San Jose Sharks podcast with Mary Lisa: Sharks host Panthers tonight hope to snap 5 game skid

Nashville Predators center Steven Stamkos middle left celebrates after scoring against the San Jose Sharks in the second period at SAP Center in San Jose on Thu Jan 23, 2025 (AP News photo)

On the San Jose Sharks podcast with Mary Lisa:

#1 The Nashville Predators came to San Jose and Filip Forsberg scored twice help edge the San Jose Sharks at SAP Center in San Jose on Thursday night 6-5.

# 2 For Forsberg the two goals helped extend his scoring streak to seven games. The streak is a first in NHL history for a player who went without a goal in 18 straight games then to score a goal in seven straight games.

#3 The Predators Luke Schenn got three assists, Justin Barron and Roman Josi each scored a goal and Justus Annunen stopped 30 shots for Nashville. The Predators had a three goal lead erased but came back to edge the Sharks in the one goal win.

#4 The Sharks Macklin Celebrini leads all rookies with goals scored he added another one for this 15th of the season. Mario Ferraro scored and it was his fifth goal of season a career high also adding an assist.

#5 The Sharks host the Florida Panthers Saturday night at SAP Center the Panthers sit in second place in the Atlantic Division 28-18-3 with 59 points. The Panthers have won five of their last ten games. How do you see this match up tonight?

Mary Lisa does the San Jose Sharks podcasts each Saturday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Sharks extend losing streak to 5, drop back to back games against Nashville

San Jose Sharks celebrating after scoring a goal during their game against the Nashville Predators at SAP Center on Thursday January 23rd 2024 (via SanJoseSharks/x)

by Madison Montez

SAN JOSE- Coming into today’s game, San Jose was looking to snap a four game losing streak. The last loss was against this Nashville team where they gave up another third period lead to fall 7-5. Tyler Toffoli drew back into the lineup after missing the last three games. Newly acquired from the Calgary Flames Walker Duehr also made his Sharks debut.

Nashville’s 16th ranked powerplay got them on the board first at 3:58. After being left wide open, Gustav Nyquist scored his eighth goal of the season, Novak and Skjej registering the assists. A minute later at 4:52, the same situation occurred when Novak was left open, scoring his seventh of the season. ‘Heureux and Svechkov registering the assists.

They extended their lead at 6:53 when Filp Forsberg scored his 17th of the season assisted by Barron. After three fights in the span of four seconds, the Sharks got on the board when Walker Duehr scored his first of the season and as a Shark. Kovalenko and Ferraro registering the assists.

After good puck movement by Granlund and Ferraro, the Sharks cut the Predators’s lead to one. Ferraro with the snap shot, his fifth of the season, Granlund and Liljegren registering the assists.

The Predators extended their lead again at 1:38 of the second. Filip Forsberg picked up a loose puck and wrapped around the net to score his second of the night. Sissons and Skjej registering the assists. After Mikael Granlund went to the box for hooking against Steven Stamkos, Stamkos scored his 17th of the season. Marchessault and Josi registering the assists.

San Jose wasn’t going down without a fight when Henry Thrun scored his first of the season, assisted by Wennberg and Kovalenko. A minute and 15 seconds later, Fabian Zetterlund scored his 14th goal of the season on a backhand shot. Smith and Granlund registering the assists.

The 26th ranked powerplay went to work when Cole Smith was assessed a match penalty for a hit on Ty Dellandrea. Celebrini scored his 15th goal of the season assisted by Granlund and Eklund.

After a quiet start to the third, Nashville took the lead at 8:16 when Fedor Svechkov scored his sixth of the season on a wrist shot. Skjej and ‘Heureux registering the assists.

The Sharks will be back in action on Saturday against the reigning Stanley Cup Champions, the Florida Panthers. The last time these two teams faced off was on December 7th when the Sharks fell 3-1, Toffoli registering the lone goal.

NHL podcast with Len Shapiro: Nylander scores game winner in OT for Leafs; Caps Ovechkin now 21 shy of Gretzky’s goal record; plus more NHL news

Toronto Maple Leafs William Nylander (88) scored the game winning goal against the New Jersey Devils, he is joined in the celebration with teammates Jake McCabe (22) and Phillipe Myers (88) at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto on Thu Jan 16, 2025 (Canadian Press via AP)

On the NHL podcast with Len Shapiro:

#1 The Toronto Maple Leafs William Nylander scored the game winning overtime goal at 1:10 to defeat the New Jersey Devils 4-3 at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto on Thursday night. Nylander on a Mitch Marner stretch pass and shot the puck for a goal past New Jersey goaltender Jacob Markstrom glove side from the blue line.

#2 Alexander Ovechkin scored the game winner for the Washington Capitals for his 874th career goal at 3:07 in overtime to defeat the Ottawa Senators 1-0 at Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa. Ovechkin is now 21 goals away from breaking Wayne Gretzky’s NHL goal scoring record at 894. Ovechkin took a pass from Ramus Sandin on a two on one and beat the Sens Leevi Merilainen with a snap shot.

#3 The Tampa Bay Lightning Jake Guentzel scored in the shootout to defeat the Anaheim Ducks 4-3 at the Amalie Arena in Tampa Bay on Thursday. The Lightning’s Brayden Point scored, Victor Hedman picked up his career 600th assist. The win puts the Lighting at 3-1-1 in their last five games. Tampa Bay goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy saved 34 shots.

#4 The Detroit Red Wings Cam Talbot stopped 41 shots on a busy night to defeat the Florida Panthers 5-2 at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise. Talbot had the hot hand stopping 23 shots in the third period. The Wings Dylan Larkin had two goals and an assist to keep the offense going.

#5 The Columbus Blue Jackets kept their win streak alive with a convincing 4-1 win over the San Jose Sharks at Nationwide Bank Arena in Columbus on Thursday. The Jackets James van Riemsdyk scored twice and Zach Werenski picked up his 18th consecutive home point.

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

Panthers Pounce On Utah HC In 4-1 Home Loss 

The Florida Panthers defenseman Nate Schmidt (88) takes the puck against the Utah Hockey Club’s center Nick Bjugstad (17) at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Wed Jan 8, 2025 (AP News photo)

By Tom Walker

SALT LAKE CITY–Meet the new year, same as the old year. Utah’s home struggles continue in 2025 opener at Delta Center in a 4-1 loss to the Florida Panthers.

The Utah Hockey Club returned to Salt Lake City on Wednesday night to kick off a season-high 7-game homestand against the visiting Florida Panthers. Utah went 1-2-1 on their recent road trip and hoped their home rink would be friendlier in 2025 than it was in 2024 when they won just 5 of 16 in the first three months of their inaugural season at Delta Center.

The two teams’ defenses held the line in the opening frame, with Florida’s Sergei Bobrovsky turning away all five shots he faced, and Utah’s Karel Vejmelka turning away all six from the Panthers.

Just sixteen seconds into the second period, Utah forward Barrett Hayton went to the penalty box for high-sticking against Niko Mikkola, and Florida center Sam Reinhart cashed it in on the power play with his 23rd goal of the season, assisted by Matthew Tkachuk and Aleksander Barkov.

Less than two minutes into the third period, Jesper Boqvist put the Panthers up 2-0 with his 8th goal of the season, assisted by Carter Verhaeghe and Anton Lundell. At 12:56 of the third, Florida forward Sam Bennett went to the sin bin for slashing against Kevin Stenlund which opened the door for Logan Cooley to bring Utah back to within one on the power play with his 11th goal of the season, assisted by Clayton Keller and Mikhail Sergachev.

With Karel Vejmelka pulled from goal for an extra attacker in the waning minutes, the Panthers pounced twice with empty net strikes from Jesper Boqvist and Eetu Luostarinen to put the game away for good with a final score of 4-1.

After the game, Utah Hockey Club head coach André Tourigny weighed in with his assessment. “We can be better in certain areas offensively. But defensively, I think we were solid. (Florida is) a good team; Stanley Cup Champion. I think defensively, we did a lot of good things. I liked the effort of the guys, I liked the passion, all of it. Offensively, we need to be more connected…I feel that we were pretty good defensively. I think offensively, we did not have the same speed, the same rhythm, the same puck movement coming from our breakouts to the offensive zone. Give (Florida) credit; they check hard. They’re No. 1 in a lot of areas defensively and they didn’t give us time and space. That said…I like our team. Even if we didn’t have time and space, we went at the net, put pucks on the net, we got rebounds, we got chances. We created chances–not by pretty play all the time, but by playing the right way and grinding. When you play against those kinds of teams–Dallas and (Florida) and other teams–you need to generate those. Because if not, the pretty play never comes. I think we scored a good goal on the power play. But we had a lot of grind to lead to that. There’s a lot of positives, obviously one goal short.”

Next up for Utah are the Sharks at 7:00pm MST on Friday, followed by the Islanders, Canadiens, Rangers, Blues, and Jets over a 13-day stretch.

NHL podcast with Len Shapiro: Slavin gets game winning goal for Hurricane; Rangers Quick stops 32 shots to edge Bruins 2-1; plus more news

The Carolina Hurricanes center Sebastian Aho (20) and Florida Panthers left wing Matthew Tkachuk (19) scuffle as linesman Tommy Hughes tries to break it up in the second period at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise (AP News photo)

On the NHL podcast with Len Shapiro:

#1 Jaccob Slavin got the game winning goal for the Carolina Hurricane in the third period at 7:30 to break a 1-1 tie which the Hurricane won by a final score of 3-1.Slavin’s wasn’t without a battle as there was a pile up in front of the net as the Hurricane’s Jesperi Kotaniemi slid into Florida Panther goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky who was down at the crease in front of the net when Slavin made a rebound shot from the left circle for the goal.

#2 The New York Rangers edged the Boston Bruins 2-1 at Madison Square Garden. The Ranger goaltender Jonathan Quick was able to stop 32 shots and the Rangers snapped a four game losing streak. It was career win 399 for Quick and it was Quick’s first win since Nov 30th. If Quick wins his next game he will pick up his 400th win and become the first US born goalie to win 400 games.

#3 The Washington Capital Alexander Ovechkin scored his career 871st goal. Ovechkin needs just 24 more goals to catch Wayne Gretzky to become the number one goal scorer of all time. In spite of Ovechkin’s goal the Capitals lost in a shootout to the Minnesota Wild when Matt Boldy scored the game winner as the Wild took a 4-3 win.

#4 The Detroit Red Wings Jonatan Berggren scored a game winning goal with 36 seconds left in the third period to edge the Columbus Blue Jackets 5-4 at Nationwide Arena in Columbus on Thursday night. The win improves the Wings win streak to three games. Alex DeBrincat scored and had two goals to contribute to the Red Wings cause.

#5 The Toronto Maple Leafs Bobby McMann scored twice as the Leafs defeated the New York Islanders 2-1 in New York. The Leafs Joseph Woll stopped 32 shots. The win marks the second time in a week the Leafs have defeated the Isles and the Leafs have now won three times in four games against the Islanders.

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

NHL podcast with Len Shapiro: Guenther scores twice to give Utah 2-1 win; Caps Lindgren stops 24 shots for 3-1 win over Wild; plus more NHL news

The Utah Hockey Club’s Dylan Guenther is congratulated from the Utah bench after scoring a goal in the first period against the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center in Minneapolis on Fri Dec 20, 2024 (AP News photo)

On the NHL podcast with Len Shapiro:

#1 The Utah Hockey Club’s Dylan Guenther scored twice and got a go ahead goal at 10:01 in the third period. Guenther extended his point streak to seven games in a 2-1 win over the Minnesota Wild at the Excel Energy Center in Minneapolis.

#2 The Washington Capitals goalie Charlie Lindgren stopped 24 shots and the Caps got a 3-1 win over the Carolina Hurricanes at the Capital One Center on Friday. The Capitals Connor McMichael, Aliaksei Protas, and Jakob Vranda all scored a goal and an assist.

#3 The Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Matt Murray stopped 25 shots in his first NHL game back since Apr 2, 2023 getting the win over the Buffalo Sabres at Key Bank Center in Buffalo on Friday 6-3. it was also Murray’s first NHL win since March 23, 2023. Sabres have lost 12 straight games and have 0-9-3 during the losing streak and are 11-18-4 overall.

#4 The Montreal Canadiens Patrik Laine scored the go ahead goal at 7:58 to lead the Habs to a 4-3 win over the Detroit Red Wings at Little Caesars Pizza Arena in Detroit on Friday. Emil Heineman and Jake Evans each scored and got an assist for Montreal. Habs goaltender Cam Talbot save 24 shots.

#5 Aleksander Barkov scored with 17 seconds remaining in overtime that gave the Florida Panthers a 2-1 win over the the St Louis Blues at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise on Friday. Barkov got a wrist shot from the right circle during a power play right after he was sent to the penalty box for tripping the Blues Brayden Schenn at 4:17.

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

Sharks Fall 3-1 to Panthers, Blackwood Makes 50 Saves

Florida Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky (72) and defenseman Dimitri Kulikov (7) defend the net against the San Jose Sharks right wing Tyler Toffoli (73) at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise FL on Sat Dec 7, 2024 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks lost to the Florida Panthers 3-1 on Saturday. Matthew Tkachuk scored two goals for Florida and Aleksander Barkov scored the third. Sergei Bobrovsky made 27 saves for the win. Tyler Toffoli scored for San Jose and Mackenzie Blackwood made 50 saves for the Sharks.

Of Blackwood’s performance, Sharks Head Coach Ryan Warsofsky said: “One of the best goalie performances I’ve ever seen really. He stood on his head for us to be in that game even, on the score sheet, what he did was super impressive. Not surprised though.”

After the game, Sharks forward Nico Sturm talked about what a team could learn from the Florida Panthers:

“Tempo-wise for sure, the fastest team we’ve played against. I mean it goes to show why they’re winning. It’s because they don’t do it just in playoffs. They do it in September, in December. Doesn’t matter if they play the best team in the League or the worst team in the League. They’ve got everybody rolling, top to bottom.”

The Sharks seemed tentative at times in the game. Warsofsky said “I don’t think we respected them too much. They have our respect, I think they have the whole League’s respect. I think at times we play in fear and we lose our swagger. And that’s where we’re at right now.”

Matthew Tkachuk gave the Panthers a lead just 23 seconds into the game. Sam Bennett crashed the net and shot the puck but Mackenzie Blackwood stopped that. The puck went up in the air and Tkachuk batted it into the net.

That was it for scoring in the first period. Florida took the only penalty in the first but still outshot San Jose 14-6.

Tkachuk made it 2-0 midway through the second. Carrying the puck in, he scored with a backhand as he skated to the right of the net. Tomas Nosek got an assist.

Aleksander Barkov made it 3-0 with a power play goal at 13:17. Carter Verhaeghe centered the puck and Sam Reinhart, in front of the blue paint, tapped it over to Barkov on the other side of the net. Barkov took the shot from just above the goal line.

The penalty count went up in the second period, with the Sharks taking three and the Panthers taking two. Florida outshot San Jose 20-9 in the second.

Tyler Toffoli got the Sharks on the board at 18:35 of the third period with a power play goal. Toffoli tipped in a shot by Mikael Granlund. Jake Walman got an assist as well.

The Panthers outshot the Sharks again in the third period, 20-13. They also took six penalties to the Sharks’ three.

The Sharks next play on Tuesday in Raleigh against the Hurricanes at 4:00 PM PT.

San Jose Sharks podcast with Mary Lisa: Sharks try and return to winning ways in Florida tonight

Tampa Bay Lightning forward Zemgus Girgensons (28) tries and get around the San Jose Sharks defenseman Jack Thompson (26) in the second period at Amalie Arena in Tampa Bay on Thu Dec 5, 2024 (AP News photo)

On the San Jose Sharks podcast with Mary Lisa:

#1 The San Jose Sharks took a bashing in the first period in Tampa Bay at the hand of the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday 8-1. The Lightning pretty much put it out of reach in the first period scoring a whopping five goals.

#2 The Lightning had help from Braydon Point who had four assists Brandon Hagel scored twice as the Sharks defense struggled to contain both Point and Hagel.

#3 Tampa Bay goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 20 San Jose Shots. The Sharks Alex Wennberg scored San Jose’s only goal of the game.

#4 The Sharks were on a roll before they got humility in Tampa Bay. The Sharks had a three game win streak before taking a beating by the Lightning on Thursday night. They were on a roll after beating the Seattle Kraken twice and Washington Capitals on Saturday.

#5 The Sharks face off against the Florida Panthers Saturday at 3:00pm PST. The Panthers have won five of the last ten games, the Panthers defeated the Philadelphia Flyers 7-5 in their last game Thursday. Panthers are tied for first in the Eastern Conference how tough of opponent will the Panthers be for the Sharks tonight?

Join Mary Lisa for the San Jose Sharks podcasts each Saturday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

NHL podcast with Len Shapiro: Bruins Marchand scores gamer in OT to beat Flames; Panthers win 6th straight game with 6-2 win over Preds; plus more NHL news

Boston Bruins left wing Brad Marchand right celebrates his goal with teammate defensemen Charlie McAvoy (left) in overtime at the Boston Garden on Thu Nov 7, 2024 (AP News photo)

On NHL podcast with Len Shapiro:

#1 The Boston Bruins Brad Marchand with 20 seconds left in the overtime stanza to help the Bruins with a 4-3 win over the Calgary Flames at Scotiabank Arena in Calgary. The Flames battled earlier scoring two goals in the third period forcing a tie.

# 2 The Florida Panthers are hot they have now won six in a row defeating the Nashville Predators on Thursday night 6-2. The Predators have won five of their last six games. The Panthers Carter Verhaeghe had three points scoring a goal and with two assists.

#3 The New York Islanders Bo Horvat scored a goal and had two assists and stopped the Ottawa Senators from coming back in the Isles 4- 2 win at Canadian Centre in Ottawa. The Isles Anders Lee scored a goal and an assist, Jean-Gabriel Pageu and Oliver Wahlstrom added goals.

#4 The Utah Hockey Club’s Dylan Guenther scored what later be the game winning goal with 3:21 left in the game as Utah defeated the St Louis Blues 4-2 at Enterprise Center in St Louis on Thursday. Guenther had an assist at 16:39 intercepting a pass by the Blues Jordan Kyrou when his centering pass deflected off of the Blues defensemen Colton Parayko.

#5 Winnipeg Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck stopped all 35 of the Colorado Avalanche’s shots for a 1-0 shutout at the Canada Life Centre. The Jets set a record with the win becoming the second NHL team to win 13 of their first 14 games ironically joining the 2007-08 Senators. The win was the Jets fifth straight.

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

NHL podcast with Len Shapiro: Bruins Swayman looking for long term contract; Sens Ullmark will be a UFA after this season; plus more news

Boston Bruins are hoping to have restricted free agent goaltender Jeremy Swayman in the line up by opening night. Both sides are still negotiating financial terms of Swayman’s contract. Swayman is seeking an eight year deal. (AP News photo)

On NHL podcast with Len Shapiro:

#1 The Boston Bruins goaltender Jeremy Swayman is a restricted free agent. Swayman is seeking a eight year contract. The Bruins are seeking a long term deal with Swayman as well. The only hang up is agreeing on the value price of the contract. The Bruins are hoping to get Swayman signed before opening night.

#2 The Ottawa Senators Linus Ullmark is about to become a unrestricted free agent at the end of this season. Ullmark has had a great pre season and had his best game against the Buffalo Sabres last Thursday night stopping 28 out 29 shots.

#3 The Los Angeles Kings defenseman Drew Doughty is going through more testing after sustaining a lower body injury in pre season action against the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday. Doughty hurt his leg when he was slammed against the boards by the Knights forward Tanner Pearson in the first period.

#4 Matvei Michkov the Philadelphia Flyers top prospect performed as expected getting an assist and scoring an empty net goals against the New York Islanders. Michkov 19, had his best game of the three pre season game on Thursday. So far Michkov has two goals and three assists.

#5 The Edmonton Oilers goalies going into camp last season that of Jack Campbell and Stuart Skinner battled for the starting job that was up for grabs. Campbell started opening night. Both Campbell and Stuart struggled that first month but later Stuart got on track and later became on of the NHL’s top five starting goaltenders. This season Stuart is the clear starting goaltender and that’s partly awarded after Stuart and Oilers had a successful post season.

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