Tag: buffalo sabres

NHL podcast with Len Shapiro: Thornton to have No.19 jersey retired by Sharks; Blackhawks-Sabres move game to Thursday due to heavy snow; plus more NHL news

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Former San Jose Sharks Joe Thornton is jubilant after scoring a goal against the Vegas Golden Knights in game 2 in the first period in the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs on Fri Apr 19, 2019 at SAP Center in San Jose. The Sharks announced that Thornton will have his No.19 sweater raised to the rafters at SAP Center sometime next season. (AP file photo)

On the NHL podcast with Len Shapiro:

#1 San Jose Sharks announced that they will retire the No.19 uniform jersey of former Shark Joe Thornton. The tribute will be held sometime during next season. Thornton will be the second player in Sharks history to have his number retired the first was Patrick Marleau and his number 12. Thornton played in the NHL for 24 seasons. Thornton finished his NHL career with the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2021-22.

#2 Len, Buffalo has gone through some rugged weather condition and with blizzard like conditions the Blackhawks-Sabres game had been postponed on Thursday night. The city of Buffalo also has imposed travel restrictions. Heavy snow conditions have made it difficult for fans to get to the Sabres game with two feet of snow.

#3 Tampa Bay Lightning general manager Julien BriseBois made it very clear on Tuesday that forward and team captain Steven Stamkos will not be traded. Stamkos has 41 points, 28 goals and 23 assists, in 41 games this season. Stamkos is one of the crucial pieces for the Lightning.

#4 Right winger Kasperi Kapanen of the St Louis Blues will be out at least four weeks with a lower body injury. Kaspanen was injured when he tried to block the shot of the Philadelphia Flyers Nick Seeler at 7:25 in the third period on Monday night. The Blues lost the game to the Flyers 4-2. Kapanen is on the injured reserve list and will be reevaluated in four weeks.

#5 The Vegas Golden Knights center Jack Eichel will be out due to a lower body injury. Eichel missed the last two games due to an injury and is listed day to day. Eichel leads the Knights with 19 goals and is tied with Mark Stone in points with 44 assists in 42 games this year.

Join Len Shapiro for the NHL podcasts each Thursday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Sabres Shutout Sharks 3-0, Mittelstadt Earns 3 Points

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The Buffalo Sabres Zemgus Girgensons is in a battle for the puck with the San Jose Sharks Henry Thun (3) and William Eklund (72) in Buffalo on Mon Jan 15, 2024 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks lost to the Buffalo Sabres 3-0 Monday. It was the Sharks’ 14th loss in 15 games. Casey Mittelstadt, Alex Tuch and Jordan Greenway scored for Buffalo. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 28 saves for the shutout win. Kaapo Kahkonen made 32 saves for the Sharks.

Sharks Head Coach David Quinn has talked about the team needing to be more aggressive on the puck. In Monday’s game, he thought he saw some improvement in that department. After the game, he put more emphasis on the team’s willingness to shoot the puck:

“An area I think we really can improve on is shoot more pucks and create more opportunities for other people. Right now I think we’re in the mindset of we’re not gonna shoot unless we’re going to score. With that comes going to the net a little bit more.”

Casey Mittelstadt scored first at 11:34 of the second period. His wrist shot into traffic bounced and trickled under Kahkonen’s right arm. Assists went to Kyle Okposo and Ryan Johnson.

The second goal of the game came on the power play from Alex Tuch at 14:37. He caught Jack Quinn’s pass between the faceoff circle and snapped the puck past Kahkonen’s stick side. Assists went to Quinn and Mittelstadt.

The final goal of the game came at 16:34 of the third period. Jordan Greenway knocked William Eklund off the puck in the neutral zone and then caught a pass from Mittelstadt to score into the empty net. Assists went to Mittelstadt and Rasmus Dahlin.

The Sharks stayed within one shot of the Sabres until the third period, when the Sabres had 16 to the Sharks’ 8. The Sharks’ power play had one shot in two opportunities. Their penalty kill gave up one goal and three shots in two Buffalo power plays. Alexander Barabanov led the Sharks in shots with four.

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

NHL podcast with Matt Harrington: Sabres Skinner and Peterka score to help edge Wild 3-2; Panthers get three goal win defeat Canes 5-2; plus more NHL news

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The Buffalo Sabres left wing Jeff Greenway (12) takes a high stick to the face from the Minnesota Wild’s defenseman Zach Bogosian (24) in front of the Minnesota net at the XCel Energy Arena in Minneapolis on Fri Nov 10, 2023 (AP News photo)

On the NHL podcast with Matt:

#1 Matt taking a look at Friday night’s NHL action the Buffalo Sabres got scoring help from Jeff Skinner and JJ Peterka who both scored goals and got an assist to help defeat the Minnesota Wild 3-2 at KeyBank Center in Minneapolis. Sabers defenseman Henri Jokiharju scored the other Sabres goal with goaltender Devin Levi stopping 33 for Buffalo.

#2 The Florida Panthers Matthew Tkachuk and Carter Verhaeghe each scored a goal and an assist helping the Panthers to extend their win streak to three with a 5-2 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday. The Panthers Alexander Barkov scored a goal and an assist and Uvis Balinskis scored his first goal as a Panther at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise.

#3 The Washington Capitals center Evgeny Kuznetsov scored two goals to help beat the New Jersey Devils 4-2 at the Prudential Center in Newark on Friday night. In his season debut for the Capitals right winger Nicolas Aube-Kubel picked up a goal and an assist, Tom Wilson had two assists and goaltender Charlie Lindgren stopped 24 shots in the win for Washington.

#4 The Toronto Maple Leafs William Nylander scored two times and got an assist and picked up his 14th consecutive game point in the Leafs shootout win over the Calgary Flames 5-4 at Scottiabank Arena in Calgary. Leafs goaltender Joseph Woll stopped 24 shots in the one goal win.

#5 Matt what could you say about the Vegas Golden Knights who picked up a huge win over the San Jose Sharks on Friday night at T Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The Knights scored twice in the first period and picked up another three goals in the third period in the 5-0 final. Sharks goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen was just overmatched as the Knights attacked the zone and the net for multiple red lights behind Kahkonen in the San Jose loss.

Join Matt Harrington is an NHL analyst for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

NHL podcast with Matt Harrington: NHL Trade deadline some big names up for grabs; plus NHL action from Friday

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Brandon Hagel was traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning for Boris Katchouk and Taylor Raddysh from the Chicago Blackhawks on Fri Mar 18, 2022 (photo from nhl.com)

On the NHL podcast with Matt:

#1 Matt how important is it that the Tampa Bay Lightning picked up Brandon Hagel in exchange for forwards Boris Katchouk and Taylor Raddysh from the Chicago Blackhawks?

#2 Matt, talk about the key winning goal by the Buffalo Sabers Tage Thompson that helped get the win over the Calgary Flames in overtime at 3:07 for a narrow 1-0 win. Also big hand for the Sabers goaltender Dustin Tokarski who stopped 24 shots for the shutout.

#3 The Ottawa Senators Josh Norris help end the Senators three game losing streak with a go ahead goal in the third period that handed the Senators a 3-1 win over the Philadelphia Flyers on Friday night. The Sens Aaron Forsberg stopped 28 out 29 shots.

#4 The injuries are piling up for the Vegas Golden Knights the latest have center Jack Eichel doubtful for against the Los Angeles Kings for Saturday. Eichel blocked a shot with his hand and could sit out. His teammates goaltender Robin Lehner, two defencemen Brayden McNabb and Alec Martinez and three forwards Mark Stone, Max Pacioretty, and Reilly Smith are all on the injured list. Inspite of that the Knights snapped a five game losing streak with a win over the Florida Panthers 5-3 on Thursday night.

#5 Matt, just to name a few of the players who are trade deadline as of this morning maybe you could update us, the Vancouver Canucks Brock Boeser, New York Islanders Cal Clutterbuck, Andrew Copp Winnipeg Jets, Jake DeBrusk Boston Bruins, and Marc Andre Fleury Chicago Blackhawks. I’ll let you also add more to whose on the trade block for tonight.

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

Sharks Win in Buffalo, Beat Sabres 3-2

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San Jose Sharks goaltender Adin Hill stops one of the 37 shots he saved against the Buffalo Sabers this one in the first period in Buffalo on Thu Jan 6, 2022 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks defeated the Buffalo Sabres 3-2 Thursday. It was just the Sharks’ fourth win in Buffalo in franchise history. Matt Nieto, Timo Meier, and Tomas Hertl scored for the Sharks. Adin Hill made 36 saves for the win. Jeff Skinner and Zemgus Girgensons scored for the Sabres. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 18 saves in the loss.

The Sharks were again without Logan Couture and Jonathan Dahlen but defenseman Mario Ferraro returned to the lineup from the COVID-19 list. Goaltender James Reimer was also unavailable due to a lower body injury of unspecified severity. This puts some pressure on Adin Hill to return to form as the starter.

Sharks Head Coach Bob Boughner mentioned that Adin Hill had his swagger back in Thursday’s game, and the team fed off of that confidence. He summed up the team’s performance as: “We weren’t perfect but we were a lot better and it’s a good sign.”

Sharks forward Matt Nieto talked about scoring a goal with his line-mates Andrew Cogliano and Nick Bonino: “We haven’t really created offense the way we would like to. We think we’ve gotten a lot of chances so it’s nice to get one tonight. Hopefully more start coming.”

Nieto started a brief first-period flurry of scoring for the Sharks at 12:27. Andrew Cogliano sent the puck up from the goal line to Nieto inside the face-off dot. Nieto took the shot from an awkward angle but got it by Luukkonen on the blocker side. Assists went to Cogliano and Nick Bonino.

Timo Meier made it 2-0 at 13:44. Tomas Hertl got the puck across the line and then dropped it to Meier. Meier took a quick shot from the point and rang it off the post and in. Assists went to Hertl and Mario Ferraro.

Tomas Hertl made it 3-0 at 17:24. Alexander Barabanov cleared the puck out of the Sharks zone and then chased it down to carry it into the Sabres zone. He dropped it to a trailing Hertl who took the shot from the slot for his 17th of the season.

Jeff Skinner scored for Buffalo at 7:56 of the second. Skinner pulled the puck out of a board battle and carried it to the slot before taking the shot. The puck went over Hill’s stick, off the post and in. Victor Olofsson got the assist.

Zemgus Girgensons made it 3-2 with a power play goal at 18:14 of the third. Tage Thompson took a shot from the point that went off of the bar and came back out to bounce down Hill’s shoulder before landing behind him. Before Hill could find it, Girgensons swept it in. Assists went to Thompson and Rasmus Dahlin.

The Sabres pulled their goaltender with 92 seconds left and made a good push but the Sharks held on.

The Sabres out-shot the Sharks in every period for a shot total of 39-21, and in the third period they out-shot the Sharks 22-5. The Sabres also beat the Sharks in the face-off circle, winning 60% of the draws. The Sharks only had one power play but had no shots on that one. The Sabres had three power plays in which they had seven shots and a goal.

The Sharks’ next game is on Saturday in Philadelphia against the Flyers at 4:00 PM PT.

Sharks Lose 4-3 to Red Hot Sabres

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photo from sfgate.com: Buffalo Sabres goaltender Linus Ullmark, right, reaches for the puck next to San Jose Sharks center Logan Couture during the third period of an NHL hockey game in San Jose, Calif., Saturday, Oct. 19, 2019.

By Mary Walsh

SAN JOSE- The Buffalo Sabres continued their hot start to the season with a 4-3 win over the San Jose Sharks Saturday. The win brings the Sabres record to 7-1-1. Buffalo goals came from Marcus Johansson, Casey Mittelstadt, Jeff Skinner and Zemgus Girgensons. Linus Ullmark made 29 saves in the win. Sharks goals came from Timo Meier, Tomas Hertl and Marcus Sorensen. Sharks goaltender Martin Jones made 31 saves in the loss.

After the game, Sharks forward Timo Meier said:

I think it was a good team game. We took some penalties that we probably shouldn’t have taken. It kind of took the rhythm out of our game, to kill off some penalties, and you know at the end, some energy that might miss. But overall, I think we played a pretty solid game. Like I said, too bad we didn’t come up on top but overall some stuff we can take out of this game.

Sharks Head Coach Peter DeBoer also thought the team played pretty well:

I liked their resiliency, I thought we battled all night. I thought our game was pretty good tonight. When I look at the seven or eight games we’ve played, that’s probably one of the better sixty minute efforts we got. Penalty kill did a good job, we got a power play goal. I thought we passed up some opportunities to shoot, you know, got a little cute around the net a few times. That might have been the difference.

The Sabres scored first at 12:10 of the first period. Henri Jokiharju carried the puck into the zone and made a drop pass to Marcus Johansson in the slot. Johansson took a shot just as Jokiharju passed in front of him. The puck went off of Jones and trickled across the line Assists went to Jokiharju and Marco Scandella.

The Sharks tied it on a power play at 16:00. With Marleau screening the goaltender, Timo Meier took a pass from Joe Thornton below the goal line. Meier’s quick shot went into the top corner for his second of the season. Assists went to Thornton and Erik Karlsson.

The Sabres took the lead back near the end of the second period when Casey Mittelstadt scored on a shot that was initially called a goal, then disallowed by the on-ice officials as being scored with a high stick. An official review reversed that reversal and called it a good goal. Assists went to Jokiharju and Jimmy Vesey.

The Sharks tied the game again 44 seconds into the third period on another power play. Erik Karlsson took a shot that went off of Buffalo’s Rasmus Ristolainen. Tomas Hertl had taken a shot that rebounded out to Karlsson. Hertl and Evander Kane we both nearby when the puck went in but it did appear that Karlsson was the last Shark to touch it. Nevertheless, the goal went to Hertl with assists to Karlsson and Logan Couture.

Buffalo took their third lead of the game at 2:28 of the third with a goal from Jeff Skinner. Marcus Johansson tried to take a shot as he skated to the net but he didn’t get all of it and instead the puck slid slowly toward Martin Jones. Jones kicked it away but had come out too far to properly recover when puck went to his right. Skinner skated in behind him and was able to backhand the puck into the net for his fifth of the season. Assists went to Jake McCabe and Johansson.

The Sharks tied it again just 22 seconds later when Brent Burns’ blue line shot went off of Marcus Sorensen’s skate. The puck bounced over Ullmark’s leg and under his blocker.

Zemgus Girgensons scored the game winner at 12:15 of the period. Johan Larsson took a shot from above the face off circle. Martin Jones was set to stop it but it hit Kyle Okposo in the back instead of getting through to Jones. That created a rebound that Girgensons was able to pick up and shoot back in before Jones could find the puck. Assists went to Okposo and Larsson.

The Sharks will play the Sabres again in Buffalo on Tuesday at 3:30 PM PT.

NHL podcast with Matt Harrington: Kings snap 10 game skid; Lightning tie NHL record for 50 wins; Oilers Koskinen stops 30 shots for shutout; plus more

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photo from yahoo.com: Kings beat Blackhawks 6-3 to halt 10-game losing streak on Saturday night at Staple Center against the Chicago Blackhawks

On the NHL podcast with Matt:

#1 The Los Angeles Kings finally snapped out of it and won a game after losing ten games straight the Kings Andre Kempe scored a goal and an assist as the Kings beat the Chicago Blackhawks 6-3. Kings head coach Willie Desjardins said it’s been a long time and it feels good just to win.

#2 The Tampa Bay Lightning’s Nikita Kucherov led the Bolts with a goal and an assist as they won their 50th game in 66 games defeating the Ottawa Senators 5-1. With the win the Lightning tie the 1995-96 Detroit Red Wings for the fastest team to win 50 games in a season.

#3 The Edmonton Oilers Mikko Koskinen stopped all 30 Columbus Blue Jacket shots and the Oilers Leon Draisaitl got a goal and two assists for the 4-0 win.

#4 Brad Marchand got the Boston Bruins only goal and B’s goaltender Tuukka Rask stopped all 20 New Jersey shots in the Bruins 1-0 shutout of the Devils.

#5 The Toronto Maple Leafs had an offensive extravaganza from John Taveres and Mitch Marner who scored a goal each and had two assists in the Leafs 5-2 win over the Buffalo Sabers. It was Toronto’s fourth win in five games.

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

Sharks’ hopes cut short as Sabres win 10th in a row 3-2 in OT

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Photo credit: AP

By Pearl Allison Lo

Red-hot Jeff Skinner kept Buffalo’s perfect streak alive in regulation when scoring first with the final say in their third 3-2 victory in a row, defeating the San Jose Sharks at First Niagara Center on Tuesday.

Goalie Martin Jones went out to poke the puck away from Rasmus Dahlin and Skinner pounced on the puck afterward. Jones swung his arm to the right and Skinner scored short side before Jones could move back all the way. Skinner’s goal came at 1:41. In his last 10 games, he has scored 10 goals and one assist, pointless in only one of those games.

The Sabres’ 10th straight win matched a franchise record as they remained on top of the NHL.

San Jose fell to 3-5 in overtime, while Buffalo moved to 7-2.

Meanwhile, the Sharks worked hard to secure a point after they were down 2-0 in the third.

San Jose outshot Buffalo 13-7 in the first and 17-11 in the third. The Sabres had all three shots in overtime.

The goal scorers in regulation were Sabres’ defensemen and Joe Pavelski.

After a scoreless first period, Rasmus Ristolainen struck at 14:42 of the second. Casey Nelson and Sam Reinhart strung the puck together smoothly to get it to Ristolainen, who moved the puck between his legs from right to left versus Brent Burns and buried the puck after moving across Jones. Ristolainen finished with a swaggy cowboy riding a horse celebration.

The Sharks kicked off the third (1:35) with a power play, during which they made three shots. Almost 40 seconds after it ended though, things went the other way as Nathan Beaulieu found himself free and fired a perfect pass from Reinhart top center.

San Jose, not to be counted out, got things going in the second half.

With a 4-versus-4 formation on ice, Pavelski won the faceoff, with the puck going to Timo Meier and then Burns. Burns this time passed between Vladimir Sobotka’s legs to find Pavelski, who rocketed the puck in at 11:20.

Pavelski’s second goal came after a minute on the power play. Kevin Labanc made a shot, and Pavelski followed the puck movement after Logan Couture recovered the puck from the boards. The Sharks’ captain then fished the puck behind the net and made a swift wraparound before goalie Carter Hutton was aware at 16:42. Pavelski led all players with seven shots on goal.

San Jose’s Evander Kane had a chance to win the match before overtime, which he described as a “tough one not to finish.”

Regarding the contest, Burns said, we ”had our chances. They ended up with one more.”

Up Next: During the game, a two minute high sticking penalty to the Sharks’ Brenden Dillon got taken back. San Jose’s five-game road trip rubber match arrives quickly in the form of the Toronto Maple Leafs Wednesday at 4:30 pm PT.

Couture Hat Trick, Revamped Power Play Key to 5-1 Sharks Win over Sabres

Published on by Matthew Harrington

Photo credit: @EMISports

By Jerry Feitelberg

SAN JOSE–The San Jose Sharks power play clicked in a big way Thursday night, pushing team teal to a 5-1 win over the visiting Buffalo Sabres. Logan Couture scored his third career hat trick, Joe Pavelski picked up a power play strike and Joonas Donskoi also lit the lamp a man up to give the home team a win in the debut of their new Stealth jerseys. Jake McCabe lit the lamp for Buffalo, the only shot out of 25 to beat Sharks netminder Martin Jones.

With early season power play woes leading to a bottom-five power play for the Sharks entering play Thursday, changes were made to the first power play unit. It’s safe to assume assistant coach Steve Spott, power play coach for San Jose, found the right mix.

Kyle Okposo drew a double-minor for high sticking just 1:45 into the game, giving the Sharks their first man advantage. With time expiring on the first minor, Joonas Donskoi potted his second goal of the season 3:35 into the game. Logan Couture fired back rapid fire, beating Buffalo keeper Carton Hutton for his second goal of the campaign just 27 seconds later for a 2-0 Sharks edge and two power play goals on two opportunities.

San Jose didn’t score in the second and Buffalo’s McCabe scooped up a rebound for his first goal of the year 1:35 into the period to cut the Sharks lead to 2-1. The Sharks dominated the third though, with Logan Couture scoring the lone even strength Sharks goal of the game 4:54 into the third for his second of the game.

Joe Pavelski scored San Jose’s third power play goal of the night over a whopping seven opportunities, moving San Jose to 19th in the league with a 17.8 percent success rate. Couture capped the hat trick off with an empty-net goal with 1:47 left in regulation.

Buffalo went 0-for-5 on the power play to cap a great special teams night for the Sharks. Evander Kane and Brent Burns each had a pair of assists. The Sharks welcome another team from the Empire State to the Shark Tank Saturday night. The Islanders come to town after shellacking the Los Angeles Kings Thursday night.

NHL Podcast with Matt Harrington: Sharks get shutout in Sat matinee 2-0; Stars get scoring help in the third period to get by Ducks; CBJs win their third in a row; Flames on solid defense and goaltending help in 2-1 win

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Photo credit: @DallasStars

On the NHL podcast with Matt Harrington:

1 The Dallas Stars got scoring help on power play goals from Devin Shore and Jamie Benn in the third period that got them by the Anaheim Ducks 2-1. The Stars improved their lead for a first place spot in the wild card with the win.

2 The Columbus Blue Jackets edged the Detroit Red Wings 3-2. The Jackets are hot they’ve won three straight as the Jackets’ Seth Jones found the back of the net twice to help lift Columbus to a home ice win. Sergei Bobrovsky, who missed two games due to an illness, came in as the Jackets netminder and stopped 22 shots.

3 Sam Bennett and Mat Stajan scored all the goals the Calgary Flames needed in a win over the Ottawa Senators 2-1. The Flames goaltender David Rittich saved the day with 29 saves.

4 The Minnesota Wild’s Eric Staal made it to the top three stars with a go-ahead goal to help pace the Wild to a 5-2 win past the Vancouver Canucks. Staal is on a roll with 11 goals in his last nine games. He has 37 for the season.

5 Injuries on the NHL front: The Stars’ Martin Hanzal is scheduled for back surgery and is not going to return for the rest of the season his recovery is expected to be six months. Also, the Sabres’ Kyle Okposo suffered a concussion when he collided with the Sens’ Bobby Ryan and is listed out indefinitely the injury happened during Thursday’s game.

Matt Harrington does the NHL Podcast each week and is a San Jose Sharks beat writer for http://www.sportsradioservice.com