Category: San Jose Sharks

Peter DeBoer Out as Sharks Head Coach

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Photo credit: @CompleteHkyNews

By Mary Walsh

SAN JOSE — Peter DeBoer is no longer the head coach of the San Jose Sharks. His time with the Sharks ended today, after the team returned from a winless four game road trip. They have just 15 wins this season in 33 games, and have lost their last five games. The Sharks also announced that assistant coaches Steve Spott and Dave Barr and goaltending coach Johan Hedberg were dismissed as well.

Assistant Coach Bob Boughner was named interim head coach, with Roy Sommer as assistant coach and Mike Ricci as associate coach. Evgeni Nabokov will step in as goaltending coach.

In their press release, General Manager Doug Wilson said: “When you have had a level of past success, change is never easy, but we feel this team is capable of much more than we have shown thus far and that a new voice is needed.”

The Sharks started this season with one of the worst Octobers in team history, only to rally in November and claw their way back into the playoff picture. Instead of continuing on that trajectory, they have dropped again to sixth in the Pacific Division and a recent record of 4-5-1. The team is laboring with a minus 25 goal differential. Only one team in the league has allowed more than the Sharks’ 114 goals against this season, and that is the Detroit Red Wings. That is somewhat shocking with two Norris Trophy winning defensemen on the Sharks’ blue line.

DeBoer became the Sharks head coach at the end of the 2014-15 season, replacing Todd McLellan. His tenure with the Sharks had an eerie similarity to his time with the New Jersey Devils, the NHL team he coached before the Sharks. In his first season in New Jersey, he led the Devils to the Stanley Cup Final. Their record declined steeply from there. Under DeBoer’s leadership, the Sharks also reached the Stanley Cup Final for the first time in team history. That was DeBoer’s first season with the organization and, as with the Devils, that was the high point of his record in San Jose.

San Jose Sharks podcast with Len Shapiro: Preds hold off Sharks offense; San Jose suffers fifth consecutive winless game 3-1

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photo from mercurynews.com: San Jose Sharks left wing Evander Kane (9) collides with Nashville Predators goaltender Juuse Saros (74), of Finland, in the first period of an NHL hockey game Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2019, in Nashville, Tenn.

Len Shapiro on the San Jose Sharks podcast:

#1 The San Jose Sharks (15-16-2) spent another evening on the road with another loss. This time to the Nashville Predators (14-10-5) in a three-goal loss 4-1.

#2 The Sharks simply could not get any offense going. They only had Timo Meier, who scored the club’s only goal of the night.

#3 Sharks goaltender Marty Jones gave it his all in net, saving 29 shots and allowing three goals. Simply put, Jones did not get the offensive support on Tuesday night

#4 The Predators got goals from Calle Jarnkrok, Nick Bonino, and Ryan Johansen. All scored in the third period after the game was 0-0 after the first two periods.

#5 The New York Rangers (15-11-3) come into San Jose on Thursday night and the Sharks are coming in with a five-game winless streak and no doubt will be giving its all in this one.

San Jose Sharks podcasts with Len Shapiro are heard every Wednesday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Sharks lose to Predators 3-1, stumble amidst December doldrums

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Photo credit: @SanJoseSharks

By Pearl Allison Lo 

Nashville Predators goalie Juuse Saros and special teams operated in the Predators’ favor 3-1 in a penalty-filled night in Nashville Tuesday. 

Saros put together a .960 save percentage in making 24 saves. The San Jose Sharks outshot the Predators 10-2 in the second without any results. The team was held to single-digit goals for the third game in a row. Sharks oalie Martin Jones had his fourth straight loss, but his best save percentage in that stretch at .935.

Minus the one-game road trip loss to start the season, this was the first time the Sharks experienced a road trip without a win, as they went 0-3-1 away from home with a now five-game losing streak to match their season-high. 

All in the third, Nashville’s Nick Bonino and Ryan Johansen scored and so did San Jose’s Timo Meier. 

Both teams were 0-for-3 on the power play going into the third. By the end, the Predators had outshot the Sharks 19-9 with four more power play opportunities and one power play goal. 

There’s another statistic. Check out the tweet below.

Maybe a penalty 47 seconds into the game was a precursor of what would follow throughout the game. Both teams combined for five penalties in the first period. San Jose’s Mario Ferraro got a double minor for high-sticking at 8:05. In the second, the penalties more than doubled. By 19:34, both teams had six penalties together. Two seconds before the second period ended, they got six more. The Sharks’ Evander Kane got three. For Nashville, Dan Hamhuis one and Austin Watson two. 

Both teams had even-ing penalties four times. A total of 13 different players were whistled. The Sharks’ Barclay Goodrow was penalized thrice. For the Predators, Calle Jarnkrok, Fabbro Forsberg and Roman Josi twice. 

The early penalty to start the game went to Goodrow for slashing. Ferraro’s penalty followed at 8:05. Teammate Marcus Sorensen received an unsportsmanlike conduct call at 12:51 while Forsberg was put in the box for interference. Jarnkrok’s hooking penalty at 15:36 concluded the first. 

In the second, the whistle first blew against Fabbro at 9:31 for slashing. At 17:15, Goodrow was called for cross-checking and Jarnkrok for slashing. San Jose’s Brent Burns helped out on defense versus Both Fabbro and Meier got unsportsmanlike conduct at 18:52. Kane’s penalties were a four-minute roughing, a misconduct and fighting for a total of 19 minutes, pretty much icing him the rest of the match. For Nashville, it was the same but split between Hamhuis (roughing) and Watson (misconduct and fighting). 

The whistles continued in the third with simultaneous minors to Josi (cross check) and Goodrow (closing hand on puck) at 2:03.

Bonino broke the scoring stalemate with four Sharks around him and near Jones in net at 4:24. It was his third point and second goal in as many games.

San Jose then had four straight penalties. Erik Karlsson was called for hooking at 8:29. The Sharks saw possible relief when Goodrow got a penalty shot, their first of the season on the road, but Saros stopped it.

Meier had a breakaway taken away, Burns was called for elbowing at 12:19 and Johansen subsequently scored after Jones made an initial save. It broke a five-game drought. However, San Jose challenged the goal for interference in pushing Jones’ pad but were disappointed, resulting in the delay of game penalty. 

Forsberg received the final penalty of the night at 13:34 for hooking.

Jones was pulled for an extra man with 2:07 left. Then the Sharks showed new life and that Saros was not impenetrable at 18:02.  It started off a faceoff win and the primary assist came from Hertl poking the puck across behind Saros.

San Jose managed to stay alive at first while the Predators made attempts at the empty net. The Sharks were able to keep the puck from going out, next Nashville went offsides, later turning over the puck, then icing until Jarnkrok finally put the dagger into San Jose’s hopes at 19:18. 

Up Next: Below .500 again, the Sharks will look towards familiar territory helping them with a five-game home stand, starting with the New York Rangers Thursday at 7:30 pm.   

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary podcast: Niners pull one out for the ages in New Orleans; Raiders’ skid hits three, Carr and Raiders hear it from the fans; plus more

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Photo credit: ninersnation.com

On That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary:

#1 The San Francisco 49ers pulled out a victory for the ages on Sunday in New Orleans when kicker Robbie Gould hit the gamer, a field goal that captured one of the 49ers’ best wins of the season 48-46.

#2 The Oakland Raiders suffered their third straight loss to the Tennessee Titans on Sunday afternoon 42-21. Critics have said that Raiders quarterback Derek Carr looks lost in the headlights in those last three games.

#3 How important is it for Cal getting a bowl game in the Bay Area they face Illinois on Monday, Dec. 30th at Levis Stadium? Although the game is in a neutral site, the Bears will feel right at home.

#4 This past week, the San Francisco Giants hired batting coach Donnie Ecker as manager Gabe Kapler slowly dismantles the former coaching staff that was once Bruce Bochy’s.

#5 The San Jose Sharks lost their fourth straight game and five of their last seven games. Over the weekend, they lost by convincing scores 7-1 to Tampa Bay on Saturday and 5-1 to Florida on Sunday.

Listen to Amaury Pi-Gonzalez for That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary each Tuesday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Sharks Power Play Scores, Still Lose 5-1 to Panthers

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Photo credit: @SanJoseSharks

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks lost 5-1 to the Florida Panthers Sunday at the BB&T Center in Sunrise, Florida. Panthers goals came from Keith Yandle, Aleksander Barkov, Mike Matheson, Brett Connolly and Frank Vatrano. Their goaltender, Sergei Bobrovsky, made 30 saves for the win. The Sharks goal was scored by Kevin Labanc, the team’s first power play goal in 23 tries. Martin Jones made 28 saves in the loss.

After the game, Labanc said:

Today, we were working we just weren’t scoring so it sucks. Like I said, I mean we’re getting a ton of chances but we’re just not capitalizing on them. And… just… it’s all in the detail of the game and it’s not that they’re a better team than us it’s just that we’re making more mistakes.

Sharks forward Evander Kane, who sat out for a period’s worth of penalties, said: “I think we’re a little too relaxed right now. A couple games, that we’re off to bad starts and we didn’t really fight back and we didn’t really have much fight back after we got down so that’s really the most disappointing part.”

Sharks head coach Peter DeBoer identified goaltending and special teams as the problem in Sunday’s game:

I thought we hung in there and, you know, kept fighting but you know it wasn’t enough. And, you know, their goalie was better, their special teams were better tonight than ours. That was probably the story. I thought five-on-five we probably carried a lot of the play but, those two areas, they were better than us.

The Panthers started the scoring on a power play at 4:15 of the first. Kevin Labanc was in the box for hooking. Jonathan Huberdeau’s pass up the boards found Keith Yandle for a shot from the blue line. Assists went to Huberdeau and Aleksander Barkov.

Barkov scored the next one at 8:15, putting the Panthers up 2-0. The Panthers entered the zone three-on-two with Erik Karlsson and Marc-Edouard Vlasic defending. With Karlsson covering Keith Yandle but letting Barkov slip by at the last moment. Evgenii Dadonov was the puck carrier and he sent the puck to the net for Barkov to tap in. Assists went to Dadonov and Huberdeau.

Kevin Labanc made up for his penalty with a power play goal at 10:13. Labanc took a pass from Erik Karlsson up near the blue line and took the shot from above the face-off circle. The puck went up over Bobrovsky’s shoulder as Timo Meier was blocking the goaltender’s view. Assists went to Karlsson and Evander Kane. The goal ended a scoreless streak 23 power plays long for San Jose.

The Panthers out-shot the Sharks 12-9 in the first period.

Florida scored again on the power play at 6:32 of the second period. With Brett Connolly in the goaltender’s eyes, Mike Matheson took a shot from the blue line that made its way all the way in. Assists went to Aaron Ekblad and Frank Vatrano.

Just 4:16 into the second period, Evander Kane was given multiple penalties for fighting, instigation and misconduct. That all resulted from his response to a hit from behind. The penalties put him out of play for the rest of the period and the start of the third. After the game, Kane was asked about the incident and said: “A guy hits me in the head and no call, you know, you gotta protect yourself. Nobody else is gonna protect you on the ice, not the refs, not the other team, so sometimes you gotta stick up for yourself.”

At the end of the second period, the Panthers took an interference penalty that put the Sharks on the power play for almost a minute of the third period. Seconds into the third, the Panthers took a delay of game penalty, giving the Sharks a brief two-man advantage. That was not enough and the Sharks finished those power plays still down 3-1.

Brenden Dillon went to the penalty box for four minutes, two for high-sticking and two for slashing. The penalties came shortly after a slash that Huberdeau delivered to Dillon earlier that was not called.

The score quickly became 4-1 on the next Panthers power play. Mike Hoffman’s shot from the blue line created a rebound that Connolly was able to put in the net despite losing his footing in front of Martin Jones. Assists went to Hoffman and Keith Yandle.

The Sharks pulled their goaltender with just over two minutes to go and Frank Vatrano put the puck in the net a little over 30 seconds later. Assists went to Mackenkie Weegar and Aaron Ekblad.

The Sharks continue their road trip with a game in Nashville on Tuesday against the Predators at 5:00 PM PT.

The Sharks will be without one of their regular defensemen, Radim Simek, for about two weeks as he is undergoing a surgical procedure.

Lightning Strike Sharks 7-1

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photo from sfgate.com: Lightning center Brayden Point gets around a stick check by Sharks defenseman Brent Burns during the second period of the Tampa Bay victory.

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks fell 7-1 to the Tampa Bay Lightning Saturday at Amalie Arena in Tampa. Despite two first period power plays, including a double minor, the Sharks lost by their largest margin this season. Goals came from Tyler Johnson (2), Alex Killorn, Steven Stamkos (2), Victor Hedman and Carter Verhaeghe. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 37 saves in the win. The Sharks’ lone goal came from Marc-Edouard Vlasic. Martin Jones made 17 saves on 21 shots before being replaced by Aaron Dell, who made 14 saves on 18 shots.

After the game, Sharks captain Logan Couture said:

I thought we played pretty well through two, I thought we had some good five-on-five looks, they scored a power play one at the end there. But I didn’t like our third period. Kinda gave them some freebies and let our goalies down out there, but for the first forty I thought we played hard and could have been one, two goal game. But, yeah, I just didn’t like our third period.

Sharks head coach Pete DeBoer had the same view of the third period: “You know, the third period was just unacceptable, it was just a poor effort. I think instead of sticking with it, I think we felt sorry for ourselves after that fourth goal and, you know, maybe started thinking about tomorrow but you can’t do that in this league.”

Tyler Johnson’s first goal of the game came at 3:10 when he caught Carter Verhaeghe’s pass from the half boards. Steven Stamkos was skating across in Jones’ line of sight as the puck sailed by him.

The Sharks out-shot the Lightning 15-10 in the first period and had two power plays, one four-minutes long after Mathieu Joseph caught Marcus Sorensen with his stick and drew blood. They held the Lightning to just the one goal until 12:29 of the second period.

Alex Killorn scored his eighth goal of the season when Martin Jones got turned around making a save and lost track of the puck. Killorn found the puck just outside the blue paint and lifted it over the prone goaltender.

Steven Stamkos scored his eighth at the very end of the second period, during a four minute power play caused by a a high stick from Kevin Labanc. Stamkos spent a long time hovering around the face-off dot while his team moved the puck around and finally passed to him. He used a neat wrist shot to beat Jones on the short side. Assists went to Victor Hedman and Alex Killorn.

The Sharks out-shot the Lightning 15-9 in the second period.

Victor Hedman scored 52 seconds into
the third. Anthony Cirelli carried the puck right up to the doorstep and then made a pass through the blue paint to Hedman. Hedman was at the goal line and his shot was from an impossible angle, except that it went off of Jones and in. Assists went to Cirelli and Killorn.

Aaron Dell came in to replace Jones in net after that.

Tyler Johnson scored his second of the game at 3:51 of the third. Aaron Dell had come out to play the puck but Carter Verhaege was there to take it away from him and send it back up ice to Stamkos in the face-off circle. Johnson was on his way to the net and arrived just in time for the pass from Stamkos.

Marc-Edouard Vlasic scored for the Sharks at 14:44. Vlasic caught a rebound from an Erik Karlsson shot and carried it down below the face-off dot to shoot it into the top corner on the short side. Assists went to Karlsson and Timo Meier.

Stamkos scored his second of the game on a power play at 15:36. Timo Meier was in the box for slashing Brayden Point. Just seven seconds into the penalty, Victor Hedman took a shot from the blue line. Killorn and Stamkos were both set up to tip the shot but Killorn got it. Dell stopped that one but Stamkos was ready to tap the rebound in. Assists went to Killorn and Hedman.

Carter Verhaege scored his first NHL goal at 19:35 on a breakaway. He shot it into the far side from a sharp angle without ever slowing down. Assists went to Pat Maroon and Yanni Gourde.

The Sharks will next play Sunday at 2:00 PM PT against the Florida Panthers in Sunrise.

San Jose Sharks podcast with Mary Lisa Walsh: Sharks hope to snap out of it, face Bolts and Panthers Saturday and Sunday

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Photo credit: @SanJoseSharks

On the Sharks podcast with Mary Lisa:

#1 The Carolina Hurricanes’ Andrei Svechnikov scored both the first and shootout goals to lift his team over the San Jose Sharks 3-2 at PNC Arena on Thursday.

#2 It was the Hurricanes’ second shootout win of the season, the first achieved in the first game of the regular season.

# 3  For the Sharks, it was their first shootout loss and the first time they went to a shootout on the road during the same period.

#4 The Sharks outshot the Hurricanes 10-5 in the third and Carolina outshot San Jose 6-2 in overtime.

#5 The Sharks have a weekend in Florida. First tonight in Tampa Bay and the second on Sunday in Sunrise against the Florida Panthers.

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

Svechnikov starts and ends game against Sharks in 3-2 shootout

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Photo credit: @canes_fanly

By Pearl Allison Lo

The Carolina Hurricanes’ Andrei Svechnikov scored both the first and shootout goals to lift his team over the San Jose Sharks 3-2 at PNC Arena on Thursday.

It was the Hurricanes’ second shootout win of the season, the first achieved the first game of the regular season. For the Sharks, it was their first shootout loss and the first time they went to a shootout on the road during the same period. San Jose never led in this game.

Both teams were pretty evenly matched. Shot wise, they both had nine apiece in each of the first two periods with the Sharks edging Carolina overall 30-29.

The Hurricanes got the first goal in the first two periods with Warren Foegele the primary assist on both. Svechnikov put his team up on the board 50 seconds into the game.

However, San Jose was able to rally by the end of each period. Logan Couture’s tally came with 17.6 seconds left before second intermission. 

With several players battling for control in the first, Foegele finally pushed the puck to open ice and found Svechnikov who had space and time to skate around goalie Aaron Dell.

 Joe Thornton drew his defender and goalie Petr Mrazek to the left side before making a swift pass to Marcus Sorensen who had plenty of open ice to make it 1-1 at 7:16 of the first.

In the second, play started in Carolina’s end. With long passes and a rush advantage, the puck went between Foegele and Jake Gardiner three times before Gardiner was able to find a spot between Patrick Marleau and Dell at 10:12.

Between goals in the second, non-scoring action occurred when Mrazek slashed Thornton and Thornton cuffed him up front high in retaliation, knocking Mrazek down and resulting in a multi-player scuffle. Both players received slashing penalties, Thornton’s a double minor at 12:50 with roughing added. 

From the top of the left faceoff circle, Erik Karlsson passed to Couture, who sent in a laser from above the right faceoff circle past three players in his shooting lane before Mrazek.

The Sharks outshot the Hurricanes 10-5 in the third and Carolina outshot San Jose 6-2 in overtime.

The Hurricanes’ Dougie Hamilton hit the post during overtime and both goalies had quality saves.

San Jose’s Kevin Labanc was first in the shootout and hit the post. Svechnikov was the only whose shot entered the net out of six players. 

Up Next: The Sharks remain on a power play drought. They won the faceoff advantage by a 66.7% to 33.3% clip. San Jose’s four-game road trip continues with the Tampa Bay Lightning Saturday at 4 pm PST.

San Jose Sharks podcast with Len Shapiro: Sharks drop their second in four games, a three-goal loss to Washington 5-2

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Photo credit: @SanJoseSharks

On the Sharks podcast with Len:

#1 The Sharks have lost two of their last four games last night at SAP Center. The Washington Capitals took it to them 5-2.

#2 The Caps Jakub Vrana and Garnet Hathway both scored twice for Washington

#3 The Capitals really established themselves and made themselves at home on Sharks ice with three goals in the first period

#4 Sharks goalie Marty Jones stopped 18 out of 23 shots before he got pulled for goalie Aaron Dell

#5 Sharks head onto Carolina and face the Hurricanes on Thursday night. The Sharks after losing to the Caps 5-2 and the Jets 5-1 on Wed Nov 27th are looking forward to getting back into the win column.

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

Sharks Stumble Against NHL-Best Caps, Lose 5-2

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Photo credit: @SanJoseSharks

By Matthew Harrington

SAN JOSE–After a torrid stretch of November, the San Jose Sharks December has been a good reminder of how difficult it is to win in the NHL. Tuesday night, the Sharks were visited by the NHL leaders the Washington Capitals (20-4-5) and despite Alexander Ovechkin being held pointless, the Caps still crushed the Sharks 5-2.

San Jose (15-13-1) opened the scoring, but three Washington goals in three minutes swung momentum in a hurry. The Caps added two more goals before the Sharks could add another for a decisive victory for the 2018 Stanley Cup champs. Norris Trophy frontrunner John Carlson had three points (1g, 2a) and Garnet Hathaway and Jakub Vrana each scored a pair of goals. Martin Jones made 18 saves on 23 shots before being pulled in favor of Aaron Dell. Melker Karlsson had a two point night, scoring and assisting on Evander Kane’s third period goal.

Karlsson beat Braden Holtby for his third goal of the season just 2:33 into play, but Garnet Hathaway scored with 6:29 left in the first to tie the game. No more than 55 seconds later, Vrana found the back of the net for his 13th of the year. Just about two minutes later, Carlson scored his ninth of the year to have the Sharks reeling. Carlson now has 37 points on the season, leading all defensemen and putting him 14 points behind Connor McDavid, the scoring race leader.

Hathaway and Vrana scored again in the second, and Evander Kane scored his team-leading 13th goal in the 13th minute of the third period, but any hopes at a comeback stopped there. In total, Braden Holtby made 23 saves on 25 shots.

The Sharks head to Raleigh Thursday night looking to bounce back against the Carolina Hurricanes. The Canes will also be trying to rebound after getting shut out by the Boston Bruins in Beantown Tuesday night.