Tag: James Reimer

Sharks Lose 2-1 to Hurricanes; Sharks drop fourth game out of last five

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Carolina Hurricanes’ Seth Jarvis (24) attempts to poke the puck past San Jose Sharks goaltender James Reimer (47) with Sharks’ Jaycob Megna (24) and Brent Burns (88) at PNC in Carolina on Sun Jan 30, 2022 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks fell 2-1 in a nailbiter against the Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday. Vincent Trocheck and Andrei Svechnikov scored for Carolina. Frederik Andersen made 27 saves for the win. Rudolfs Balcers scored for the Sharks and James Reimer made 27 saves in the loss.

Both teams were playing back-to-back games, though the Sharks had to travel as well. The Sharks were also asking their goaltender to play back-to-back games, as Adin Hill is out with an injury. This put added pressure on the Sharks defense. Of their performance, Sharks Head Coach Bob Boughner said: “I thought all our D had a decent game back there. I think, you know, we were more physical tonight. We could’ve had better puck movement back there but they’re a pinching team hard all over the ice and that doesn’t give you a lot of options coming around that net.”

Of playing back-to-back games, Sharks goaltender James Reimer said: “Obviously, playing back-to-back is tough with travel and a short schedule. But that’s why you train all summer, so you can be ready for this and the training staff did a great job doing what they could to put humpty dumpty back together again and get ready to play tonight.”

The Sharks will face the Tampa Bay Lightning next, the team that beat them 7-1 in the game before this road trip started. It will be the Sharks’ last game before the All-Star break. Of the upcoming match, Sharks forward Andrew Cogliano said:

“I think we owe it to ourselves to finish this road trip the right way. We played hard, [Reimer] played back to back games, you don’t see that often. We got two of our best defensemen out, guys that played very hard back there and come in, you know, special teams has been good. I think we’re just at a point where you got to lay it on the line in terms of playing our best game against a really good team and then the break will be good for our team I think.”

The game against the Hurricanes was the opposite of Saturday’s high-scoring meet in Florida. The goals came few and far between Sunday.

Vincent Trocheck gave Carolina the early lead with a goal at 4:36 of the first period. Skating into the zone 1-on-3, Trocheck took the shot from just inside the blue line and beat Reimer on the glove side. Assists went to Ian Cole and Ethan Bear.

The Sharks held a slight lead in shots during the first period, 11-9. In the second, however, Carolina outshot San Jose badly, 11-4. The Sharks power play had one shot on goal, and their penalty kill gave up one shot and had two short-handed shots. In the face-off circle, Carolina prevailed through the first two periods, winning 52% in the first and 74% in the second.

Rudolfs Balcers tied the game at 3:36 of the third period. Balcers was skating across in front of the net when Nicolas Meloche took a shot from the point. The puck went off of Jonathan Dahlen and right to Balcers for the shot. Assists went to Dahlen and Meloche.

Andrei Svechnikov scored the game winner at 16:16 of the third. Brett Pesce took a shot from the blue line that went into a snarl of traffic right in front of the net. When the puck bounced back out, Svechnikov was the only one who could get to it. Assists went to Pesce and Sebastian Aho.

The Sharks made a good push in the third, out-shooting Carolina 13-9 and improving in the face-off circle to 52%.

Mario Ferraro missed Sunday’s game due to a mouth injury sustained in Saturday’s tilt against the Panthers.

The Sharks will play in Tampa Bay against the Lightning on Tuesday at 4:00 PM PT.

Sharks Fall to Panthers 5-4 in OT

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Florida Panthers center Sam Bennett (9) puts the game winning puck on net in overtime to beat the San Jose Sharks goaltender James Reimer (47) at FLA Live Arena in Sunrise on Sat Jan 29, 2022 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks fell 5-4 in overtime to the Panthers in Florida on Saturday. Gustav Forsling, Alexander Barkov, Mason Marchment, Jonathan Huberdeau and Sam Bennett scored for the Panthers. Sergei Bbrovsky made 30 saves for the win. Matt Nieto and Tomas Hertl scored for San Jose and Jonathan Dahlen scored two power play goals. James Reimer made 45 saves in the loss.

After the game, Sharks Head Coach talked about the loss to one of the league’s top teams:

“I’m proud of our guys, I thought we battled hard. We had ourselves in position to get two points. You could tell we got tired as the game went on. When we lost Mario it was tough on our D. You know, we made some mistakes, we also had a couple good chances. I mean, Bobrovsky made a great save on Bonino.”

Early in the game, Sharks defensman Mario Ferraro left the game after taking a puck to the face. Boughner had some information about the injury after the game:

“It looked pretty serious to me. I know that he’s getting evaluated by dentists. And they’re trying to figure out what the next step is here so that’ll be really all we have tonight. We’ll know more in the morning but, yeah that’s obviously a big injury if it’s anything long term.”

Rudolfs Balcers also left the ice with an injury but returned before the game ended.

Tomas Hertl scored 6:10 into the first period. After passing the puck to Rudolfs Balcers below the goal line, Hertl made his way to the net. Balcers got the puck back to him so he could tuck it past Bobrovsky by the post.

Jonathan Dahlen made it 2-0 with a power play goal at 17:17. Noah Gregor made a quick back-hand pass around Jonathan Huberdeau to get the puck to Dahlen at the blue line. Dahlen took a quick shot right down the middle through traffic. Assists went to Gregor and Nick Bonino.

Gustav Forsling made it 2-1 at 19:06 of the period. Forsling took the shot from just above the hash marks. The puck went through traffic and past Reimer on the blocker side. Assists went to Sam Reinhart and Mason Marchment.

Matt Nieto scored the only goal in the second period just 1:31 in. Nieto caught up with the puck along the boards and then sent it across the ice to Nick Bonino. The pass missed Bonino but Marc-Edouard Vlasic was there to clean it up and send it back to Bonino. While that was going on, Nieto made his way to the net in time to catch the pass from Bonino for the shot.

Alexander Barkov scored at 1:26 of the third. Jonathan Huberdeau passed the puck to him inside the face-off circle. Barkov leaned around Radim Simek for the shot and scored his 20th of the season. Assists went to Huberdeau and Carter Verhaeghe.

Jonathan Dahlen scored his second of the night at 4:40. This time, he took the shot from the right face-off dot, again through traffic with a nice screen from Jasper Weatherby. Assists went to Brent Burns and Nick Bonino.

At 5:31, the Panthers got the puck in the net but the goal was called back for offside.

Mason Marchment brought Florida within one at 7:30. With the puck trapped behind Reimer and the post, Sam Reinhart poked at it until it came loose and Marchment nudged it in over the line. It was Marchment’s sixth of the season.

Jonathan Huberdeau tied the game at 9:38. From a prime shooting position, Verhaeghe made a pass that went under Brent Burns to reach Huberdeau on the other side of the slot. With all the attention on Verhaeghe, Huberdeau had an open net to shoot at. Assists went to Verhaeghe and Mackenzie Weegar.

Sam Bennett scored the game-winner 1:08 into overtime. Huberdeau held the puck behind the net for quite a while until Bennett was available to receive the pass and take the shot. Assists went to Huberdeau and Forsling.

The Sharks won the face-off battle in two of three periods, and finished with 51% of the wins. Their power play got three shots on goal and scored on both power plays. Their penalty kill allowed four shots and had one shot short-handed. They held their own on the shot clock in the first period, which ended 17-16 Panthers. But, in the second and third periods, they were out-shot 20-10 and 12-8. The Panthers had the only shot in overtime.

Joe Thornton had two shots on goal in 11:41 TOI for the Panthers.

The Sharks next play on Sunday in Carolina against the Hurricanes at 2:00 PM PT.

Sharks Beat Capitals 4-1, Meloche Scores GWG

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San Jose Sharks defenseman Nicolas Meloche, center, celebrates his goal against the Washington Capitals with teammates Matt Nieto, left, and Andrew Cogliano at the Capital One Arena in DC on Wed Jan 26, 2022 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks (22-19-2) defeated the Washington Capitals (23-12-9) 4-1 Wednesday in Washington DC. Noah Gregor, Nicolas Meloche, Jonathan Dahlen and Andrew Cogliano scored for the Sharks. James Reimer made 32 saves for the win. Daniel Sprong scored for Washington and Ilya Samsonov made 26 saves in the loss.

Odds were long that any team would beat the Capitals on Wednesday. It was their first back to back regulation loss of the season. The Sharks, on the other hand, had something to prove after a 7-1 loss against Tampa Bay last Saturday. Of Wednesday’s game, Sharks Head Coach Bob Boughner said:

“It was definitely a response game. You saw the things that we didn’t do against Tampa, the desperation, the urgency, some depth scoring, the blocking of the shots, sacrificing for each other. I think that was what we stressed the last couple of days, it was about showing up, responding and picking ourselves off the floor.”

The Sharks will be without defenseman Erik Karlsson until mid-March and it does not seem that reinforcements are on the way. Nikolai Knyzhov and Jacob Middleton are both still out with injuries.

One player who will get more responsibility in light of those absences is Nicolas Meloche. Of his performance Wednesday, Boughner said: “I really liked him down in the trenches, I thought he was big and heavy, I thought he was physical, he won a lot of battles, made some good plays on some exits. So, that’s what we need from Mel every night.”

Noah Gregor scored the first goal of the game at 7:41 of the first. Tomas Hertl carried the puck up to the point before passing it back to Burns, who was in the face-off circle. Burns spun and passed it across the slot to Gregor, who was lurking near the far corner of the net to put the puck over the line. It was Gregor’s second of the season.

The Sharks outshot the Capitals 14-8 in the first period, but won only 48% of the face-offs.

Nicolas Meloche made it 2-0 Sharks at 3:58 of the second. Matt Nieto gathered up a turnover at the Capitals blue line and raced into the zone with Andrew Cogliano. Nieto made a pass to a trailing Meloche, who took a quick shot from the slot to score his first NHL goal.

The Capitals led in shots 11-7 for the second period, and their power play got three shots on goal in two tries. The Sharks also had a power play but the Washington penalty kill prevented any shots against and got one short-handed shot to boot. In the face-off circle, the Sharks improved drastically to 79%.

Daniel Sprong scored for Washington 14 seconds into the third period. The puck went off of the linesman’s leg in a face-off in the Sharks’ zone. Nicklas Backstrom got to it first and sent it up to Sprong aboce the face-off circle. Sprong’s shot went through a line of traffic and in.

The Sharks took a delay of game penalty at 13:19. Logan Couture was trying to clear the puck out and he hit Brent Burns and the puck went out of play. Matt Nieto had a nice breakaway chance during the ensuing penalty kill but Samsonov stopped it. Apart from that, the Sharks could not clear the puck until the final 20 seconds of the kill, but they did kill it. Washington got four shots during the power play.

Sortly after that, Timo Meier and Alexander Ovechkin went hard at the Washington net and Ovechkin fell into Samsonov. Samsonov was down for bit but stayed in the game.

With 3:09 left in the game, Jonathan Dahlen made it 3-1 for the Sharks. Dahlen carried the puck into the zone and then pulled up to wait while Nick Bonino got to the net for a fly-by screen. As Bonino passed in front of the goalie, Dahlen’s shot skipped over Samsonov’s pad. It was Dahlen’s first goal in fifteen games. Timo Meier got the assist.

Andrew Cogliano made it 4-1 with an empty net goal at 19:39. Logan Couture got the assist.

Garnet Hathaway and Jonah Gadjovich fought to a draw after the final horn.

The Sharks blocked 23 shots in Wednesday’s game. They were barely out-shot by the Capitals 33-30. The Sharks won 54% of the face-offs.

The Sharks next play on Saturday in Florida against the Panthers at 3:00 PM PT.

Meier Scores 5, Sharks Beat Kings 6-2; It’s Timo Time all the time

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San Jose Sharks right wing Timo Meier (28) raises the puck high, Meier scored five goals against the Los Angeles Kings on Martin Luther King Day at SAP Center in San Jose on Mon Jan 17, 2022 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

SAN JOSE– Timo Meier scored five goals in the San Jose Sharks (21-17-2) 6-2 win over the Los Angeles Kings (20-14-5) Monday afternoon. It was the first time in Sharks history that a Shark scored that many in one game. Rudolfs Balcers also scored, for the second game in a row. James Reimer made 39 saves for the win. Anze Kopitar and Mikey Anderson scored for the Kings and Jonathan Quick made 11 saves in the loss.

Apart from Meier’s stunning play Monday, the game also saw the Sharks’ struggling power play score twice, Tomas Hertl earn four assists and Erik Karlsson get three, including his 500th.

After the game, Sharks Head Coach talked about the game:

“I’m very happy and proud for Timo, I think he’s put a lot of hard work in. For our team, a team that hasn’t scored a lot and has played well of late and hasn’t gotten quite the results that I think we deserve, it was nice to see, as a team, one of our big guys go off like that.”

Timo Meier scored his first of the afternoon at 3:02 on the power play. From just inside the left face-off dot, Meier caught a cross-ice pass from Brent Burns and whipped into the net on the short side. Assists went to Burns and Erik Karlsson.

Rudolfs Balcers made it 2-0 at 15:56 of the first. Balcers sent the puck out of his zone to Hertl in the neutral zone. Hertl carried the puck along the blue line before shooting it right down the slot. Balcers caught it with the back of his stick and then shot it past Quick on the glove side.

Meier scored his second at 18:48, unassisted. While he skated across in front of the blue paint, the puck went off of his skate. He spun and gathered it up for a quick roofer.

He completed the hat trick 21 seconds later. Hertl dug the puck out of the corner and got it to Meier in a nice shooting spot. Meier’s shot did not go in but he moved to the other side of the net and cleaned up a rebound. Hertl got the assist.

The busy final minute was not over, as Anze Kopitar scored for Los Angeles with just 16 seconds left in the period. Kopitar took advantage of a turnover at the blue line and then charged into the zone for a shot from outside the face-off dot.

Meier started working a second hatty to start the second period, with another power play goal at 1:24. He caught a cross-ice pass from Erik Karlsson just outside the face-off dot and scored with a quick wrist shot. Assists went to Karlsson and Hertl.

Meier scored his fifth goal at 19:32 of the second. He caught a cross-ice pass from Hertl, brought the puck around a defender with a toe drag. He shot it past Quick’s glove, off the post and in. Assists went to Hertl and Karlsson.

Mikey Anderson scored the only third period goal to make it 6-2. Drew Doughty centered the puck from low in the zone and Anderson tipped it in. Assists went to Doughty and Viktor Arvidsson.

The Kings out-shot the Sharks 41-17 in the game. The Sharks had three power plays, scored on two of them with two shots. The Sharks’ penalty kill allowed four shots through three penalties. In the face-off circle, the Kings prevailed with 53% of the draws.

The Sharks next play in Seattle against the Kraken on Thursday at 7:00 PM PT.

Sharks Fall to Red Wings 6-2

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San Jose Sharks defenseman Brent Burns (88) and Detroit Red Wings center Robby Fabbri (14) scramble for the puck at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit on Tue Jan 4, 2022 (AP New photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks (17-16-1) fell 6-2 to the Red Wings (16-15-3) in Detroit on Tuesday. Pius Suter (2), Tyler Bertuzzi (2), Dylan Larkin, and Robby Fabbri scored for Detroit. Alex Nedeljkovic made 24 saves for the win. Jasper Weatherby and Alexander Barabanov scored for San Jose. James Reimer made 20 saves on 24 shots in the first two periods, and Adin Hill made 5 saves on 7 shots in the third.

The Sharks have given up six or more goals in three of their last four games. In two of those, they scored five or more goals, but the Sharks’ defensive game is struggling. After the game, Brent Burns talked about the power play and the game in general: “It’s just gotta be better. At the end of the day you’ve gotta figure it out, put the next guy in a good spot, you gotta start executing, doing things on the same page. Obviously it’s not good enough.”

Logan Couture and Lane Pederson on the COVID-19 list, and Marc-Edouard Vlasic out as a healthy scratch, the Sharks were short-handed even before they lost Jacob Middleton to injury in the first period. Sharks Head Coach Bob Boughner talked about the absence of key players and how it may be undermining the team’s confidence:

“You worry about team confidence. That’s what we need to get back here. You know, I think losing [Couture], and not having Mario [Ferraro], and having [Rudolfs Balcers] out for a while, we’re thin, we’re a little bit thin. Some teams can miss three or four players and they don’t miss a beat. And they’re better teams in the league, they’re elite teams. We’re not and that means we’ve got to come together and play a little smarter and a little harder.”

At 13:02 of the first, Tyler Bertuzzi threw the puck to the net from below the goal line. It went off of James Reimer’s stick and into the net. Assists went to Gustav Lindstrom and Dylan Larkin.

Late in the period, Red Wings forward Givani Smith received a five minute major and a game misconduct for boarding Sharks defenseman Jacob Middleton. Middleton left the ice and did not return to the game.

The Sharks started the second period with more than three minutes left on the power play. Instead of scoring, they gave up two short-handed goals. Prior to the game, the Red Wings had gone 100 games without a short-handed goal.

Pius Suter scored the first, after breaking away while Alexander Barabanov tried to chase him down from the other side of the ice.

Tyler Bertuzzi scored his second of the game less than 40 seconds later, also short-handed. This time, the Red Wings left the Sharks power play behind with a two-on-one. Assists went to Carter Rowney and Moritz Seider.

Jasper Weatherby got one back at 4:03. Weatherby deflected a Brent Burns shot while cutting through in front of the net. Assists went to Burns and Jeffrey Viel.

Pius Suter scored his second of the game at 9:32. Michael Rasmussen set him up with a back hand from the goal line and Suter’s quick shot beat Reimer on the glove side. Assists went to Rasmussen and Nick Leddy.

The Sharks put Adin Hill in net to start the third period.

Alexander Barabanov had a Tomas Hertl shot go off of his skate at 1:40 of the third, for his sixth goal of the season.

A couple of minutes later, Dylan Larkin skated around the Sharks defense and shot the puck past Adin Hill for his 16th goal of the season. Assists went to Lucas Raymond and Gustav Lindstrom.

Robby Fabbri scored his ninth of the season at 5:01. He picked off a Brent Burns pass and shot it right into the far side of the net.

Midway through the third, a scrum erupted in front of the Detroit net, ending with two more game misconducts, one to Jeffrey Viel and one to Tyler Bertuzzi. They also received roughing minors, creating two minutes of four-on-four.

The Sharks were out-shot by the Red Wings 31-26. The Sharks prevailed in the face-off circle, winning 52% of the draws. It was Burns’ 631st consecutive game.

The Sharks’ next game will be Thursday in Buffalo against the Sabres at 4:00 PM PT.

Sharks Finish 2021 With a 3-2 OT Win Over Flyers

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San Jose Sharks center Tomas Hertl (48) scores an overtime goal on Philadelphia Flyers goaltender Felix Sandstrom (32) at SAP Center in San Jose on Thu Dec 30, 2021 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

SAN JOSE– The San Jose Sharks defeated the Philadelphia Flyers 3-2 in overtime on Thursday. Logan Couture, Brent Burns and Tomas Hertl scored for the Sharks and James Reimer made 23 saves for the win. Morgan Frost and Joel Farabee scored for the Flyers and Felix Sandstrom made 43 saves in the loss.

After the game, Sharks Head Coach Bob Boughner said:

“I thought we played a complete 60 minutes. You know, no game is without mistakes, both teams made ’em. But I thought we played to our game plan, to our mentality, we grinded it out. Would have been nice if we found a little more puck luck earlier in the game.”

James Reimer took a moment to mention the opposing goaltender, Felix Sandstrom:

“Honestly, we should probably spend 30 seconds to a minute talking about their goalie. Hats off to him. I think that was his first start and a really tough situation for him. I think they got in pretty late last night. And obviously their team didn’t have their legs tonight. So, you know, hats off to him. He played great and he should be proud of his first game.”

(The Flyers did not arrive until 4:30 am)

The Sharks out-shot the Flyers 12-7 in the first period, but failed to score, even with two power plays. Instead, Morgan Frost got the Flyers on the board at 15:23. Travis Konecny raced through the neutral zone with the puck before dropping it to Oskar Lindblom on the outside. Lindblom gave it right back and Konecny centered if for Frost.

Logan Couture tied the game with a short-handed goal at 5:20 of the second period. Couture chased the puck down in the neutral zone after Cogliano got it out. Couture then pushed the puck past Keith Yandle for a self pass and made a dash for the net. It was his 11th of the season. Assists went to Cogliano and Jacob Middleton.

Brent Burns gave the Sharks the lead at 7:20. Tomas Hertl carried the puck into the zone, then spun around and made a pass to Brent Burns, who making a beeline for the net. Assists went to Hertl and Middleton.

The Sharks out-shot the Flyers 16-9 in the second period. Their power play had two chances but no shots. Their penalty kill allowed one shot and took three in two kills.

Midway through the third period, the Sharks had to kill a 5-on-3, with Brent Burns and Timo Meier in the box. Their penalty kill allowed just two shots. San Jose followed that up by stretching out a delayed penalty for 45 seconds with a line change thrown in. In all, the Sharks out-shot the Flyers 16-7 in the third. Still, the Flyers scored.

Joel Farabee took a pass from Oskar Lindblom and took a shot from the top of the face-off circle. His shot got by Middleton’s stick and Reimer’s blocker to tie the game. Assists went to Lindblom and Yandle.

Tomas Hertl ended it in the final 30 seconds of overtime. Erik Karlsson carried the puck in with Hertl 2-on-1 against Travis Sanheim. Karlsson centered the puck at the last second. Hertl’s first shot did not go but he knocked the rebound in.

The Sharks only won 46% of the face-offs but they out-shot the Flyers 46-25.

The Sharks next play on Sunday against the Penguins in Pittsburgh at 10:00 AM PT. The Sharks added defenseman Mario Ferraro to their COVID-19 protocol list Thursday, and removed forward Jonathan Dahlen.

Sharks Fall 3-1 to Kraken; Seattle strikes with 3 goals in third period

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Seattle Kraken center Jared McCann (16) puts one on goal against San Jose Sharks goaltender James Reimer (47) in the second period at SAP Center in San Jose on Tue Dec 14, 2021 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

SAN JOSE– In their first ever matchup, the San Jose Sharks fell 3-1 to the Seattle Kraken. Ryan Donato, Brandon Tanev and Calle Jarnkrok scored for Seattle and Chris Driedger made 33 saves for the win. Logan Couture scored for San Jose and James Reimer made 27 saves in the loss.

After the game, Sharks Head Coach Bob Boughner said:

“Any time you’re not scoring a goal until you pull the goalie it’s going to be a tough way to win a hockey game and you almost gotta play perfect on the other side of the puck. And, you know, I didn’t think we played bad defensively but I think we opened it up, down 1-0, gave them a few chances.”

Sharks forward Timo Meier, who had five shots in the game, said: “Obviously, frustrating to lose this game. You know, we were right there the whole game. Had a tough time to score some goals. Their goalie made some big saves. I thought we didn’t do enough in the offensive zone, we didn’t work hard enough to get that bounce and score that goal earlier.”

The first two periods were scoreless. Seattle outshot San Jose 11-8 in the first, while San Jose outshot Seattle 12-7 in the second. There was a single penalty in the game, to Seattle in the second period. The Sharks power play got two shots on goal.

Ryan Donato scored the first goal of the game at 6:23 of the third. Joonas Donskoi took a shot that Reimer stopped but Donato was on the doorstep to gather up the rebound. The puck went off of Radim Simek’s skate and into the net. Assists went to Donskoi and Carson Soucy.

Brandon Tanev made it 2-0 at 14:18. Morgan Geekie caught a pass from Calle Jarnkrok in the neautral zone and carried it to the Sharks net. He got a pass around Brent Burns, setting Tanev up for the shot. Assists went to Geekie and Calle Jarnkrok.

Logan Couture scored with the Sharks net empty at 17:53. Brent Burns took a shot through traffic and the puck went off of a defenseman. It bounced right to Couture in the face-off circle. Couture put the puck into an open net. Assists went to Burns and Tomas Hertl.

Calle Jarnkrok scored into the empty net with six seconds left. Mason Appleton and Alex Wennberg got the assists.

The final shot count was 34-30 Sharks. In the face-off circle, the Sharks edged the Kraken, winning 51% of the draws,

The Sharks next play on Thursday, against the Vancouver Canucks in San Jose at 7:30 PM PT.

Sharks Beat Stars 2-1, Reimer Returns, Hertl scores

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San Jose Sharks center Tomas Hertl (48) scores on Dallas Stars right wing Alexander Radulov (47) and goaltender Braden Holtby (70) at SAP Center in San Jose on Sat Dec 11, 2021 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

SAN JOSE– Tomas Hertl and Erik Karlsson scored for San Jose. That goal tied Karlsson for third in the NHL among defensemen. James Reimer made 34 saves for the win. Michael Raffl scored for Dallas and Braden Holtby made 23 saves in the loss.

The Stars’ power play is ranked fourth in the NHL right now, so it was a good sign for the Sharks that their penalty kill was perfect Saturday. After the game, Sharks Head Coach Bob Boughner said:

“Our penalty kill has been sort of our backbone all year and we take a lot of pride in that. It was nice to respond. This is a good power play here in Dallas. I thought we did a really good job of coming up with sort of a game plan to nullify that shot Klingberg has at the top.”

Tomas Hertl deflected Timo Meier’s shot to start the scoring at 8:30. Meier spun on the face-off dot before taking the shot. The puck ramped off of Hertl’s stick and went off the top bar and in. Assists went to Timo Meier and Alexander Barabanov. That was Hertl’s 14th goal of the season, and he has now scored in four games in a row.

The Sharks took two penalties in the first period, and allowed five shots to the Dallas power play. The Stars out-shot the Sharks 14-6, and beat them in the face-off circle 61% of the time.

Erik Karlsson scored with a hard shot from the blue line at 16:28. The Stars challenged it for goaltender interference as Tomas Hertl was in the blue paint behind Braden Holtby. Dallas defenseman Esa Lindell helped Hertl get into that spot. Assists went to Timo Meier and Alexander Barabanov. That was Karlsson’s eighth of the season.

The goal held up and the Sharks earned a power play from the failed challenge. The Stars killed the penalty, spending much of the penalty time in the Sharks zone.

The Sharks took one penalty in the second period and gave up two shots to the Stars power play. The Stars took two penalties. The Dallas penalty kill gave up one shot to the Sharks power play, and got one short-handed shot on goal. The second period shot count was 11-10 Sharks, and in the face-off circle, 54% to the Stars.

Michael Raffl cut the lead in half by deflecting Radek Faksa’s shot over James Reimer at 8:26 of the third period. Assists went to Faksa and Jani Hakanpaa. It was Raffl’s third goal of the season.

At the time the goal was scored, the shot count was 6-2 Dallas. After the goal, the Sharks reasserted themselves on offense and balanced out the shot disparity. Noah Gregor and Jonathan Dahlen in particular had some good shifts in the o-zone. The final shot count was 35-25 Stars, with the face-off wins also going to Dallas at 53%.

Kevin Labanc was injured on his first shift of the game and did not return. After the game, Boughner had no specific updates on Labanc’s condition but he said it was some type of upper body injury.

Timo Meier had two assists in the game but he is still chasing his 100th NHL goal.

The Sharks next play on Tuesday at 7:30 PM PT. They will host the Seattle Kraken for their first meeting ever.

Sharks Shutout Blackhawks 2-0; Reimer makes 29 stops for SJ

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San Jose Sharks goaltender James Reimer (47) makes one of his 29 saves this one against Chicago Blackhawks center Kirby Dach (72) during the first period at the United Center in Chicago on Sun Nov 28, 2021 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks defeated the Blackhawks 2-0 Sunday in Chicago. Timo Meier scored both Sharks goals and James Reimer made 29 saves for his 25th career shut out. Chicago’s Marc-Andre Fleury made 20 saves in the loss.

After the game, Sharks Head Coach reflected on James Reimer’s shut out performance: “The double rebound in front, I mean that’s when you know you’re in the zone. When you make the save and it’s basically an open net and you find a way to stab your glove out and save another one.”

The Sharks needed that performance, especially in the first period, when the Blackhawks outshot the Sharks 11-4. Boughner said:

“I wasn’t happy about the way we were playing in our defensive zone. I thought that we weren’t collapsing, I thought we weren’t protecting the house, we weren’t stopping our feet, we were losing all kinds of battles. So we talked about that in between the first and second.”

Sharks defenseman Mario Ferraro also talked about how well Reimer has been playing for the Sharks:

“His shut out should have came a lot earlier. So he’s been playing great for us, he’s the reason we why we have a lot of the wins that we do. Him and [Hill], they’ve stepped up big. So, super proud of him, we’re super happy for him, he was especially big in the first period when we weren’t playing very strong.”

The first period saw just one power play, for the Sharks. The Sharks had one shot in that power play. In the face-off circle, the Sharks won 62%.

Timo Meier scored his first at 13:39 of the second period. Logan Couture’s pass got to Rudolfs Balcers deep in the slot. Balcers took a shot and it went off of Meier’s stick before going in. Assists went to Balcers and Couture.

The Sharks outshot the Blackhawks 15-9 in the second, and won 65% of the face-offs. The Sharks took the only penalty of the period, for too many men on the ice. Their penalty kill allowed two shots.

Meier scored his second from the middle of the neutral zone, into an empty net, at 18:29 of the third. Logan Couture got the assist.

The Blackhawks outshot the Sharks 9-3 in the third period. The Sharks took the only penalty in third period. Their penalty kill did not allow any shots. The face-off circle saw a big drop off for the Sharks in the third. They won just 35% of the draws.

The Sharks are scheduled to play on Tuesday against the Devils in New Jersey at 4:00 PM PT.

Sunday, the Sharks placed Evander Kane on waivers for the purpose of assigning him to the AHL Barracuda. .

Sharks Beat Senators 6-3; San Jose scores 3 unanswered goals in 3rd period

Published on by M WalshLeave a comment

Timo Time the San Jose Sharks Timo Meier is exalted after scoring a third period goal against the Ottawa Senators at SAP Center in San Jose on Wed Nov 24, 2021 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

SAN JOSE- The San Jose Sharks (10-8-1) won 6-3 against the Ottawa Senators (4-12-1) in San Jose on Wednesday. Matt Nieto, Tomas Hertl, Nick Bonino, Timo Meier, Logan Couture and Jacob Middleton all scored for San Jose. James Reimer made 26 saves for the win. Josh Norris, Brady Tkachuk and Connor Brown scored for the Senators and Matt Murray made 23 saves in the loss.

It was Jacob Middleton’s first NHL goal and Timo Meier had three points in the game. Nick Bonino scored his first point of the season in 700th NHL game.

The Sharks scored first but the Senators fought back to take the lead in the second period. The Sharks had a 3-0 third period to close it out. After the game, Sharks Head Coach Bob Boughner said:

“I was happy with the way we stuck with it. I think it could have went the other way on us real quickly. I didn’t like our first period at all. I thought we were playing an urgent team that was looking to get back on track and we knew they would come out hard. They won more battles than us and they were more hungry in the first period.”

The game started with and early fight, between Auston Watson and Jacob Middleton, before Matt Nieto gave the Sharks a lead at 7:16 of the first period. Nieto, Labanc and Weatherby broke into the zone three-on-two, with Nieto carrying the puck. With Weatherby driving the net, Nieto opted to take the shot and got it through on the far side. Assists went to Kevin Labanc and Erik Karlsson. It was Nieto’s first goal of the season.

Ottawa tied the game at 13:38 with a goal from Josh Norris. Assists went to Brady Tkachuk and Lassi Thomson. The goal was Norris’ eighth of the season.

The shots for the period were close, 12-11 Ottawa. Ottawa was better in the face-off circle, winning 60% of the draws. The Sharks power play had four shots on goal.

Tomas Hertl gave the Sharks the lead again just 47 seconds into the second period. Hertl carried the puck from behind his own net all the way to the other ed of the ice, finishing with a wrist shot into the near side. Assists went to Timo Meier and Mario Ferraro. It was Hertl’s eighth of the season.

The Senators tied it again at 14:38, when Brady Tkachuk scored his fourth of the season. Thomas Chabot’s shot from the circle went off of Tkachuk in the blue paint. Assists went to Chabot and Artem Zub.

Connor Brown gave the Senators their first lead of the game 93 seconds later. The teams were playing four on four when Chabot’s pass found Brown in the slot. Reimer was moving across as if to follow a cross-ice pass and he couldn’t get back in time when the pass stopped short. Assists went to Chabot and Tim Stutzle.

Nick Bonino scored his first of the season to tie it back up at 19:29 on the power play. Logan Couture made a pass down to Timo Meier on the goal line and Meier tapped it back up to Bonino for a shot from the slot.

The shots were close in the second period as well, 13-10 Senators. The Sharks improved in the face-off circle to 60%. Ottawa had three power plays as seven shots on the power play. The Sharks had two power plays and on power play shot. They also had one short-handed shot.

Timo Meier scored his seventh of the season to take the lead back for the Sharks. He held the puck for a moment, high in the slot, before sending a hard wrister under a Senators defender and over the goalie’s glove. Assists went to Rudolfs Balcers and Marc-Edouard Vlasic.

Logan Couture scored his seventh, into an empty net at 18:56. Jacob Middleton scored his first NHL goal at 19:28, into an empty net. Assists went to Andrew Cogliano and Erik Karlsson.

The Sharks power play had no shots in the the third period, and their penalty kill gave up none. Most of the penalty time in the third were overlapping our matching penalties, but the Sharks did have one full power play. The Sharks outshot the Senators 7-4 in the third.

The Sharks next play on Friday against the Toronto Maples Leafs at 7:30 PM PT.