Tag: Brendan Gallagher

Sharks Defeat Canadiens 3-2, Blackwood’s 1st Road Win of Season;12 game skid finally comes to an end

Published on by M WalshLeave a comment

San Jose Sharks Filip Zadina (18) raises arms to join teammates in celebration after snapping their 12 game losing streak at the Bell Centre in Montreal on Thu Jan 11, 2024 (San Jose Sharks photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks defeated the Montreal Canadiens 3-2 on Thursday, ending a 12-game losing streak at the Bell Centre in Montreal. Luke Kunin, Fabian Zetterlund and Nick Okhotiuk scored for the Sharks. Mackenzie Blackwood made 33 saves for his first road win of the season. Brendan Gallagher and Josh Anderson scored for the Canadiens. Sam Montembeault made 32 saves in the loss.

Sharks defenseman, Mario Ferraro, said that the team felt good going into the game. The Sharks had a good practice and a team dinner the night before. Ferraro explained how those helped the team:

“What happened on the ice was a reflection of how we were feeling prior to the game. And that was more positive, leaning on each other a little bit more and finding the love in this game a little bit more. Obviously being on that little losing streak that we had, … you kind of forget about the reason why you play. We brought that back, we brought some light back to the locker room.”

Sharks Head Coach David Quinn said:

“As we’ve touched on, we’ve been digging ourselves out of a mental hole. And I thought our start was just okay and then I thought we got better and better as the game went on. You don’t go through what we’ve been through and all of a sudden feel great about yourselves. You’ve got to earn it and we started earning it shift after shift. And that’s how we have to get out of this and we took a big step today.”

The first period saw the Sharks take a two goal lead. Luke Kunin started the scoring with a goal at 5:19 of the first. Kunin intercepted a pass in front of the net for his sixth of the season.

Fabian Zetterlund made it 2-0 for the Sharks at 17:25. On his way behind the net, Tomas Hertl made a backhand pass right to Zetterlund on the edge of the faceoff circle. Assists went to Hertl and Filip Zadina.

Just 21 seconds later, Brendan Gallagher got one back for the Canadiens. Mike Matheson made a pass into traffic in the slot and found Gallagher who scored with a snap shot. Assists went to Matheson and David Savard.

Montreal out-shot the Sharks 11-7 in the first period but the Sharks had a good first in the faceoff circle, winning 65.4% of the draws.

Nick Okhotiuk made it 3-1 for the Sharks late in the second period. Mikael Granlund carried the puck around behind the net, battling defenders. Continuing to the top of the faceoff circle, he spotted Okhotiuk on his way down from the point. The defenseman was almost at the net when he caught Granlund’s pass for a snap shot. Assists went to Granlund and William Eklund. It was Okhotiuk’s first goal with the Sharks, and he also became the youngest Sharks defenseman to score a goal in Montreal.

The Sharks pulled ahead on the shot clock with 17 shots to Montreal’s 9 in the second period.

The Canadiens pulled their goaltender with more than five minutes left in the third. 90 seconds later, the Sharks had not been able to push the puck out of the zone even once. The gambit paid off for Montreal. Mike Matheson scored with a slap shot from the middle of the blue line to make it 3-2. Assists went to Cole Caulfield and Nick Suzuki.

The Canadiens pulled their goaltender again with a minute left and again hemmed the Sharks in the defensive zone. The Sharks did finally clear the puck out with less than a second remaining. The final shot count was 36-35 Canadiens. The Canadiens improved in the faceoff circle as the game went on, so that the Sharks’ advantage slipped to 54.4% by the end. Both teams had perfect penalty kills.

Marc-Edouard Vlasic returned to the lineup Thursday. He played just under 21 minutes and had two shots on goal.

The Sharks next play on Saturday in Ottawa against the Senators at 1:00 PM PT.

Canadiens Shut-Out Sharks 4-0

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Montreal Canadiens goaltender Jake Allen (34) shutout the San Jose Sharks as the Sharks center Tomas Hertl’s (48) shot is stopped in front of the net by Allen during the first period at SAP Center on Thu Oct 28, 2021 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks fell 4-0 to the Montreal Canadiens in San Jose Thursday. It was the Sharks’ third loss in a row. It was Montreal’s first win in San Jose since 1999. Brendan Gallagher, Mike Hoffman, Alexander Romanov and Josh Anderson scored for Montreal and Jake Allen made 45 saves for the shut-out win. Adin Hill made 28 saves for San Jose in the loss.

After the game, Sharks Head Coach Bob Boughner talked about the loss: “Our power play is not… you know, it’s generating shots and chances, we’re just not getting a bounce and that would have been a, both the last two games, that would have been a difference.” When asked about whether the Sharks are being aggressive enough in front of the goalie, he said: “We were there but we weren’t quite in his lap where we’re supposed to be.”

Sharks forward Timo Meier said: “We had some chances. It’s just, you know, we made it easy on their goalie, and in front of the net, we didn’t find the rebounds to put them in. So we didn’t do enough to win this game.”

The Canadiens scored the only first period goal at 12:09. Mike Hoffman was on his way to the net when Brett Kulak took a shot that created a rebound in the slot. Hoffman swept the puck around Adin Hill and tucked it in the net. Assists to Brett Kulak and Nick Suzuki.

The first period shots were nearly even at 10-9 Montreal. The Sharks had two power plays in the period and six shots with the man advantage. The Sharks had a slight advantage in the face-off circle, winning 53% of the draws.

The Canadiens scored again at 8:53 of the second period. It was Montreal’s first power play of the game. Alexander Romanov defelcted a hard shot from Jonathan Drouin at the point.

Brendan Gallagher made it 3-0 at 12:54, scoring his first of the season. Assists went to Josh Anderson and Nick Suzuki.

The Sharks led the second period in shots 16-10. Each team had two power plays in the period. The Sharks penalty kill only allowed two shots and their power play managed seven shots on goal. The Sharks won 62% of second period the face-offs.

Midway through the third period, Jake Allen stopped three quick shots in close from Dahlen, Balcers and Couture. It was a good example of how frustrating the game was for the Sharks. Allen was indeed in the zone on Thursday.

The Sharks pulled Adin Hill for an extra attacker with a little over three minutes left. Josh Anderson scored an empty netter at 17:52. Assists went to Tyler Toffoli and David Savard.

Near the mid-point of the third period, William Eklund took a shot off of his wrist. He required some attention on the bench but did return to play.

That Sharks out-shot the Canadiens 20-12 in the third. The Sharks took one penalty in the third, apart from a flurry of penalties in the final three seconds of the game. The Sharks penalty kill gave up three shots.

The Sharks next play on Saturday, in San Jose against the Winnipeg Jets at 4:00 PM PT.