Tag: Kyle Connor

NHL podcast with Len Shapiro: Celbrini back skating with Sharks; Barkov thrilled to be back in Finland for Global Series; plus more news

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St Louis Blues left wing Jake Neighbours (left) is in pursuit of the San Jose Sharks center Macklin Celebrini (71) during the first period at SAP Center on Oct 10, 2024. Celebrini has returned to practice skates and is preparing to get back into game action after suffering a lower body injury. (AP News photo)

On the NHL podcast with Len Shapiro:

#1 Len, the San Jose Sharks Macklin Celebrini is back on the ice skating with the Sharks and will be back for game action depending on his progress but from what the Sharks are saying he has made progress.

#2 Aleksander Barkov made a homecoming to his native Finland for the 2024 NHL Global Series Finland presented by Fastenal on Friday. Barkov looked at Tappara’s U12 team with young kids playing hockey saying “I was one of those kids maybe 20 years ago” Barkov is in Finland with the Florida Panthers to take on the Dallas Stars. Barkov said he was looing forward to playing in these games since March.

#3 The Winnipeg Jets Kyle Connor scored his 500th career point and is on a hot streak that he started this season. Connor had a goal and two assists against the Detroit Red Wings on Wednesday night in the Jets 6-2 win at Little Caesar’s Arena in Detroit.

#4 Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Frederik Andersen is out on a week to week basis after injuring his foot. Anderson was a scratch for Monday night against the Vancouver Canucks. So far this season Andersen is 3-1-0-0 with 1.48 goals against average.

#5 The Edmonton Oilers Connor McDavid will be out from two to three weeks due to a ankle injury. McDavid played on Monday night against the Columbus Blue Jackets on the opening face off and 37 seconds into the opening period McDavid was tripped up by Blue Jackets defenseman Zack Werenski trying to enter the offensive zone and fell into the right boards.

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

Sharks Defeated 8-3 by Jets, Take a Big Step Back, Loss is Fifth Straight

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The Winnipeg Jets Gabriel Valardi (13) and Nikolaj Ehlers (27) celebrate Ehler’s goal as the San Jose Sharks Mikael Granlund (64) skates by in first period action at Canada Life Centre in Winnipeg on Fri Oct 18, 2024 (Canadian Press photo via AP)

By Mary Walsh

The Sharks fell 8-3 to the Winnipeg Jets on Friday. Josh Morrissey, Nikolaj Ehlers, Neal Pionk, Kyle Connor, Cole Perfetti and Vladislav Namestnikov scored for the Jets, with two goals each from Ehlers and Perfetti. Connor Hellebuyck made 19 saves for the win. Tykler Toffoli, Luke Kunin and Fabian Zeterlund scored for the Sharks.MacKenzie Blackwood made 13 saves on 18 shots before being replaced by Vitek Vanacek, who made 15 saves on 18 shots.

After the game, Sharks forward Nico Sturm said:

“The truth is, we did take a big step back these last two games. I thought we looked really really good the first three games of the season. I thought we looked really good in Dallas, on the road against a Stanley Cup contender. And then we took two massive steps back these last two nights. It felt a lot like last year, these last two games.”

Josh Morrissey opened the scoring for the Jets at 1:59. Nikolaj Ehlers carried the puck in to the goal line before passing it back to Colin Miller at the point. Miller passed it along the blue line to Morrissey for a long shot into the far corner of the net.

Ehlers scored the next one for the Jets at 9:25. Mark Scheifele passed the puck to Gabriel Vilardi at the net. Instead of trying for the shot, Vilardi sent the puck back out to Ehlers in the faceoff circle. Ehlers did take the shot.

Tyler Toffoli made it 2-1 with a power play goal at 11:43, tipping a shot from Jake Walman at the point. Mikael Granlund also got an assist.

Ehlers scored his second of the game at 13:31. Cole Perfetti took the puck away from the Sharks in the neutral zone and passed it to Ehlers, who skated into the Sharks zone and scored.

Neal Pionk made it 4-1 at 18:48 with a wrist shot from the point. Assists went to Ales Iafallo and Vladislav Namestnikov.

At the end of the first period, the Sharks had been outscored 4-1 and outshot 15-8. They also took three penalties, two of which overlapped for some five on three time and the third was a too many men penalty. Altogether not a good period for the Sharks, but they did score a power play goal.

Kyle Connor made it 5-1 with a wrist shot from the slot less than two minutes into the second period. Assists went to Pionk and Valardi.

The Sharks changed goaltenders after that goal.

Luke Kunin scored to cut the Jets’ lead to 5-2. Cody Ceci took a shot from the point but it went off of Iafallo. Carl Grundstrom gathered it back up and passed it back to Kunin in the slot.

At the end of the second period, the Sharks had again been outshot 14-8, but were not outscored in the period.

Cole Perfetti made it 6-2 with a power play goal at 9:50 of the third period. Iafallo carried the puck almost to the net before passing it back to Perfetti in the slot for the shot. An assist also went to Namestnikov.

Fabian Zetterlund showed some push back with a goal less than 20 seconds later. Toffoli carried the puck in two-on-one with Zetterlund and made a late pass to set up the shot. An assist also went to Granlund.

Perfetti scored his second of the night, another power play goal at 12:55. Pionk and Namestnikov assisted. Namestnikov scored with a wrist shot in the final minute to make it 8-3. Pionk and Perfetti got the assists.

The final shot count was 36-22 Jets.

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

NHL podcast with Len Shapiro: Jets lose Connor for next 6-8 weeks with lower body injury; Blues fire Berube, Bannister named as interim coach; plus more NHL news

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Winnipeg Jets forward Kyle Connor is helped off the ice after injuring his knee against the Anaheim Ducks on Sun Dec 3, 2023 at the Honda Center in Anaheim (photo grab from nhl.com)

On the NHL podcast with Len:

#1 Kyle Connor the forward for the Winnipeg Jets who was placed on the injured reserve list on Wednesday due to a knee injury he sustained in collision with the Anaheim Ducks forward Ryan Strome on Sunday. The Jets won the contest 4-2 and was without Connor on Tuesday night in San Jose Connor’s first game out in a 2-1 loss. Connor is expected out for the next 6-8 weeks.

#2 The St Louis Blues fired head coach Craig Berube on Tuesday and was replaced by interim coach Drew Bannister. Bannister will be behind the bench in his Blues head coaching debut on Thursday night when the Blues host the Ottawa Senators at Enterprise Arena in St Louis. Berube had lost his fourth straight game on Tuesday night to the Detroit Red Wings 6-4. The Blues are sixth in the NHL Central and 26th in goals per game (2.82).

#3 NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman appeared on ESPN and took questions from fans one who asked about the Washington Capitals moving to Alexander Virginia. Bettman said that no NHL teams are moving but the Alexander move which would be four miles from where the Caps play now would present a new technology experience “that could very special.” Also Bettman was asked about expansion and mentioned  “Atlanta, Quebec City, Houston, Salt Lake City,” however Bettman said things are working just fine with the 32 teams that the NHL has right now. It would be a Board of Governors decision down the road.

#4 Forbes came out with 2023 evaluations of the teams and the league could get giant money to get an expansion franchise and the Phoenix Coyotes are looking to get a better place from where they are now in Tucson.

#5 The San Jose Sharks who were predicted to have the worst record in NHL history looks like they’ve broke out of any kind of slump they might have been in. They improved winning three out of six on their last road trip returned home on Tuesday and edged out the Winnipeg Jets 2-1. What are some of the improvements they you can point to that has put the Sharks on track these last seven games.

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

Sharks Lose to Jets 4-1; Third loss in four games

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Winnipeg Jets’ Nate Schmidt (88) scores the go ahead goal in the second period as Josh Morrissey (44) celebrates with Schmidt against the San Jose Sharks in Winnipeg on Thu Nov 11, 2021 (Canadian Press photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks lost 4-1 to the Jets at Winnipeg Thursday. Kyle Connor, Nate Schmidt, Jansen Harkins and Pierre-Luc Dubois scored for the Jets. Connor Hellebuyck made 26 saves for the win. Andrew Cogliano scored for the Sharks and James Reimer made 30 saves in the loss.

After the game, Sharks Assistant Coach John MacLean was not willing to attribute the loss to fatigue: “I don’t know if [we] ran out of gas… I thought we had a couple of opportunities, we just weren’t able to bury it. And, you know, it was a close game there for a bit.” He also mentioned the lopsided penalty calls: “They get some power plays, we never really got any special… we never got any power plays. It was just one of those things, guys tried and it just didn’t come our way.”

The roster and the bench will likely look different for the next game, as players and staff will be returning from the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol. McLean assessed the performance of the team in the absence of those players:

“After a loss you’re not really pleased, I mean you wish, there’s a couple of opportunities there missed as well in that. So, I will say that I’m pleased with the total effort that these guys showed throughout this, you know, the guys who got called up and the guys who were here. I mean I think overall they all buckled down and gave us an opportunity each night to win.”

The Sharks scored the first goal of the game, at 6:28 of the first period. Brent Burns picked up the puck near the boards and carried it across into the slot, then made a quick pass to Andrew Cogliano who was on the far side of the net. Cogliano lifted it into the short side for his second of the season.

Kyle Connor tied the game at 11:38. As the Jets entered the zone, Evgeny Svechnikov passed the puck from the right wide to Dubois in the middle of the ice. Dubois tok a shot that went off of Reimer’s pads for a short rebound. Connor was right there to shoot it back in behind Reimer.

The Sharks penalty kill gave up one shot on a single penalty for the period. The teams were dead even at ten shots each. It was the Sharks’ best face-off period, at 69%.

The second period started with an early fight, between the Sharks’ Jonah Gadjovich and the Jets’ Adam Lowry. The Sharks took a delay of game penalty at 7:24, and then matching roughing penalties at 10:02 went to Dominic Toninato and Ryan Merkley. Again, the Sharks penalty kill gave up just one shot.

The Jets took the lead at 14:11, with a shot from the blue line by Nate Schmidt. Assists went to Josh Morrissey and Blake Wheeler.

Jansen Harkins made it 3-1 at 19:16 of the second. Harkins and Adam Lowry got behind the Sharks for a two-on-one. From low in the slot, Lowry made a pass to Harkins for a deflection.

The Jets out-shot the Sharks 13-8 in the second, but the Sharks continued to dominate in the face-off circle at 60%. The third period saw the Sharks slip in that area, winning only 44% of the draws. The Sharks penalty kill allowed two shots during the single third-period Jets power play.

Pierre-Luc Dubois scored his eighth of the season into an empty net at 19:27 of the third. Assists went to Andrew Copp and Nikolaj Ehlers.

The Sharks’ next game will be in Colorado against the Avalanche, on Saturday at 6:00 PM PT.

Sharks Beat Jets 3-2 in Winnipeg; Sharks win three of last four games

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photo from sfgate.com: The San Jose Sharks Brendan Dillion (4) goes airborne after having a collision with the Winnipeg Jets Nikolaj Ehlers (27) as the Sharks Evander Kane (9) is in the background in Friday night’s game in Winnipeg

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks defeated the Winnipeg Jets 3-2 Friday, in Brent Burns’ 1,100th NHL game. Sharks goals came from Marcus Sorensen, Melker Karlsson and Timo Meier. Aaron Dell made 30 saves in the win. Jets goals came from Kyle Connor and Blake Wheeler, with Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck making 32 saves in the loss.

After the game, Sharks interim head coach Bob Boughner said:

You’re never going to come in and play the Jets and not give up some chances, with the team they have and the offense. But I thought we did some really good things away from the puck. I thought that we had guys climbing above and not giving too many odd-man rushes. And there were spurts in the game that we were really good defensively, and when they had their chances, Deller was there to make the big stop.

Timo Meier has three goals and four assists in the last six games, including the game-winner Friday. Of this streak, Evander Kane said: “He’s playing heavy. You know, he’s skating. He’s a big powerful guy with a good scoring touch. When he goes hard to the net, he can finish. So that was another example of that tonight.”

In the first period, the Sharks out shot the Jets 13-3. At 14:51, Marcus Sorensen scored in a chaotic scrum in front of Connor Hellebuyck. Assists went to Alexander True and Dylan Gambrell. The Jets challenged the goal for goaltender interference but the challenge was unsuccessful, giving the Sharks their first power play.

The second period was something of a reversal, with the teams even in shots at 11, but the Jets scoring twice.

Their first goal came on a power play at 8:21, with Evander Kane in the box for interference. From right in front of the net, Kyle Connor was able to put a shot between his legs and over Dell’s shoulder, into the top corner. Assists went to Blake Wheeler and Neal Pionk.

Blake Wheeler scored less than two minutes later. His shot went past a moving screen and into the top corner. Andrew Copp found him with a pass from the corner, and a second assist went to Nikolaj Ehlers.

The Sharks ended the second period on a power play when Josh Morrisey was called for holding Timo Meier. They started the third with 1:54 remaining on that power play. The did not get any shots on net in that power play.

At 5:18, Melker Karlsson did score, in a quick give and go play with Joel Kellman. The give and go had the Jets defense discombobulated enough that when Karlsson got to the front of the net and received the puck no one was in his way. Assists went to Kellman and
Stefan Noesen.

Timo Meier added another for the Sharks, just 1:29 later. Brent Burns sent the puck to the net where Kevin Labanc tried to get to it. Dmitry Kulikov was in his way so he couldn’t get control of it. The puck trickled out to the side of the blue paint, where Meier found it and put it in the net. Assists went to Labanc and Burns.

The teams played 4-on-4 at 6:55 when Marcus Sorensen went to the box for roughing against Jack Roslovic, and Roslovic went for cross-checking Sorensen. The Sharks killed Evander Kane’s second penalty of the game at 13:17 of the third, and held on to their lead for the rest of the period. The Jets pulled their goaltender with about two minutes to go. Those final minutes were marked by many good saves from Aaron Dell and some missed clearing opportunities for the Sharks, but they kept the puck out of the net.

The third period shot count was 16-11 Jets. The face-off contest went to the Jets 53%-47%.

The Sharks next play on Saturday in St Paul against the Minnesota Wild at 2:00 PM PT.

Sharks Down Jets 5-4, Win Streak at 6

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Photo credit: @SanJoseSharks

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks defeated the Winnipeg Jets 5-4 Tuesday at the Bell MTS Center in Winnipeg. That puts San Jose’s current win streak at six in a row. Two goals came from Gustav Nyquist, with three more from Marcus Sorensen, Joe Pavelski and Marc-Edouard Vlasic. Martin Jones made 21 saves in the win, while Connor Hellebuyck made 31 saves for Winnipeg. Jets goals came from Andrew Copp, Bryan Little, Mathieu Perrault and Kyle Connor.

Marc-Edouard Vlasic started the scoring in the first with a goal at 8:05. Vlasic took a shot from just below the blue line, then followed it to the net and shot his rebound in. Assists went to Joe Thornton and Marcus Sorensen.

Winnipeg responded 32 seconds later. Andrew Copp deflected Ben Chiarot’s shot from the blue line. A second assist went to Matthieu Perrault.

They scored another 33 seconds after that. Bryan Little’s shot went off of Justin Braun and in.

The Sharks drew even again at 16:04. Tomas Hertl carried the puck through the neutral zone, weaving between defenders and finally making a drop pass in the slot to Gustav Nyquist. Nyquist put the puck in the net without hesitation. Assists went to Hertl and Joonas Donskoi.

The first period shot count was 12-10 Sharks, with the Jets winning 59% of the face offs.

In the first minute of the second period, the Jets scored on a power play. Patrik Laine passed the puck to Kyle Connor, who was below the goal line. Connor moved over the line and looked like he was searching for a passing lane. Instead, he took a quick back hand shot over Dell’s pad. Assists went to Laine and Blake Wheeler.

Nyquist tied it back up for the Sharks at 10:33 of the second. Vlasic took a quick shot off of another rebound, this one created by Tomas Hertl. Vlasic’s shot went into a crowd at the net, off of Nyquist and in. Vlasic and Hertl got the assists.

The second period shot count was 13-11 Sharks, with 52% of the face offs going to the Jets.

The Sharks took the lead back two minutes into the third with a goal from Marcus Sorensen. Joe Thornton brought the puck out from behind the Winnipeg net and found Sorensen out above the blue paint. A bang-bang play put the puck in the net. Assists went to Thornton and Kevin Labanc.

Winnipeg tied the game at 16:22 with a goal from Mathieu Perrault. The goal came soon after a failed Sharks power play, which included an excellent save by Dell on a short-handed attempt by Winnipeg. This shot came from Tyler Myers on the blue line for the deflection by Perrault. Assists went to Myers and Brandon Tanev.

The game looked sure to go to overtime as the final seconds ticked down, with play in the Sharks zone. Vlasic broke up a pass and sent the puck rocketing out of the zone. Timo Meier was right on it and Pavelski chased caught him in the neutral zone so they went in two on one against Dmitry Kulikov. Meier waited for the right moment and made the pass across to Pavelski for the game winner at 19:54. Assists went to Meier and Vlasic.

The win puts the Sharks three points ahead of Calgary, who were still playing in New Jersey against the Devils when the Sharks game ended. The Sharks next play on Thursday against the Florida Panthers in San Jose at 7:30 PM PT.

Injury notes:

Early in the first period, Radim Simek went down after a collision with Winnipeg’s Andrew Copp. The injury appeared to be to his lower leg. He did not return to the game.

On the subject of how well Simek has played with Brent Burns, Burns said after the game: “He just makes great reads. He’s aggressive. I think we read off each other well. Don’t understand him but he can make good reads out there so, I don’t know, it’s been fun.” If Simek is not available for the next game, Joakim Ryan could come back in as Burns’s partner.

Blake Wheeler also left the game early in the third. First, he had a collision in the corner with a referee’s elbow. Not long after, he fell while trying to check Couture. He left near the 11-minute mark.

Evander Kane and Erik Karlsson remain out of the Sharks lineup.