Category: NHL

NHL podcast with Matt Harrington: Ovechkin is #2 on all time NHL goals list; Pastrnak scores twice in 4-3 Bruins win; plus much more

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Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin reacts in the second period of an NHL hockey game against the Winnipeg Jets in Washington DC on Thu Dec 22, 2022 (AP News photo)

On NHL podcast with Matt Harrington:

#1 Washington Capitals Alexander Ovechkin scored career goals 801 and 802 to tie and pass Gordie Howe for second on the all time NHL list. Ovechkin scored at 18:22 in the first period and at 19:22 in third period Ovechkin scored goal number 802. The Caps defeated the Winnipeg Jets 4-1.

#2 The Boston Bruins David Pastrnak scored twice for the Bruins 4-3 win over the New Jersey Devils for their fourth straight win. Pastrnak extends his point streak to 11 games.

#3 Good things are happening for the Carolina Hurricanes they defeated the Philadelphia Flyers on Friday 6-5. The Hurricanes hit a point streak of 14 consecutive games. Hurricanes have now won eight straight games and The Flyers lost goaltender Carter Hart who stopped six out seven shots after suffering an upper body injury.

#4 The Colorado Avalanche’s Samuel Girard scored at 4:17 in the overtime stanza to help defeat the Nashville Predators on Friday at Bridgestone Arena. The Aves Evan Rodrigues said “We’ve been fighting, grinding out wins, low-scoring games,” Rodrigues said. “Even when we’re down, guys believe we can come back.”

#5 The Las Vegas Knights Chandler Stephenson picked up four points and scored in the shootout stanza to defeat the St Louis Blues 5-4. Stephenson scored a goal and had three assists.

Join Matt for the NHL podcast Saturdays at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

San Jose Sharks podcast with Len Shapiro: Sharks hope to build on Thursday’s win in Vancouver on Tuesday

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Minnesota Wild goaltender Filip Gustavsson (32) is unable to stop a shot by San Jose Sharks left wing Oskar Lindblom, foreground, for a goal during the second period at SAP Center on Thu Dec 22, 2022 (AP News photo)

On the Sharks podcast with Len:

#1 Defenseman Erik Karlsson had a goal and three assists for the San Jose Sharks (11-18-6) Thursday, and was one of five different goal scorers for the Sharks in a 5-2 win over the Minnesota Wild (19-12-2) at SAP Center.

#2 Karlsson, Timo Meier, Kevin Lebanc, Oskar Lindblom and Noah Gregor each tallied for the Sharks, while goaltender James Reimer stopped 24 of 26 Wild shots. Karlsson’s three helpers gives him a team-leading 33 in that category.

#3 Kevin Labanc closed out the scoring with an unassisted power-play empty net goal at 19:46 of the third period. Minnesota’s Matt Boldy was serving a 2-minute minor for slashing at the time of Labanc’s goal.

#4 San Jose, 7th in the Pacific, improved to 11-18-6, 28 points. The Wild, third in the NHL Central, are 19-12-2, 40 points, and tied with Seattle for the fifth-best record in the Western Conference.

#5 The Sharks head to Vancouver to face off with the Canucks who have won five of their last ten games. The Canucks won in a shootout Thursday over the Seattle Kraken in Seattle 6-5. Face off at Rogers Centre in Vancouver on Tue Dec 27 at 7:00pm. Len how do you see this match up?

Join Len Shapiro Fridays for the Sharks podcasts at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Big night by Karlsson lifts Sharks past Minnesota 5-2

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San Jose Sharks center Noah Gregor is congratulated for his goal against the Minnesota Wild during the first period at SAP Center in San Jose on Thu Dec 22, 2022 (AP News photo)

By Daniel Dullum
Thursday, December 22, 2022

Defenseman Erik Karlsson had a goal and three assists for San Jose Thursday, and was one of seven different goal scorers for the Sharks in a 5-2 win over Minnesota at SAP Center.

Karlsson, Timo Meier, Kevin Lebanc, Oskar Lindblom and Noah Gregor each tallied for the Sharks, while goaltender James Reimer stopped 24 of 26 Wild shots. Karlsson’s three helpers gives him a team-leading 33 in that category.

San Jose, 7th in the Pacific, improved to 11-18-6, 28 points. The Wild, third in the NHL Central, are 19-12-2, 40 points, and tied with Seattle for the fifth-best record in the Western Conference.

The Sharks opened the scoring 44 seconds into the first period on Karlsson’s 13th goal of the season, assisted by Jaycob Megna and Alexander Barabanov.

Joel Eriksson Ek tied the game at 1-1 for Minnesota with his 12th goal, coming at 2:20, Gregor’s second goal of the season at 11:37 gave San Jose a 2-1 lead at the first intermission.

Meier’s 16th goal of the season, a power-play tally, came at 12:47 of the second period, assisted by Karlsson and Nick Bonino. Prior to Meier’s goal, Mason Shaw of the Wild was serving a 5-minute major for kneeing, in addition to receiving a game misconduct penalty.

The Sharks extended their lead to 4-1 five minutes later on Lindblom’s second goal of the season, from Karlsson and Meier.

Mats Zuccarello pulled Minnesota to within 4-2 with his 15th goal, six seconds b3fore the second intermission.

Labanc closed out the scoring with an unassisted power-play empty net goal at 19:46 of the third period. Minnesota’s Matt Boldy was serving a 2-minute minor for slashing at the time of Labanc’s goal.

Filip Gustavsson gave up four of San Jose’s goals while stopping 20 of 24 shots.

After a break for the Christmas holiday, the Sharks return to action on Dec. 27 in Vancouver.

Calgary scores four times in third period, upends Sharks 7-3

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San Jose Sharks defenseman Mario Ferraro (38) and defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic (44) defend against Calgary Flames center Jonathan Huberdeau (10) during the second period at SAP Center in San Jose Tue Dec 20, 2022 (AP News photo)

By Daniel Dullum
Tuesday, December 20, 2022

Tyler Toffoli and Nazem Kadri each scored twice and Jonathan Huberdeau assisted on three goals, as Calgary defeated San Jose 7-3 Tuesday at SAP Center.

It was the second game of a home-and-home series – the Flames beat San Jose 5-2 Sunday night in Calgary.

Calgary improved to 15-12-6, 34 points, and 5th in the Pacific Division. They trail Edmonton by two points in the NHL West Wild Card race. San Jose, 7th in the Pacific, dropped to 10-18-6, 26 points.

Calgary opened the scoring just 15 seconds into the first period on Toffoli’s 12th goal of the season. 15 seconds later, Toffoli assisted on the seventh goal of the season for Dillon Dube, giving the Flames a 2-0 lead.

Nico Sturm put the Sharks on the board at 14:58 of the first period, his ninth, from Timo Meier. A minute later, Sturm and Calgary’s Brett Ritchie were assessed five-minute majors for fighting.

The Flames extended their lead to 3-1 midway through the second period on Trevor Lewis’s seventh goal. San Jose pulled to within 3-2 with 37 seconds left in the period when Alexander Barabanov scored his fourth goal of the season, assisted by Scott Harrington and Matt Nieto.

Meier’s 17 goal of the year, assisted by Erik Karlsson – his 30th, tied the game at 10:04 of the third period. But the Flames went ahead to stay at 10:04 on Kadri’s 12th goal, which blew the game open.

Milan Lucic scored his second goal of the season for Calgary at 16:43, followed by an empty-net tally by Toffoli at 18:22 and Kadri’s second goal of the contest at 18:42.

Jacob Markstrom stopped 24 of San Jose’s 27 shots on goal, while Sharks’ netminder James Reimer gave up six of Calgary’s seven tallies while making 32 saves.

The Sharks host the Minnesota Wild Thursday, with the opening faceoff slated for 7:30 p.m.

San Jose Sharks podcast with Maddie Dutra: Sharks aiming to take second of two game series with Flames in San Jose tonight

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San Jose Sharks defenseman Matt Benning (5) and defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic (44) battle for the puck against Calgary Flames left wing Andrew Mangiapane (88) in the second period at SAP Center in San Jose on Sun Dec 18, 2022 (AP News photo)

On the San Jose Sharks podcast with Maddie Dutra:

#1 Maddie, the Sharks (10-17-6) have lost six of their last eight games, Sharks are now 13th in the Western Conference and have lost their last two games Saturday to the Los Angeles Kings in LA and Sunday in San Jose by three goals to the Calgary Flames (14-12-6) 5-2.

#2 The game kicked off with the Flames putting on the pressure as Kahkonen had to be sharp early on. That pressure by Calgary paid off as in their own zone Jaycob Megna made a terrible pass essentially giving Tyler Toffoli a goal. Which he did capitalize on getting his 11th goal of the season and making it 1-0 early with no assists on the goal.

#3 The domination continued as at the 9:23 mark of the first period the shots favored the Flames at 7-1. A glimmer of hope did appear for San Jose as Adam Ruzicka took a tripping penalty getting the power play unit on the ice.

#4 After the Sharks took the three goal loss Tomas Hertl said after the game, “Especially tonight I don’t think we spend enough time in the O zone we don’t have all four lines rolling the O zone.”

#5 Maddie, Sharks get another chance at the Flames for the second game in a row at SAP Center in San Jose after losing the Flames Sunday the Sharks are looking for some defense and some pucks of their own in net?

Maddie Dutra is a beat writer for Fear of the Fin and is a Sharks podcast contributor at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Third period collapse by Sharks gives Flames the victory 5-2

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Photo courtesy of San Jose Sharks Twitter. Logan Couture gets warmed sporting the Sharks military appreciation jersey.

By Titus Wilkinson

SAN JOSE–In what was a close game up until the third the Sharks and Flames battled it out on Sunday night with the Flames getting the win 5-2.

The game kicked off with the Flames putting on the pressure as Kahkonen had to be sharp early on.

That pressure by Calgary paid off as in their own zone Jaycob Megna made a terrible pass essentially giving Tyler Toffoli a goal. Which he did capitalize on getting his 11th goal of the season and making it 1-0 early with no assists on the goal.

The domination continued as at the 9:23 mark of the first period the shots favored the Flames at 7-1.

A glimmer of hope did appear for San Jose as Adam Ruzicka took a tripping penalty getting the power play unit on the ice.

On that power play it did not take long for San Jose to capitalize as Karlsson fead it to Timo Meier who sat wide open waiting to one-time the puck in. Depositing the puck in the net Meier got his 16th goal of the season but more importantly Karlsson got his 700th point of his career with the assist.

Not long after the game was tied up by Meier the Flames had a chance to take the lead back with Andrew Mangiapane getting a breakaway. His shot ended up ringing off the right post keeping the game tied.

Adding on to what already had been a rough night Megna took a high sticking penalty putting the Flames on the power play. The Sharks did end up killing it with Calgary getting few chances.

The first period ended in a tie with the shots favoring the Flames at 10-3.

In the second period the Sharks found themselves down early with Meier getting a high sticking penalty.

Thankfully for San Jose the penalty kill unit continued to remain perfect.

Other than that though the first ten minutes of the second period were rather quiet with neither team getting many chances.

At the 13:59 mark Milan Lucic found himself wide open and one timed a pass home from Lindholm past Kahkonen getting his first goal of the season. Trevor Lewis also got an assist on the goal.

Not to long after the goal Blake Colman took a penalty that put the Sharks on the man advantage. However, this time the pk unit for the Flames came through and killed off the chance.

Looking to rile up each other’s teams Jonah Gadjovich and Dennis Gilbert dropped the gloves. It ended up being quite the fight with Gadjovich dropping Gilbert in the fight.

It got both the fans on their feet and seemed to rally the Sharks who had a little more momentum.

The Sharks though were unable to score despite their sustained zone time with Jacob Markstrom playing solid.

The period ended with San Jose on the power play though they only had nine seconds heading into the third period.

The shots at the end of the second favored the Flames at 17-16.

With the score at 2-1 heading into the third the Sharks had kept it close.

The third ended up though being a completely different story as just 16 seconds in Lindholm scored his 10th goal of the season on a feed right across the slot from Jonathan Huberdeau.

Looking to follow that up just 19 seconds later Lindholm struck again this time Rasmus Andersson found him wide open for a one timer.

With the lead suddenly at 4-1 the Sharks looked rattled by the quick offense of the Flames.

Nazem Kadri at around the two minute mark of the third period flipped the puck in on Kahkonen from the neutral zone. Kahkonen naturally went to cover it up but misplayed the puck and bounced it right to Dillon Dube who put the puck in the wide open cage getting his sixth goal of the season.

The score now suddenly at 5-1 head coach David Quinn called a timeout to try to calm the team down.

The timeout helped a little but the damage was already done and the energy had been sapped out of the building.

At the 11:48 mark MacKenzie Weegar took a penalty once again putting the Sharks power play unit on the ice.

Just seconds into the power play Thomas Hertl corralled a rebound out front and backhanded it home which was his 11th goal of the season. Both Logan Couture and Erik Karlsson got assists on the goal.

Despite a couple more penalties back and forth Hertl’s goal ended up being the last goal of the game.

“Especially tonight I don’t think we spend enough time in the O zone we don’t have all four lines rolling the O zone,” Hertl commented after the game.

The shots at the end of the game favored the Sharks at 26-25.

The three stars of the game were: 1st: Elias Lindholm 2nd: Nazem Kadri 3rd: Rasmus Andersson

The Sharks will look to bounce back on Tuesday at home were they will play the Flames again at 7:30 p.m.

Reimer Sharp but Sharks Lose 3-2 Shootout to Kings

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Los Angeles Kings’ Trevor Moore (12) scores against San Jose Sharks goaltender James Reimer in a shootout at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on Sat Dec 17, 2022 (AP News photo)

By Matthew Harrington

James Reimer made 39 saves in his second game back from injury but the San Jose Sharks dropped a 3-2 shootout decision to the Los Angeles Kings from the Crypto.com Arena. Timo Meier and Kevin Labanc scored in the loss, while Phillip Danault and Jaret Anderson-Dolan lit the lamp for LA(17-12-5).

Trevor Moore scored the shootout winner and Pheonix Copley stopped Alexander Barabanov to seal the loss for San Jose (10-16-6).

Danault opened the scoring on the power play 5:54 into the game when he managed to enter the zone and get Jaycob Megna turned around, roofing the puck for his 8th goal of the year with Drew Doughty and the goalie Copley picking up assists.

The Sharks evened it up on the power play with 6:37 left in the period when Erik Karlsson’s point shot rattled around before finding its way to Timo Meier on the opposite post. Meier knocked the puck home for his 15th of the year with Logan Couture picking up the primary assist in the aftermath of the Karlsson shot.

Labanc gave the Sharks a short-lived lead, scoring on a wrist shot with 4:34 left in the second. Meier chased down a failed backhand clearance from Sean Durzi then stripped Danault of the puck in the Kings zone. He then fed Labanc unmarked in the slot for the wrister.

The Kings tied it up just 50 seconds later when Mikey Anderson’s shot bounced off Reimer and landed at the feet of Anderson-Dolan for the second chance goal.

Neither team scored in the third period and the Sharks failed to cash in on an overtime power play. Gabe Vilardi and Logan Couture shared misses on the first two shootout attempts, then Reimer and Copley made saves in round two. The Kevin’s, Fiala and Labanc, scored for their respective teams in round three.

Moore scored in round four and wound up with his second shootout game winner courtesy a Copley stop of Barabanov after getting the decision against Boston Thursday as well (and inking a contract extention too).

The Sharks head home for a back-to-backer, facing Calgary Sunday at SAP Center. They won’t have to wait long for their next opponent to come to town as they’ll face the Flames again Tuesday before welcoming the Minnesota Wild Thursday.

NHL podcast with Matt Harrington: Kyrou’s two goals puts Blues past Flames; Zuccarello’s hat trick helps Wild defeat Hawks; plus more NHL news

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St. Louis Blues goalie Thomas Greiss, is congratulated by Pavel Buchnevich after defeating the Calgary Flames at the Saddledome in Calgary on Fri Dec 16, 2022 (AP News photo)

On the NHL podcast with Matt:

#1 Jordan Kyrou scored two goals for the St Louis Blues enough to wind up getting a three goal 5-3 win over the Calgary Flames on Friday night at the Saddledome in Calgary.

#2 Matt, Nats Zuccarello scored a hat trick for the Minnesota Wild to help beat the Chicago Blackhawks. Zuccarello also picked up an assist. Wild left winger Kirill Kaprizov scored a goal and two assists for three points to hand the Hawks their fourth straight loss in St Paul.

#3 At the Capital One Center in Washington the Capitals Alex Ovechkin will face off against fellow Russian and Toronto Maple Leaf goaltender Ilya Samsonov tonight who said he’s proud that Ovechkin and wishes him well on his way to tying Gordie Howe’s career goal record at 801 goals which would put Ovechkin in second place on the all time list but Samsonov said but not against the Maple Leafs.

#4 Michael, the NHL is considering increasing the amount of the regular season schedule from 82 to 84 games. The reason would be travel demands of the NHL schedule but mainly it’ll bring more revenue for teams and the league.

#5 The Arizona Coyotes (10-14-4) hung on to beat the New York Islanders (17-13-1) in a see saw game 5-4. The Islanders Mathew Barzal provided a key goal that help defeat the Coyotes as the Islanders improve to 17 season wins. The Coyotes goaltender Karel Vejmelka allowed four goals and stopped 30 shots.

Matt Harrington does the NHL podcasts each Saturday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

San Jose Sharks podcast with Len Shapiro: Sharks looking for third straight win against Kings tonight in LA

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San Jose Sharks center Nick Bonino (13) falls as he passes the puck while under pressure from Anaheim Ducks center Ryan Strome (16) during the third period at the Honda Center in Anaheim on Fri Dec 9, 2022 (AP News photo)

On the Sharks podcast with Len:

#1 For the San Jose Sharks (10-16-5) Nick Bonino he’s finding the back end of the net without any problems scoring in his fourth consecutive game last Tuesday in the Sharks 3-2 win over the Arizona Coyotes (9-14-4).

#2 Sharks goaltender James Reimer picked up his first win since returning from his injury. Reimer allowed two goals and faced 22 shots in the one goal win for the Sharks.

#3 The Sharks in the first period didn’t waste anytime scoring as Bonino and Thomas Hertl scored in a 1:02 time span which was a crucial period for scoring in a tight game.

#4 Nick Sturm’s second period goal was crucial in the 3-2 win in a rare Sharks home ice win in San Jose their third win in 15 games for the Sharks.

#5 The Sharks prepare for Saturday night at cryptocurrency.com Arena for the Los Angeles Kings at 7:30pm. The Sharks have now won two in a row and are looking to try and extend the streak against the Kings.

#6 Tuesday was throw back California Golden Seals sweater night and that’s been such a popular promotion are fans gobbling up those sweaters and also it was Sharks TV broadcaster Randy Hahn 2,000 game as a Sharks broadcaster.

Join Len for the Sharks podcasts Fridays at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Sharks win second straight game, holding off Coyotes 3-2

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San Jose Sharks center Nick Bonino (13) celebrates with teammates after scoring against the Arizona Coyotes during the first period at SAP Center in San Jose on Tue Dec 13, 2022 (AP News photo)

By Daniel Dullum
Tuesday, December 13, 2022

San Jose used early goals from Tomas Hertl, Nick Bonino and Nico Sturm in addition to a stellar effort in the nets from James Reimer, as the Sharks held off Arizona 3-2 Tuesday in a Western Conference matchup at SAP Center.

The Sharks, mired in sixth place in the NHL Pacific, improved to 10-16-5, 25 points. Arizona, playing its 15th road game in their last 17 contests to accommodate the construction schedule of Arizona State’s Mullet Arena in Tempe, is 9-14-4, 22 points in the Central Division.

Hertl’s 10th goal of the season, assisted by Radim Simek and Scott Harrington, put the Sharks on the board at 3:50 of the first period. Just over one minute later, Bonino scored his fourth goal, from Erik Karlsson and Jonah Gadjovich, putting the Sharks up 2-0.

With San Jose’s Oskar Lindblom (hooking) and Bonino (tripping) both serving minor penalties, the Coyotes took advantage of the 5-on-3 power play with a goal by Lawson Crouse – his team-leading 13th – at 18:05, cutting the Sharks lead to 2-1 at the first intermission.

Sturm’s eighth goal of the season, from Bonino and Harrington, extended the Sharks’ lead to 3-1 at 8:09 of the second period. Arizona closed the gap to 3-2 at 2:56 of the third period on Nick Bjugstad’s sixth goal.

The Coyotes went to a sixth attacker with just over two minutes to play and hit the pipe twice, but was unable to take advantage of San Jose being called for icing three times after the Sharks missed hitting the empty Coyotes net.

Reimer stopped 20 of 22 Arizona shots, while Coyotes netminder Karel Vejmelka made 30 saves.

The Sharks will try to extend their two-game winning streak on Saturday night in Los Angeles against the Kings.