Category: NHL

Islanders Sink Utah HC 2-1 On Late Third Period Goal

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New York Islanders defenseman Adam Pelech (3) and goalie Marcus Hoberg (50) blocks the goal against the Utah Hockey Club’s center Klayton Keller (9) in the second period at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Sat Jan 11, 2025 (AP News photo)

By Tom Walker

SALT LAKE CITY–Utah was unable to hold on to their 1-0 lead in the third period, losing 5 out of their past 6 home games.

The Utah Hockey Club welcomed the New York Islanders to Delta Center on Saturday night for the third game of a 7-game homestand. The last time the two squads faced off in New York, Utah bested the Islanders 5-4 in overtime. Utah split the previous two home matchups this week with a loss to the Florida Panthers and a victory over the San Jose Sharks.

Connor Ingram returned to the Utah net for the first time since November 18. The 2024 Masterton Trophy winner had been sidelined with an upper-body injury followed by a leave of absence while caring for his mother who passed away from cancer in December. Ingram stood tall in the opening frame, turning away 14 Islanders shots, while his counterpart Markus Hogberg stopped five.

Utah forward Nick Schmaltz put Utah on the board at 1:13 of the second period with his 8th goal of the season, assisted by Michael Kesselring and Logan Cooley, just 34 seconds after killing off the remainder of a first period penalty to Barrett Hayton for tripping. Ingram turned away New York’s five shots during the period which ended with a 1-0 home team lead.

At 3:36 of the third period, Islanders center Brock Nelson tied things up with his 12th goal of the season, assisted by linemates Anders Lee and Mathew Barzal. With time running out in the period, the Islanders swarmed the Utah net and Barzal put the puck past Ingram for his 4th of the season, assisted by Lee and Nelson, to give New York a 2-1 lead and the eventual victory.

After the game, Connor Ingram was asked how it felt to be back out on the ice. “It felt good. It was a long couple months off there. It felt good to be back out there. Lucky for me, I got a chance in Tucson during the week. So I got a little bit in game shape. It felt good.” Asked about the support of his team upon his return, Ingram said, “It’s been good. I can’t ask for anything else. The guys have been great, the team has been great, management has been great. I have no complaints.”

Head coach André Tourigny addressed Ingram’s performance in his first game back. “He was really, really, good. All game long, he was solid (and) made key saves. He was, for sure, one of the bright sides of the game. (Jack McBain) had big blocked shots a few times in the game; paid a price a few times on the PK. Those are the highlights for me.” Describing the goal which cost Utah the game, Tourigny said, “Turnover in the neutral zone to get into our zone. We’re gapped out because of our puck decision in the neutral zone. Then from there, it’s a broken play; dirty puck. That’s the way you score in a tight game. It was tough for us to create clean chances, it was tough for them to create clean chances. I think they scored on one clean chance and the other they went for the broken play. I think we had a few clean chances as well; we hit the post twice. We could not bury our chances.”

Next up for Utah is a Tuesday tilt against the Montreal Canadiens.

Sharks Fall 3-1 Against Minnesota Mark Andre Fleury’s Final Dance at SAP Center.

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San Jose Sharks hosted Minnesota Wild on Pride Night Festivities at SAP Center in San Jose on Sat Jan 11. 2025 (Sharks Media)

By: Fernando Abarca (San Jose Sharks Beat Writer)

After losing in Utah on Friday night, Our Teal had to get back on their feet quickly as they hosted the Minnesota Wild at home for Saturday action. This game was fueled by physicality, toughness, and experience. Minnesota comes into this game with five wins of their last six, knew they had control of the momentum while the Sharks made it a third loss in a row.

Despite the Sharks’ strong game, Marc Andre Fleury was the star player who recorded 36 shot saves, a milestone for the future Hall of Famer.

Minnesota got the first point when a defensive error by William Eklund gave the puck away for Minnesota. San Jose defensively failed to stop, leaving Askarov vulnerable and Marco Rossi would score the visitors’ first go-ahead point of the night.

Despite the Sharks’ good game, Marc Andre Fleury was the star player who recorded 36 shot saves, a milestone for the future Hall of Famer.

Minnesota got the first goal when a defensive error by William Eklund gave the puck away for Minnesota. San Jose defensively failed to stop leaving Askarov vulnerable and Marco Rossi would score the first go-ahead goal of the night for the visitors.

Matt Boldy then went into the neutral zone with a powerful wrist shot to make it 2-0 in the second period. Despite this 2-0 lead, the Sharks tried to close the gap with a goal by William Eklund in the final minutes of the second period assisted by Walman and Celebrini.

The goal tried to give some breathing room, but it just wouldn’t be enough.

In the late third, a turnover on Celebrini sealed the 3-1 lead with an empty netter by Mats Zucarrello to close out the series of games they had at home since late December.

Once again, poor decisions, carelessness, and technical errors cost the game, but it must be stressed that the Sharks played and tried to get the result but it just wasn’t their night.

Now, the Sharks will be on the road for a long time starting the trip in Detroit this coming Tuesday night.

San Jose Sharks podcast with Mary Lisa: Sharks face Wild on second of back to back nights; Tough loss on Friday in Utah

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Utah Hockey Club’s center Barrett Hayton (27) takes control of the puck against the San Jose Sharks defenseman Mario Ferraro defenseman (38) in the first period at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Fri Jan 10, 2025 (AP News photo)

On the San Jose Sharks podcast with Mary Lisa:

#1 The Utah Hockey Club’s Barrett Hayton scored a late goal that proved to be the gamer to defeat the San Jose Sharks at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City for a 2-1 win on Friday night.

#2 Utah’s Nick Schmaltz scored and goaltender Karel Vejmelka stopped 18 shots and Utah picked up their third win in 12 games.

#3 Fabian Zetterlund scored the Sharks only goal of the night it was his 12th of the season. The Sharks goaltender Alexander Georgiev stopped 23 Utah shots. The loss was the Sharks second straight loss.

#4 Zetterlund scored a wrist shot for San Jose at 58 seconds in the first period. Utah turned around and tied the game at 6:57 in the second period when Schmaltz hit a snap shot from 30 feet away.

#5 Back to back night for the Sharks they face off against the Minnesota Wild Saturday night at SAP Center in San Jose. The Wild are second in the Central Division they have won six of their last ten games and are just three points behind the first place Winnipeg Jets this game could be a handful for San Jose?

Mary Lisa covers the San Jose Sharks for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Sharks Fall 2-1 to Utah, Close Not Good Enough

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Utah Hockey Club center Clayton Keller (9) moves the puck against San Jose Sharks defenseman Henry Thrun (3) in the first period at the Delta Center on Fri Jan 10, 2025 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks fell 2-1 to the Utah Hockey Club on Friday. Nick Schaltz and Barrett Hayton scored for Utah and Karel Vejmelka made 18 saves for the win. Fabian Zetterlund scored for the Sharks and Alexandar Georgiev made 23 saves in the loss.

Although the game was close, it was disappointing for the Sharks. “It wasn’t good enough tonight. Puck play was awful. It just wasn’t enough,” said Sharks Head Coach Ryan Warsofsky. Mikael Granlund said: “We weren’t really good with the puck. Didn’t really get anything going on offensively all night so… they defended well but we got to be better with the puck, we got to win some battles and sustain some o-zone time.”

Perhaps the only bright spot was that Sharks goalie Georgiev played well. Granlund said, of the goaltender: “He was great tonight. He gave us a chance to win this game and we were in it. So, too bad we couldn’t get it done.”

The first goal of the game came just 58 seconds in. Mikael Granlund took a shot from the face off circle. Vejmelka stopped that but Fabian Zetterlund jumped on the rebound and put it in the net. Assists went to Granlund and Cody Ceci.

Utah outshot the Sharks 10-8 in the first period. The Sharks took the only penalty of the period.

Nick Schmaltz tied the game at 5:57 of the second period. He skated with the puck most of the way around the Sharks’ zone before taking his shot from inside the faceoff circle. Assists went to Clayton Keller and Nick DeSimone.

The Sharks only had three shots on goal in the second period while Utah had six. Utah took the single penalty called in the second period. The Sharks got their first shot of the third period at the nine minute mark, by which time Utah had two shots.

At 3:22 of the third period, Keller put the puck in the net but the goal was called back after Warsofsky challenged it for goaltender interference. Schmaltz skated into the blue paint and bumped Georgiev from behind.

Barrett Hayton scored the tie-breaking game winner with just 32 seconds left in regulation. He took a snap shot while skating across the top of the faceoff circle. Assists went to Nick Bjugstad and Olli Maatta.

With just five seconds left in the game, William Eklund took a high stick to the face and earned the Sharks a four minute power play. That was the only penalty called in the third. By the end of the period, The Sharks had eight shots on goal and Utah had nine.

The Sharks next play on Saturday at 7:00 PM PT in San Jose against the visiting Minnesota Wild.

NHL podcast with Len Shapiro: Luukonen saves 35 in 4-0 Buffalo shutout over Ottawa; Lightning get some offense against Bruins in 4-1 win; plus more NHL news

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Ottawa Senators Brady Tkachuk (7) attempts to deflect a shot past Buffalo Sabres goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukonen (1) in third period action at the Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa on Thu Jan 9, 2025 (Canadian Press via AP photo)

On the NHL podcast with Len Shapiro:

#1 Ukko-Pekka Luukonen stopped 35 shots as the Buffalo Sabres shutout the Ottawa Senators 4-0 at the Canadian Tire Centre on Thursday night. It was Luukonen’s second shutout of the season and his seven career. Luukonen has the hot hand he’s 5-1-1 in his last seven starts.

# 2 Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 11 of his 27 saves in third period action to help beat the Boston Bruins 4-1 at Amalie Arena. The Bolts Brandon Hagel had a goal and an assist and Ryan McDonagh and Nikita Kucherov each had two assists as the Lightning have now won two in a row.

#3 The New York Rangers Sam Carrick scored in the overtime stanza help defeat the New Jersey Devils 3-2 at Madison Square Garden on Thursday night. Jacob Markstrom robbed what could have been game winners in overtime for the Rangers Artemi Panarin and Mika Zibanejad. But it was Carrick who scored on a two on one with Reilly Smith and putting the puck on net for winner.

#4 The Dallas Stars have gone undefeated in their last six games including the win on home ice Thursday 4-1 over the Philadelphia Flyers. The Stars Mavrik Bourque, Roope Hintz, Wyatt Johnston and Miro Heiskanen all scored in the three goal winner.

#5 The Pittsburgh Penguins Syd Crosby passed Joe Sakic for ninth place on the all time points list with 1643 points (604 goals and 1039 assists) Crosby moves two points ahead of Sakic who has 1641 points. The Penguins also defeated the Edmonton Oilers 5-3 at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh.

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

Panthers Pounce On Utah HC In 4-1 Home Loss 

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The Florida Panthers defenseman Nate Schmidt (88) takes the puck against the Utah Hockey Club’s center Nick Bjugstad (17) at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Wed Jan 8, 2025 (AP News photo)

By Tom Walker

SALT LAKE CITY–Meet the new year, same as the old year. Utah’s home struggles continue in 2025 opener at Delta Center in a 4-1 loss to the Florida Panthers.

The Utah Hockey Club returned to Salt Lake City on Wednesday night to kick off a season-high 7-game homestand against the visiting Florida Panthers. Utah went 1-2-1 on their recent road trip and hoped their home rink would be friendlier in 2025 than it was in 2024 when they won just 5 of 16 in the first three months of their inaugural season at Delta Center.

The two teams’ defenses held the line in the opening frame, with Florida’s Sergei Bobrovsky turning away all five shots he faced, and Utah’s Karel Vejmelka turning away all six from the Panthers.

Just sixteen seconds into the second period, Utah forward Barrett Hayton went to the penalty box for high-sticking against Niko Mikkola, and Florida center Sam Reinhart cashed it in on the power play with his 23rd goal of the season, assisted by Matthew Tkachuk and Aleksander Barkov.

Less than two minutes into the third period, Jesper Boqvist put the Panthers up 2-0 with his 8th goal of the season, assisted by Carter Verhaeghe and Anton Lundell. At 12:56 of the third, Florida forward Sam Bennett went to the sin bin for slashing against Kevin Stenlund which opened the door for Logan Cooley to bring Utah back to within one on the power play with his 11th goal of the season, assisted by Clayton Keller and Mikhail Sergachev.

With Karel Vejmelka pulled from goal for an extra attacker in the waning minutes, the Panthers pounced twice with empty net strikes from Jesper Boqvist and Eetu Luostarinen to put the game away for good with a final score of 4-1.

After the game, Utah Hockey Club head coach André Tourigny weighed in with his assessment. “We can be better in certain areas offensively. But defensively, I think we were solid. (Florida is) a good team; Stanley Cup Champion. I think defensively, we did a lot of good things. I liked the effort of the guys, I liked the passion, all of it. Offensively, we need to be more connected…I feel that we were pretty good defensively. I think offensively, we did not have the same speed, the same rhythm, the same puck movement coming from our breakouts to the offensive zone. Give (Florida) credit; they check hard. They’re No. 1 in a lot of areas defensively and they didn’t give us time and space. That said…I like our team. Even if we didn’t have time and space, we went at the net, put pucks on the net, we got rebounds, we got chances. We created chances–not by pretty play all the time, but by playing the right way and grinding. When you play against those kinds of teams–Dallas and (Florida) and other teams–you need to generate those. Because if not, the pretty play never comes. I think we scored a good goal on the power play. But we had a lot of grind to lead to that. There’s a lot of positives, obviously one goal short.”

Next up for Utah are the Sharks at 7:00pm MST on Friday, followed by the Islanders, Canadiens, Rangers, Blues, and Jets over a 13-day stretch.

Sharks Did Not Make it Three in a Row Against Golden Knights in 4-2 loss

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William Eklund celebrates the first goal of the night by the Sharks in front of 10,802 in attendance tonight at SAP Center on Tue Jan 7, 2025 (Sharks Media)

Golden Nights Snapped Shark’s Winning Streak at SAP Center Tuesday night with a 4-2 win.

Before the game even started, The men in teal knew it would not be easy. After two consecutive wins in a row, it seemed the team finally got some chemistry to start the year. The Golden Knights, a team that is a contender for the next Stanley Cup Playoffs showed the real dominance over the Sharks, a dominance that has been carried out for years.

Two goals, one by Mark Stone and one by Zach Whitecloud, were enough in the first period to turn the tide for the home team. There was still a lot of hockey left, but it looked like the victory would go to the visitors.

In the second period, a power-play goal by William Eklund raised hope for those in attendance at the SAP Center on Tuesday night. And so we went into the second intermission of the game with a slim 2-1 lead.

Things would start to get complicated in the third period when Victor Olofsson made it 3-1, a score that seemed to continue to advance. At minute 10:41 of the game, Timothy Liljegreen made it 3-2 over the Golden Knights. The game was about tying it.

Two goals, one by Mark Stone and Zach Whitecloud, were enough in the first period to turn the tide for the home team. There was still a lot of hockey left, but it looked like the victory would go to the visitors.

In the second period, a power-play goal by William Eklund raised hope for those in attendance at the SAP Center on Tuesday night. And so we went into the second intermission of the game with a slim 2-1 lead.

Things would start to get complicated in the third period, when Victor Olofsson made it 3-1, a score that seemed to continue to advance. At minute 10:41 of the game, Timothy Liljegreen made it 3-2 over the Golden Knights. The game was all about tying it

Time was ticking away and the opportunities to make it 3-3 were fading away, as the result of an empty net, the Golden Knights scored the fourth of the night with a slap-shot from Tomas Hertl, who wore the colors of the Sharks a while back.

With this result, San Jose has not recorded any wins against the Golden Knights in the current 2024-25 campaign.

Now the team will try to move on, and get another win this time on the road against Utah Hockey Club this Friday night.

Sharks Celebrate the win against New Jersey Devils

Sharks Win 3-2 over New Jersey Devils in San Jose

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Sharks Celebrate the Win over the New Jersey Devils on Saturday Action at SAP Center in San Jose on Sat Jan 4 (Sharks Media)

By: Fernando Abarca

SAN JOSE–Will they repeat it? That is the question for the Sharks as they host the Devils at SAP. They walked out with 3-2 a win.

The Sharks are back for an early afternoon showdown against the New Jersey Devils. The Devils, coached by former Toronto Maple Leafs Sheldon Keefe, did not have a great time in California as the team suffered defeats by the LA Kings and Anaheim Ducks. Saturday, The Sharks will try to seal the Devils trip with another loss.

Conversely, the Sharks had a great start to 2025 as they hosted the Tampa Bay Lightning on Jan 2nd, where the Teal won for the first time in eight games. It was a needed victory as they sit last in the Western standings, they will try to replicate the same formula.

Throughout the period, the Devils dominated the period with many shots on goal. Again, Askarov has been a star for this team, as he recorded 11 saves and kept the net at zero.

The action took force towards the later minutes of the game as Nikolai Kovalenko (15) showed great effort with assistance from William Eklund and Luke Kunin. The Sharks went on intermission with the lead.

2nd Period

The Sharks had lots of chances to score as eight shots hit the post, and none hit the back of the net.

The Devils found ways to score, and so they did, at 15:41, Nico Hischier made it even at SAP Center with an assist by Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt. When the Devils scored, the pace of the game changed. The Teal showed aggressiveness and back-and-forth hockey.

The stars Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith got penalties during the second period, Celebrini for High-Sticking and Smith for too many men on the Ice.

Despite the goal, Askarov has been showing great skill with lots of saves, adding another amazing performance from the Rookie.

The period ended in a tie at the end.

3rd Period

The Cellies and the goals did not take that long to make an appearance again. Macklin Celebrini scored a beauty to give the sharks the lead to a 2-1 with a little bit of help of Will Smith, again showing how lethal this combination is because whenever they have the put, magic happens.

Soon after, Luke Hughes assisted Paul Cotter to put a second goal for the Devils and make it a tie game.

This did not prevent the Sharks from backing down and slowing down. The Team showed great resiliency and seemed they were on the try to find the formula to win games In the final seconds of the third, Cody Ceci sealed the win with a late goal assisted by Alexander Wennberg. In the last two games, the Sharks proved that the key to winning is to keep the puck in their possession.

With this win, the Sharks have started the second game of 2025 in great and outstanding shape and they will be back at SAP Center on Tuesday Night against Vegas.

San Jose Sharks podcast with Mary Lisa: Sharks relieved to snap 8 game skid; Host New Jersey today

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San Jose Sharks Tyler Toffoli is mobbed by his teammates after scoring a first period goal against the Tampa Bay Lightning at SAP Center in San Jose on Thu Jan 2, 2024 (AP News photo)

On the SJ Sharks podcast with Mary Lisa:

#1 The San Jose Sharks Tyler Toffoli and Mario Ferraro scored a goal a piece that helped snap the Sharks eight game losing streak at SAP Center on Thursday night defeating the Tampa Bay Lightning 2-1.

#2 Toffoli scored his 15th goal of the season in the middle of the first period and Ferraro’s goal proved to be the game winner. The Sharks picked up their first win since Nov 29th.

#3 The win also says a lot about the goaltending as Yaroslav Askarov stopped 24 Tampa Bay shots which was good enough to hold off the Lightning to just one goal.

#4 The Sharks were 0-7-1 in their last eight games and had not won a game since Nov 29th and started their losing streak against these same Lightning which started on Dec 5th.

#5 The Sharks get after it again Saturday at 1pm against the New Jersey Devils. New Jersey are second in the Metropolitan Division. They have are on a three game losing streak and the Sharks would like to catch them off balanced.

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

NHL podcast with Len Shapiro: Slavin gets game winning goal for Hurricane; Rangers Quick stops 32 shots to edge Bruins 2-1; plus more news

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The Carolina Hurricanes center Sebastian Aho (20) and Florida Panthers left wing Matthew Tkachuk (19) scuffle as linesman Tommy Hughes tries to break it up in the second period at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise (AP News photo)

On the NHL podcast with Len Shapiro:

#1 Jaccob Slavin got the game winning goal for the Carolina Hurricane in the third period at 7:30 to break a 1-1 tie which the Hurricane won by a final score of 3-1.Slavin’s wasn’t without a battle as there was a pile up in front of the net as the Hurricane’s Jesperi Kotaniemi slid into Florida Panther goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky who was down at the crease in front of the net when Slavin made a rebound shot from the left circle for the goal.

#2 The New York Rangers edged the Boston Bruins 2-1 at Madison Square Garden. The Ranger goaltender Jonathan Quick was able to stop 32 shots and the Rangers snapped a four game losing streak. It was career win 399 for Quick and it was Quick’s first win since Nov 30th. If Quick wins his next game he will pick up his 400th win and become the first US born goalie to win 400 games.

#3 The Washington Capital Alexander Ovechkin scored his career 871st goal. Ovechkin needs just 24 more goals to catch Wayne Gretzky to become the number one goal scorer of all time. In spite of Ovechkin’s goal the Capitals lost in a shootout to the Minnesota Wild when Matt Boldy scored the game winner as the Wild took a 4-3 win.

#4 The Detroit Red Wings Jonatan Berggren scored a game winning goal with 36 seconds left in the third period to edge the Columbus Blue Jackets 5-4 at Nationwide Arena in Columbus on Thursday night. The win improves the Wings win streak to three games. Alex DeBrincat scored and had two goals to contribute to the Red Wings cause.

#5 The Toronto Maple Leafs Bobby McMann scored twice as the Leafs defeated the New York Islanders 2-1 in New York. The Leafs Joseph Woll stopped 32 shots. The win marks the second time in a week the Leafs have defeated the Isles and the Leafs have now won three times in four games against the Islanders.

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