Category: San Jose Sharks

Avs Erase Pair of Two-Goals Deficits, Eliminate Sharks from Contention in 5-4 OT Win

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It’s a Avalanche of Colorado players celebrating a win against the San Jose Sharks at SAP Center and eliminating the Sharks from playoff contention on Mon May 3, 2021 (@mckinnons photo)

By Matthew Harrington

The San Jose Sharks (20-26-6) couldn’t play spoiler Monday night against the Colorado Avalanche (34-12-4), falling to the visiting Avs 5-4 in overtime to face mathematical elimination from the playoffs for a second straight season and allow Colorado (34-12-4) to move within two points of Vegas for the Division lead.

“A lot of young guys are getting chances,” said Sharks coach Boughner when asked to reflect on a second consecutive year without playoffs in San Jose. “Calling it a ‘reset’. It’s not a surprise. You look around the league. , out of 31 teams, the teams that missed the bubble last year are still out. It just goes to show you don’t flip things around in this league in six months or eight months. It takes time. There’s pain involved in that. There’s some growing to do.”

Evander Kane scored a pair, Tomas Hertl picked up two points and Alexander Barabanov picked up his fifth point in five games with the Team Teal, but San Jose (20-26-6) blew a two goal lead. Philipp Grubauer was denied a fourth shutout of the Sharks this season but picked up the win allowing four goals on 27 shots. Andre Burakovsky scored the winner in overtime for a two-point night and the Mikko Rantanen-Gabriel Landeskog-Nathan MacKinnon lined combined for five points.

Trailing 4-2 with almost halfway through the third period, Colorado showed why they’re clear cut Stanley Cup favorites. Mario Ferraro had an opportunity to clear the puck from the Sharks end on the left boards, but MacKinnon picked it off and fed Landeskog in the slot. The Colorado captain right a wrister that beat Sharks goalie Martin Jones to cut San Jose’s lead to 4-3 with 11:01 left in regulation.

In what felt like an inevitable outcome, the Avs pressured the Sharks down the stretch, using a failed Brent Burns clearing chance to tie the game 4-4. Nazem Kadri beat Martin Jones on a sharp angle shot over the near post shoulder with 3:39 left in regulation.

Burakovsky beat Jones just 41 seconds in to the overtime period that was controlled entirely by the Avalanche from the opening faceoff. Burakovsky hopped on the ice, received a Makar pass and sped right down the middle of the ice. He wired a wrister that squeaked through Jones and into the net for a 5-4 win.

“It’s tough to see the way that game ended,” said Boughner. “I thought we should have been celebrating the two points.”

Kane put the Sharks on the board early after Barabanov picked off an Avs pass at their own blue line. He dropped the puck from below the goal line to the slot where Kane was streaking, but Valeri Nichushkin was waiting to clear the puck. His effort rolled to Kane though, he wired the puck past Grubauer for an unassisted goal and a 1-0 lead 3:20 into play.

The Avs took control of the 1st period, answer back just 2:18 later in play, with Gabriel Landeskog winning a faceoff in the Sharks end clean to Nathan MacKinnon waiting on the halfwall. Mackinnon fired a pick on net that rebounded right to Mikko Rantanen for a backhand strike and his 29th goal of the season, with his linemates picking up the assists.

The tie remained in place, but Colorado peppered Sharks netminder Martin Jones, outshooting San Jose 13-5 over the first 20 minutes of play, including an Avs power play. Jones withstood the tilted ice to keep the Sharks and visitors knotted at 1-1.

“The second period I thought we did a better job of managing the puck,” said Boughner. “Our changes were good tonight. We did a lot of good things structurally, bottled up the d zone and did a good job in the neutral zone. There were some good things in there, just unfortunate how it ended.”

Hertl rewarded his goaltender’s first-period heroics, scoring another period opening goal 1:57 into the second period. Patrick Nemeth’s pass went into Tyson Jost’s back skate, allowing Hertl to pick up the errant pass in front of Grubauer. He then put Nemeth on skates with a deke before going back hand to score his 17th of the year and give the Sharks a 2-1 lead.

Kane added to the Sharks lead after being hit with a breakaway pass by Hertl. Kane managed to get a step on Avs stud defenseman Cale Makar, again going backhand on Grubauer while Makar wiped out the Sharks power forward. The puck went into the net though, and Kane picked up his 22nd goal of the year 7:47 into the period and, more importantly for the penalty-ridden Kane, maturity won out as he didn’t seek retribution on Makar for the takeout.

Nichushkin pulled Colorado within one after some sustained offensive pressure. Andre Burakovsky fired a puck that beat Jones but hit off the post and popped up. The Avs forward was ready and waiting for the rebound, beating Jones on his tenth tally of the season 1:18 into the third.

Timo Meier hit the release valve on the mounting third-period pressure at the time, scoring his tenth of the season just 2:14 later, with the top pair of Brent Burns and Mario Ferraro assisting.

“I thought he was more physical,” said Boughner on Meier. “I thought he held on to more pucks and used his speed a little more, his size. That’s the way he has to play. It paid off with a nice shot on that goal.”

The Sharks wrap up the final homestand of the season with a final game against Colorado Wednesday night. Fresh off the loss Boughner couldn’t confirm any lineup changes, but the expectation is that the Sharks will skew towards youth as the play out the string.

Sharks Fall 4-3 to Avalanche, Kane scores 500th Point

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The San Jose get swept in the two game set with the Colorado Avalanche losing on Thursday 3-0 and on Sat May 1, 2021, 4-3 in Denver (@Avalanche photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks lost their final road game of the season to the Colorado Avalanche by a score of 4-3. Nathan MacKinnon, Andre Burakovsky, Patrik Nemeth and Mikko Rantanen scored for Colorado. Devan Dubnyk made 22 saves for the win. Alexander Brabanov, Logan Couture and Tomas Hertl scored for San Jose. Josef Korenar made 39 saves in the loss. Evander Kane scored his 500th NHL point in the third period with an assist on Logan Couture’s short-handed goal.

Josef Korenar made 39 saves on 43 shots Saturday. After the game, Sharks captain Logan Couture talked about the goaltender:

“I thought he kept us in the game. He was probably our best player for the majority of the night. I thought it could have been a lot more than the four that they got. So, he battled for us. We made it a game at the end there but wish we’d helped him out a little bit more throughout the game.”

The first period ended scoreless, with Colorado leading in shots 15-10. There was just one penalty, taken by the Sharks. The Avalanche power play got one shot on goal.

The Sharks scored the first goal of the game, on a power play at 4:25 of the second period. It was their first power play goal in 28 power plays. Barabanov caught a rebound out in the face-off circle and shot it by Dubnyk on the blocker side. Assists went to Tomas Hertl and Erik Karlsson.

Nathan MacKinnon tied the game at 13:08 of the second. The teams were playing four-on-four with Brent Burns and Dan Renouf in the box for penalties taken less than 20 seconds apart. Conor Timmins made a pass across the ice to MacKinnon who was closing fast on the net without anyone in his way. Assists went to Timmins and Mikko Rantanen.

Andre Burakovsky gave the Avalanche the leads at 16:06. Burakovsky caught the puck out of an offensive zone face-off, skated toward the slot and took the shot through some traffic to score. An assist went to JT Compher.

The Sharks killed one penalty in the second period, but were out-shot 12-4 in the period. The Colorado power play had four shots in the second. The Sharks power play had the one shot.

Patrik Nemeth made it 3-1 for Colorado at 9:05 of the third period. His slap shot from the blue line zipped through traffic and into the net. Assists went to Cale Makar and Nathan MacKinnon.

Logan Couture cut the lead by one with a short-handed goal at 9:55. Evander Kane snatched up a fumbled puck at the blue line and skated away from Makar to get a shot on goal. Logan Couture followed in a hurry and put the rebound away.

The Avalanche challenged the goal for goaltender interference. Kane did make contact with Dubnyk without actually entering the blue paint. The NHL did not consider it enough to call back the goal.

Colorado took back their two-goal lead with 4:26 left in the period. Mikko Rantanen’s shot from the blue line went through a lot of traffic and in. Assists went to Devon Toews and Conor Timmins.

With the Sharks net empty, Brent Burns took a quick shot from the blue line at 17:47. The puck went off of Tomas Hertl for his 16th of the season. Assists went to Burns and Barabanov.

The Sharks made a good final push at the end but it was not enough. The Sharks finally won the shot battle for the period, 11-8. The Sharks had one power play and a bit in the third, which added two shots to their tally. Colorado had just one shot on their power play before Couture scored and the unsuccessful challenge ended the power play. The Sharks won just 41% of the face-offs in the game.

The Sharks next play on Monday, in San Jose. They will face the Avalanche again at 7:30 PM PT.

San Jose Sharks podcast with Matt Harrington:Sharks drop 9th of 11 games; Shutout in Colorado 3-0

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Colorado Avalanche left wing J.T. Compher, left tries to get control of the puck as the San Jose Sharks left winger Evander Kane (9) tries to defend on Fri Apr 30, 2021 (AP News photo)

On the SJ Sharks podcast with Matt:

#1 The San Jose Sharks (20-25-5) get shutout on Friday night against the Colorado Avalanche (32-12-4) 3-0 they got on the scoreboard in the third period but the goal was taken away could you describe what happened.

#2 Martin Jones was in net for the Sharks once again was this a game where he just didn’t get any support in front of him or the Aves were able to take advantage and get some good chances on Jones.

#3 The Sharks couldn’t get anything going on offense I know you talked about their power plays this would have been a great opportunity to do something on the power play.

#4 Much of the credit goes to the Colorado goaltender Phillipp Grubauer faced 21 shots and was able to stop them all.

#5 Sharks and Avalanche face off at 5:00 PM PDT which Sharks team will show up the team that will be fired up after taking a 3-0 shutout loss or the team that took the shutout loss?

Sharks podcasts on Saturday are hosted by Matt Harrington at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Avalanche Shut Out Sharks 3-0

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The San Jose Sharks Erik Karlsson (65) tries to control the puck as the Colorado Avalanche’s left wing Andre Burakovsky gives pursuit at SAP Center on Fri Apr 30, 2021 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks fell 3-0 to the Colorado Avalanche in Denver Friday. Gabriel Landeskog, Cale Makar and Mikko Rantanen scored for Colorado, and Philipp Grubauer made 21 saves for the shut out win. Sharks goaltender Martin Jones made 33 saves in the loss.

The Sharks are clearly giving prospects a good look now and several played in Friday’s game. Left wing Ivan Chekhovich made his NHL debut with the Sharks Friday. He had one blocked shot in 10:55 of ice time. Center Alexander True made his third appearance of the season. He had one shot on goal and took one penalty in 13:01 of ice time.

After the game, Sharks Head Coach Bob Boughner said: “These young guys that are playing on the road in a tough building, against a good team, there was quite a few fans here tonight, so there was some atmosphere and it’s a good experience for them.”

Also getting a good look, the more experienced left wing Alexander Barabanov played his third in a row since joining the team at the trade deadline. He had a goal and two assists in his first two games. On a line with Tomas Hertl and Evander Kane Friday, he had one blocked shot, one hit and one penalty in 19:15 of ice time.

Boughner said, of Barabanov: “He slows the game down a bit, and his skill takes over. We’re asking a lot of him, playing on that top line against those players and he doesn’t look out of place defensively.”

The first goal came on a Colorado power play at 11:13 of the first period. Cale Makar took a shot down the slot and Gabriel Landeskog subtly tipped it into the net. Assists went to Makar and Mikko Rantanen.

Landeskog was in front of Jones for the next goal as well, on another power play at 13:13. This time Makar’s shot went past Landeskog and in. Assists went to Rantanen and Joonas Donskoi.

The Sharks had one power play in the first period, and got two shots on goal with the man advantage. Colorado had two power plays and got six shots with the extra man. Colorado outshot the Sharks 13-6 in the first.

The second period saw the Sharks kill off two penalties, one abbreviated by a Colorado penalty. Colorado’s power play got two shots in the period and the Sharks got none in their minute or so of power play time. The Avalanche out-shot the Sharks 12-8 in the period.

The Sharks put the puck in the net midway through the third period but Colorado challenged it as off side. Alexander Barabanov had knocked the puck out of the air above the blue line and after a review the goal was called back.

The third Colorado goal came at 18:21 of the third, when Mikko Rantanen scored into an empty net. Assists went to Landeskog and Carl Soderberg.

The Sharks power play took four shots in two tries in the third. The Avalanche still out shot the Sharks 11-7.

In keeping with attention to prospects, the Sharks’ AHL team was also playing Friday, in San Jose. Lengthy look-ins on that game were broadcast during intermissions of the Sharks game. The Barracuda won 6-4.

The Sharks next play on Saturday, again in Denver against the Colorado Avalanche at 5:00 PM PT.

Sharks could be odd hockey team out; SJ Planning Commission on board with Google Development plan

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Rendering of the Google Village that is on the drawing board for development literally right at the doorstep at SAP Center in San Jose (image from sanjosespotlight.com and Sitelab Urban Studio)

By Marko Ukalovic and Daniel Dullum

SAN JOSE–San Jose Sharks and Sports Entertainment has two choices regarding the future of the NHL hockey team staying in San Jose grin and bear it lose over 4,000 parking spaces and crater to the direction of new and future neighbor Google and their development of a new Downtown West Village that will feature retail, condos, new housing and 7.3 million feet of office development. Not to mention the remodeling and development of the Caltrain and BART stations that Google will push for as a huge public transit hub right across the street from SAP Center.

The San Jose Planning Commission voted unanimously to move forward with the development on Wednesday night. Meaning Google is getting one step closer towards building their 80 acre campus in the Dirdon/SAP Center neighborhood.

Google’s plans are to be the big business developer in the neighborhood and the Sharks would be welcomed by Google to stay but the mega tech company plans to develop or have the run of their parking lot as they are a major purchaser of the surrounding area.

The Sharks are waiting for the next meeting that will take place with the San Jose City Council who will vote on the development on May 25th. Google needs two thirds of a yes vote from the City Council to move forward with the development.

A two thirds vote is critical to the project because the San Jose Airport Commission voted no to the development because the Downtown West Village does not meet the building height and noise standards. Although it’s hard to say who on the City Council will vote in favor or not Google has made the deal interesting for the City of San Jose by pouring billions into developing the Downtown West Village project and the city is looking at the project as huge revenue and tax money income in spite of the City’s only professional team the Sharks who say they will leave if this project goes forward.

The second option on a possible Sharks move in a worst case scenario is narrowed down to three locations if they look past the project development succeeding, the Oakland Coliseum Arena previously served as a site of the defunct NHL California Golden Seals who played in Oakland in the 1970s. That site most likely won’t work for the Sharks because the Oakland A’s and the City of Oakland are considering developing the Coliseum proper if the A’s can land a new ballpark in downtown Oakland. Also the Sharks like the A’s most likely do not want to play their games at the Coliseum location.

The Sharks could turn to the San Francisco 49ers and Levis Stadium and develop a new arena in Santa Clara near Great America. That is if the Sharks will accept being a tenant of the 49ers. The Sharks really want their own location and own building. Right now being in a downtown setting is what the Sharks want and moving to Santa Clara would not offer that downtown ambiance.

The third location is Quebec City Canada. Quebec City lost it’s hockey team the Nordiques when they moved to Denver to become the Colorado Avalanche in 1995 and the city has been hungry for an NHL team ever since and have a NHL regulation facility in the waiting for such a team who is looking for a new home.

It all boils down the the San Jose City Council vote on May 25th and the Sharks will either be happy with the vote if the City Council votes thumbs down to the Downtown West Village project or they will have to look at their options if the vote moves forward with the project.

Marko Ukalovic is a San Jose Barracuda beat writer and Daniel Dullum does Headline Sports podcasts each Sunday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Sharks Ride 3-Goal 1st Period to 4-2 Win Over Yotes

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The San Jose Sharks get their celebration on after a two game sweep over the Arizona Coyotes at SAP Center on Wed Apr 28, 2021 (@SanJoseSharks image)

By Matt Harrington

The San Jose Sharks playoff hopes, while dimming, still live on after the Sharks 4-2 victory over the Arizona Coyotes Wednesday night in San Jose. Logan Couture and Tomas Hertl had two points each, Kevin Labanc scored in his return to the lineup after missing Monday’s game with an injury and Evander Kane scored to continue a streak of six 20-goal seasons. Josef Korenar made 28 saves for his second career and consecutive win to keep San Jose (20-24-5) 5 points back of St. Louis, another victorious team Wednesday, for the final spot in the West.

The Sharks did most of their damage in the first period, scoring three goals on Darcy Kuemper. Kane scored first just 1:12 into play on the rush. Tomas Hertl wheeled into the zone, pulled up and hit Alexander Barabanov on the far post. Barabanov dished the puck to Kane cross-crease for the one-timer. Barabanov now has points in both games he’s appeared in for San Jose.

Rudolfs Balcers beat Kuemper 10:06 into the frame after the Sharks continued to gum up the neutral zone and force turnovers. Balcers caught Niklas Hjalmarsson flat-footed and sped around him for an open lane to the net. Logan Couture and John Leonard assisted on Balcers’ seventh of the year.

The Sharks third goal was a combined effort of Noah Gregor, Alex True and Kevin Labanc. Gregor picked up a homerun pass that would have gone for an icing for a slower skater and fed true net front. The pass drew Kuemper out so that True’s rebound would go to Labanc for an easy empty net goal and a 3-0 lead with 5:52 left in the first. It’s Labanc’s 11th goal of the season, and first since April 9th. He missed Monday’s game with an injury.

Phil Kessel joined rare company, becoming one of three players to score eight goals against the Sharks in a season. He accomplished the feat with 4:13 left in the period for a 3-1 Sharks edge. He joins Teemu Selanne and Luc Robitaille in the outer club and has nearly as many goals against the Sharks as the rest of the league (10) this year. Johan Larsson scored 4:40 into the second to cut the lead to one at 3-2. Hertl’s empty-netter sealed the game for San Jose and gave him an Couture (secondary assist on the play) multipoint nights.

Next up for the Sharks is a road trip to Colorado. They’ll play a two game road set against the Avs before welcoming the second place in-division Colorado side for two at home as the season moves to the final weeks.

Notes: Brinson Pasichnuk made his NHL debut for the Sharks. He’s the first skater and second player from the fledgling Arizona State hockey program to make their NHL debuts this year. Joey D’accord played in net for the Ottawa Senators earlier this year…Matt Nieto skated in practice but a return date is still unclear…Alex True appeared in the lineup for the first time since March 3rd. He had his first point of the season…Evander Kane has seven career 20 goal seasons in total….John Leonard has his first point since an assist April 10th against Los Angeles.

San Jose Sharks podcast with Len Shapiro: Sharks go for second win against Coyotes; Korenar gets the call for tonight

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San Jose Sharks goaltender Josef Korenar (32) will start tonight against the Arizona Coyotes takes a Gatorade break on Mon Apr 26, 2021 the two teams face off at SAP Center (Bay Area News Group photo)

On the Sharks podcast with Len:

#1 The San Jose Sharks (19-24-5) win over the Arizona Coyotes (21-23-5) had to take some weight off after losing eight straight games.

#2 One of the things that went right for San Jose was they were able to get the offense working scoring two goals in each period.

#3 The Sharks got a two goal win over the Coyotes 6-4 which included goals from Sharks defencemen Brent Burns and Erik Karlsson.

#4 The Sharks Josef Korenar stopped 25 shots and allowed four goals, Korenar who recently came up from the Sharks minor league AHL affiliate the San Jose Barracuda how has he been working out since the Sharks traded former backup goaltender Devon Dubnyk to Colorado.

#5 Game two between the Coyotes and Sharks tonight at SAP Center. The Coyotes are none too pleased about getting beat 6-4 and the Sharks scoring twice in each period how do you see this match up tonight?

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

San Jose Sharks podcast with Mary Lisa: Sharks get some offense; Snap eight game losing streak

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San Jose Sharks scored two goals in each period to defeat the Arizona Coyotes 6-4 at the SAP Center in San Jose on Mon Apr 26, 2021 (@SanJoseSharks photo)

On the San Jose Sharks podcast with Mary Lisa:

#1 Mary Lisa one thing you could say about the Sharks (19-24-5) they didn’t hesitate to put the puck on the net on Monday night against the Arizona Coyotes (21-23-5).

#2 The Coyotes defense or goaltenders Adin Hill faced 22 shots and allowed on goal and back up goalie Darcy Kuemper allowed four goals and saw 11 shots.

#3 Even though the Sharks got 11 shot on goals in the game they made five of them count and that’s something that head coach Bob Boughner was looking for in the offense.

#4 Sharks got goals from Evander Kane, Alexander Barbanov, Logan Couture, Noah Gregor and even the defencemen got in the action Brent Burns and Erik Karlsson scored.

#5 The Sharks host the Coyotes on Wednesday night at SAP Center in the second of the two meetings. In their last two meetings the Coyotes defeated the Sharks in a two game series Mar 26, 5-2 and Mar 27, 4-0.

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

San Jose Sharks podcast with Mary Lisa Walsh Tue Apr 27, 2021 by Sports Radio Service | Free Listening on SoundCloud

Sharks Hang On, Beat Coyotes 6-4 for Korenar’s First NHL Win

Published on by Matthew HarringtonLeave a comment

The San Jose Sharks Noah Gregor (73) scores a goal and gets congratulated from John Leonard (43) in the first period against the Arizona Coyotes at SAP Center on Mon Apr 26, 2021 (photo from Bay Area News Group)

By Matthew Harrington

The San Jose Sharks snapped their eight game losing streak, winning a pivotal contest 6-4 against the Arizona Coyotes in front of an audience of fans for the first time all season. Evander Kane picked up four points, Josef Korenar made 21 saves to secure his first NHL win and Alexander Barabanov netted his first career goal. By winning in regulation, the Sharks (19-24-5) kept the gap between fourth-place St. Louis, who won earlier in the night, at five points and kept Arizona (21-23-5) from jumping out eight points ahead of the Sharks. The Sharks had a 4-0 lead in the second but Arizona clawed their way back in.

“It was a lot closer than it should have been, let’s put it that way,” said Sharks coach Bob Boughner. “That’s no disrepesct to the other team. There’s just a couple of goals we would like to have back but it didn’t rattle us tonight.”

The Sharks took control early, with Noah Gregor scoring just 17 seconds into play after Dylan Gambrell pressured Coyotes netminder Darcy Kuemper on a play behind the net. Kuemper hopped back in the net but the shot went in Kuemper’s feet for Gregor’s fifth goal of the year.

Brent Burns doubled the lead a few minutes later, beating Kuemper on a bomb through a Tomas Hertl screen from the point at the 3:07 mark. Hertl and Evander Kane assisted on Burns’ seventh goal of the season and second in his last five games.

Sharks captain Logan Couture stayed hot, scoring in a second consecutive game after going goalless for 16. Couture picked a rebound from a Greg Pateryn shot out of his skates and beat an out-of-position Kuemper for a 3-0 lead 1:54 into the second. Erik Karlsson then added another on a another long distance shot, chasing Kuemper 3:19 into the second.

“We’re getting some bodies in front of the net,” said Boughner. “Which is allowing us to get some second, third opportunities. Our D are doing a better job of getting pucks through. I thought we were good off the rush today. I thought we created some chances off the rush.”

With Adin Hill in net, the Coyotes started to dig out of a hole with Michael Bunting, Clayton Keller and Jakob Chychrun all scoring for the Arizona on Korenar.

“He battles hard in there,” said Boughner. “He’s a young guy. He’s still finding his game. There’s a couple I’m sure he’d want back.”

They would then go on the power play 6:41 into the third period after Timo Meier took down Chychrun with a trip, but the Sharks penalty kill stood up the Arizona’s man advantage.

“They got a power play, he came up with 2 or 3 big saves,” said Boughner on his netminder. “That just shows that he has the ability to brush that off, the ability to battle back and be aggressive still and not sit back and be conservative in net. That’s what I like, I like a guy that’s going to get in there and fight.”

With Ryan Donato and Kevin Labanc both out, recent trade acquisition Alexander Barbanov drew in on the second line with Tomas Hertl and Evander Kane. He made the most of his opportunity after appearing in just 13 games with the Toronto Maple Leafs coming into the game with just the lone assist, scoring in his Team Teal debut to give the Sharks breathing room. Barbanov parked himself in the crease for a Kane rebound 11:17 into the final period for his first career NHL goal and a 5-3 lead.

“I’ve seen him play in Toronto a little bit before,” said Erik Karlsson about the new forward inserted into the line up. “I’ve heard good things about him. he came in and stayed true to himself. He played a hard game, he has some skill too. He wasn’t afraid to play with the big guys on the second line. He came in and it was a good first game for him and obviously nice for him to get a goal right away to get things going for him. It’s always nice to see.”

The goal would be needed after Chychrun added to his defenseman-leading 16th goal with 4:44 left in regulation. Chychrun, the Coyotes top defenseman, played through some pain after taking a couple of painful shot blocks in the second period. Evander Kane release the pressure after scoring an empty netter with 8.1 seconds left for a 6-4 Sharks win.

The Sharks will face Arizona at home yet again looking to keep that final playoff spot in striking distance. They’ll once again have the added boost of a handful of fans back in attendance.

“It was nice to see a little bit of normalcy,” said Karlsson on what the fans in the building meant. “Even though there weren’t that many you could hear how excited they were to be back. They supported us the entire time.”

Notes: The Sharks had 500 fans in attendance, considered a sellout in the current ticketing model…Barabanov came to the Sharks at the deadline for Antti Suomela as a bit of an unknown, he was the odd man out in Toronto, needing to play a skill role on a team with a loaded top-six…Kevin Labanc’s small ironman streak of 263 games was snapped after being scratched with an injury….Evander Kane scored his 19th goal of the season. If he scores a 20th this season it will be his 6th straight season of 20 or more goals…Both teams combined to go 0-7 on the power play.A

San Jose Sharks special report: Downtown project could be devastating for team’s future; Sharks could move out of San Jose

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SAP Center in San Jose will have plenty of company when Google begins construction for a downtown village and other projects around the arena (photo from Sports Net)

By Daniel Dullum and Marko Ukalovic

SAN JOSE–Back in November 2020 a San Jose Sharks press release to fans and media said the team was considering the possibility of moving out of SAP Center and San Jose if a proposal between Google and the City of San Jose is not met regarding selling SAP Center parking lots A, B, and C to Google which are located right in front of the arena which would be used for Google parking. Google is planning to build a downtown west village and other construction projects around SAP Center.

Sharks Sports and Entertainment strongly made it clear to the city and Google that they wanted to work with them and that purchasing the parking lots for Google’s use was at one time on the table. But since November have not moved an inch on their plans. Google and the city are sticking to what they have on the drawing board and what the Sharks are afraid of a huge downtown village and project with massive construction that would impede the Sharks conducting business, huge traffic snarls, and multiple construction projects for Google’s downtown village.

SAP and Shark Sports Entertainment reiterated again on Sunday through a press release that the city and Google have not revised their documents and looks like they will go forward with their plans that still would require huge traffic environment impacts in the Santa Clara Street downtown west area where SAP is located that would interfere with arena business whether for hockey games or concerts.

In the November letter the Sharks have said for more than a year they have shared their concerns with Google and the city about the massive proposed development projects around the arena that would cause gridlock and cause backed up traffic for fans trying to get to Sharks and Barracuda hockey games. The letter went onto say “Unfortunately, those discussions have yielded limited results and the planners of these projects appear intent on moving forward in a manner that could force the Sharks out of San Jose.”

The new SAP and Sharks letter from Sunday says that the Sharks have tried to work the parking lot issues out with the city and Google but as the documents show they will not modify their construction plans around the arena and the purchasing of parking lots A, B, C, are off the table.

There will be a final phase meeting at the San Jose Planning Commission on April 28th to allow the public to speak and most likely fans and administration staff of the San Jose Sharks not limited to Team President Jonathan Becher who said in November that the Sharks moving out of San Jose would be a last resort. Another meeting on May 25th will be scheduled in front of the city council.

In the event that Google and the City go forward with their plans on the drawing board and the worst case scenario the Sharks decide to move out of San Jose two locations the Chase Center in San Francisco and Golden One Center in Sacramento were raised but neither have NHL regulation ice or dimensions for ice hockey. The Oakland Coliseum Arena which had NHL hockey in the 1970s with the defunct California Golden Seals is the only other possible place left in the Bay Area.

The only other place that has a ready made NHL facility is in Quebec City Canada where Quebec has been waiting for a hockey team since the Nordiques left to become the Colorado Avalanche in 1995. The fans in San Jose have voiced their objections regarding the Google construction because the Sharks have been such a huge part of the San Jose community since they moved into SAP Center in 1993.

Marko Ukalovic is a San Jose Barracuda beat writer and Daniel Dullum hosts Headline Sports podcasts at http://www.sportsradioservice.com