Category: San Jose Sharks

Jones Saves 39, Sharks Top Canes 5-1; That’s two straight wins for Sharks

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photo from nhl.nbcsports.com: San Jose’s Joe Pavelski goes for the victory skate in front of the Sharks bench after scoring his season’s 18th goal as the Sharks defeated the Carolina Hurricanes at SAP Center on Wednesday night

By Matthew Harrington

SAN JOSE — The San Jose Sharks won on the road for the second-straight game, shelling the Carolina Hurricanes 5-1 at SAP Center on Wednesday night. Well, not quite. Despite the Sharks wearing the road whites and feeling the parts of weary travelers, they were actually the home team.

Joe Thornton and Timo Meier each had three points for San Jose, Martin Jones made 39 saves and Radim Simek picked up his first career NHL point in just his second game. Joe Pavelski scored his team-leading 18th goal and Meier, Marcus Sorensen, Tomas Hertl and Barclay Goodrow all scored for Team Teal. Lucas Wallmark scored the lone goal for the Canes.

The Sharks returned from a six-game road swing Sunday night, playing their first home game since November 23rd, but their bags really never had a chance to be unpacked, with San Jose off to Dallas for a Friday night contest before a trip to the Desert for a Saturday showdown with the Coyotes.

Both teams entered play 1-2 in high-danger scoring chances, so offensive fireworks were expected. The fact that they were completely one-sided came as a bit of a surprise though. Goodrow opened the scoring taking a Kevin Labanc feed and going top shelf just 3:44 into the game for his fourth goal of the year. Tomas Hertl scored a power play strike after Logan Couture’s cross-ice pass to Labanc pulled NHL journeyman Curtis McElhinney to his left. Labanc connected with Hertl just to the right of the netminder in the crease for the easy redirect and a 2-0 lead halfway through the first period. The Canes would pepper Jones with 17 shots in the frame but he stood tall to hold down the shutout after 20 minutes.

Timo Meier continued to blossom as San Jose’s best power forward since Owen Nolan, buzzing McElhinney right as Simek ripped a point shot. The naked eye gave Simek his first career goal, but by the grace of video review, Timo Meier was awarded his 14th goal. Simek had to settle for an assist for his first NHL point and a 3-0 Sharks lead 8:42 into the second. Thornton would pick up his first of three assists, notching the secondary helper on the final three San Jose goals.

Joe Pavelski scored what has to be the most fortuitous goal of his season, attempting to flip a puck on McElhinney that looked like it would be harmless. Instead the puck glanced off Jordan Staal and redirected into the Canes net for a 4-0 Sharks edge.

Carolina would finally crack Jones in the waning minute and a half of the middle stanza with Wallmark beating Jones glove side on the power play to score on the Hurricanes 26th shot of the contest. Marcus Sorensen got the goal pack after Meier threaded a pack hand pass that allowed the Swede to rip a shot past McElhinney with just 4:17 left in regulation.

San Jose has now collected a point in three-straight home games and is on a two-game win streak after a five-game skid. They’re off to the Big D for a showdown with Tyler Seguin and the Stars next.

Sharks Beat the Canadiens 3-1 in Montreal

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Photo credit: @SanJoseSharks

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks finished the road trip with a 3-1 win over the Montreal Canadiens at the Bell Centre on Sunday. It was the Sharks’ first road win since October 28. Sharks’ goals came from Justin Braun, Brent Burns and Joe Pavelski. Jeff Petry scored the Canadiens’ lone goal. Sharks goaltender Martin Jones made 39 saves for the win, while Canadiens goalie Carey Price made 26 saves in the loss.

After the game, Sharks head coach Peter DeBoer said:

We had a little bit of desperation to our game. We got the first goal, I think, which relieved some pressure. I thought we had a pretty good start in Ottawa and couldn’t find a goal early and got behind. We’ve been chasing the game a lot on this trip. So, you know, we were in front. And I thought the only thing I would have liked to have done better was extend it in the second. We had three or four chances to maybe extend that lead by one and make the third maybe a little bit easier on ourselves. But, a lot of good stuff.

Justin Braun opened the scoring at 2:55 of the first, giving the Sharks that early lead. He intercepted a pass to Michael Chaput near the Montreal blue line, took a couple of strides into the zone and let fly a long shot at the net. It beat Price for an unassisted goal, Braun’s first of the season.

The second goal came from Brent Burns, a power-play goal at 10:29. The Sharks were playing with a two-man advantage after Mike Reilly cross-checked Barclay Goodrow, and then Michael Chaput caught Logan Couture with a high stick just under a minute later. Erik Karlsson sent the puck to Joe Pavelski who was down by the goal line. Pavelski sent the puck quickly back to Burns in the slot. Burns took a moment to line his shot up and sent a missle into the top corner. It was Burns’ fourth goal of the season, with assists to Karlsson and Pavelski.

Over the course of the first period, the shot count was nearly even, with the Sharks leading 11-9.

Jeff Petry got one back for Montreal 12:15 into the second period. The Canadiens entered the zone three-on-two but the Sharks’ defense pushed them back to the outside. The Canadiens regrouped. On a broken play with a failed pass, Petry found the puck in front of the net and put it by Jones’ glove. Assists went to Jonathan Drouin and Andrew Shaw. Logan Couture got the puck below the goal line and sent it up the boards to Brent Burns, who found Joe Pavelski in the slot for a quick shot through on short side. It was Pavelski’s 17th of the season with assists to Burns and Couture.

During the second period, the shots were again very close, with the Sharks leading 11-10. During the third period, the Canadiens outshot the Sharks 22-7, but Martin Jones was up to the task.

After the game, Jones said: “I thought we played a way better game, despite the shots, it’s the two-on-ones and the odd man rushes that have been hurting us. So I thought we did a great job tonight.”

The Sharks next play on Wednesday in San Jose against the Carolina Hurricanes at 7:30 PM PT.

San Jose Sharks podcast with Len Shapiro: Breaking down the Sharks’ four-game losing streak; Head to Montreal Sunday

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photo from mercurynews.com: The San Jose Sharks Erik Karlsson (65) made his return to Ottawa since being traded to the Sharks last season. Karlsson faced against his old team the Senators Saturday as his former teammates look on Dylan DeMelo (2), Thomas Chabot (72), and Ryan Dzingel (18)

On the SJ Sharks podcast with Len:

#1 Going through some of the Sharks troubles on this current road trip where they’ve lost four straight, are newer players and call ups who are trying to adjust to the chemistry a work in progress and lots of turnovers?

#2 What’s it been like for the goaltenders Aaron Dell and Martin Jones on this trip and how have they not made the big saves?

#3 They started the road trip with a 6-0 loss in Vegas last Sunday then lost two one-goal games in Buffalo and Toronto and took a tough four-goal loss to the Ottawa Senators on Saturday.

#4 How is the top line of Joe Thornton, Evander Kane, and Joe Pavelski who are split up to the Sharks’ current top line of Logan Couture, Tomas Hertl, and Timo Meier?

#5 Playing back-to-back games Saturday in Ottawa and Sunday in Montreal, Ottawa in seventh in the Atlantic handled the Sharks well forcing them to turn over the puck and the Sens were able to poke the puck through the Sharks defense for the four-goal win 6-2.

#6 Today was the California Golden Seals hockey lunch that Len attended a reunion of former Seals players, broadcasters and staff. Also, the Seals boosters had a tribute at SAP Center that was unforgettable two seasons ago–dedicated to former players, broadcasters, front office staff and former media relations manager our very own Len Shapiro.

Len Shapiro does the SJ Sharks podcasts each Saturday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Senators Sink Sharks 6-2 in Ottawa

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Photo credit: @SanJoseSharks

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks gave up six goals for the second time on this road trip. The Ottawa Senators got goals from Ryan Dzingel, Ben Harpur, Mikkel Boedker, Mark Stone, Magnus Paajarvi and Bobby Ryan. Sharks goals came from Joe Thornton and Barclay Goodrow. It is worth noting that Mikkel Boedker earned four points in the game. Ottawa goaltender Craig Anderson made 36 saves for the win and Martin Jones made 21 saves for San Jose.

It was not an ideal first game back in Ottawa for Erik Karlsson (he had nine shots on goal but was still a minus 2), but he was grateful for the tribute before the game. He also talked about how the Sharks are struggling: “At the end of the day it’s up to us in that room to figure that out and find a way to get back to the team that we know we can be. As of right now it’s going to be tough to do that but we’re going to do everything we can to figure that out and we’re going to sort this thing out for tomorrow’s game against Montreal.”

He was asked about the experience of returning to Ottawa for the first time since being traded to San Jose, and whther he was glad to have this game behind him. He said:

I was happy to be able to play this game, yes. It’s not a lie that we’ve all known when it was coming up. There’s been a lot of talk and I’ve been trying to stay focused on the games that we had before that and I think I did a good job at that. I was happy and this was a great experience I had a lot of fun out there even though this was not a great game at all and I’m not happy by any means. But it’s going to be nice to move on now here. I’m excited to be able to play tomorrow in Montreal and hopefully sort this mess out.

Sharks captain Joe Pavelski was with the team when they played their first game against Ottawa after Dany Heatley came to San Jose. After Saturday’s loss, he said: “Yeah, yeah very disappointing. You know, you come back in this situation, I remember when we came back when Heater was with us, you know, and winning that night. It always feels good that you can support a guy in an emotional night. We came out, we had a good first I think, we were right there, it felt like we were on top of them. We just didn’t sustain it.”

After a scoreless first period, the Senators got a power play just a few minutes into the second period. While Marcus Sorensen and Justin Falk were in the box with fighting majors, Evander Kane tripped Bobby Ryan. In the second minute of that power play, Marc-Edouard Vlasic’s stick broke in the Senators’ end, inspiring an odd-man rush for the Senators. Justin Braun and Martin Jones handled that well, with Vlasic doing what he could without a stick.

Once the power play had ended, though, Ottawa took the lead at 7:30. A shot from Thomas Chabot on the blue line got through to Jones, who kicked the puck out. But two Senators were right in front of him and Ryan Dzingel got to the rebound before Brent Burns could. It was Dzingel’s 11th goal of the season, with assists to Chabot and Matt Duchene.

The Sharks got a power play not much later when Cody Ceci hooked Joe Pavelski. That turned into a five-on-three for under a minute when Tom Pyatt tripped Evander Kane. Two seconds after the five-on-three expired, Joe Thornton tied the game off a tic-tac-toe play from Burns to Pavelski by the goal line. Pavelski’s pass went through the crease to Thornton. The play had Anderson moving from post to post and that left Thornton an open net to shoot at. It was Thornton’s fourth of the year with assists to Pavelski and Burns.

Ryan Dzingel almost had another goal at 11:17 when he broke away and took a shot that hit the the crossbar.

The Senators did score the next goal at 12:56. Ben Harpur received a pass from Zack Smith in the neutral zone, then took a shot off the rush for his first NHL goal. Assists went to Smith and Magnus Paajarvi.

Less than a minute later, two former Sharks combined to give the Sens a two-goal lead. Bobby Ryan’s pass found Chris Tierney on the Sharks’ blue line. Tierney sent the puck ahead of Mikkel Boedker, who was flying to the Sharks net. Boedker put the puck under Martin Jones with a last-moment backhand. It was Boedker’s third goal of the season, with assists to Tierney and Ryan.

The third period was more of the same, with Ottawa not letting up at all. A power play goal came at 4:03, off a three-on-one created when Vlasic was tied up briefly in the offensive zone. It was Mark Stone’s goal, with assists to Boedker and Chabot.

Pete DeBoer opted to pull Martin Jones with over five minutes left in the game. That lasted only seconds after the next faceoff, as Magnus Paajarvi’s shot went all the way down the ice and into the empty net.

Barclay Goodrow got one back for the Sharks with two minutes left. Goodrow deflected Brenden Dillon’s hard shot from the blue line for his third of the season. Assists went to Dillon and Joakim Ryan.

Bobby Ryan was able to restore the four-goal lead in the final minute, deflecting Boedker’s shot from above the faceoff circle. Assists went to Boedker (his fourth point of the night) and Cody Ceci.

The Sharks next play on Sunday in Montreal against the Canadiens at 4:00 PM PT.

San Jose Sharks podcast with Mary Lisa Walsh: Sharks now 0-3 on current five-game road trip; Look to rebound on Saturday in Ottawa

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Photo credit: @SanJoseSharks

On the San Jose Sharks podcast with Mary Lisa:

#1 You just can’t keep the Buffalo Sabres and the Toronto Maple Leafs down as both beat the San Jose Sharks on back-to-back nights Tuesday and Wednesday. The Sabers with a 3-2 win Tuesday and the Leafs with a two-goal 5-3 win Wednesday.

#2 The Sabers on Tuesday got some key scoring from Jeff Skinner, who has a streak for scoring the first goal to start a game in which turned out to be crucial in the win.

#3 The Sabers are now 25-17-6 while the Sharks dropped their second game of this road trip in Buffalo. On Wednesday San Jose dropped to 12-9-5 in Toronto–the loss was San Jose’s third straight.

#4 San Jose’s Joe Pavelski scored #14 and #15 in the third period on Tuesday. On Wednesday, he scored one goal #16 , but no matter Joe’s efforts, the Sharks have come up short.

#5 This long five-game road trip continues to Ottawa on Saturday and in Montreal Sunday as the Sharks will give it a go to salvage the trip with a couple of wins.

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

Sharks Fall to Leafs 5-3, Matthews Scores Two In Return

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Photo credit: @SanJoseSharks

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks were defeated 5-3 by the Toronto Maple Leafs Wednesday at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.

Leafs goals came from John Tavares (2), Patrick Marleau and Auston Matthews (2). It was the first game back from injury for Matthews after a 15-game absence.

Sharks goals came from Tomas Hertl, Joe Pavelski and Melker Karlsson. Leafs goalie Frederik Andersen, made 38 saves for the win, while Sharks goalie Aaron Dell made 24 saves in the loss. Both teams did well on the power play, with Toronto scoring three times in four tries, and the Sharks scoring twice in three power plays. The Sharks dominated on the shot clock 41-29, but the Leafs won in the faceoff circle, winning 60% of them.

After the game, Sharks head coach Peter DeBoer identified special teams as the story of the game:

The story was the three power play goals. I mean they went three for four. So, you’re not going to win on the road giving up two power play goals, never mind three. Our attention to detail on the P.K. is as good as anybody in the league. You know, it wasn’t tonight. You’ve got to give them credit, they’ve got a pretty potent power play and they executed and they stuck it in the net.

Sharks forward Timo Meier was out with an injury Wednesday. Asked how that changed things, DeBoer said: “It changes, you know. But guys gotta get the job done. I thought it’s an opportunity for some other guys to jump in and do the job. I didn’t feel like we could play four lines tonight and that’s unfortunate because you want guys to grab opportunity.”

The first period was fast and furious for both teams. The neutral zone saw a lot of traffic and puck possession was hotly disputed. The first goal came just 3:38 in on a Toronto power play with Kevin Labanc in the box for tripping Mitchell Marner.

The Sharks penalty kill started pretty well, with Tomas Hertl keeping the puck behind the Toronto net so that the Leafs didn’t get set up in the Sharks zone for almost 30 seconds. Once in, however, it only took Toronto about 15 seconds to score. The play started with a point-to-point pass between Morgan Reilly and Mitchell Marner. Marner made a cross-ice pass to Auston Matthews in the faceoff circle, who passed it to John Tavares in front of the net. No one was there to give Tavares any grief and he tapped it in. It was Tavares’ 16th of the season, with assists to Matthews and Marner.

The Sharks responded with their own power play goal at 10:40, after Andreas Johnsson was called for interference on Joonas Donskoi. The Sharks had a couple of good chances before finally scoring. Tomas Hertl had already spent a lot of time fighting his way to the front of the net when Logan Couture found Kevin Labanc near the boards. Labanc moved the puck quickly to Hertl who was able to put it away neatly. It was Hertl’s 6th of the season, with assists went to Couture and Labanc.

Less than 30 seconds later, Toronto took the lead again with another power play goal. The penalty was to Barclay Goodrow for holding Auston Matthews. This time the shot came from Auston Matthews, almost the top of the faceoff circle. The puck had moved from behind the Sharks net to the point and back down to Matthews for the shot. Assists went to Reilly and Marner.

John Tavares scored his second of the game with just 18 seconds left in the period. The Leafs came through the neutral zone at speed three-on-two, making two cross-ice passes before Tavares took the shot. Assists went to Marner and Zach Hyman.

Toronto lost no momentum going into the second period and got a power play just 54 seconds in. It was Kevin Labanc’s second tripping penalty of the game. Patrick Marleau made them pay with a goal at 1:53. Gardiner’s shot from the blue line touched the stick of Tyler Ennis and turned into a pass from Andreas Johnsson away from the net. That pass went to Marleau in the faceoff circle. Marleau had an open net and did not miss. It was his first goal against his former team. Assists went to Ennis and Johnsson.

Moments later, the Sharks were back on the power play, this time a tripping penalty to Travis McDermott against Melker Karlsson. Toronto had a little short-handed time but spent it on a quick shot that Dell stopped. With the faceoff in the defensive zone, the Sharks had to make their way through the neutral zone. That gave them some trouble, once interrupted by an off-side call. Once they did get in the zone, they took their time moving the puck around the outside until finally Joe Pavelski saw an opening from the below the faceoff circle. He took a quick shot and beat Anderson to the short side. Assists went to Brent Burns and Logan Couture.

That was it for goals and penalties for the second period.

The Maple Leafs were back on the power play just 33 seconds into the third, when Justin Braun went for holding Zach Hyman. The Sharks killed that off, their first successful kill of the game. Evander Kane had a good breakaway chance near the midpoint of the period, but two Leafs caught up with him and hauled him down before he could shoot.

At 10:59, Auston Matthews scored again to give the Leafs their three-goal lead back. Aaron Dell had just fought off a deflection on a shot from the blue line. The puck went back to the blue line, where Jake Gardiner caught up to it and sent it back below the goal line for Kasperi Kapanen. Kapanen brought it out the other side of the net and passed it to Johnsson, who took a shot that hit Matthews on the way in, beating Dell over his left shoulder. Assists went to Johnsson and Kapanen.

The Sharks tightened up the score in the final two minutes with a goal from Melker Karlsson at the 18-minute mark. Evander Kane’s pass found Joonas Donskoi just as he crossed into the offensive zone with Melker Karlsson steps behind. Karlsson went to the net and Donskoi’s pass hit his stick just as he arrived. It was Karlsson’s second goal of the season, with assists to Donskoi and Kane.

The Sharks next play on Saturday in Ottawa against the Senators at 10:00 AM PT.

Sharks’ hopes cut short as Sabres win 10th in a row 3-2 in OT

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Photo credit: AP

By Pearl Allison Lo

Red-hot Jeff Skinner kept Buffalo’s perfect streak alive in regulation when scoring first with the final say in their third 3-2 victory in a row, defeating the San Jose Sharks at First Niagara Center on Tuesday.

Goalie Martin Jones went out to poke the puck away from Rasmus Dahlin and Skinner pounced on the puck afterward. Jones swung his arm to the right and Skinner scored short side before Jones could move back all the way. Skinner’s goal came at 1:41. In his last 10 games, he has scored 10 goals and one assist, pointless in only one of those games.

The Sabres’ 10th straight win matched a franchise record as they remained on top of the NHL.

San Jose fell to 3-5 in overtime, while Buffalo moved to 7-2.

Meanwhile, the Sharks worked hard to secure a point after they were down 2-0 in the third.

San Jose outshot Buffalo 13-7 in the first and 17-11 in the third. The Sabres had all three shots in overtime.

The goal scorers in regulation were Sabres’ defensemen and Joe Pavelski.

After a scoreless first period, Rasmus Ristolainen struck at 14:42 of the second. Casey Nelson and Sam Reinhart strung the puck together smoothly to get it to Ristolainen, who moved the puck between his legs from right to left versus Brent Burns and buried the puck after moving across Jones. Ristolainen finished with a swaggy cowboy riding a horse celebration.

The Sharks kicked off the third (1:35) with a power play, during which they made three shots. Almost 40 seconds after it ended though, things went the other way as Nathan Beaulieu found himself free and fired a perfect pass from Reinhart top center.

San Jose, not to be counted out, got things going in the second half.

With a 4-versus-4 formation on ice, Pavelski won the faceoff, with the puck going to Timo Meier and then Burns. Burns this time passed between Vladimir Sobotka’s legs to find Pavelski, who rocketed the puck in at 11:20.

Pavelski’s second goal came after a minute on the power play. Kevin Labanc made a shot, and Pavelski followed the puck movement after Logan Couture recovered the puck from the boards. The Sharks’ captain then fished the puck behind the net and made a swift wraparound before goalie Carter Hutton was aware at 16:42. Pavelski led all players with seven shots on goal.

San Jose’s Evander Kane had a chance to win the match before overtime, which he described as a “tough one not to finish.”

Regarding the contest, Burns said, we ”had our chances. They ended up with one more.”

Up Next: During the game, a two minute high sticking penalty to the Sharks’ Brenden Dillon got taken back. San Jose’s five-game road trip rubber match arrives quickly in the form of the Toronto Maple Leafs Wednesday at 4:30 pm PT.

Golden Knights Sink Sharks 6-0; Game Misconducts for DeBoer, Kane

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Photo credit: @SanJoseSharks

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks lost 6-0 to the Vegas Golden Knights at the T-Mobile Arena on Saturday night. This was a stunning reversal following a good homestand that included two 4-0 wins for Sharks goaltender Aaron Dell. Goals came from William Karlsson, Colin Miller, William Carrier and Max Pacioretty (2). Knights goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury made 33 saves for the win, with Dell making 30 saves in the loss. Sharks’ Evander Kane and Barclay Goodrow were both ejected from the game as well as the team’s head coach Peter DeBoer.

On the Kane expulsion, DeBoer said after the game: “Just absolutely no feel. You’ve got a team down five-nothing, already short on the bench with Couture hurt, you’re going to kick a guy out for arguing a call ’cause emotions are high. Have a little feel for the game.” As for his own eviction, he said: “I just asked… I didn’t even swear, I just asked him ‘did that feel good, kicking Evander out under these circumstances.’ I guess that was enough, I guess he wanted another victim.”

Discussing the game in a more general sense, Sharks captain Joe Pavelski said: “It was a tough night. They were obviously… it was one of the better they’re going to play I think and we weren’t ready, you know, by any means. But we would have liked to have been a little bit better. It happens, it’s a good lesson at this time of year I guess. So, I don’t know, it was just a tough night.”

When pressed on the idea of not being ready, Pavelski said:

It felt like we were ready, we were ready to go and it didn’t happen. It snowballed on us and one thing leads to the other. You know, they get a bounce on that first goal and… You know, I’m not saying guys weren’t ready. Just, you’ve got to understand that’s a heavy team over there and they play hard and they’re really good at home. And this has happened to us a couple times now when we’ve come in here.

The Sharks had an abysmal first period. The Golden Knights took control from puck drop, knocking the puck into the Sharks’ zone. Dell went behind the net to retrieve it, but even with his help there the Sharks could not get control of it. Brayden McNabb took a shot from the blue line that first touched Timo Meier, then William Karlsson before bouncing past Dell. That came 14 seconds in. The goal went to Karlsson, with assists to McNabb and Jonathan Marchessault.

Vegas scored again at 4:40. Colin Miller took three shots on his shift, one of which hit Logan Couture and put him in distress. Couture was still down but trying to move the puck when Miller got it away from him and put it past Dell. An assist went to Reilly Smith.

The third and fourth Vegas goals of the first came from Pacioretty. Near the midpoint of the period, with Karlsson in the penalty box for holding, the Sharks’ penalty killers had just cleared the puck and gotten fresh legs on the ice. Smith was moving down from the blue line, looking like he might shoot. Instead he sent it behind Tomas Hertl to a waiting Pacioretty in the slot. Pacioretty sent it in past Dell’s glove. Assists went to Smith and Miller.

Pacioretty’s second goal came right after Dell had poke checked the puck away from Alex Tuch. Pacioretty was there to clean it up and put the puck past Dell while he was trying to get reset.

The second period started less badly because the Sharks only gave up the one goal. The Sharks started with some good pressure, but that fizzled into a hard-to explain breakaway for Carrier, as there were a number of Sharks around him in the neutral zone. None of them moved quickly enough and his shot slipped by Dell. Ryan Reaves got an assist on that one.

The Sharks got into some unusual penalty trouble at 15:41. Evander Kane had been called for high-sticking at 13:06, which penalty the Sharks killed off. Half a minute after they killed it, Kane was called for tripping Tomas Nosek. Kane expressed his disapproval of the call and received an additional unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.

Kane described the hit after the game as: “The guy has the puck, I step in his lane, hip on hip. It’s a five-nothing hockey game.” That seems like a fair description of the hit, but the officials saw it differently. An abuse of officials penalty was added and a game misconduct.

Less than a minute later, Jonathan Marchessault ended the four-minute Vegas power play by slashing Barclay Goodrow. DeBoer shared his opinion about these events with the officials, which got him a game misconduct as well.

Some frustration came out early in the third period when Hertl hit Cody Eakin and Eakin retaliated. They both went to the box for two minutes of four on four time. A little over a minute into that, Justin Braun’s pass from behind the net went off the boards, out of the reach of Marc-Edouard Vlasic. Shea Theodore was right there to take it and pass it to Alex Tuch in the slot. Pacioretty moved between Tuch and Dell for a fleeting screen and Tuch scored his seventh of the season. Theodore got the assist.

More frustration bubbled up before the half way mark as Carrier and Brenden Dillon got into it by the Sharks net. Some cross-checks from Dillon got a response from Carrier and Dillon’s helmet came off. Carrier went to the box for roughing. A couple of minutes later, Goodrow got an unsportsmanlike conduct for going after Carrier. With less than three minutes left, Braun got into it with Carrier and went for roughing. At the same time, Reaves went to the box with a misconduct, apparently for some words from the bench.

The Sharks next play on Tuesday against the Sabres in Buffalo at 4:00 PM PT.

San Jose Sharks podcast with Len Shapiro: Satisfying win against Canucks, will it pick up momentum going into five-game road trip for the Sharks?

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photo from citizens-times.com: San Jose Sharks’ Joe Thornton (19) shoots the puck during the first period of the team’s NHL hockey game against the Vancouver Canucks in San Jose, Calif., Friday, Nov. 23, 2018.

On the Sharks podcast with Len:

#1 After taking a tough loss to the Edmonton Oilers (10-10-2) on Tuesday the San Jose Sharks (12-7-4) came right back on Friday night and shutout the struggling Vancouver Canucks (10-13-2) 4-0. Was this a game of the Sharks showing improvement over Tuesday’s game or the Canucks, who now have lost eight straight, are just a bad club?

#2 San Jose goaltender Aaron Dell save 19 shots and didn’t allow a goal in net for the Sharks.

#3 The Sharks’ Joe Thornton hit a milestone with his 1,035th assist 750 of those with San Jose, eclipsing former Pittsburgh Penguin Mario Lemeiux.

#4 The Sharks got goal help from Logan Couture first period at 10:54 (8), Timo Meier (13) at 19:50, third period Erik Karlsson (2) at 3:43 and Melker Karlsson (1) at 9:35.

#5 The Sharks hit the road starting tonight in Vegas (11-12-1) for the first of five games. How do you see them faring on this current trip?

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

Sharks Blank Canucks 4-0; Dell shuts out Vancouver with 19 saves

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Photo credit: @SanJoseSharks

By Mary Walsh

SAN JOSE — The San Jose Sharks defeated the Vancouver Canucks 4-0 at SAP Center on Friday night. Three power play goals came from Logan Couture, Timo Meier and Erik Karlsson. The only even-strength goal of the game came from Melker Karlsson. Erik Karlsson had two assists along with his goal for three points on the night. Sharks goalie Aaron Dell made 19 saves for the win, while Canucks goalie Anders Nilsson made 20 saves in a losing effort.

After the game, Dell talked about the Sharks’ defensive success: “They were great tonight. Most of the shots they had were long, ones I could see them all the way. I don’t think they had any second opportunities the whole night. That goes to show how solid defensively we were tonight.”

Sharks head coach Peter DeBoer commented on the six-game homestand in general:

We played some tough teams during this home stand and found a way to win some games, and did it different ways too. I thought we tightened things up the last few games defensively. Got some great goaltending from Deller in a couple of the last games. Some special teams tonight, the power play. And the pk’s been solid the entire time. So, a lot of good stuff. It’s never perfect, you always want to be a little better. And heading on the road, I think we’re going to have to be a little bit better to win games.

The Sharks had three power plays in the first period and made good use of them. Logan Couture scored at 10:54 just four seconds into the second of those three. The Sharks won an offensive zone faceoff and got the puck to Erik Karlsson at the blue line. He got it right to Couture across the ice and he took the shot from above the faceoff circle for his eighth goal of the season. Assists went to Karlsson and Kevin Labanc.

Timo Meier scored their second goal, at the tail end of a four-minute power play drawn by Lukas Radil. Joe Thornton took a shot that rebounded off Nilsson’s pads, and scooped the puck back up just above the goal line. He took another shot from a very tough angle. Meier was right at the blue paint to nudge it over the line at 19:50 for his 13th goal of the season. Assists went to Thornton and Brent Burns.

The Sharks outshot the Canucks 12-8 in the first period. During the second period, the penalty scale tipped in Vancouver’s favor, but the Sharks killed all three Canuck power plays. They did lose something in the shot count, with Vancouver again getting eight shots during the period and the Sharks only getting credit for five.

Just over a minute into the third period, Logan Couture took a stick to the eye area and went to the dressing room. None of the officials observed the incident so no penalty was called. San Jose did get a power play at 2:54 when the Canucks were penalized for delay of game. The Sharks were moving the puck well when, halfway through the power play, Joe Thornton made a sneaky no-look pass to Erik Karlsson in the slot. His shot went over Nillson’s pad for Karlsson’s second of the season. Assists went to Thornton and Kevin Labanc.

The Sharks were not done yet. Melker Karlsson scored his first of the season redirecting an Erik Karlsson shot at 9:35. Barclay Goodrow’s faceoff win got to Brenden Dillon, whose pass found Erik Karlsson in the middle of the blue line.

The Sharks next play tomorrow in Las Vegas against the Golden Knights at 7:00 PM PT.