NHL Stanley Cup Playoff podcast with Matt Harrington: CBJs turn out the Lights on Tampa Bay, now up 2-0; Isles get key third period goals for win; plus more

photo from nbc4i.com: The Columbus Blue Jackets’ Matt Duchene (95) celebrates his goal with teammate right winger Cam Atkinson (13) in the second period of game two on Friday night against the Tampa Bay Lightning

On the NHL Stanley Cup Playoff with Matt Harrington:

#1 The Columbus Blue Jackets are explosive. They have taken the first two games of the first round from the best regular season team the Tampa Bay Lightning. Can the CBJ’s repeat the same performance on the Bolt’s ice in game three?

#2 For the Jackets’ Matt Duchene had the hot hand with a goal and three assists and goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 23 shots in the 5-1 win in Columbus.

#3 The New York Islanders’ Jordan Eberle and Josh Bailey scored a goal each in the third period against the Pittsburgh Penguins to take a 2-0 lead. The Isles goalie Robin Lehner stopped an amazing 32 shots.

#4 The St. Louis Blues have already jumped to a 2-0 lead in the Western Conference first round with another win over the Winnipeg Jets. The Blues’ Pat Maroon and Ryan O’Reilly scored big and goaltender Jordan Binnington stopped 26 shots in the 4-3 win. Jets have their backs to the wall.

#5 The San Jose Sharks head coach Peter DeBoer called a interference call a travesty and the reason for the loss of the game to the Vegas Golden Knights 5-3. Was it more the interference call or the ability of the Knights to be able to come back tie and add two more insurance goals to win and tie the series?

Join Matt for the NHL Stanley Cup Playoff podcasts each Saturday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs-San Jose Sharks podcast with Len Shapiro: With series tied, who has best advantage: Knights on home ice? or Sharks fired up to win game three?

westport-news.com photo: Vegas Golden Knights’ Colin Miller, left, celebrates his goal with goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury (29) during the first period against the San Jose Sharks in Game 2 of an NHL hockey first-round playoff series at SAP Center on Friday night. The series moves to the T-Mobile Center in Vegas on Sunday night for game 3.

On the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs-San Jose Sharks podcast with Len Shapiro:

#1 After coming back from being down 3-0, the San Jose Sharks ended up losing by two 5-3 and the Vegas Golden Knights tied in game two Friday night. The series tied up 1-1. How did San Jose let this one slip away?

#2 It’s a game that they’ll be talking about for awhile as Vegas exhibited their talents scoring three goals in 5:13 to start things off in the first period.

#3 Sharks head coach Peter DeBoer said the team will regroup. There’s not much time when you have a series that’s tied at 1-1.

#4 Is there a concern after losing a game like that, when you caught up to your opponent and then let the lead slip away and now you’re playing at the T-Mobile Center for game three?

#5 Len sets up game three as the puck drops at 7 pm local in Vegas.

Len does the San Jose Sharks podcasts each Saturday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs 2019: Golden Knights Beat Sharks 5-3; Tie Series 1-1

Photo credit: @GoldenKnights

By Mary Walsh

SAN JOSE — The Vegas Golden Knights defeated the San Jose Sharks 5-3 Friday, tying their first round NHL Playoff series 1-1. Vegas goals came from Cody Eakin, Colin Miller, Max Pacioretty, Mark Stone and William Karlsson. Sharks goals came from Logan Couture, Tomas Hertl and Joe Thornton. Vegas goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury made 34 saves in the win. Martin Jones made four saves on seven shots for San Jose, then Aaron Dell came in to replace him and made 14 saves on 16 shots.

The Sharks had eight power plays in the game while the Golden Knights had just three. The Sharks scored one power play goal and Vegas scored one power play goal and two short-handed ones.

After the game, Sharks captain Joe Pavelski talked about how the Sharks’ power play failed them: “We would get turned back and try to make the play up top and they would take that away and it would be out of the zone. It can be a little cleaner, a little quicker, a little bit more direct and we’ll go from there.”

The curse of the first five minutes reared its head again for the Sharks. Martin Jones had just saved a Max Pacioretty shot, which wound up behind the net. Following it as it came back around, Jones found himself screened by his own defensemen when Cody Eakin took a shot from the slot. An assist went to Pacioretty.

That was not the end of it. Before five minutes had elapsed, Vegas scored again. 2:10 into overlapping Sharks power plays, Colin Miller emerged from the penalty box to score short handed at 4:37.

Vegas added another at 6:11. Paul Stastny deflected a pass in the neutral zone, and Pacioretty picked it up. He carried the puck in just off the wall and took his shot before passing the face-off dot. The shot went by Jones on the far side and in. Stastny got the assist.

After that goal, Peter DeBoer replaced Martin Jones with Aaron Dell in net.

After the game, DeBoer said: “We were down three-nothing ten minutes in. I didn’t put it on Jonesy. We needed a shot in the arm to kind of change our momentum.”

The Sharks took some time to stem the bleeding. Once they had done that, they engaged their offense.

Logan Couture got the Sharks on the board at 16:59. The Sharks had just finished killing off a two-man advantage for Vegas, and were playing 4-on-4. Erik Karlsson made a pass across the offensive zone to Pavelski, who quickly passed it back across to Couture in front of the net. Couture put it carefully over Fleury and into the net. Assists went to Pavelski and Karlsson.

After the goal, the Sharks had a brief power play and scored again at 17:38. Couture passed the puck from the point along the blue line to Erik Karlsson, who had a long line of traffic between himself and the net. That traffic made an effective screen for Karlsson’s shot, and a deflection by Tomas Hertl made it all the more elusive. It was Hertl’s second of the playoffs. Assists went to Karlsson and Couture.

Joe Thornton completed the comeback at 19:08 of the period. The Sharks had just spent quite a while hemmed in their own zone when Logan Couture flipped the puck out of the zone. Evander Kane took off in hot pursuit though Pacioretty had several steps on him. Kane caught up and pushed Pacioretty off the puck, took it around behind the net and sent it back up to Brenden Dillon on the blue line. Dillon sent it back down to Thornton for a deflection. Dillon and Kane got the assists.

The second period started with another goal against the Sharks in the first five minutes, but only after the Sharks had a goal called back 51 seconds in. The goal did not count as it occurred just after Logan Couture was penalized for goaltender interference. The call was questionable as the contact came well outside the blue paint and appeared to be initiated by the goaltender. Nevertheless, the goal did not count.

On the ensuing power play, Vegas scored at 1:31. Mark Stone deflected a blue line shot from Shea Theodore. Dell stopped the deflection but the puck made its way back out to Stone, who was able to poke it through traffic and in. It was Stone’s third of the playoffs. Assists went to Stastny and Alex Tuch.

Marc-Edouard Vlasic finished his final shift of the game at 1:06, after the face-off for that Vegas power play, so the Sharks finished the game with five defensemen. Vlasic was injured blocking a shot.

Vegas scored a second short-handed goal at 7:35 of the third period. William Karlsson broke away as Reilly Smith was collecting the puck in the defensive zone. The pass got to him on the center line when he was already up to speed. He faked a shot as he approached the net and then put it away with a back-hand over a prone goaltender. Assists went to Smith and Tuch.

That goal came on Vegas’s first shot of the period. They did not have another shot until 13:53 of the period. In total, they only had four shots in the period but that was enough for them.

The Sharks pulled their goaltender with over two minutes to go for an offensive zone draw. The Sharks had a total of 15 shots in the period but could not beat Fleury again.

Through the first two periods, the Sharks won over 60% of the face-offs, but in the third won just 33%. The Golden Knights put Colin Miller in for Nick Holden on their blue line Friday. The Sharks made no roster changes, but may have to for Sunday, if Vlasic is not available.

Game 3 will be in Las Vegas on Sunday at 7:00 PM PT.

NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs podcast with Joe Lami: Leafs’ Marner scores twice in game 1; Caps’ Backstrom leads offense in win over Canes; plus more

photo from: torontosun.com

On the NHL Stanley Cup podcast with Joe:

#1 The Toronto Maple Leafs took a 1-0 lead in the first round of the playoffs against the Boston Bruins 4-1. The Leafs’ Mitchell Marner scored in the first period, Marner in the second period scored a short handed goal, William Nylander added a goal at 18:25, and in the third period, neither team scored.

#2 The Washington Capitals’ Nicklas Backstrom scored twice against the Carolina Hurricanes in game one on Thursday night. Backstrom’s two goals were both scored in the first period, Alex Ovechkin scored a goal in the first period as the Caps would defeat the Canes 4-2 to take a 1-0 series lead.

#3  Tonight, the Columbus Blue Jackets take a 1-0 into game two against the Tampa Bay Lightning. How important is it for the CBJ’s to get a 1-0 jump on a team like the Lightning?

#4 The New York Islanders have a 1-0 series lead on Syd Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins. How much of advantage is it for the Islanders to have home ice for game two and with Anders Lee, who led the Islanders in scoring this season.

#5 The San Jose Sharks host the Vegas Golden Knights for game two and hold a 1-0 series lead. The Sharks didn’t waste any time in game one, scoring a goal off the mouth of Joe Pavelski, and in the second period, the Sharks got goals from Brent Burns, Marc Edouard-Vlasic and Evander Kane for a 5-2 win in San Jose. How’s things looking going into game two tonight?

Joe Lami does the NHL podcasts each Friday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

 

San Jose Sharks podcast with Mary Lisa Walsh: Pavelski scores goal off mouth, returns after losing teeth

photo from msn: The San Jose Sharks Joe Pavelski (8) took a puck off his mouth on this play causing him to lose some teeth the puck went into the net as Vegas Golden Knights goalie Marc Andre-Fluery (29) struggled to block the shot and teammate defenseman Nick Holden (22) is behind Pavelski on the play.

On the Sharks podcast with Mary Lisa:

#1 In game one of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the San Jose Sharks’ Joe Pavelski scored a first period goal off his mouth losing his teeth and later returning. That’s a story of heroic stuff.

#2 The Sharks lit the lamp three times in the second period with goals from Brent Burns, Marc Edouard-Vlasic, and Evander Kane in one of the Sharks’ biggest rallies.

#3 The Knights’ Mark Stone scored two goals one in the second and one in the third. Other than that, the Knights offense couldn’t generate enough to make up the three-goal deficit.

#4 Sharks goaltender Martin Jones stopped 24 of 26 shots. Mary Lisa talks about his handy work between the pipes in game one.

#5 The Sharks take a 1-0 lead into game two on Friday night at SAP Center. Can the Sharks keep it going?

Mary Lisa is a Sharks beat writer. Join her for Game 2 coverage on Friday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs 2019: Sharks Take Game One 5-2 Over Knights

Photo credit: @SanJoseSharks

By Mary Walsh

SAN JOSE — The San Jose Sharks beat the Vegas Golden Knights 5-2 in the first game of the first round of the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs Wednesday. The Sharks goals came from Brent Burns, Tomas Hertl, Evander Kane, Joe Pavelski and Marc-Edouard Vlasic. Martin Jones made 24 saves for the win. Both Vegas goals came from Mark Stone and Marc-Andre Fleury made 28 saves against the Sharks.

The Sharks got the first power play of the game at 13:35. They had a few moments of delayed penalty time with Jones out of the net but that did not last long. The penalty was to Pierre-Edouard Bellemare for tripping Micheal Haley.

The Sharks scored on that power play at 14:42. A Brent Burns blue line special went off John Merrill’s glove or stick, into Joe Pavelski’s face and into the net. For his pains, Pavelski got credit for the goal with the assist going to Burns. Pavelski went directly to the dressing room, did not even stop for the celebration.

In the last two minutes of the first period, Timo Meier had to leave for repairs after being hi-sticked behind the net.

The Sharks outshot the Golden Knights 8-5 in the first, and won 60% of the face-offs. Vegas out-hit the Sharks 25-17.

Pavelski returned for the second period with a lower face shield. Timo Meier, fresh from his facial repairs, also returned and spoke briefly with an official as the period got under way. 20 seconds in, Meier was called for tripping Jonathan Marchessault. The Sharks killed that penalty off.

Evander Kane and Deryk Engelland exchanged blows after a scuffle in front of the net, as did Brenden Dillon and Jonathan Marchessault. Only Dillon and Marchessault were sent to the box, and for just two minutes. While the teams were playing 4 on 4, Tomas Hertl drew a hooking penalty and gave the Sharks a 4 on 3 power play. That turned into a 3 on 3 when Joe Pavelski was knocked down near the crease and Nate Schmidt tripped over him. Pavelski was called for tripping Schmidt.

The Sharks were unfazed by that noise. Erik Karlsson got the puck across the blue line and to Brent Burns, who carried it around a couple of defenders and shot it past Fleury with calm precision. Assists went to Karlsson and Hertl. Time of the goal was 6:59.

The Sharks followed up with good pressure around the net, leading to a sneaky goal-line pass from Joe Thornton to Marc-Edouard Vlasic as he skated down from the blue line. Vegas was not ready for that and the shot went right by Fleury on the blocker side at 7:44. Assists went to Thornton and Evander Kane.

Vegas responded with a goal at 8:32. Pacioretty’s shot hit Paul Stasny’s skate to the left of Jones, and bounced across the goal mouth to Mark Stone, who was camped out to Jones’s right. Thus flanked by opponents, Jones could not stop the puck. Assists went to Stasny and Pacioretty.

The Sharks went back on the power play at 8:55 after William Carrier was called for tripping Logan Couture. Tripping was a popular penalty in Wednesday’s game.

The Sharks scored again with 18 seconds left in the second. Erik Karlsson’s blue line shot went between a defender’s legs and then was neatly deflected by Evander Kane over Fleury’s glove.

The Sharks increased their shot advantage in the second, winning that contest 14-5. Their face-off success flagged, though. Vegas won 58% of the second period face-offs. Paul Stasny and William Karlsson defeated nearly all comers in the second.

Nearly six minutes into the third, Jon Merrill pushed Micheal Haley down in the crease, right on top of Fleury. As the puck went the other way for what may have been a good chance, Fleury spent some time thumping on Haley with the help of a team-mate. The whistle stopped play for roughing calls all around. Haley went to the box and Paul Stasny went in Fleury’s place.

As that four-on-four got started, the Sharks played a little like it was three-on-three, holding onto the puck as if killing time more than trying to score. But it was early for that. Not long after the four-on-four expired, the Sharks had a power play that killed more time without scoring. Vegas had a turn on the scoreless power play at 11:44 after Barclay Goodrow went for slashing Shea Theodore.

Vegas got another power play at 15:11 when Kevin Labanc went for hooking Tomas Nosek. Mark Stone cut the Sharks lead in half with a goal at 15:26. His shot made best use of what little traffic there was in front of Jones to get the puck over the glove and into the net. Assists went to Shea Theodore and Max Pacioretty.

Toms Hertl scored into the empty net at 18:11 to stop the late game push from Vegas. Assists went to Logan Couture and Marc-Edouard Vlasic.

By the end of the game, the Sharks had rebalanced the face-off results to 50-50. The shot count for the game was 33-26 Sharks.

Game 2 will be in San Jose on Friday at 7:30 PM PT.

Sharks Beat Avalanche 5-2, Erik Karlsson Returns

Photo credit: @SanJoseSharks

By Mary Walsh

SAN JOSE — The San Jose Sharks finished the 2018-19 regular season with a 5-2 win over the Colorado Avalanche at SAP Center on Saturday night. The win was Peter DeBoer’s 400th as an NHL Head Coach and Gus Nyquist’s 500th NHL game. Evander Kane scored his 30th of the season bringing the Sharks tally to four players with 30 or more goals this season. The Sharks’ 101 points earned them second place in the Western Conference. It was a good final game of the regular season. Sharks goals came from Brent Burns, Evander Kane, Kevin Labanc, Gus Nyquist and Micheal Haley. Martin Jones made 28 saves in the win, while Colorado’s Semyon Varlamov made 25 saves in the loss. Colorado goals came from Tyson Jost and Nathan MacKinnon.

After the game, Sharks forward Evander Kane said: “It was good to close the season out with a win, and have another 100 point season here. I think it’s nice to have a victory like that and to have everybody feeling good about their games heading into next week.”

Sharks fans got some good news on the injury front Saturday. Erik Karlsson was back in the lineup though Timo Meier was not, after an injury sustained in Thursday’s game against Edmonton. Meier is expected back for the playoffs and Karlsson had the second highest ice time Saturday.

After the game, Pete DeBoer said of Karlsson’s performance Saturday: “We went into the game and we didn’t really have a plan other than we wanted to play him normally until there was either red flags or he started to fatigue or the trainers thought that was enough. Really, he felt good, you know, deep into the third period so that was good.”

Colorado struck first, just 2:56 into the game. A Colorado shot was blocked high in the slot and the puck wandered in a crowd before being controlled again, by Tyson Jost. The shot went past a number of skaters before getting by Jones. Assists went to Samuel Girard and Erik Johnson.

Evander Kane had a nice breakaway chance, which led to an offensive zone face-off for the Sharks. Right off of that face-off, Brent Burns scored with a blast from the blue line. Tomas Hertl got the assist.

A few minutes later, Evander Kane gave the Sharks a 2-1 lead at 11:15. Kane was in front of the net battling two Colorado defenders when Gus Nyquist got the puck to the net with a spinning pass. Kane shrugged off the two defenders to find the puck and nudge it under Semyon Varlamov. Assists went to Nyquist and Brenden Dillon.

The Sharks were out-shot by the Avalanche 12-10 in the first period, but overwhelmed them in the face-off circle, winning 74% of them. The bulk of those face-offs were taken by Thornton, Goodrow and Hertl.

The Avalanche scored another early goal in the second period, this one at 1:29. Nathan MacKinnon scooted between Sharks defenders while catching a pass from Gabriel Landeskog. He stayed ahead of the Sharks just long enough to get a quick shot off, beating Jones on the glove side. Assists went to Landeskog and Samuel Girard.

Kevin Labanc scored at 6:57, giving the Sharks their lead back. Joe Thornton brought the puck into the zone and then waited for his line-mates to get into position. Labanc received the pass and seemed to be trying to pass it to Sorensen who was almost at the blue paint. Instead, the puck went off of an Avalanche stick and up and over Ian Cole and Sorensen, landing behind Varlamov. Assists went to Thornton and Sorensen.

The shot count tilted slightly in the Sharks’ favor in the second, ending up 12-9 for the Sharks. San Jose maintained their face-off success, still at 73% by the end of the second.

The Sharks did not give up a goal in the first five minutes of the third period. Instead, they scored again at 14:15. Evander Kane retrieved the puck in the corner and sent it away from the boards, where Nyquist picked it up on his way through the face-off circle. He picked the near corner of the net and sent the puck over Varlamov’s shoulder. It was Nyquist’s 22nd of the season. Assists went to Kane and Tomas Hertl.

The Avalanche pulled their goaltender with over three minutes to go. Joe Pavelski put the puck into that empty net with 3:01 left in the game, but it was challenged as off-side. Joonas Donskoi tried to straddle the blue line while the puck crept across but he couldn’t keep his back skate on the ice. The goal was called back.

A little over a minute later, Micheal Haley was able to break away and score in the empty net to make it 5-2. Brent Burns got the assists on that one.

The final shot count was 30-30, and the Sharks won 69% of the face-offs. Barclay Goodrow took 14 of the face-offs and won 86% of them.

The playoff schedule will be announced shortly. The Sharks will start at home next week, against the Vegas Golden Knights.

San Jose Sharks podcast with Len Shapiro: Forget the Sharks’ recent funk, playoffs a whole new kind of season

Photo credit: @SanJoseSharks

On the Sharks podcast with Len Shapiro:

#1 The Edmonton Oilers fell on top of the San Jose Sharks’ Timo Meier on Thursday night at Rogers Place, the Old Rexall building. Meier went in the x-ray room after the game to take a look at his left wrist. Meier most likely will be in tonight’s game at SAP against the Colorado Avalanche.

#2 The Oilers’ Leon Draisaitl was working on a hat trick as he got goals 48 and 49 for the season, but the Sharks covered him well for the rest of the game as the Sharks got away with a close 3-2 win.

#3 The Sharks, with the win over the Oilers, picked up their second win in four games after a nasty seven-game skid. Are they beginning to show some signs of coming out of it?

#4 Joe Pavelski said the Oilers are a team who can get to another level of play and the Sharks need to commit to coming back when they get behind. Melker Karlsson is scheduled to come back and Erik Karlsson is day-to-day.

#5 After tonight’s final regular season game against the Colorado Avalanche, the Sharks will open with home ice for the Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Vegas Golden Knights. Len sets this first round up for us.

Sharks podcasts are heard weekly with Len Shapiro Saturdays and Mary Lisa Walsh Thursdays at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Sharks hold Draisaitl to under 50 goals in 3-2 win over Oilers

Photo credit: (Jason Franson/The Canadian Press via AP) (Associated Press)

By Pearl Allison Lo

The Edmonton Oilers almost had a hat trick with goals number 48 and 49, but the San Jose Sharks were able to hold Leon Draisaitl and his team at bay in the Rogers Place Thursday.

Draisaitl had early goals in the first two periods at 2:03 and 3:22, but Edmonton continued on a five-game losing streak. He and the Sharks’ Logan Couture were tied for a game-high seven shots on goal.

San Jose broke a three-game losing streak on the road in their regular season road finale. They are also now 31-0 when giving up two goals or fewer.

Brent Burns got to 80 points and had a goal and assist for San Jose as he gave his postgame interview without removing all the strings of long hair all over his face. Both of his points began with faceoff wins by Tomas Hertl.

Aaron Dell had his first win since four appearances ago as he made 26 saves on 28 shots. Dell had his best save percentage (.929) in a start since November 23.

San Jose coach Pete DeBoer said after the game, “I don’t know anything yet,” re an injury that occurred when Darnell Nurse accidentally fell on top of Timo Meier.

Draisaitl’s 48th goal came short-handed and was the second game in a row the Sharks gave up such a goal.

The Sharks’ Marcus Sorensen scored his first goal since March 12 at 8:52 of the first, when Joe Thornton made a sneaky and suave pass from behind the net. Jacob Middleton earned his first assist on the play.

Burns’ goal then came at 10:04 with a wrister under the crossbar from the middle of the left faceoff circle. It was not a sure thing at first, but the goal prevailed.

Joint roughing penalties were issued to Meier and Milan Lucic at 10:37 of the second, questionable on Meier’s end.

Gustav Nyquist ended up getting the game winner at 18:48. Nyquist got a piece of Burns’ hard shot from behind him. Nyquist had four shots on goal.

Both teams had a power play in the third and five (San Jose) and six (Oilers) shots apiece.

The Sharks’ Melker Karlsson returned from injury and played 12:05.

San Jose’s recent power play remained perfect in their last 13 tries. Still, Joe Pavelski and Logan Couture saw room for overall improvement. Pavelski replied, “we gotta stay on the attack and stay aggressive…There’s always another level this team can get to.” He also noted, “we kind of beat ourselves at times, but guys were committed to getting back.”

Up Next: The Sharks play their regular season finale Saturday at home versus the Colorado Avalanche at 7:30 pm.

San Jose Sharks podcast with Mary Lisa Walsh: Can Sharks stop the madness? They’ve been losers in nine of their last 10 games; They’re in Edmonton tonight

Photo credit: @SanJoseSharks

On the Sharks podcast with Mary Lisa:

#1 It’s not getting any better and the players in the dressing room knew it before it was over as the Sharks had a 2-1 lead disappear after the Canucks scored three unanswered goals in the third period for a 4-2 win at Rogers Arena in Vancouver.

#2 The Sharks looked like they had things under control in the second period with neither team scoring and the Sharks holding a 2-1 lead.

#3 The three unanswered goals in the third period started with the Canucks’ Tanner Pearson, who didn’t waste anytime scoring at 11:18. The Canucks’ second goal was by Markus Granlund at 13:39, and then Troy Stecher came through with a short-handed goal.

#4 How much is this the defense’s fault or goaltender Martin Jones, who bears most of the responsibility for a loss like this?

#5 The Sharks try again in Edmonton and they just might have a shot at getting a win. The Oilers have lost their last four games with recent losses to the Avalanche, Knights, Ducks, and Stars.

Mary Lisa does the Sharks podcasts each Thursday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com