a 1-0 shutout at the Canada Life Centre. The Jets set a record with the win becoming the second NHL team to win 13 of their first 14 games ironically joining the 2007-08 Senators. The win was the Jets fifth straight.

Len Shapiro does the NHL podcasts each Friday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Hockey Fought Cancer, Sharks Did Not Show any Fight, lose to Wild 5-2 at SAP

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The Sharks once again for Thursday night action at SAP Center hosting the second-best team in the Central

Mac. Celebrini cellies his first goal in his return from injury at SAP Center in San Jose, CA on Nov 7, 2024 (Photo by San Jose Sharks)

By Fernando Abarca – San Jose Sharks Beat Writer.

SAN JOSE–Another night of action for the Sharks as the celebrations in commemoration of the fight against cancer begin league-wide. The Teal celebrates this fight Thursday night while hosting one of the best teams in the Western Conference.

San Jose pulled a good battle on Tuesday night against the Columbus Blue Jackets with a win in OT adding another win to the standings but couldn’t take out the Minnesota Wild lacking in offense the Sharks took a three goal loss 5-2 on Thursday night at SAP Center.

The Sharks have seen some improvement in getting wins. However, the Teal has struggled to manage to hold leads and keep the score in their favor.

The good news besides the victory was the return of our own Macklin Celebrini, who was injured during the first week of the regular season with a lower-body injury. Mac was clear and healthy to return to the ice.

Also, a wholesome moment happened on the ice before the start of the first period. Ezra, a local kid, witnessed his first hockey game ever and had the chance to be featured during the face-off. Erza just completed a nine-session chemo for the Medulloblastoma brain tumor. As hockey writers, we are glad Erza won the battle.

The first period started with the Wild scoring just two minutes after the start of the period Zach Bogosian, assisted by D. Chisholm and M. Foligno with a wrist shot, netted the first one for the visitors.

In the second period, that was the period where competitive hockey started to take place when Macklin Celebrini scored the first for the Sharks, making a statement of his return to the ice, The Barn certainly missed him. Assisted by Mikael Granlund and Henry Thrun.

The tie did not last that long as the Wild came harder on the Sharks.

Two goals were scored in the second period for the Wild. One slap-shot by Matts Zuccarello plus a snap-shot by Matt Boldy on a Power-Play goal. These two goals turned off the vibes at the tank for the rest of the period.

However, it could have gone a 4-1 score in the second due to a coach’s decision for a goal overturned as Ryan Hartman preceded the puck on an off-side position in an offensive zone.

The action continued in the third period with Minnesota scoring a definite fourth goal, and this time not being overturned with Jonas Brodin putting the four on the scoreboard of the SAP Center assisted by Frederick Gaudreau and Kirill Kaprizov.

Close to the end of the game, Celebrini delighted the 10,526 in attendance with another goal, making two goals for the Sharks with the help of Grandlund. The goal created a little hope, but not enough to keep fighting.

As the period nears its end, bad decisions are once again affecting the Sharks. Minnesota’s Matt Boldy took the lead, making his second of the night, and buried any hopes of a win for San Jose with an empty net goal. Sadly, The ideas could not be properly implemented.

This time, Celebrini did not get help from his teammates, but what he had been building could look special.

The Sharks will get some rest and are back in action this Saturday evening at Prudential Center in New Jersey for a 4:30pm PST faceoff.

Sharks are back home on Mon Nov 18 when the Teal face the Red Wings.