Sharks Lose 4-2 to Blackhawks, Penalty Kill Falters

San Jose Sharks goaltender Vitek Vanecek (41) puts the stop on a Chicago Blackhawks shot at the United Center on Thu Oct 17, 2024 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks fell 4-2 to the Chicago Blackhawks in the Blackhawks’ home opener Thursday. Taylor Hall, Tyler Bertuzzi, Nick Foligno and Jason Dickinson scored for Chicago. Petr Mrazek made 20 saves for the win. Tyler Toffoli and Fabian Zeterlund scored for San Jose and Vitek Vanecek made 23 saves in the loss.

In one of their more lopsided losses of the young season, the Sharks had a very slow start. In the first two periods, they were outshot 23-11 and took seven penalties, two of those overlapping. It is unsurprising, then, that the Sharks’ perfect penalty kill was broken as they gave up two powerplay goals.

After the game, Sharks forward Mikael Granlund talked about that start: “We were playing too slow with the puck, skating-wise. It’s tough to play when you’re just chasing the game, we were chasing the game the whole period. So we gotta be better at that and that cost us the game tonight.”

Sharks Head Coach Ryan Warsofsky said: “We didn’t do anything well. Got off to a slow start, hasn’t been us. Couldn’t defend in our own end, couldn’t close quick enough, couldn’t get the forecheck going. Didn’t do anything well.”

The Blackhawks’ first goal came from Taylor Hall at 4:20 of the first period. Hall caught a long pass from TJ Brodie and entered the Sharks’ zone with speed before scoring with a wrist shot.

Tyler Bertuzzi made it 2-0 at the end of the period, on the power play. Teuvo Teravainen sent the puck to the net frpm the wing and Bertuzzi tipped in from the slot. Assists went to Teravainen and Connor Bedard.

Nick Foligno made it 3-0 in the first minute of the second period, again on the power play. Bedard sent the puck across the ice to Teravainen, who sent it back to Foligno in front of the net for a redirect.

Tyler Toffoli got one back for the Sharks at 18:17 of the period. William Eklund carried the puck to the goal line before centering the puck for Toffoli. Assists went to Eklund and Mikael Granlund.

Jason Dickinson made it 4-1 at 2:19 of the third. Joey Anderson passed the puck behind the net to Dickinson, who swept it around the post and into the net before Vanacek could get across.

Fabian Zetterlund made it 4-2 at 2:52, deflected Mikael Granlund’s shot off of his lower body. Assists went to Granlund and Eklund.

The Sharks next play Friday at 5:00 PM PT in Winnipeg against the Jets.

Canucks Sink Sharks 5-2, Meier Scores 100th

Timo Meier (28) is congratulated by San Jose Sharks teammate Erik Karlsson (65) after scoring his 100th career goal in the first period at SAP Center in San Jose on Thu Dec 16, 2021 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

SAN JOSE– The San Jose Sharks fell 5-2 to the Vancouver Canucks Thursday. Bo Horvat, J.T. Miller, Jason Dickinson scored for Vancouver, and Brock Boeser scored twice. Thatcher Demko made 34 saves for the win. Timo Meier and Andrew Cogliano scored for San Jose and Adin Hill made 25 saves in the loss,

The win lifted the Canucks record to 6-0 since Bruce Boudreau took over as head coach. Meanwhile, the Sharks have just two wins in their last six outings. Tomas Hertl is on a 6 game point streak and Timo Meier’s goal was his 100th in the NHL.

Afte the game, Sharks Head Coach Bob Boughner shared his impression of his team’s performance:

“I thought that, you know, the way we played tonight, I felt good about our team. I felt good about the way we played but we just didn’t execute, like I said, we didn’t capitalize. I thought that, you know, we probably needed a save earlier that we didn’t get. And sometimes that’s demoralizing too, when you’re sitting on the bench thinking you’re carrying the play and you’re chasing the game.”

Sharks forward Andrew Cogliano said: “It seems like, you know, opportunities that they get are going in and we’re not fighting hard enough to score our goals. We just have to be more desperate. I think we’re in a situation now where we’ve given some games back in a race that there’s a lot of teams in. And our will to win needs to increase.”

Brock Boeser scored the first goal of the game at 12:41 of the first period. Tanner Pearson made a pass across the ice to Boeser, who took the shot from just above the hask marks.

Bo Horvat made it 2-0 with a power play goal at 16:23. J.T. Miller made a cross-ice pass to Horvat, who was just below the hash marks that Boeser scored from. Assists went to J.T. Miller and Quinn Hughes.

Timo Meier cut the Canucks lead in half with a goal at 17:22. An Erik Karlsson shot was blocked and bounced out to Meier in the face-off circle. His shot went through traffic and in. Assists went to Erik Karlsson and Tomas Hertl.

Brock Boeser made it 3-1 with his second of the game at 17:17 of the second period. J.T. Miller passed the puck up from below the goal line and found Boeser in the face-off circle. Boeser took the shot and the puck went off of Hill’s glove and before going into the net just under the bar. Assists went to Miller and Tanner Pearson.

Andrew Cogliano made it 3-2 at 8:29 of the third period. Cogliano chased down his own dump-in and took a shot from a bad angle that may have suprised Demko. Assists went to Lane Pederson and Brent Burns.

J.T Miller scored into an empty net at 17:32. Jason Dickinson scored into an empty net at 18:57. Assists went to Elias Petterson and Kyle Burroughs.

The Sharks out-shot the Canucks 34-30 in the game. In the third period, however, while the Sharks trailed, the Canucks out-shot the Sharks 15-11. The Canucks won 57% of the face-offs. The Sharks had one power play and it had two shots on goal. The Sharks penalty kill allowed three shots and one goal in three penalties.

Jayden Halbgewachs made his NHL debut with the Sharks Thursday. He took one penalty and had three shots on goal in 16:44 of ice time with the second line.

The Sharks will host the Vancouver Canucks again on Tuesday, at 7:30 PM PT.