Tag: David Quinn

NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs podcast with Len Shapiro: Capitals in trouble down 0-2 against Rangers; Panthers go up 2-0 after OT win over Bolts; plus more news

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Washington Capitals goaltender Charlie Lindgren (79) and Martin Fehervary (42) protect the net from New York Rangers’ Artemi Panarin (10) during the second period in Game 2 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup first-round playoff series, Tuesday, April 23, 2024, in New York. (AP News photo)

On the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs podcast with Len:

#1 In game two the New York Rangers (2-0) edged the Washington Capitals (0-2) 4-3 at Madison Square Garden. The Rangers Vincent Trocheck, Mika Zibanejad, Jack Roslovic, and K’Andre Miller each scored goals. Trocheck and Zibanejad each had an assist. The series goes back to Washington on Friday night at the Capital One Center at 4:00pm PDT.

#2 The Florida Panthers (2-0) Carter Verhaeghe scored at 2:59 into the overtime stanza to get the Panthers by the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-2 at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise on Tuesday in game 2 of the playoffs. The Panthers and Lightning play game 3 Thursday in Tampa Bay giving the Lightning hope they can pick up a win on home ice.

#3 The Colorado Avalanche (1-1) defeated the Winnipeg Jets (1-1) convincingly 5-2 at Canada Life Center in Winnipeg. The Aves scored four times in the second period. Artturi Lehkonen scored a goal and got an assist. The Aves goaltender Alex Georgiev saved 28 out of 30 shots.

#4 The Nashville Predators (1-1) evened the series against the Vancouver Canucks (1-1) at Rogers Arena in Vancouver in game 2 with a three goal 4-1 win. Nashville scored three of the game’s first unanswered goals and Nashville goaltender Juuse Saros held off the Canucks to just 18 shots allowing just one goal.

#5 The San Jose Sharks announced today the firing of head coach David Quinn who in his second year as head coach lost the first 11 games of this season. The Sharks finished the season with a (19-54-9). They also failed to qualify for the post season for the fifth consecutive year. Sharks general manager Mike Grier said that Quinn was a good coach but even a better person. That Quinn and his staff worked hard over the last two seasons under difficult circumstances. The Sharks have not named a new head coach.

Len Shapiro does the NHL podcasts each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

#1

Sharks part ways with head coach Quinn head trainer Tufts

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San Jose Sharks head coach David Quinn stands behind the bench during a game against the Pittsburgh Penguins at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh on Thu Mar 14, 2024. Quinn was fired by the Sharks on Wed Apr 24, 2024 (AP file photo)

By Mary Walsh

On Wednesday morning, the Sharks announced that Head Coach David Quinn and Head Athletic Trainer Ray Tufts would not be returning next season. In their press release, the Sharks said:

“After going through our end of the season process of internal meetings and evaluating where our team is at and where we want our group to go, we have made the difficult decision to make a change at the head coach position,” said Grier. “David is a good coach and an even better person. I would like to personally thank him for his hard work over these past two seasons. He and his staff did an admirable job under some difficult circumstances, and I sincerely appreciate how they handled the situation.”

The reasons for parting ways were not purely performance-related. That is evident from what Mike Grier said as recently as last Saturday at the end of season media availability:

“I think the staff up here did a good job communicating and motivating the players throughout the year. I don’t think they ever, you know, it would have been easy to just kind of throw your hands up and not put the effort in, to go through extra video sessions and talk with the players and try and get the players better. So I think they did a really good job with that kind of in this situation. I think it was something that was needed and that they should be proud of.”

On Saturday, Grier explained how the season was worse than he had expected, but did not put a finger on one specific problem, like coaching:

“Overall it was not what I expected, I’m sure what they expect in the room for various different reasons. I give the group credit, I told them they came in here, they were positive. They got along and the coaches deserve credit for that too., kind of keeping the guys on track, staying positive and motivating them. You know, you’ve seen situations, in not just hockey but all sports, where teams in this situation where it kind of goes off the rails and things get bad and you hear guys bickering and not getting along. But the guys came here and worked every day.”

Grier went so far as to say that this season was rock bottom:

“I hope so. If this isn’t I don’t know what is. I mean it was a difficult season. Like I kind of said earlier, it was worse than I expected coming into the season. I didn’t think we were a playoff team but I thought we’d be better than we were. From the start we had to the injuries everything just kind of snowballed. So yes I would hope this is rock bottom and we can kind of progress and take some steps forward next year.”

The Sharks also announced on Tuesday that long time Head Athletic Trainer Ray Tufts would not be returning:

“Ray spent more than two decades overseeing the care and well-being of our players,” said Grier. “We thank him for his service to the organization and our players and wish him and his family the best in the future.”

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

Sharks Lose Last Game of Season 5-1 to Flames

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The Calgary Flames forward Matthew Caronato (27) stops a shot by the San Jose Sharks goaltender Devin Cooley (1) at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary on Thu Apr 18, 2024 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks lost their final game of the season 5-1 to the Calgary Flames on Thursday. Adam Klapka, Blake Coleman, Oliver Kylington, Kevin Rooney and Mackenzie Weegar scored for the Flames. Dustin Wolf made 16 saves in the win. Fabian Zetterlund scored the lone Sharks goal. Devin Cooley made 18 saves for the Sharks before being pulled. Georgi Romanov made 14 saves in relief. The Sharks finished the season with a record of 19-55-9.

Mikael Granlund finished the season on a 13 game point streak. The game was also noteworthy for being the first to see two Bay Area born goaltenders start in an NHL game. After the game, Devin Cooley said, of playing against Wolf:

“I don’t know him personally, but I’ve been following him for a while, obviously, in the American League. He’s had a great career so far and it’s really awesome to see how far youth hockey has come in Northern California and in the Bay Area. It was really cool to be able to play against him tonight and I hope we continue to see more guys from the Bay Area make the NHL.”

Fabian Zetterlund played his 82nd game of the season, the only Shark to do so this season. Of this accomplishment, Zetterlund said: “I mean, obviously that’s nice, you know, I feel fresh every game. I try to stay in shape, ready to go every night. That was my goal before the season and, yeah, I made it.”

Sharks Head Coach David Quinn said, of the season’s final games:

“We’ve made a lot of changes, there’s a lot of new faces here. It’s tough to learn on the go, in a short period of time, what’s expected of you. You know, it’s just hard. But we’re not the only team that’s gone through it. As I’ve said repeatedly, we’re in a situation where we kind of understood that this was going to be a difficult year but we will be better for it moving forward.”

All of the Flames goals came in the first two periods, not unlike the Sharks loss on Monday. Adam Klapka scored his first NHL goal at 12:13 of the first period. His wrist shot through traffic gave Calgary the lead.

Blake Coleman made it 2-0, redirecting a shot from Connor Zary. The goal came at 14:40, just as a Flames power play expired. Assists went to Zary and Rasmus Andersson.

The Sharks were outshot 16-5 in the first period. Early in the second period, Givani Smith and Adam Klapka squared off for a fight. Klapka lost his balance in the fight and both retired to the penalty box.

Oliver Kylington made it 3-0 about a minute after the fight. Andrew Mangiapane acted as a screen for Kylington’s shot from above the faceoff circle. An assist went to Andrei Kuzmenko.

Kevin Rooney made it 4-0 at 5:59. His shot from the slot went through several Sharks defenders and into the far side of the net. Assists went to Martin Pospisil and Matt Coronato.

MacKenzie Weegar scored the Flames’ fifth goal of the night at 6:56, for a total of three goals scored in 3:03 of play. It was another shot through traffic that went by Cooley on the glove side. Assists went to Daniil Miromanov and Blake Coleman.

The Sharks pulled Cooley after that goal and put Georgi Romanov in net. Romanov stopped all the shots he faced for the remained of the game. The Sharks were outshot 13-6 in the second period and 8-6 in the third.

Fabian Zetterlund scored a power play goal in the final ten seconds of the game. He scored his 24th goal of the season with a wrist shot from the faceoff circle. Assists went to Mikael Granlund and Collin Graf.

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

Oilers Rout Sharks 9-2, McDavid Earns 100th Point of Season

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The San Jose Sharks William Eklund (72) taking a shot that was blocked by the Edmonton Oilers Evan Bouchard (2) in the third period at Rogers Place in Edmonton on Mon Apr 16, 2024 (The Canadian Press via AP)

By Mary Walsh

Connor McDavid, Adam Henrique, Warren Foegele, Dylan Holloway, Corey Perry, Cody Ceci, Evan Bouchard scored for the Oilers. Stuart Skinner made 19 saves for the 9-2 win over the San Jose Sharks at Rogers Place in Edmonton. Connor McDavid earned his 100th assist of the season in the game, only the second Oiler and the fourth NHL player to do so.

Danil Gushchin and Fabian Zetterlund scored for the Sharks. Mikael Granlund extended his point streak to 12 games with an assist. Devin Cooley made 14 saves on 22 shots before being pulled in the second period. Georgi Romanov made 15 on 16 shots saves in his NHL debut.

For the third time this season, the Sharks allowed nine or more goals. After the game, Sharks Head Coach David Quinn said: “We never looked like we were really… thought we had a chance. That’s kinda what it felt like. We were slow, very slow in everything that we were doing. We were losing a lot of battles and it was a lot of hesitation in our game.”

Sharks defenseman Mario Ferraro said: “That was really what I thought went wrong today, is we maybe looked at the lineup on the other end and we played scared in the first period. And obviously it was a snowball effect.”

Sharks center Luke Kunin talked about the disappointing game and how the team let goaltender Devin Cooley down: “We didn’t help him out at all. With the odd-mans, how many looks he was getting, with the way that we started the game. You know, try to say a few things to him, obviously he’s a competitive guy as well, it wasn’t his fault by any means.”

Connor McDavid started the scoring just 53 seconds into the first period. McDavid carried the puck into the zone at speed and as he approached the goal line, he centered the puck for Zach Hyman. The pass did not get through. Instead, it hit Marc-Edouard Vlasic and went into the net. An assist went to Darnell Nurse.

Adam Henrique made it 2-0 at 4:01. Catching a Brett Kulak pass from the blue line, Henrique settled the puck down in traffic before lifting it over Cooley for the goal.

Warren Foegele added another at 10:40. Skating in two-on-one with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Foegele scored with a wrist shot from inside the faceoff circle. An assist went to Leon Draisaitl.

At this point, the Sharks still only had one shot on goal. By the end of the period, they had six shots ot the Oilers’ 10.

At 19:35, Dylan Holloway tipped in the fourth Oilers goal off a shot from Adam Henrique. Assists to Henrique and Nurse.

The Sharks got on the board at 1:58 of the second period. Danil Gushchin took a shot from the goal line that snuck between the Skinner and the post. An assist went to Thomas Bordeleau.

Less than three minutes later, Foegele scored his second of the night to make it 5-1. Foegele redirected a shot from Nugent-Hopkins. Cooley stopped that but the puck got away from him and Foegele followed up and poked the puck over the line. Assists went to Nugent-Hopkins and Draisaitl.

Corey Perry made it 6-1 near the midpoint of the period. Evan Bouchard went for the shot and Cooley came out to stop it. But the puck went past him and Perry was lurking by the other post to poke the puck in. Assists went to Bouchard and Holloway.

Cody Ceci made it 7-1 at 13:18. Trailing the play and then going ot the net, Ceci redirected a pass from Henrique. Assists went to Henrique and Hyman.

Evan Bouchard made it 8-1, just 31 seconds later. In a play almost exactly like the prior one, Corey Perry sent the puck across the ice for Bouchard to redirect past Cooley on the glove side. Assists went to Perry and Holloway.

The Sharks pulled Cooley after that one and put rookie Georgi Romanov in net.

A little less than a minute later, Zach Hyman scored to make it 9-1. In another two-on-one, Connor McDavid and Hyman skated in. McDavid a short pass for Hyman to nudge in. Assists went to McDavid and Nurse.

That was it for the Oilers. The Sharks scored one in the third period. Mikael Granlund carried the puck in two-on-one with Fabian Zetterlund. Granlund took a shot while skating through center ice. Skinner stopped that. William Eklund got a stick on it but it did not go in. The puck bounced around in the blue paint before Zetterlund got his stick on it and scored with a backhand shot. Assists went to Eklund and Granlund.

The Sharks will play their final game of the season at 6:00 PM PT on Thursday in Calgary against the Flames.

Sharks Beat Kraken 3-1, Devin Cooley Makes 49 Saves

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San Jose Sharks goaltender Devin Cooley (1) is congratulated by teammate defenseman Kyle Burroughs (right) after the Sharks defeated the Seattle Kraken at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle on Thu Apr 11, 2024 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks defeated the Seattle Kraken 3-1 on Thursday at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle. Luke Kunin, Kyle Burroughs and Fabian Zetterlund scored for the Sharks. Devin Cooley made 49 saves for the win. Brian Dumoulin scored for the Kraken. Joey Daccord made 20 saves in the loss.

This was Devin Cooley’s fourth NHL game, his second win and his first road win. After the game, Sharks defenseman Mario Ferraro talked about the goaltender’s performance: “Obviously they got a lot of shots tonight, they got a lot of grade A chances and without him in net who knows what the result of the game would have been.”

Sharks Head Coach David Quinn said:

“Outstanding. I mean he was unbelievable. Especially in the first period. I think we got better as the game went on but they certainly set the pace and the tempo for the most part tonight. We were very opportunistic but our goalie was outstanding. There’s really not much more to talk about really.”

Luke Kunin opened the scoring to give the Sharks a lead at 8:07 of the first period. Kunin redirected Henry Thrun’s shot from the left point. Assists went to Thrun and Klim Kostin.

Brian Dumoulin tied the game at 9:22. Catching a pass as he skated through the faceoff circle, Dumoulin slipped between the Sharks defense and beat Devin Cooley with a quick wrist shot. Assists went to Jordan Eberle and Jaden Schwartz.

Despite having the only power play in the period, the Sharks were outshot by the Kraken 20-11.

The Sharks had just one shot on goal at the midpoint of the second period, while the Kraken had 12. The Sharks had their second shot of the period at 12:51.

With their third shot of the period, the Sharks took a 2-1 lead at 14:46. Kyle Burroughs entered the zone late and caught a pass from William Eklund in the slot. Burroughs sent the puck through traffic into the far top corner.

Fabian Zetterlund made it 3-1 at 15:37. Mikael Granlund centered the puck from the goal line and Zetterlund was on hand to lift it into the net. Assists went to Granlund and Eklund.

The score remained unchanged through the third period. The Sharks were outshot again, 16-7 in the period. The final shot count was 50-23 Kraken.

The Sharks next play on Saturday in San Jose against the Minnesota Wild at 7:30 PM PT.

Sharks Fall Prey to Surging Predators, Lose 8-2

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San Jose Sharks goaltender Chrona Magnus (30) was pelted with shots all night here the Nashville Predators right winger Michael McCarron (47) celebrates after scoring in the second period at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville on Tue Mar 19, 2024 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks fell 8-2 to the Nashville Predators Tuesday. The Predators have now won 13 of their last 15 games, and earned overtime points in the other two of those 15. Roman Josi, Jason Zucker, Michael McCarron, Luke Evangelista, Mark Jankowski and Tommy Novak scored for Nashville.

Juuse Saros made 18 saves for the win. Mikael Granlund and Mario Ferraro scored for San Jose. Magnus Chrona made 32 saves in the loss. The Sharks have now lost five in a row. In their last ten games, they have one win, one overtime loss and one shootout loss.

After the game, two former Predators described the game in gloomy terms. Mikael Granlund described the game as: “A good thirty minutes and bad next 30 minutes.” Luke Kunin said: “Bad in the D zone, not closing quick enough, giving ‘em too much time and space, them getting behind us, us turning pucks over. I think it was pretty clear the things we were doing to kind of feed their offense.”

Sharks Head Coach David Quinn gave the Predators credit for playing well: “They obviously are in a great groove right now, they’re playing really good hockey, they’re fast, they’re physical, they really play to their identity, each line plays to their identity, they know who they are.” On the other hand, of the Sharks he said: “I thought we did a good job for the first 30 minutes and [then] just really got away from giving ourselves any type of chance.”

The first goal of the game came midway through the first period. Filip Forsberg got to the puck after a faceoff, sent it to Ryan McDonagh at the point. McDonagh sent it along the blue line to Roman Josi who scored with a slap shot.

Mikael Granlund tied the game at 17:18. Klim Kostin’s pass found Granlund skating into the zone clear of any defenders. He took a quick wrist shot to score his tenth of the season. Assists went to Kostin and Mario Ferraro.

Mario Ferraro gave the Sharks a 2-1 lead with a wrist shot from high in the zone at 5:46 of the second period.

Jason Zucker tied it back up at 9:37. When Colton Sissons’ shot trickled under Chrona, Zucker got behind the goaltender to push it over the line. Assists went to Sissons and McDonagh.

Michael McCarron gave the Predators the lead again at 15:26. Roman Josi skated down to the net and had almost reached the goal line when he centered the puck into some traffic. Keifer Sherwood took a shot and that created a rebound that went to McCarron for a shot at an open net.

Luke Evangelista made it 4-2 at 17:50. Skating across the slot, he took a backhand shot that beat Chrona. Assists went to Josi and Forsberg.

Cole Smith deflected a shot into the net after time expired for the period, scoring the first of two consecutive disallowed goals for the Predators.

Luke Evangelista pushed the puck into the net early in the third period but the goal was called back as Zucker pushed Chrona into the net before Evangelista took the shot.

Michael McCarron scored his second of the night at 10:35 of the third period. He caught a pass off the boards and shot around some traffic to score. An assist went to Sherwood.

Mark Jankowski made it 6-2 at 14:13, deflecting a shot from Tyson Barrie. Barrie and Anthony Beauvillier got the assists.

Filip Forsberg scored his second of the night just 30 seconds later. Gustav Nyquist failed to score from the goal line but created a rebound for Forsberg. Assists went to Nyquist and McDonagh.

Tommy Novak scored his 15th of the season to make it 8-2 at 16:16 with a backhand shot. Assists went to Sherwood and Jankowski.

The Sharks next play on Thursday back in San Jose against the Tampa Bay Lightning at 7:30 PM PT.

Sharks Fall 5-2 to Blackhawks, Devin Cooley Makes NHL Debut in Net

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The Chicago Blackhawks left winger Landon Slaggert (84) gets his shot stopped by the San Jose Sharks goaltender Devin Cooley (left) in the first period at the United Center in Chicago on Sun Mar 17, 2024 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks lost 5-2 to the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday. Philipp Kurashev, Ryan Donato, Kevin Korchinski, Joey Anderson and Connor Bedard scored for the Blackhawks. Petr Mrazek made 25 saves for the win. Ryan Carpenter and Klim Kostin scored for the Sharks. Devin Cooley, in his NHL debut, made 26 saves in the loss.

Of playing his first NHL game, Devin Cooley said: “The experience was obviously amazing, first game, that’s something I’ve been working towards my entire life. Really happy that happened. For it to happen for my hometown team that I grew up watching, that’s pretty special.”

Of the rookie goaltender’s performance, Sharks Head Coach David Quinn said: “I thought he played well. Made some big saves early I thought. I thought he played well and I feel bad that we weren’t able to bring it to the finish line for him ‘cause I thought he deserved it.”

Ryan Carpenter gave the Sharks a 1-0 lead at 10:33 of the first period. Carpenter and Alexander Barabanov skated into zone two-on-one. Carpenter passed the puck across but Mrazek followed it. Barabanov then passed the puck back to Carpenter with a bounce off of Mrazek’s pads, giving Carpenter an open net to shoot at. Assists went to Barabanov and Kevin Labanc.

Klim Kostin made it 2-0 at 16:32. Mikael Granlund had the puck behind the net. He passed it up to Kostin who was able to shoot it under the goaltender and a defenseman to score his fifth of the season. Assists went to Granlund and Mario Ferraro.

Philipp Kurashev cut the lead to 2-1 at 14:02 of the second period. Kurashev, Tyler Johnson and Connor Bedard skated into the zone three-on-two. Bedard passed the puck across the ice to Johnson, who centered it as Kurashev went to the net to score.

Ryan Donato tied the game at 10:39 of the third period. Donato scored his tenth of the season with a slap shot from just inside the faceoff circle. Assists went to Jarred Tinordi and Jaycob Megna.

Kevin Korchinski gave the Blackhawks the lead at 11:51 with a wrist shot from the blue line. An assist went to Lukas Reichel.

Joey Anderson made it 4-2 at 12:02. Anderson threw the puck into the blue paint with a backhand shot, it bounced off of Calen Addison’s skate and into the net. An assist went to Alex Vlasic.

Connor Bedard made it 6-2 with an empty net goal in the final second of the game. An assist went to P Kurashev.

The Sharks next play on Tuesday at 5:00 PT in Nashville against the Predators.

Sharks Fall 4-2 to Blue Jackets; CBJs Nylander gets two goals and Tarasov saves 39 shots

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Columbus Blue Jackets forward Boone Jenner (38) passes off the puck against the San Jose Sharks defenseman Mario Ferraro (38) in the second period at Nationwide Arena in Columbus on Sat Mar 16, 2024 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks lost 4-2 to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday. Boone Jenner, Alexander Nylander, Johnny Gaudreau scored for Columbus, with a second goal from Nylander into an empty net. Daniil Tarasov made 39 saves for the win. Fabian Zetterlund and Henry Thrun scored for San Jose and Magnus Chrona made 16 saves in the loss.

In a frustrating loss, the Sharks managed an unusual high of 42 shots in the game, and allowed just four shots for Columbus in the third period. After the game, Sharks Head Coach David Quinn said:

“We had plenty of chances, especially in the third period. Hit a couple posts, made some good saves in the third, but dug ourselves a little bit of a hole with our start. You know, our first period certainly wasn’t anything that we wanted it to be but I thought we gradually got better as the game went on and made a great push in the third period.”

Quinn went into more detail about what went wrong in the first period, saying: “Just really not engaged physically. I thought we gave them way too much room and way too much respect and just, it was easy for them, way too easy. But I thought as the game went on we got more engaged.”

Boone Jenner scored first, late in the first period. Johnny Gaudreau caught a pass in the neutral zone and skated in with Jenner close behind. Gaudreau passed the puck across the slot and Jenner caught it, then skated back across to the other side of the goal and backhanded it in. Assists went to Gaudreau and Damon Severson.

Alexander Nylander made it 2-0 49 seconds into the second period. Ivan Provorov made a pass from the Blue Jackets’ zone to Nylander on the Sharks’ blue line. Nylander skated in and took a quick wrist shot to score his 34th of the season.

Fabian Zetterlund cut it to 2-1 at 11:48. Mario Ferraro sent the puck to the net with a high pass. Provorov knocked it down but Zetterlund was right there to catch the falling puck and knock it into the net. Assists went to Ferraro and Mikael Granlund.

Johnny Gaudreau made it 3-1 at 15:03. Nylander took a shot from the blue line and Gaudreau gathered up the rebound to tuck it between the post and Chrona’s skate. Assists went to Nylander and Jenner.

Henry Thrun got one back for the Sharks at 11:42 of the third period. Kevin Labanc skated into the zone with the puck and made his way through some traffic high in the slot before kicking the puck to Thrun. Thrun took the shot right away and sent it into the far side of the net as Tarasov slid to the near side.

Alexander Nylander scored into the empty net at 18:55 of the third. Gaudreau got an assist.

The Sharks next play on Sunday in Chicago against the Blackhawks at 3:00 PM PT.

Sharks Fall 3-2 to Flyers, Zadina Scores Twice

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Philadelphia Flyers Joel Farabee (left) deflected the puck against the San Jose Sharks goaltender Magnus Chrona (right) in the third period at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia on Tue Mar 12, 2024 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks lost 3-2 to the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday. Joel Farabee, Morgan Frost and Owen Tippett scored for the Flyers. Samuel Ersson made 27 saves for the win. Filip Zadina scored twice for the Sharks. Magnus Chrona made 39 saves in the loss.

Although the Sharks were outshot 41-29, they kept the game close, never falling more than one goal behind. They never had a lead either. After the game, Sharks Head Coach David Quinn said:

“I just thought we played a little too slow. I didn’t think we had our pace to our game throughout all three zones. I thought in our d-zone we were slow to coverage, I didn’t think we were really ending enough plays and playing on our toes and moving as the puck was moving. There was jst a little bit of a disconnect tonight.”

The Flyers scored first, 3:29 into the game. Morgan Frost intercepted a neutral zone pass and passed it to Joel Farabee, who was into the zone before any Shark. One-on-one with the goaltender, he took a quick shot and put the puck under Chrona for his 19th goal of the season.

The Sharks tied it on the power play in the final minute of the first period. Luke Kunin centered the puck as Filip Zadina entered the zone right down the middle. He pulled the puck back and forth before using a backhand shot to score. Assists went to Luke Kunin and Alexander Barabanov.

Morgan Frost gave the Flyers a lead on the power play at 9:20 of the second period. While sliding backwards away from the net, he caught a rebound off of Travis Konecny’s shot and put the puck up under the bar. Assists went to Konecny and Cam York.

The Sharks tied it again on the power play, again with a goal from Zadina. With the Sharks at the end of the second of back-to-back power plays, Zadina redirected a pass from Luke Kunin. Assists went to Kunin and Kim Kostin.

Owen Tippett scored the game winner for Philadelphia during a delayed penalty in the third period. As the Flyers skated six-on-five, Konecny made a pass through traffic to Tippett for a redirection into the net. Assists went to Konecny and York.

The Sharks next play on Thursday in Pittsburgh against the Penguins at 4:00 PM PT.

Sharks Fall 3-2 in a Shootout with the Stars

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The San Jose Sharks goaltender Magnus Chrona (30) gets a stick on the puck for a save as the Dallas Stars Ty Dellandrea looks on at American Airlines Arena in Dallas on Sat Mar 2, 2024 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks fell 3-2 in a shootout to the Dallas Stars on Saturday. Stars goals came from Radek Faksa and Jason Robertson. Matt Duchene and Jamie Benn scored in the shootout. Jake Oettinger made 21 saves for the win.

Sharks goals came from William Eklund and Filip Zadina. Anthony Duclair scored in the shootout. Magnus Chrona made 36 saves in the loss. This is the Sharks’ sixth loss in a row, though they did get a point against the top team in the Central Division.

With Mackenzie Blackwood on IR, Chrona is bound to see a few more starts before the end of the season. His last start for the Sharks was on December 28, when he was pulled after giving up four goals in the first period. Saturday, his performance was better, giving up just two goals on 38 shots. After the game, Sharks forward Luke Kunin said, of the young goaltender:

“He was great tonight. Some huge saves for us, really kept us in that game. I thought we had a pretty good game for the most part but those stretches where we were giving up a lot, he was there to back us up. Great performance by him tonight.”

Of the Sharks game outside the net, Sharks Head Coach David Quinn said: “The faceoffs killed us. I think they won almost 70% of their faceoffs. You’re chasing the game a lot when you’re losing that many faceoffs. But I thought overall we played a good hockey game.” The Stars did win 67.2% of the faceoffs.

The Sharks scored first at 4:39 of the first period. William Eklund and Luke Kunin entered the zone two-on-one and Eklund took a shot that Oettinger kicked back out. Eklund was ready to catch the rebound and scored with a quick wrist shot. Assists went to Kunin and Jan Rutta.

The Stars tied it at 3:08 of the second period. Sam Steel deflected Craig Smith’s shot from the boards. The puck trickled through Chrona but still needed an extra push from Radek Faksa to cross the line.

The Sharks took the lead back with a goal at 17:08 of the second. Filip Zadina spun around in the faceoff circle and took his shot. The puck bounced up over Oettinger and hit the post before a Star swept it out of the net. An official review determined that the puck did cross the line. Luke Kunin got an assist.

Fabian Zetterlund blocked a shot with his ankle in the final minutes of the period. He had to be helped off the ice and back to the dressing room.

The Stars tied it again at 4:08 of the third period with a power play goal just 3 seconds into that power play. Jason Robertson took a shot from the top of the faceoff circle, putting the puck into the side of the net. Assists went to Miro Heiskanen and Jamie Benn.

Early in the third period, Nico Sturm returned to the bench with an injury, possibly an elbow or a stick to the neck.

At the end of regulation, the Stars had outshot the Sharks 36 to 20. Dallas took a penalty about half way through overtime but the Sharks could not take advantage of that. The Sharks had three shots in overtime and the Stars had two.

The shootout went to seven rounds. Matt Duchene and Jamie Benn scored for the Stars. Benn scored the winner while falling to the ice after tripping over Chrona’s stick.

Jake Oettinger stopped shots from Filip Zetterlund, William Eklund, Kyle Granlund, Filip Zadina, Mike Hoffman and Luke Kunin. Anthony Duclair scored for the Sharks. Magnus Chrona stopped shots from Jason Robertson, Roope Hintz, Wyatt Johnston, Logan Stankoven and Joe Pavelski.

The Sharks next play on Sunday at 4:00 PM PT in St. Paul, Minnesota, against the Wild.