Sharks Fall 3-1 to Bruins

Boston Bruins left wing Taylor Hall (71) goes after the puck and San Jose Sharks defenseman Mario Ferraro (38) slides into the dash boards at SAP Center in San Jose on Sat Feb 26, 2022 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

SAN JOSE- The San Jose Sharks fell 3-1 to the visiting Boston Bruins Saturday night. The Bruins got two goals from Brad Marchand and one from Patrice Bergeron. Jeremy Swayman made 15 saves for the win. Timo Meier scored for San Jose and James Reimer made 34 saves in the loss.

The Sharks have not beaten the Bruins since 2016, and this year’s Boston team is clearly a contender. So the loss was not surprising. But it did highlight some ongoing issues for the Sharks. The Sharks had just 16 shots on goal in the game, a low for the season. Their power play, however, continues to produce at a good clip, with nine goals in their last nine games. But their inability to score first is looming large. They have given up the first goal in eight games in a row.

Defenseman Mario Ferraro had to be helped off the ice midway through the second period. The Sharks have used eleven defensemen this season. Nicolas Meloche is also out with injury now, and Erik Karlsson is still recovering from surgery.

Also in the troublesome injury category is the fact that James Reimer played his tenth game in a row Saturday, and may play his eleventh tomorrow. It would not be unreasonable to expect to see Zach Sawchenko in net Sunday, if Adin Hill is still not recovered from his injury. If ever there were a good reason to put an untested goalie in net, ten starts in a row would be it.

Brad Marchand gave the Bruins a lead at 14:24 of the first period. Jake Debrusk carried the puck in with Marchand two-on-one. Debrusk made the pass and Marchand put it past Mario Ferraro and Reimer for his 22nd of the season. Assists went to Debrusk and Erik Haula.

The Sharks tied it up at 12:50 of the second with a power play goal from Timo Meier. Brent Burns, midway up the slot, faked a shot before making a mass to Meier in the face-off circle. Meier’s one-timer beat Swayman on the glove side. Assists went to Burns and Logan Couture.

Early in the third period, Brad Marchand scored his second of the night to make it 2-1 Bruins. Taylor Hall made a backwards pass from the goal line to the left of the net across to the circle on the right side of the net. That is where the pass found Marchand for the game-winning shot. Assists went to Hall and Craig Smith.

Patrice Bergeron added another for the Bruins with just 40 seconds left in the game. David Pastrnak skated in as if to shoot, but then centered the puck for Bergeron. Bergeron put it past Couture and Reimer both for his 14th of the season. Assists went to Pastrnak and Marchand.

The Sharks next play on Sunday at 7:00 PM PT, in San Jose against the Seattle Kraken.

San Jose Sharks podcast with Marko Ukalovic: Sharks look for second win face Boston and Seattle in back to back games

San Jose Sharks defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic, left, looks for the puck as a shot by New York Islanders left wing Anders Lee (27) is blocked by Sharks goaltender James Reimer (47) at the SAP Center in San Jose on Thu Feb 24, 2022 (AP News photo)

On the San Jose Sharks podcast with Marko:

#1 Seven loses in a row came to an end on Thursday night against the New York Islanders in a shootout how relieved are the San Jose Sharks?

#2  James Reimer made 44 saves for the win in his ninth start in a row.

#3 Logan Couture, Jasper Weatherby and Alexander Barabanov scored for the Sharks. Brock Nelson, Zach Parise and Adam Pelech scored for New York. Ilya Sorokin made 25 saves in the loss.

#4 James Reimer stopped all three shots in the shootout and Logan Couture scored. Ilya Sorokin stopped a shot from Tomas Hertl.

#5 The Sharks now play back to back games this weekend against the Boston Bruins and the Seattle Kraken at SAP Center how do you see the Sharks coming off snapping a seven game loss streak going into these games on back to back nights.

Marko was filling in for Len Shapiro for the Sharks podcast at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

NHL podcast with Matt Harrington: Did Marchand get off lightly on six game suspension; Kakko listed day to day for Rangers; plus more

The Boston Bruins Brad Marchand delivers a gloved right punch into Pittsburgh Penguin goaltender Tristan Jarry’s right jaw during NHL game on Tue Feb 8, 2022 in Pittsburgh (photo from the Boston Globe)

On the NHL podcast with Matt:

#1 Matt, on Tue 8th the Boston Bruins Brad Marchand who has had previous suspensions and fines for misconduct. On Tuesday Marchand sucker punched Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender Tristan Jarry in the jaw while the goaltender was on his knees after freezing the puck. After the linesman grabbed hold of Marchand while skating him off the ice they got in front of the net where Marchand raised his stick and caught Jarry in the chin area well after play had ended.

#2 Seeing how the play went is Marchand’s six game suspension a light penalty considering it was a double match penalty or is a roughing, misconduct and double match penalty a six game suspension according to the CBA?

#3 The New York Rangers Kappo Kakko will be out at least one more month with an upper body injury. Rangers head coach Gerard Gallant says that Kakko is day to day. Kakko felt discomfort while skating in warm ups back on Jan 22nd against the Arizona Coyotes. Kakko has 33 goals and is tied with the Edmonton Oilers Leon Draisaittl, Edmonton Oilers for the NHL lead.

#4 Evgeni Malkin whose been out for Covid 19 protocols has missed two games on Tuesday and Thursday. Malkin skated with the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday and will be a game time decision on Sunday according to head coach Mike Sullivan.

#5 The Boston Bruins Patrice Bergeron will is listed day to day due to an upper body injury and won’t be able to play tonight against the Ottawa Senators. Bergeron had a collision with the Penguins Sid Crosby at 8:44 during the third period Tuesday in a 4-2 loss.

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

San Jose Sharks podcast with Mary Lisa Walsh: Red Wings were just Red Hot against Sharks; Third game in last four SJ gives up six goals or more

Detroit Red Wings defenseman Filip Hronek (17) has San Jose Sharks right wing Timo Meier (28) on his back in pursuit of the puck at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit on Tue Jan 4, 2022 (AP News photo)

SJ Sharks podcast with Mary Lisa:

#1 Third straight game the San Jose Sharks (17-16-1) have given up over six goals in a game. The first one was when they edged the Arizona Coyotes 8-7 on Tue Dec 26, then they gave up six goals in a first period surge at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh on Sunday 8-5 in a loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins. Then there’s Tuesday night when the Detroit Red Wings (16-15-3) scored three goals in the second period and wound up with a 6-2 victory at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit.

#2 James Reimer started the game in goal for San Jose giving up four goals facing 24 shots in the first two periods of the contest. Adin Hill started the third period giving up two goals on seven shots.

#3 Logan Couture and Lane Pederson on the COVID-19 list, and Marc-Edouard Vlasic out as a healthy scratch, the Sharks were short-handed even before they lost Jacob Middleton to an injury in the first period.

#4 The Sharks defenseman Brent Burns said things just have to get better and guys just have to start executing. Something that hasn’t happened in the last three out four games,  “It’s just gotta be better. At the end of the day you’ve gotta figure it out, put the next guy in a good spot, you gotta start executing, doing things on the same page. Obviously it’s not good enough.”

#5 The Sharks head to Buffalo and face off with the Buffalo Sabers (10-17-6) the Sabers who have lost 11 of their last 13 games. The Sabers have not played since New Years day in a loss to the Boston Bruins 4-3 in overtime at TD Garden in Boston. Sharks and Sabers Thu Jan 6th a 4:00 pm PST face off.

Join Mary Lisa for the Sharks podcasts on Wednesdays at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

NHL podcast with Matt Harrington: NHL action returns on Tuesday; Winter Classic is game on for New Years Day; plus more

Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (30) gets in between Phoenix Suns center Deandre Ayton (22) and guard Cameron Payne at Footprint Center in Phoenix on Christmas Dec 25, 2021 (AP News photo)

On the NHL podcast with Matt:

#1 Matt, how important was it to delay the Holiday shutdown one more day as NHL action returns on Tuesday night instead of Monday night.

#2 The NHL Discover Winter Classic is on target to be played between St Louis Blues (17-9-5) and Minnesota Wild (9-19-2) at Target Field is still scheduled to be played on Sat Jan 1 barring no further Covid interruptions.

#3 According to former NHL great Wayne Gretzky said that Washington Capitals (18-6-7) Alexander Ovechkin will pass him up for most goals scored. Ovechkin could do it with 143 goals remaining. Ovechkin has 22 goals in 31 games this season. Gretzky said he’s on his way to 40-50 goals this season there is no he will break the record.

#4 It’s really no surprise that the NHL called off it’s players from participating in the Beijing 2020 Winter Olympics due to the surge in positive tests for Covid 19. The Feb 6-22 Olympic schedule now scratched the league will use those dates to make up games that were postponed.

#5 The Boston Bruins (14-10-2) surprisingly are in fifth place in the Atlantic Division three points out of a playoff spot. The Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy said that there is a lot of hockey to be played yet and their looking for some consistency to get right back in the hunt again.

Join Matt for the NHL podcast each Saturday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

NHL podcast with Matt Harrington: Canes get convincing win against Flyers 6-3; Rangers score 3 third period goals in win; plus more

Carolina Hurricanes’ Ian Cole, left, and Philadelphia Flyers’ Nate Thompson (right) rumble in the second period of Fri Nov 26, 2021 in Philadelphia at the Wells Fargo Center (AP News photo)

On the NHL podcast with Matt Harrington:

#1 After the Carolina Hurricanes (15-3-1) lost a rare game on Wednesday to the San Jose Sharks (10-8-1) 2-1 but quickly as they lost that game came back and won convincingly against the Philadelphia Flyers (8-7-4) 6-3 on Friday. The Hurricanes did a bulk of their scoring in the second period with four goals.

#2 Artemi Panarin scored a crucial tiebreaking goal for the New York Rangers (13-4-3) in the third period one of three goals as the Rangers defeated the Boston Bruins (10-7-0) in a three goal win. Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin saved 34 shots in the Friday contest.

#3 The Minnesota Wild (13-6-1) just tore it up on Friday against the Winnipeg Jets (9-7-4) with a six goal win 7-1. Kirill Kaprizov had a goal and three assists and Wild goaltender Cam Talbot allowed a goal saved 31 shots.

#4. One of the original San Jose Sharks Doug Wilson who is team general manager is taking time off from his duties for medical leave to convalesce from a constant cough which is believed not to be Covid related. Wilson will be recovering in Arizona until further notice. Assistant general manager Joe Will will be acting general manager. Wilson 64 has been the team general manager since 2003-04 season.

#5 The Ottawa Senators (4-13-1) continued their losing ways bowing to the Anaheim Ducks (11-7-3) at the Honda Center in Anaheim in a 4-0 shutout. The loss was the Senators fourth straight loss. The last time the Sens won a game was back on Nov 13th against the Pittsburgh Penguins 6-3. For the Ducks goaltender Anthony Stolarz stopped 34 shots for the shutout.

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

NHL podcast with Matt Harrington: Kraken Fluery gets first two goal game; Canes Andersen gets first shutout; Panthers Quenneville may never coach again; plue more

The Seattle Karken’s defenseman Haydn Fluery (4) takes the puck down ice against the Minnesota Wild on Thu Oct 28, 2021 at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle (AP News photo)

On the NHL podcast with Matt Harrington:

#1 The Seattle Kraken’s Haydn Fleury picked up his first two goal game of his career as Seattle won it’s third game of the season against the Minnesota Wild 4-1.

#2 Carolina Hurricanes get a 3-0 shutout and win their first six games the best start in their team history at 6-0-0. The Canes goaltender Frederik Andersen stopped 33 shots by the Boston Bruins. The Hurricanes are doing so well that Andersen became the seventh goaltender in NHL history to win each of the Hurricanes first six games to start the year.

#3 The Colorado Avalanche edged the St Louis Blues 4-3 at the Enterprise Center in St Louis. The Aves got help from J.T. Compher who scored two goals. It was the first time the Blues have lost a game this season.

#4 The Calgary Flames goaltender Jacob Markstrom saved 45 shots against the Pittsburgh Penguins for a shutout at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh for the Flames fifth win of the season. The Flames are in first place in the Pacific division getting a 4-0 win.

#5 The resignation of former Florida Panthers head coach Joel Quenneville sent shockwaves throughout the NHL. Quenneville was head coach in 2010 of the Chicago Blackhawks when Kyle Beach made claims of being sexually assaulted by assistant coach Brad Aldrich. Aldrich threatened Beach that if he reported the assault his NHL career would be over. Beach went ahead and made the complaints and nothing really was done about it as the Blackhawks were focusing on winning the Stanley Cup at the time.

Matt Harrington does the NHL podcasts Fridays at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Sharks Fall to Bruins 4-3; Win streak ends at four

The Boston Bruins Brad Marchand (63) gets congratulations from teammates after scoring 28 seconds into the first period as the San Jose Sharks Logan Couture (39) skates away at the TD Garden in Boston on Sun Oct 24, 2021 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks lost Sunday by a score of 4-3 to the Bruins in Boston. Bruins goals came from Brad Marchand, Derek Forbort, David Pastrnak and Jake DeBrusk. Linus Ullmark made 23 saves for the win. Jasper Weatherby, Tomas Hertl and Timo Meier scored for San Jose. Adin Hill made 10 saves on 14 shots before being replaced by James Reimer, who stopped 20 of 20 shots.

The game represented the team’s first loss of the season, and the first two periods were fairly grim. Nonetheless, the fact that the Sharks came back from a three-goal deficit was a positive. After the game, Sharks Head Coach Bob Boughner said:

“I thought that battling back at the end was important. We talked about that in between the second and the third, is trying to get back to a little bit of our identity so we could at least take that into the Nashville game and see what happens in this game.”

Brad Marchand scored for Boston just 28 seconds into the first period. David Pastrnak won the race to the puck below the goal line, and passed it back to Patrice Bergeron, also by the goal line. Bergeron’s pass found Marchand arriving on the doorstep for a quick shot over Hill’s glove.

Derek Forbort made it 2-0 at 3:18 with a shot from the point. Assists went to Marchand and Connor Clifton.

Pastrnak scored Boston’s third of the game at 16:12 on the power play. A pass from Bergeron came smoothly across the ice and Pastrnak buried it from the face-off dot.

Jasper Weatherby scored the Sharks’ first of the game at 16:44 of the period. Weatherby and Jonah Gadjovich played some catch as they skated into the zone, before Weatherby took the shot and beat Ullmark on the short side. Assists went to Gadjovich and Andrew Cogliano.

Jake DeBrusk scored the only goal of the second period at 5:41. Oskar Steen went to dump the puck in but it hit DeBrusk instead. DeBrusk followed the puck into the zone and got past Radim Simek before taking a shot that went by Hill on the glove side. Assists went to Steen and Forbort.

Jacob Middleton and Trent Frederic fought three minutes into the third period.

Tomas Hertl scored for the Sharks at 13:19 of the third, deflecting Marc-Edouard Vlasic’s shot from the blue line. Assists went to Vlasic and Alexander Barabanov.

Timo Meier scored at 15:08 to bring the Sharks within one. Meier deflected Couture’s shot from the point, knocking the shot down and under Ullmark. Assists went to Couture and Brent Burns.

The shots per period were very close except for the second, when Boston out-shot San Jose 11-5. The game total was 34-26 Bruins. In the face-off circle, the Bruins won 52% of the draws. The Sharks penalty kill gave up one goal and five shots. The Bruins penalty kill allowed five shots, all in the first period.

William Eklund and Lane Pederson were out of the line-up, replaced by Alexander Barabanov and Jonah Gadjovich, both making their season debuts. No injuries were mentioned.

The Sharks next play on Tuesday in Nashville against the Predators at 5:30 PM PT.

San Jose Sharks podcast with Len Shapiro: Sharks on five game road trip three wins and two to go

Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Michael Hutchinson (30) lays on top of the puck as the San Jose Sharks’ Andrew Cogliano (11) and Matt Nieto (83) try to dig it during the third period at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto on Thu Oct 22, 2021 (Canadian Press photo)

On the Sharks podcast with Len:

#1 The San Jose Sharks (4-0-0) it seems like no one can get in their way as they picked up their fourth straight win this time over the Toronto Maple Leafs (2-2-1) 5-3 at Scotiabank in Toronto on Friday night.

#2 The Sharks drew first blood in the second period scoring twice and three times in the third period that speaks to their offense and they made work of Leafs goalie Michael Hutchinson who faced 30 shots stopping 26.

#3 Timo Meier, Erik Karlsson and Jonathan Dahlen all scored a goal each and two from Logan Couture. Talk about the goal contribution the Sharks have been getting from those four on Friday night in Toronto.

#4 Looking back on the Sharks game in Ottawa the Sharks Erik Karlsson a former Senator let one slip on the air while being interviewed by TSN’s Gord Miller the former Senator Karlsson was congratulated by Miller for picking up his first point against the Senators and said “that don’t mean s-word.” Karlsson said they haven’t got the points yet when he was interviewed with 20 minutes left but said it was nice to be back.

#5 The Sharks are in Boston (2-1-0) for their next game on this five game road trip the fourth of the five. The Bruins always a tough customer took it to the Buffalo Sabers (3-1-1) 4-1 on Friday night in Buffalo. Getting got defensive help from goaltender Linus Ullmark stopping 35 out of 36 shots.

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

NHL podcast with Matt Harrington: Predators pay banner tribute in loss to Kraken; CBJ’s remember their late goalie Matiss Kivlenieks; plus more

Virtual banner by the Nashville Predators congratulating the Seattle Kraken on their very first franchise win against the Predators in Nashville on Thu Oct 14, 2021 (photo from nhl.com)

On the NHL podcast with Matt:

#1 The Nashville Predators paid tribute to the Seattle Kraken with a virtual banner saying “Gave Seattle First Franchise Win” after Seattle got win on Thursday in Nashville. The Kraken said it was a bit of southern hospitality.

#2 The Columbus Blue Jackets paid tribute to late goaltender Matiss Kivlenieks on Thursday. Kivlenieks died in a fireworks accident in July. The CBJs had #80 also embossed under the ice surface in memory of Kivlenieks.

#3 Matt talk about the New York Islanders long road trip which has them embarking on a 13 game road trip to open their season because they are waiting for UBS Arena in Elmont to be finished the Isles new home.

#4 Matt talk about Charlie McAvoy signing with the Boston Bruins for $76 million which translates into $9 million annually. McAvoy scored 30 points and was tops in ice time last season.

#5 The Detroit Red Wings forward Dylan Larkin was suspended for roughing Tampa Bay Lightning forward Mathieu Joseph in last Thursday Oct 14th’s game. Larkin will loose $30,500 for the one game loss and the money will go to the players emergency fund.

Matt does the NHL podcasts each Saturday night at http://www.sportsradioservice.com