Tag: David Quinn

Jets Shut Out Sharks 1-0, Ferraro and Granlund Return, Hertl and Couture Out

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Winnipeg Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck (37) deflects the puck that goes wide as the Jets Dylan DeMelo (2) defends against the San Jose Sharks Mikeal Granlund (64) at Canada Life Center in Winnipeg on Wed Feb 14, 2024 (The Canadian Press via AP photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks were shut out 1-0 by the Winnipeg Jets on Wednesday. Morgan Barron scored the only goal in the game and Connor Hellebuyck made 17 saves for the shutout win. Kaapo Kahkonen made 38 saves in the loss.

After the game, Sharks goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen said, of the many shots he faced: “They’re a pretty high shot volume team but overall I think what we did well was, even though they got a lot of shots on net, I think we boxed out, we kinda kept them outside so that was good for me.”

Sharks Head Coach David Quinn had a more dismal view of what the Sharks were doing with the puck:

“We had plenty of opportunities to make crisp passes and didn’t do it, I thought our puck play was really slow. I thought we were standing still when we got pucks. That really was the story to me of the night. I didn’t think we had any pace to our game with the puck.”

The Sharks started well in the first period, getting four shots on net before the Jets had any. The Jets turned that around and had 15 shots without allowing the Sharks any more in the period.

With 2:13 left in the period, the Jets scored. Morgan Barron deflected Adam Lowry’s shot from the point for his ninth goal of the season. Assists went to Lowry and Neal Pionk.

The Sharks took one penalty in the first period and allowed one shot to the Jets power play.

At 17:10 of the second period, it looked like Anthony Duclair might have tied the game. A review showed that the puck was stopped by Mark Sheifele, who had slipped in behind his goaltender.

The Jets again out-shot the Sharks in the second period, 16-8. Each team took a penalty in the second period. The Sharks allowed one shot to the Jets power play, and had one short-handed shot. They had no shots in their own power play.

Midway through the third period, Nico Sturm left the game after a hit from Logan Stanley, Stanley’s knee came up behind Sturm’s legs as Sturm fell, causing Sturm to hit the ice head and shoulders first.

In the final minute, Kaapo Kahkonen sustained what appeared to be a lower body injury. He was able to get to the bench so the Sharks could add an extra skater.

The final shot count was 40-18 Jets. In the face-off circle, the Sharks won 38.5% of the draws. Nico Sturn led the team in shots with four.

Mario Ferraro and Mikael Granlund were back in the lineup after being injured before the All Star break. Both Tomas Hertl and Logan Couture were out. Hertl had scheduled knee surgery after the All Star Game. The team had advanced notice and, while the surgery was not emergent, it was needed. Logan Couture is having problems with the same lower body injury that kept him out for most of the season.

The Sharks next play on Thursday at 6:00 PM PT in Calgary against the Flames.

Sharks Fall 3-2 in OT, Vlasic Scores Third Game in a Row

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The San Jose Sharks center Nico Sturm (7) gets to the door step but can’t score on Anaheim Ducks goaltender Josh Gibson (36) in the second period at the Honda Center in Anaheim on Wed Jan 31, 2024 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks were defeated in overtime 3-2 by the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday at the Honda Center in Anaheim. Isac Lundestrom, Troy Terry and Frank Vatrano scored for the Ducks. John Gibson made 26 saves for the win. Anthony Duclair and Marc-Edouard Vlasic scored for the Sharks. Kaapo Kahkonen made 31 saves in the loss.

The Sharks had a lead through most of the game. To lose after that had to be frustrating. After the game, Sharks Captain Logan Couture said “I thought we were the better team for a lot of the game but third period they kind of took over. They had a lot of looks, we looked tired at the end there.”

Sharks Head Coach David Quinn said that the team is playing well now, despite this loss: “The one thing that you feel good about right now is how we’re playing now and our compete and we’re not giving up a lot of goals and just overall playing better hockey.”

Anaheim celebrated as if they had scored at 1:58 of the first period. But the whistle had blown and the puck only went into the net as Kahkonen was pushed in as well.

Less than 20 seconds later, the Ducks did score. Isac Lundestrom slipped behind the defense and scored with a wrist shot at 2:12. Assists went to Mason McTavish and Jakob Silfverberg

Anthony Duclair tied the game with a power play goal at 6:59. Shakir Mukhamadullin took a slap shot from the blue line and Duclair caught the rebound. Assists went to Mukhamadullin and Mike Hoffman. That was Mukhamadullin’s first NHL point in his third game.

Marc-Edouard Vlasic scored from the blue line with a slap shot at 17:57 of the second. Assists went to Kyle Burroughs and William Eklund. The goal extended Vlasic’s goal streak to three games.

With the Ducks net empty, Troy Terry tied the game at 18:59 of the third period. With a scrum in front of the net, Terry found the puck and put it in. Assists went to Leo Carlsson and Adam Henrique.

Frank Vatrano scored the overtime winner 4:07 into overtime. His wrist shot went past Kahkonen’s blocker as the goaltender tried moved across the goal mouth.

The Sharks were out-shot 34-28 by the Ducks. In the face-off circle, they won 45.5% of the draws. Alexander Barabanov was injured half way through the game. After the game, Quinn said that he did not believe the injury was “too serious.”

The Sharks next play on February 14 at 4:30 PM PT in Winnipeg against the Jets.

Sharks Beat Kings 4-3 in Shootout, Couture Scores in SO; San Jose wins second straight game in LA

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Logan Couture (39) the San Jose Sharks center and team captain with the Los Angeles Kings center Anze Kopitar (11) meet at center ice with former Los Angeles Rams running back Marshall Faulk (28) for the pre game puck drop ceremonies at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks defeated the Los Angeles Kings 4-3 in a shootout on Monday. Fabian Zetterlund, William Eklund, Justin Bailey scored for the Sharks in regulation. Zetterlund and Logan Couture scored in the shootout. Kaapo Kahkonen made 44 saves for the win. Trevor Moore, Quinton Byfield and Drew Doughty scored for the Kings and David Rittich mdae 24 saves in the loss.

Midway through the second period, Sharks defenseman Mario Ferraro sustained a lower body injury going into the boards after a hit by Trevor Lewis. He dragged himself to the bench and did not return to play. Sharks Head Coach David Quinn said that he expects Ferraro to miss at least “a couple games.”

Ferraro’s injury left the team short one defenseman for roughly half of regulation. After the game, Quinn said:

“Yeah, it was a gritty one. Listen, obviously we went down to five D there and you could see our D getting tired and they turned it up a little bit there in the third and towards the end of the second. But we just kept battling and competing and I give our D-corps a ton of credit. They turned it up and we answered.”

In a scoreless first period, the Sharks were out-shot by the Kings 18-6. They picked things up in the second. With an extra skater on during a delayed penalty, Fabian Zetterlund scored with a snap shot in the slot at 7:46. Assists went to Mike Hoffman and Tomas Hertl.

William Eklund made it 2-0 with a snap shot at 9:06.. Skating into the zone with Nico Sturm, Eklund caught Sturm’s pass and took the shot from inside the left circle. Assists went to Sturm and Jan Rutta

Trevor Moore got the Kings on the board with a snap shot at 17:06. From the right circle, he put the puck into the far corner. An assist went to Kevin Fiala.

Quinton Byfield tied the game with a slap shot at 1:33 of the third. Adrian Kempe centered the puck from near the goal line and Kahkonen could not get across in time to stop Byfield’s shot. Assists went to Kempe and Jordan Spence.

Justin Bailey gave the Sharks a 3-2 lead at 6:07. Skating in on a breakaway, Bailey’s wrist shot went under Rittich for Bailey’s third of the season. An assist went to Ryan Carpenter.

Drew Doughty tied it again on the power play with six Kings skaters on the ice. He scored with a slap shot from just below the blue line at 18:02. Assists went to Kevin Fiala and Quinton Byfield.

The game went through overtime, during which the Sharks had just two shots to the Kings’ five. In the shootout, Logan Couture and Fabian Zetterlund scored. Kahkonen stopped shots from Trevor Moore and Adrian Kempe.

The Sharks were out-shot by the Kings 47-27 in the game. They won 54.7% of the draws. Logan Couture led the team in face-offs, winning 9 of 14 draws.

The Sharks next play Tuesday, back in San Jose against the New York Rangers at 7:30 PM PT.

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.

Sharks Lose to Senators 5-4; Sens Tarasenko gets gamer with 5 seconds left

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The Ottawa Senators defenseman Thomas Chabot (72) celebrates with teammates after scoring on the San Jose Sharks in the first period at the Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa on Sat Jan 13, 2024 (Canadian Press via AP photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks fell 5-4 to the Ottawa Senators on Saturday. Claude Giroux, Thomas Chabot, Brady Tkachuk, Drake Batherson, and Vladimir Tarasenko scored for the Senators. Joonas Korpisalo made 14 saves for the win. Anthony Duclair, Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Kevin Labanc and Filip Zadina scored for the Sharks. Mackenziie Blackwood made 36 saves in the loss.

The scoring was back and forth through all three periods and then ended with a goal in the last three seconds. After the game, Anthony Duclair talked about the importance of playing every second of the game: “Obviously, it’s tough to go down that way, especially in the last few seconds there but that’s a thing we’ve got to continue improving on is playing the full 60 right to the end there.”

Sharks Head Coach David Quinn said: “I’m just really disappointed because, you know, we did a lot of good things in Montreal and didn’t follow it up tonight.” He went on to describe what was lacking in Saturday’s game:

“I just thought it was our lack of compete, really, throughout the night. I didn’t think we competed anywhere near the level we needed to, regardless of your opponent. I thought our puck play, we really struggled. There just weren’t many areas that we were real efficient in tonight.”

Claude Giroux scored the first goal of the game at 4:12 of the first period. Finding the puck lose in traffic in front of the net, he snapped it over the goalie. Assists went to Brady Tkachuk and Artem Zub.

Thomas Chabot made it 2-0 for the Senators at 9:58 with a slap shot from the faceoff circle. Assists went to Vladimir Tarasenko and Tim Stützle.

Anthony Duclair got the Sharks on the board at 12:35 with a slap shot from high in the slot. Assists went to Alexander Barabanov and Mario Ferraro.

The Sharks and Senators were close in shots for the first period, at 9-8 Sharks. In the second period, however, the Senators out-shot the Sharks 22-4. Nonetheless, the Sharks scored with two of those shots.

Marc-Edouard Vlasic tied the game at 3:53 of the second. Following up a 2-on-1 by Anthony Duclair and Mikael Granlund, he scored his first goal since January 2023. Assists went to Duclair and Granlund.

Kevin Labanc gave the Sharks the lead at 6:20 with a wrist shot off a sneaky backwards pass from Mario Ferraro. Assists went to Ferraro and Mike Hoffman.

Brady Tkachuk tied the game again at 7:11. Drake Batherson made a pass from the slot to Tkachuk as Tkachuk skated into the zone from the bench. Assists went to Batherson and Tim Stützle.

Batherson gave the Senators the lead at 12:59. He scored with a wrist shot off a rebound that came to him at the edge of the faceoff circle. Assists went to Artem Zub and Tim Stützle.

Filip Zadina tied the game again at 16:56 of the third period. He scored with a slap shot off a cross-ice pass from Tomas Hertl. Assists went to Hertl and Mario Ferraro.

Vladimir Tarasenko scored the game-winner. He caught a rebound off off Zub’s shot from the blue line. Assists went to Artem Zub and Tim Stützle.

The Sharks were out-shot 11-5 in the third period for a total shot count of 41-18 Senators. The Sharks won 42.6% of the draws. Their power play had two shots in two opportunities and gave up one short-handed shot. They gave up four shots on two penalty kills and had one short-handed short.

The Sharks next play on Monday at 9:00 AM PT in Buffalo against the Sabres.

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

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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.

Sharks Lose 3-1 to Avalanche, Ferraro Injured; SJ suffers eighth straight loss

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The Colorado Avalanche’s right winger Valeri Nichushkin (13) takes a shot as the San Jose Sharks defenseman Henry Thrun covers in the first period at the Ball Arena in Denver on Sun Dec 31, 2023 (AP News)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks fell 3-1 to the Colorado Avalanche Sunday night. Mikko Rantanen, Valeri Nichushkin and Josh Manson scored for Colorado. Alexandar Georgiev made 10 saves for the win. Tomas Hertl scored for San Jose and Kaapo Kahkonen made 31 saves in the loss. It was the Sharks’ eighth loss in a row.

After the game, Sharks Head Coach David Quinn recognized that his team was at a disadvantage, losing “our best defenseman five minutes into the game, playing a team that, you know, has a great chance to win the Stanley Cup.” Nonetheless, he saw some good in the Sharks game: “With our d-corps as young as we are, to hang in there against this team, I couldn’t be prouder of our team. Our goalie was outstanding. It’s 1-1 with five minutes to go and they get a … six-on-five goal and … an empty netter.”

The first goal of the game came on a Colorado power play at 6:58 of the first period. Nathan MacKinnon sent the puck across the ice low in the offensive zone. Mikko Rantanen was there to catch it and snap it over Kaapo Kahkonen. Assists went to MacKinnon and Nichushkin.

The Sharks had just three shots in that first period, while Colorado had ten. Additionally, midway through the first period, Sharks defenseman Mario Ferraro took a hit from Nathan MacKinnon that knocked him out of the game with an upper-body injury. The team gave no update on his status after the game.

The only penalty in the first period was the too many men call against the Sharks. By contrast, the second period saw a slew of penalties: interference, hi-sticking, slashing, hooking and a set of matching roughing penalties, distributed fairly evenly between the teams.

The Sharks tied the game during one of those penalties, scoring a power play goal at 16:53. Mikael Granlund’s pass found Tomas Hertl in the slot for a quick shot past the goaltender. Assists went to Granlund and Calen Addison. That was the Sharks’ eighth shot of the game, their fifth of the second period.

The Sharks held the game 1-1 until late in the third period, despite having no shots in the period until the final five minutes. Even then, they only had two shots in the third.

During a delayed penalty against the Sharks, Colorado took the lead at 16:31. Valeri Nichushkin scored from just above the goal line off a pass from Jack Johnson. Assists went to Johnson and MacKinnon.

The Sharks pulled Kahkonen during a late penalty and then kept him out during the final minute. The Avalanche missed a few shots at the empty net before Josh Manson finally got one in.

The Sharks next play on Tuesday in San Jose at 7:30 PM PT against the Detroit Red Wings.

Demoralized Sharks Fall 5-1 to Kings; SJ dealt their sixth straight loss

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The Los Angeles Kings left wing Kevin Fiala (22) put the puck on net for a second period goal past San Jose Sharks goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen (31) at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on Wed Dec 27, 2023 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks fell 5-1 to the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday. The Kings’ goals were scored by Kevin Fiala, Trevor Lewis, Pierre-Luc Dubois and Adrian Kempe, who scored twice. David Rittich made 24 saves for the win. Fabian Zetterlund scored the lone Sharks goal and Kaapo Kahkonen made 38 saves in the loss. This was the sixth loss in a row for the Sharks.

Although the Sharks won the first period of the game, their power play showed signs of what was to come. The Sharks power play registered no shots on net and gave up two short-handed shots. After the game, Sharks Head Coach David Quinn said:

“Really it was a tale of two games. I thought the first twenty-five minutes we played well, I thought we had some great chances. Then we got blitzed with two goals in five seconds, six seconds, whatever it was and that’s happened to us too often and you could just feel it again. And it just got away from us, we got demoralized and our power play really hurt us.”

When asked how the team can cope with collapses like giving up two goals in 13 seconds, Sharks forward Fabian Zetterlund said “we just have to have a couple good shifts, get the pucks deep, and play boring hockey… and then we can take it from there.”

The Sharks scored the only goal of the first period. Fabian Zetterlund scored with a snap shot on a breakaway at 11:02. It was his 10th goal of the season. The period was almost penalty-free, with just one call against the Kings at 18:23. At even strength, the Sharks outshot the Kings slightly with eight shots to the Kings’ six.

The Kings tied the game at 2:57 of the second period. Kevin Fiala scored with a wrist shot on a breakaway. An assist went to Jordan Spence.

13 seconds later, Trevor Lewis stole the puck from Mario Ferraro by the Sharks net and scored with a backhand.

Pierre-Luc Dubois made it 3-1 at 12:26, off a rebound from Arthur Kaliyev’s shot from high in the slot. Assists went to Kaliyev and Alex Laferriere,

The Kings outshot the Sharks 17-11 in the second period. The teams each took one penalty, overlapping by 24 seconds, in the middle of the period.

Adrian Kempe made it 4-1 at 3:36 of the third period. From between the circles, Kempe tipped a shot by Matt Roy. Assists went to Roy and Carl Grundstrom

Kempe’s second goal came with an impressive zone entry, skating past and around three Sharks to score with a wrist shot. Assists went to Mikey Anderson and Drew Doughty. That goal came at 15:42.

The third period saw a flurry of penalties, starting with a fight at 5:29 that garnered an additional roughing penalty for Alex Laferriere. The Sharks then took two more penalties in the period. In the face-off circle, the Sharks won just 40.7% of the draws. The shot count was very lopsided, 20-6 Los Angeles, for a game total of 43-25 Kings.

Sharks defenseman Jacob MacDonald was placed on IR. Goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood was ill and so Magnus Chrona was called up as backup.

The Sharks next play on Thursday back in San Jose against the Edmonton Oilers at 7:30 PM PT.

Sharks Buried by Avalanche 6-2 in Denver, Studnicka Makes Sharks Debut

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Colorado Avalanche Nathan MacKinnon gets congratulated by the Avalanche bench after scoring in the second period against the San Jose Sharks at Ball Arena in Denver on Sun Dec 17, 2023 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks were defeated 6-2 by the Colorado Avalanche Sunday. Colorado goals came from Valeri Nichushkin, Mikko Rantanen, Miles Wood, Ryan Johansen, and two from Nathan MacKinnon. Alexander Georgiev made 27 saves for the win. Tomas Hertl scored twice for the Sharks and Mackenzie Blackwood made 23 saves in the loss.

The Sharks’ newest player, Jack Studnicka, made his debut Sunday. Studnicka was acquired Friday from the Vancouver Canucks in exchange for defenseman Nick Cicek and a 2024 sixth-round pick. Sunday he had one shot, three hits and won 4 of 16 faceoffs in 12:18 time on the ice.

After the game, he described his performance as “Just okay. I didn’t really have my legs, it’s kind of been a whirlwind. That’s no excuse but it’s been a lot of travel recently. Some ok moments, some good moments, some moments I’ve got to work on.”

Sharks Head Coach David Quinn said, of Studnicka’s first game: “Tough game to be thrown into, you know, I’m sure he’s just glad it’s over with. Didn’t really think he had a lot of pop in his skating tonight which usually he does. So it’s a tough situation to be put into but I thought he was fine.”

Less than three minutes into the game, Sharks defenseman Jacob MacDonald was called for boarding Sam Malinski. Malinski seemed to catch his skate and was off-balance before MacDonald hit him. Malinski was injured and bleeding. He missed a substantial amount of time in the first period, but returned to play before the period ended. MacDonald, however, was given a game misconduct.

During the ensuing five minute penalty, Colorado scored once. The Sharks penalty kill held the Avalanche off for 4:30. In the final seconds, Jonathan Drouin found Valeri Nichushkin next to the net for a tap-in goal. Assists went to Drouin and Nathan MacKinnon.

The Sharks were back on the penalty kill at 10:37, and Colorado scored at 12:15. Mikko Rantanen deflected a shot from MacKinnon, again late in the power play. Assists went to MacKinnon and Devon Toews.

Miles Wood made it 3-0 with a sharp angle shot at 18:20. Assists went to Ross Colton and Jonathan Drouin. Nathan MacKinnon made it 4-0 at 3:44 of the second period with an unassisted goal.

Tomas Hertl scored on the power play to make it 4-1 at 9:01 of the second. Hertl deflected a shot from the blue line by Mikael Granlund. The secondary assist went to Alexander Barabanov.

Ryan Johansen made it 5-1 at 9:01 of the third period. A rebound off of a Caleb Jones shot went right to Johansen with an open net in front of him. Assists went to Jones and Andrew Cogliano.

Hertl scored his second of the night, again on the power play. Right in front of ther net, Hertl gathered up a rebound after William Eklund took a shot. Assists went to Eklund and Granlund.

Nathan MacKinnon scored his second of the night at 15:11, into an empty net. The Sharks pulled their goaltender with five minutes left in the game.

The Sharks did well in shot count for the game, just one behind Colorado’s 29. In the face-off circle, the Sharks struggled again, winning only 38.2% of the draws.

The Sharks started the game missing several veteran players. Apart from the injured players, Anthony Duclair was a healthy scratch. After the game, David Quinn declined to share details about that decision and said only that Duclair would be back.

Sharks next play on Tuesday back in San Jose at 7:30 PM PT against the Los Angeles Kings.

Sharks Fall 1-0 to Coyotes, Two Goals Called Back

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Arizona Coyotes goaltender Connor Ingram (39) makes a stopping save against the San Jose Sharks left winger Fabian Zetterlund (20) in the second period at Mullet Arena in Tempe AZ on Fri Dec 15, 2023 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks were shutout 1-0 by the Arizona Coyotes Friday. Matias Maccelli scored the only goal in the game and Connor Ingram made 21 saves for the shutout win. Kaapo Kahkonen made 23 saves for the Sharks. It was the fifth time this season that the Sharks have been shut out. The Coyotes were coming off of a four game losing streak.

After the game, Sharks forward Anthony Duclair said: “I thought we just needed some more energy. I think we could have had a better start, I think we just played an okay game. That’s what happens. Obviously they were a desperate hockey team on the other side, losing four in a row.”

Sharks Head Coach David Quinn also commented on the team’s lack of energy:

“To manage just to kind of hang around I think it’s another example of our progress. I think a month ago if we had this type of energy we wouldn’t have been in the situation we were in by the end of the game. So, disappointing we lost, our PK was good, we didn’t draw a penalty which was disappointing but, again, you know, we hung around, had a chance to tie it.”

The one goal of the game came at 14:45 of the second period. Nick Bjugstad took a shot into some traffic on the right side of the net. Kahkonen stopped that but sent a rebound out to the right, to Matias Maccelli. Kahkonen could not get across in time to stop that one. Bjugstad and J.J. Moser got the assists.

It looked like the game was tied at 7:40 of the third period. William Eklund put the puck in the net off a rebound from a shot by Luke Kunin. However, the Coyotes challenged the goal. On review, contact between Kunin’s leg and Ingram’s stick was seen as goaltender interference and the goal was called back.

The game seemed to be tied again at 16:01 of the third period, when Mikael Granlund put the puck in the net. It was a beautiful goal, with Granlund skating through several Coyotes before scoring. But the Coyotes challenged again. The review found that Anthony Duclair was offside and the goal was called back.

The Sharks took four penalties and killed them all but they had no power plays. The shot count was close, 24-21 Coyotes. In the face-off circle, the Sharks struggled, winning just 37.5% of the draws. This was due in part to the absence of Nico Sturm, who was placed on injured reserved Friday.

The Sharks next play on Sunday at 5:00 PM PT in Colorado against the Avalanche.