Category: San Jose Sharks

San Jose Sharks podcast with Len Shapiro: Breakthrough Sharks snap 5-game losing streak in 4-2 win over Hawks

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Photo credit: @SanJoseSharks

On the Sharks podcast with Len:

#1 After five straight losses, the Sharks (5-10-1) are back in the win column picking up a 4-2 win on Tuesday night at SAP Center against the Chicago Blackhawks.

#2 How relieving was a game like this for head coach Peter DeBoer? Did he have to be concerned after the team strung so many loses together?

#3 The Sharks offense took advantage with two goals in each of the second and third periods and goaltender Marty Jones held the Hawks to 19 saves out of 21 shots. Evander Kane scored a short handed goal was not distracted after all the publicity all regarding the $500,000 owed to Las Vegas Casino Comopolitan.

#4 How big was it for Timo Meier and Tomas Hertl to get a goal each and an assist apiece?

#5 The Hawks got on the scoreboard with two goals by Duncan Keith and Brandon Saad in the third period, but fell short and ran out of time.

Catch Len each Wednesday for the Sharks podcast at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Sharks Snap Five Game Skid, Beat Hawks 4-2

Published on by Matthew HarringtonLeave a comment

Photo credit: @SanJoseSharks

By Sports Radio Service Staff writers 

SAN JOSE — The San Jose Sharks snapped their five-game losing skid Tuesday night, largely dominating the Chicago Blackhawks in a 4-2 win at SAP Center. Tomas Hertl and Timo Meier had a goal and an assist apiece. Patrick Marleau scored in his 800th consecutive regular season game played and Evander Kane potted his team-leading 9th goal short-handed and San Jose limited Chicago to just 21 shots on goal (8 through 40 minutes). Barclay Goodrow had a pair of assist for the Sharks and Brandon Saad and Duncan Keith scored for Chicago.

The Sharks were shut out by the reigning Vezina trophy winner Robin Lehner after firing 14 shots on net in the first, though the defense was stout in only yielding three shots that Martin Jones turned aside handily. Then San Jose got on the board early in the 2nd period. Marleau tipped a Puck past Lehner 1:39 into the middle frame, deflecting a Timo Meier shot in net for his 554th career goal. Joe Thornton also assisted on the Iron man’s marker.

Evander Kane would take advantage of a lax Chicago power play unit after Brenden Dillon fed him the puck. The power forward finished off the play, scoring his team-leading 9th goal 12:05 into the frame.

Tomas Hertl made it 3-0 in the third, taking a Barclay Goodrow pass and wristing it past Lehner 4:39 into the period.

Brandon Saad and Duncan Keith beat Jones within minutes of each other, turning a 3-0 deficit to a one-goal margin with 1:54 in regulation, but Meier found the empty net to ice the game at the 18:34 mark.

Defenseman Radim Simek skated in his first NHL game since suffering a lower body injury March 12th of last season in Winnipeg. He didn’t register a point but made an impact, including a thunderous hit on Kirby Dach in the first period. The Sharks hope he has the same impact he had upon joining the lineup last year. The Sharks went 16-3-2 over his first 21 games of his rookie season. He’ll get another crack when the Sharks host the Minnesota Wild Thursday night at 7:30 PM PST.

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary: NHL…Toews’ Schedule?

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Photo credit: secondcityhockey.com

By Amaury Pi-González

Jonathan Toews is the Canadian-born captain of the Chicago Blackhawks of the National Hockey League (NHL). The 31-year-old veteran, whose in his 13th season with the Blackhawks, might be into something. He suggested an NHL schedule with fewer late-night flights and 3:00 AM bedtime. According to Toews, flying a long distance for a lone game day should be replaced with three-game series like in the MLB. Although not totally the same, since in baseball you have a 162-game schedule (81 home, 81 away) and sometimes you play a four-game series.

In the NHL, there are 31 teams (24 in the US and seven in Canada). Aside from teams playing home and away, like the Sharks would go to Los Angeles to play the Kings one night, and the next night, the Kings are in San José to play the Sharks, there’s no such thing as what Toews is suggesting. The total NHL season schedule consists of 82 games for each team (41 home, 41 road).

I asked veteran broadcaster Dan Rusanowsky, the Voice of the Sharks, about Toews’ schedule. Rusanowsky said that it would benefit the Eastern teams more than us, which would defeat the purpose of equalizing the impact of travel. It would also be hard to do it equitably without expanding the schedule beyond 82 games, which I don’t think anyone wants to do. But in the end, Rusanowsky added that the complicated idea is something to examine.

From personal experience, the Toews’ schedule makes a lot of sense. I traveled with the Warriors on their charter and the NBA schedule similar to the NHL as they traveled for one game in each city. At the same time, I have traveled with baseball team charter and the schedule is one that I’ve always called “the-you-can-unpack-your-suitcase-schedule” trip. There’s no doubt it’s easier for players and media to travel to a certain city to play three games than leave, maybe have a day off, and start another three games in another city, than just flying to Toronto on Monday to play on Tuesday, leave after the game and fly to New York to play the following night.

The Sharks will try to end their five-game losing streak this Tuesday when they host Toews and the Blackhawks at SAP Center at 7:00 PM.

Sharks Lose 5th in a Row, Fall 5-2 to Canucks

Published on by M WalshLeave a comment

photo from sfgate.com: Thatcher Demko (35) goaltender for the Vancouver Canucks goes into the defensive posture against the San Jose Sharks at SAP Center in San Jose on Saturday night. Demko stopped 24 San Jose shots for the Sharks second consecutive home stand loss.

By Mary Walsh

SAN JOSE — The San Jose Sharks lost 5-2 to the Vancouver Canucks Saturday at the SAP Center. This was the first road win for the Canucks in San Jose since March 31, 2016, and it added a fifth to the Sharks’ second four-loss streak of the season. Canucks goals were scored by Brandon Sutter, Elias Pettersson, Jake Virtanen and Adam Gaudette. Vancouver goaltender Thatcher Demko made 24 saves for the win. The Sharks goals were scored by Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Evander Kane. Goaltender Aaron Dell made 23 saves for the Sharks.

After the game, Sharks captain Logan Couture talked about the question of confidence during a losing streak:

For a lot of us, we’ve done some really really good things in this league, we’ve been successful players in this league for a long time. I think we need to get that swagger, that confidence back that we’ve had here for so many years. You know, it’s tough when you’re losing, it is very very difficult to feel confident when you’ve got the puck to make that play when you’ve got the extra second.

Are the Sharks losing patience with each other in the midst of this lousy start? After the game, Sharks defenseman Brenden Dillon warned that that was a danger, but then said: “It’s pretty easy to look at the guy next to you instead of looking at yourself. Again, we’ve got a lot of skill on this team, a lot of talent. Guys that have been here for a long time… know what it takes to win. I think everybody, if we can believe back in that and just get into that we’re going to be okay.”

Vancouver’s Brandon Sutter started the scoring at 4:17 of the first period. Josh Leivo took a shot from above the faceoff circle. Dell stopped that, but came out a ways to do so and then kicked out a rebound. Sutter picked up the rebound and got it in the net before Dell could get back in position. It was Sutter’s fourth of the season.

Elias Pettersson doubled up Vancover’s lead with a goal at 12:46. Brock Boeser’s pass came out to center above the hash marks, where Pettersson was ready for it. Dell and Brendand Dillon did not seem ready for it and Pettersson’s shot went right through them. It was Pettersson’s fifth of the season. Assists went to Boeser and Bo Horvat.

The Sharks’ penalty kill held the Canucks to one shot on their first period power play. Vancouver still outshot the Sharks 14-8.

Jake Virtanen added a third goal for the Canucks, just 45 seconds into the second period. His shot went right into Dell and then over his leg. Dell went down and had the puck in his legs, and the on ice official called it no goal. After an official review, the call was overturned. Assists went to Alexader Edler and Tyler Myers.

At 5:11, Adam Gaudette scored Vancouver’s fourth on a broken tic-tack-toe play that drew Aaron Dell and two defenders to the right side of the net, allowing the puck to get by on the left. The goal came during a delayed penalty against the Sharks. The puck seemed to be on its way to Troy Stecher as he closed on the net behind the mass of bodies to one side. Instead, it went off of one of those bodies and into the net.

The Sharks had two power plays in the second period, and got six shots with the man advantage. the teams were tied for shots in the second period at eight apiece.

At the end of the second, Joe Thorton was called for cross-checking Jay Beagle, putting Vancouver on the power play to start the third period. The Canucks did not get a shot during that power play. The Sharks had their own power play chance at 2:38, in which they got two shots, but no goal.

The Sharks finally got on the board with a short-handed goal from Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Barclay Goodrow. They broke away and were able to go in two-on-one and score at 10:51.

The Canucks power play turned into a two-man advantage not long after that, when Joe Thornton was boxed for unsportsmanlike conduct. The Sharks survived that, but after the first penalty expired, they gave up a fifth goal. It was Pettersson’s second of the night, with an assist to JT Miller.

Evander Kane added the Sharks’ second goal with just 22 seconds left in regulation. He skated into the zone with Tomas Hertl and went around the Canucks defense to shoot. His first shot came back as a rebound, but he picked it up and put it away. Assists went to Kevin Labanc and Erik Karlsson.

The Sharks next play on Tuesday against the Chicago Blackhawks at 7:00 PM PT in San Jose.

Lukas Radil was in Saturday, with Jonny Brodzinsky back out of the lineup.

San Jose Sharks podcast with Mary Lisa Walsh: Sharks on 6-game homestand, can they right the ship at home?

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Photo credit: @SanJoseSharks

On the Sharks podcast with Mary Lisa Walsh:

#1 After losing six of their last seven games, the San Jose Sharks hope to get back on track with their current home stand. Will being back in San Jose help them forget about the last road trip?

#2 Did the Sharks’ effort on Friday night against the Winnipeg Jets show anything? Although losing by a goal, this serves as some sort of hope that they can stay in some of these games.

#3 Talk about the suspension of the Winnipeg Jets’ Adam Lowry, who served the second of his four-game suspension. The Jets came into San Jose 6-7. While they could use Lowry, they have the personnel to win

#4 Mary Lisa, talk about the Sharks offense. Just not enough to catch the Jets the Sharks got goals from Evander Kane and Tomas Hertl, but the effort fell short.

#5 The Sharks play the second of back to back games tonight at SAP Center against the Vancouver Canucks. The Canucks had won five straight until they ran into the Anaheim Ducks on Friday night and lost by a goal 2-1. Mary Lisa tells us how she sees this match.

Mary Lisa is a San Jose Sharks beat writer for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Jets Sink Sharks 3-2

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Photo credit: @SanJoseSharks

By Mary Walsh

SAN JOSE — The San Jose Sharks fell to the Winnipeg Jets 3-2 on Friday at the SAP Center in San Jose. Jets goals came from Gabriel Bourque, Blake Wheeler and Nikolaj Ehlers, with goaltender Connor Hellebuyck making a heroic 51 saves in the win. Sharks goals came from Barclay Goodrow and Tomas Hertl with Martin Jones making 16 saves in the loss.

“It’s probably up there with our best game of the season. Disappointing to lose,” said Sharks captain Logan Couture, after a game in which the Sharks grossly outshot the Jets, 53-19.

The game might have gone to overtime with the teams tied 3-3 but for a disallowed goal in the second period.

“At the same time, we had a lot of other opportunities to put the puck in the net and we didn’t,” said Sharks forward Evander Kane, who had 7 shots on goal in the game and scored the disallowed goal.

Winnipeg struck first with a goal at 13:34 of the first period. Kyle Connor took advantage of a bouncing puck that eluded Brent Burns in the Sharks’ zone. He got control of it along the boards and then found Gabriel Bourque coming into the zone. Bourque skated up the middle and beat Jones on the glove side. Connor got the assist.

The Sharks too the first penalty of the game, an interference minor to Logan Couture at 19:06. The Sharks successfully killed the penalty for the rest of the first and the beginning of the second period. The Jets got three shots on goal during the power play.

They followed that up with a goal at 3:18 of the second. A pass from Marc-Edouard Vlasic found Jonny Brodzinsky in the neutral zone. He made a pass at the Jets’ blue line, finding Barclay Goodrow in the slot. Goodrow skated to the net and shot the puck by Hellebuyck on the short side. Assists went to Brodzinsky and Vlasic.

The Sharks’ first power play came just over a minute later. They got credit for two shots on goal

Evander Kane put the puck in the net at 7:22 of the second. He started by carrying the puck into the zone and around behind the net. He gave it to a defender, who sent it back around and to the point. the puck came back to Kane behind the net and he got it out in front for Labanc and Hertl to shoot, but Labanc was taken down in the crease and the puck came back to Kane as he emerged form behind the net. He quickly lifted it over the now-prone Hellebuyck and into the net.

The Jets challenged for goaltender interference and the goal was overturned.

Moments later, Blake Wheeler scored off a pass from Mark Scheifele at 7:53. Scheifele and Kyle Connor got the assists.

The Jets had a second power play at 9:41, in which they got one shot on goal.

The Sharks had a second power play starting at 17:11 when Mathieu Perrault was called for tripping Erik Karlsson. The Sharks tallied eight shots on goal and still could not score.

During the second period, the Sharks outshot the Jets 28-9.

The Sharks did finally tie it with a deflection from Tomas Hertl 49 seconds into the third period. Kane took the initial shot with a second assist going to Kevin Labanc.

With three minutes left in the third, the Jets only had 3 shots to the Sharks’ 12. The shot count for the game was 51-18 Sharks.

Nevertheless, the Jets scored next, taking a 3-2 lead at 18:36. Nikolaj Ehlers . Assists went to Jack Roslovic and Bryan Little.

The Sharks pulled their goaltender right after that, but couldn’t get by Hellebuyck again.

The Sharks next play on Saturday at 7:00 PM PT against the Vancouver Canucks in San Jose.

Jonny Brodzinsky was in the lineup for the first time since October 8, with Dylan Gambrell and Lukas Radil out as healthy scratches.

San Jose Sharks podcast with Len Shapiro: Sharks come off a 1-4 road trip, host Jets Friday night at the Tank

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Photo credit: @sharks_fanly

On the Sharks podcast with Len:

#1 Len in short the Boston Bruins (9-1-2) made short work of the San Jose Sharks (4-8-1) with two goals in the first and three goals in the second period are teams learning about the Sharks weakness crash the net early apply the mercy rule in the third period.

#2 How much does it really show now that the Sharks just might have made a mistake in their off season dealing of Gustav Nyquist, Justin Braun, Joe Pavelski, Joonas Donskoi, just to make room for one player Erik Karlsson is this the kind of criticism that the team is hearing now 13 games into the season and four game below .500.

#3 Talk about the road trip the Sharks lost four of their last five games if you include their loss before the trip that was to Buffalo it would five out of six loses was team unprepared for this trip or they simply lack the talent to win against teams like Buffalo, Toronto, Ottawa and Boston?

#4 We talked about Nyquist, Braun, Pavelski, and Donskoi the former players on this team but what about the man they made some cap room for Karlsson how much of the weight of the team is his?

#5 The Winnipeg Jets (6-7-0) come into San Jose suffering a defeat on Tuesday night in Anaheim 7-4. The Jets have won three of their last six games the Sharks have lost three straight going into Friday night but with home ice Jets and Sharks who has the upper hand in this contest?

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

Bruins pounce on Sharks in dominating 5-1 win

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Photo credit: @NHLBruins

By Marko Ukalovic

BOSTON, Mass- The San Jose Sharks got into penalty trouble early and often and the Boston Bruins made them pay for their indiscretions in a 5-1 victory — that featured five different goal scorers — on Tuesday evening at TD Garden.

Boston is currently undefeated in their last eight games (6-0-2), while San Jose limps back home licking their wounds after a disappointing 1-3-1 Northeast road trip. Once again the Sharks’ defensive woes were the story of the game as the Bruins had numerous scoring chances during the game.

Boston (9-1-2) drew first blood on the power play just under eight minutes into the first period. A failed clearing attempt by Brenden Dillon found the stick of Patrice Bergeron who faked a shot and sent a cross ice pass over to David Pastrnak who was all alone on the left side when he buried a one-timer past Sharks goalie Martin Jones for his 12th goal of the season, which leads the NHL, at the 7:49 mark.

Sharks head coach Peter DeBoer challenged the call for offsides, but after the video review, the officials upheld the goal, which resulted in a minor penalty and second consecutive power play opportunity, which the Sharks were able to kill off.

The Bruins capitalized on their third power play opportunity late in the opening 20 minutes. Brad Marchand sent the puck back up to the point where Torey Krug touched pass it over to the David Krejci, who wristed a one-timer underneath the arm of Jones for his first goal of the season at the 17:51 mark.

“We’re definitely going through a tough time right now,” said captain Logan Couture. “You gotta go through some adversity at some point in the year. It’s been too long to stay in the rut. We gotta respond at some point.”

San Jose (4-8-1) opened up the second period with a power play goal of their own to cut the deficit to 2-1. After a faceoff win, Erik Karlsson fed the puck over to Brent Burns  from the point. Burns made one move and lasered a wrist shot under the arm of Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask for his third goal of the season at the 1:31 mark. Burns leads the Sharks with 13 points.

Boston regained their two-goal lead seconds after a tripping penalty to Tomas Hertl had ended. Krejci gathered the puck after a deflection and sent a shot-pass over to Charlie Coyle, former Sharks draft pick, who had inside position on Marc-Edouard Vlasic and  knocked it home from the crease for his second goal of the season less than four minutes later at the 5:21 mark.

Chris Wagner took advantage off a turnover by Tim Heed to give the Bruins a 4-1 lead. Heed’s attempted cross ice pass heeled off his stick over to of David Backes, who quickly outletted a pass up the ice that sent Wagner on a breakaway. Wagner made one move before sliding the puck past Jones’ five-hole for his first goal of the season at the 8:31 mark.

“It was a game of mistakes,” said Burns. “It’s tough (to get the offense going) when you’re playing in your own zone a lot against a team like that. They’re going to capitalize (on their chances).”

Boston scored its third unanswered goal of the period when Wagner won a battle along the boards and sent the puck back up to the point where Brando Carlo wristed a knuckle-ball of a shot that appeared to glance off a Sharks’ body and went over the left shoulder of Jones for his second goal of the season at the 16:50 mark.

Despite the goals scored, it could have been much worse in the second period if not for some incredible saves from Jones in a four-minute stretch where he faced numerous odd man rushes from Boston thanks to the pourous San Jose defense. Boston outshot San Jose 18-6 in the middle frame.

Things got chippy in the third period when Evander Kane went up high on Charlie McAvoy with Zdeno Chara going after Kane and Dillion coming to the aid of his forward. Both Chara and Dillon received minor penalties for roughing. Fights from Barclay Goodrow/Brett Richie and Couture/Marchand ended their nights early as they were all given game misconduct penalties after their scrums.

“We’re a little fragile right now,” said DeBoer. “You can see that. You’re at the end of a road trip and you take eight minor penalties, five in the first two periods, against the best power play in the league. We have to be smarter in helping ourselves.”

Rask finished the game with 16 saves on 17 shots to earn the win. Jones, who should have received a purple heart medal after the game, stopped 36 of the 41 shots he faced in the losing effort.

GAME NOTES: San Jose went 1/3 on the power play. Boston was 2/8. The Sharks came into the game with the number one penalty kill in the NHL and had killed off 14 penalty kills in a row before Pastrnak’s power play goal.

Bergeron recorded his 499th assist of his NHL career.

It was the first game in NHL history that featured three players (Patrick Marleau, Joe Thornton and Chara) with an over combined 4700 career games played.

UP NEXT: The Sharks return home to host the Winnipeg Jets on Friday, November 1 at 7:30 pm in the SAP Center.

Sharks Lose Again, Fall 5-2 to Sens

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Photo credit: @SanJoseSharks

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks lost to the Ottawa Senators 5-2 at Canadian Tire Centre on Sunday. Ottawa goals came from Nick Paul (2), Connor Brown, Brady Tkachuk, and Anthony DuClair. Sens goaltender Craig Anderson made 34 saves in the win. Sharks goals came from Evander Kane and Kevin Labanc. Sharks goaltender Aaron Dell made 18 saves in the first two periods. Martin Jones made 7 saves in the third period.

The Sharks scored on one of six power play chances, and killed off all four penalties they took. Their shot count showed major improvement over Friday’s game, with 36 shots registered. Evander Kane generated six of those shots, with Timo Meier adding five.

“We gave up too many odd-man [rushes] again,” Sharks captain Logan Couture told NHL.com. “I don’t think we spent long enough shifts in their end. We had some shots, but we didn’t get enough traffic around their goaltender and second opportunities that were there, we just weren’t in the right spots.”

Couture also told NHL.com, “I thought we created some good looks. We didn’t finish around the net like we’re capable of. I mean, that’s also been a story this season: we’re not finishing. I can’t be sitting at one goal right now. [Tomas Hertl’s] at three, [Timo Meier’s] at two. We’ve got to score some more goals.”

Here are the final stats.

Photo credit: @SanJoseSharks

“We’re 12 games in and there’s a handful of key guys for us that haven’t played well yet,” Sharks head coach Peter DeBoer told NHL.com. “So that’s on me to get them back to the level they need to be at.”

“We’re playing from behind in a lot of these games and instead of sticking with it and trusting the group and the system, everyone wants to step out and fix it themselves, but it doesn’t work that way. So eventually you have to learn that lesson.”

The Sharks next play on Tuesday at 4:00 PM PT, in Boston against the Bruins.

San Jose Sharks podcast with Mary Lisa Walsh: Leafs don’t give Sharks a chance in 4-1 win Friday night

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Photo credit: rapidcityjournal.com

On the Sharks podcast with Mary Lisa:

#1 The San Jose Sharks fell 4-1 to the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena Friday. Toronto goals came from Jake Muzzin, Morgan Reilly, Ilya Mikheyev and Auston Matthews.

#2 Mary Lisa, was this a little different game than the Sharks’ win over the Canadiens on Thursday night?

#3 Former Toronto Maple Leaf Patrick Marleau played in his old building the Scotiabank Arena on Friday, which turned out to be his 1,500th game with the Sharks.

#4 Leafs goalie Frederik Anderson stopped 16 out of 17 as Kevin Labanc got the lone goal for San Jose. Anderson didn’t face a whole barrage of shots and the Leafs defense kept the puck away from the Sharks most of the night.

#5 The road trip continues to Ottawa on Sunday night. Mary Lisa tells us how she sees these two teams in the Sharks fifth game on this five-game road trip.

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