Tag: Logan Couture

Sharks Fall to Canucks 4-3 in Overtime; Gagner gamer puts Vancouver over the top

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Canucks center Sam Gagner (89) scores the winning goal in overtime during the NHL game between the San Jose Sharks and the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, Canada. Dom Gagne/CSM (Cal Sport Media via AP Images)

by M. Walsh

The San Jose Sharks lost in 4-3 overtime to the Vancouver Canucks on Friday. Two Vancouver goals came from Markus Granlund, one from Brock Boeser, and the game winner from Sam Gagner. For the Sharks, Brent Burns scored twice and rookie Marcus Sorensen scored once. Jacob Markstrom made 34 saves on 37 shots for the Canucks, while Martin Jones made 36 saves on 40 shots for San Jose.

The Sharks were coming off a win the night before against Calgary, but they were facing a hungry opponent. Vancouver snapped a four game losing skid with the win, a skid capped off by a 7-1 loss to Nashville on Wednesday.

“This sets up all the things for them to have an A game and they did. They were outstanding early and Jonesy gave us a chance to hang around and we found a way to get an important point on a night we probably didn’t deserve one,” said Sharks head coach Pete DeBoer.

At 4:34 of overtime, Sam Gagner scored on a breakaway to win the game with a quick backhand over Martin Jones’ right shoulder. It was a tough loss after a valiant effort from the goalie to keep his team in the game. The Canucks outshot the Sharks 40-37, with 22 in the first period alone. DeBoer was asked if the three goals that Jones allowed were cause for concern. He said:

You can’t play any better than he played tonight. We didn’t give him a lot of help tonight. In defense of our guys, an emotional win last night in Calgary, the we fly in here on a back to back against a team that’s ready to go. So sometimes that’s what it looks like.

Logan Couture left the game early following a hit from Alexander Burmistrov in the third period. Burmistrov’s shoulder appeared to make contact with Couture’s face. The hit came about five minutes into the period. Couture has had an outstanding season this year, leading the team in scoring with 15 goals and 10 assists through 30 games. After finally getting most of the team healthy again, losing Couture for an extended period would be a big setback for a team that is just getting its game back. There was no update on Couture’s status after the game.

The first goal came on a Vancouver power play just 44 seconds into the game. The zig-zagging play started with Henrik Sedin on the blue line, went to a touch pass by Daniel Sedin and ended as little more than a tap-in for Granlund. Half way into the period, Brent Burns tied the game, again on a power play. His shot went through so many players that it seemed unlikely that it had not touched any of them, but it did not. Assists went to Logan Couture and Joe Pavelski.

The second Vancouver goal came just after a power play expired, while the Sharks penalty killers were trapped and perhaps out of gas in their own zone. A shot came from Daniel Sedin above the faceoff circle. Henrik caught it just above the blue paint and found Granlund. Gralund put the puck between Justin Braun and Marc-Edouard Vlasic and past Jones.

The Canucks scored again at 11:46 of the second period, again on the power play. The Sharks started the penalty kill well with a clear just three seconds in. After retrieving the puck, the Canucks came back fast, with Brock Boeser carrying the puck through the neutral zone and weaving past two Sharks defenders to give himself a short breakaway. That shot did not go in but 12 seconds later Boeser caught a pass in the faceoff circle and with a clear shot at the net he did not miss. Assists went to Daniel and Henrik Sedin.

With under two minutes left in the second, Braun, Jannik Hansen and Sorensen outnumbered the Canucks in a quick rush created when Sorensen intercepted a pass from Troy Stecher. Sorensen scored on a rebound from Braun’s shot after their odd man rush cused a little chaos by the Vancouver net. Assists went to Braun and Hansen.

The tying goal came almost right off of a faceoff in the Canucks zone. Joel Ward won the faceoff back to Burns, whose shot was at least partially screened by Melker Karlsson and Tomas Hertl fighting for position in front of the net. Like his first goal, it made its way through a lot of traffic but did not hit another Shark. The only assist went to Ward.

The overtime point puts the Sharks in third place in the Pacific Division standings with 38 points. The Calgary Flames and the Anaheim Ducks both have 35 points, which is good for fourth and fifth place in the Pacific. Both wild card spots are held by Central Division teams with 37 points.

The Sharks next play on Monday at 6:00 pm PT in Edmonton against the Oilers.

Sharks Score Five Again, Shut Out Slumping Sens 5-0

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Photo credit: San Jose Sharks

by M. Walsh

SAN JOSE — The San Jose Sharks handed the Ottawa Senators a resounding defeat to the tune of 5-0 at SAP Center on Saturday night. The win followed up a surprising 5-4 overtime win over the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday night, when the Sharks led a furious comeback after trailing by three goals. Saturday’s goals came from Logan Couture, Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Melker Karlsson, Joe Pavelski and Tomas Hertl. Couture, Pavelski, Brent Burns and Kevin Labanc all had multi-point games and back-up goaltender Aaron Dell made 25 saves for the Sharks’ shutout win. At the other end of the ice, Craig Anderson made 45 saves on 50 shots in a losing effort for the Senators.

Sharks head coach Pete DeBoer said that San Jose’s goal was to start fast against Ottawa, avoiding the slow start that marked their previous game: “I liked our game. Compared to the game against Carolina, I thought we were really sharp and really carried over the way we played in the third period against them into tonight.”

The Sharks checked a lot of boxes in Saturday’s game, killing four of four penalties and scoring on two of seven power plays. Tim Heed returned after dealing with an upper body injury, and Paul Martin is scheduled to start a conditioning stint with the Barracuda. So much rosy news begs the question of whether the Sharks have reached a turning point in the season.

DeBoer would not say that it is a turning point, but he did say that the goals are important for more than the score: “It was nice to score some goals, nice to get some power play goals. Guys have been working awful hard, we generate a lot of chances and we haven’t finished enough this year. So it was nice to have a night like that. Whether we can do that again tomorrow night I don’t know. But confidence is a big part of scoring and there was a lot of guys feeling good about themselves tonight.”

Logan Couture opened the scoring near the midpoint of the first period. The Sharks had outshot the Sens 10-0 at the 12-minute mark. Dell had just fought off the Senators’ first couple of shots in a flurry of activity on the edge of his crease. After Hertl won a defensive zone faceoff, the Sharks went the other way fast, with Labanc making a lovely pass so Couture could beat Anderson as he moved across. Assists went to Labanc and Justin Braun.

At the end of the first period, the shot count was 16-6 San Jose.

Early in the second period, the Sharks had just come off of a power play when Vlasic blasted a shot past Anderson. Tim Heed caught a pass from Kevin Labanc from behind the net, and sent the puck across the ice to the waiting Vlasic.

The Senators were keeping pace at least in shots past the midpoint of the period, but the Sharks did not let up. Joe Thornton passed the puck backward behind the net to a trailing Pavelski, who quickly sent it back up above the goal line for Melker Karlsson to pop into the net.

The Sharks’ power play came to life in the third period with two goals, one early and one late. The first third period power play resulted from a fight between Marcus Sorensen and Ryan Dzingel, when Dzingel was given an extra minor for roughing. Pavelski tipped a quick Couture shot from high in the slot. A second assist went to Brent Burns.

The Senators appeared to have scored at 5:12, in a power play that followed soon after the Sharks’ fourth goal. Braun was in the box for slashing. Matt Duchene took a shot from the face off dot and Bobby Ryan pushed it in. The official waved it off and did not even stop play. On later review, the NHL concluded that the puck had not crossed the line before Vlasic swept the puck back out.

The final power play of the game came when Alex Burrows used the butt end of his stick to bloody Dylan DeMelo’s face. Burrows was ejected with a fighting major and a roughing minor. DeMelo received roughing minor as he went to the dressing room to be patched up. Tomas Hertl scored after catching a bouncing puck off of Erik Karlsson’s hand. Assists went to Brent Burns and Logan Couture.

The Sharks next play on Sunday at 6:00 pm PT against the Minnesota Wild.

Sharks Lose to Lightning 5-2 in Tampa Bay

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San Jose Sharks center Joe Thornton (19) is knocked down by Tampa Bay Lightning left wing Ondrej Palat (18) during the third period of an NHL hockey game Saturday, Dec. 2, 2017, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O’Meara)

by M. Walsh

The San Jose Sharks dropped the third game of this road trip to the Tampa Bay Lightning by a score of 5-2. Two Lightning goals were scored by Tyler Johnson, two more by Nikita Kucherov and another by Cory Conacher. Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy made 25 stops in the game. Sharks’ goals were scored by Barclay Goodrow, who had just returned from injury, and Justin Braun. Martin Jones stopped 38 shots for the Sharks.

The loss was a modest improvement over their previous loss to Tampa Bay, a 5-1 loss in San Jose on November 8, but it ended a four-game winning streak for San Jose in Tampa Bay. The Lightning continue to dominate in the NHL standings, maintaining a slim lead over the Winnipeg Jets. Entering Saturday’s game, they had a record of 17-6-2. On the other hand, half of those losses came in their last four games.

Sharks head coach Pete DeBoer saw few bright spots in his team’s game. DeBoer said: “The good news was that our goalie was outstanding, he was by far our best player. He gave a us a chance going into the third to get some points tonight. But we didn’t have enough contributions. We would have needed 20 guys tonight plus Jonesy’s effort. They’re a desperate team and rested, and we didn’t help ourselves.”

Beyond that, DeBoer seemed willing to put the loss behind him and move on. DeBoer said: “We’re not going to be down here in a back-to-back with half our team out again so we don’t have to worry about that.”

Sharks forward Logan Couture expressed disappointment with the loss. Couture said: “They out played us again. You know, you can say we’re on a back-to-back and all, I know that but still got to show up and put forth a better effort than we did tonight.”

Later, Couture acknowledged that the team really is in a tough spot with injuries. Couture said: “You know, we’ve been playing good hockey. This is back-to-back, we got a bunch of guys go down within a few game period. It’s tough. You miss three forwards who usually play in your top nine, so other guys gotta step up and gotta find a way to be competitive.”

The Sharks’ injury list changed overnight between Florida games. Goodrow returned from injured reserve and Jones was ready to start. Joonas Donskoi and Tim Heed were placed on injured reserve, while Marcus Sorensen was called up from the AHL’s Barracuda. Sorensen did not play Saturday, but will be available Monday.

Both Heed and Donskoi’s IR status was retroactive to the last game they played. For Heed, that was November 25, and for Donskoi it was November 28.

Additionally, Melker Karlsson was not available after being injured Friday. Kevin Labanc was back in the lineup and got credit for four shots on goal, more than any other Shark Saturday.

San Jose did hang in there for the first two periods, but in the third, the Lightning took the Sharks apart. The Sharks scored first, the only goal of the first period. With just over three minutes left in the period, Ryan Carpenter made a cross-ice pass to Daniel O’Regan as he skated down the right side. O’Regan took the shot and the rebound went right to Goodrow on the left side. He had an open net from that angle and he put it away. Assists went to Carpenter and O’Regan.

The Sharks went into the first intermission with a 1-0 lead, but had been outshot 15-8 by Tampa Bay.

The Lightning’s first period effort paid off early in the second period, as Nikita Kucherov tied the game up just 27 seconds in. Ondrej Palat carried the puck in and the Sharks defense set up to prevent a cross-ice pass to Kucherov. In doing so, they left their goaltender to handle any shot from Palat. Instead of shooting, Palat took the pass and it made it through three defenders to Kucherov, who had Martin Jones moving across and not quite ready to stop his shot. Assists went to Palat and Brayden Point.

The Lightning again outshot the Sharks in the second period, this time 16-8.

Joe Thornton was called for high sticking Tyler Johnson at the end of the second period. The Lightning started the third period with 1:56 of power play time. At 1:39 of the third, Johnson scored a power play goal to give the Lightning the 2-1 lead. Palat shot the puck into the zone so that it came off the back boards while Johnson skated in and caught it right in front of Jones. Assists went to Palat and Mikhail Sergachev.

Johnson scored again after Victor Hedman got a breakaway and would have scored had Brenden Dillon not caught the puck on the goal line. As he cleared it from the crease, Johnson was coming in fast and the puck came right to him. He put it back in over Jones.

Cory Conacher scored at 11:01, after a shoot in from Dan Girardi caught Justin Braun inside the knee. Seeing the defenseman drop to the ice, Conacher skated by him and caught a cross-ice pass from Alex Killorn. His shot went over Jones’ left shoulder as the goaltender came across to follow the puck. Assists went to Killorn and Yanni Gourde.

Braun did not stay down for long, and returned to stop the bleeding at 13:37. Braun caught the puck after an offensive zone faceoff. His blue line shot went cleanly through five skaters to beat Vasilevski on the glove side. An assist went to O’Regan.

Nikita Kucherov came back with a fifth goal at 15:37 off a breakaway after Logan Couture tried to shoot the puck in from the blue line and it his Kucherov instead. The bounce gave Kucherov the head start he needed.

The Sharks next play on Monday in Washington DC against the Capitals at 4 pm PT.

Sharks Score 4, Shut Out Jets 4-0

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San Jose Sharks goalie Martin Jones deflects a shot by the Winnipeg Jets during the third period of an NHL hockey game in San Jose, Calif., Saturday, Nov. 25, 2017. The Sharks won 4-0. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

by M. Walsh

SAN JOSE — The San Jose Sharks scored four times and shut out the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday. Goals came from Tim Heed, Tomas Hertl, and two from Logan Couture. Sharks goaltender Martin Jones made 38 stops for the shutout. At the other end, Jets goaltenders faced a combined 33 shots and each allowed two goals.

Despite giving up 38 shots, the Sharks defense got the job done. Winnipeg has one of the best records in the NHL this season, 14-5-3 going into the game against the Sharks. After the game, Sharks assistant coach Steve Spott said: “To hold them off the scoreboard…they’ve got a high powered offense over there, so to do what we did tonight, it was excellent.”

The Sharks saw yet another uncounted goal in the first period of Saturday’s game. Just 3:37 in, Joel Ward found the puck under Steve Mason’s left pad and poked it in the net. The whistle blew before the puck went in, as the official had lost sight of the puck.

Perhaps used to such setbacks by now, San Jose responded with two viable first period goals. The first was a power play goal from Tim Heed with assists to Kevin Labanc and Joe Thornton. Heed’s one-timer came from high in the slot and went in off the post. The second goal came at 19:44 of the first, from Logan Couture. Assists on the second goal went to Justin Braun and Marc-Edouard Vlasic. Mason stopped Vlasic’s shot but the rebound went to the far side of the blue paint, where Couture closed fast and beat the goalie to the puck.

At the end of the first period, the shots were 13-9 for the Sharks.

The Jets changed goaltenders to start the second period, putting Connor Hellebuyck in for Steve Mason. Mason evidently sustained an upper body injury.

Winnipeg closed the shot gap in the first five minutes, to 16-15, but the Sharks gunked up the Jets offense so that those shots were not terribly dangerous. At the 6:05, Dylan DeMelo went to the box for slashing Joel Armia and the Jets were on their first power play of the game. The Sharks penalty kill was stifling and only allowed one shot on goal to the power play.

The Sharks had to face another slashing penalty at 9:56, this time on Brenden Dillon. The Sharks held the Jets to just one shot again, only this shot was a harrowing affair. The puck slipped past Martin Jones and and was snatched back from the brink by Joel Ward’s quick stick.

Dylan DeMelo went back to the box at 13:02, this time for interference. Instead of clogging up their own zone during this penalty kill, the Sharks jumped out with a short handed rush from Logan Couture and Tomas Hertl. Couture carried the puck in with Hertl on his right, and no Winnipeg player between them and the goalie. Couture took his time selecting the shot and added a third tally to San Jose’s collection. Assists went to Tomas Hertl and Marc-Edouard Vlasic.

The second period shot count was 16-5 Winnipeg, for a total shot count of 24-18 Winnipeg.

At 5:08 of the third, Dylan DeMelo was the subject of another penalty, taking a high stick from Joel Armia. The Sharks power play did a pretty good job keeping the puck out of their own end, but could not get organized in the Jets’ end of the ice. They did get credit for two shots.

By the midpoint of the period, the Sharks had closed the gap in shots, adding eleven to their count, while limiting the Jets to just four.

The Sharks had a bit of a scare at 13:28 when Martin Jones had to take a moment to talk to one of the trainers. After the game, the team would only say that he was being evaluated.

Tomas Hertl extended the lead to four with an empty net goal at 16:50, with assists from Joe Pavelski and Brent Burns.

The Sharks will begin a four game road trip on Tuesday in Philadelphia at 4:00 pm PT.

Sharks Lose to Golden Knights 5-4 in OT

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Vegas Golden Knights center Jonathan Marchessault (81) celebrates after scoring the game-winning goal against the San Jose Sharks during overtime of an NHL hockey game Friday, Nov. 24, 2017, in Las Vegas. Vegas won 5-4. (AP Photo/John Locher)

by M. Walsh

The San Jose Sharks lost 5-4 in overtime to the Las Vegas Golden Knights Friday. After trailing 3-1, the Sharks came back to tie the game, with goals from Mikkel Boedker, Chris Tierney, Tomas Hertl and Brent Burns. The five Las Vegas goals came from Shea Theodore, James Neal, two from William Karlsson, and the overtime winner from Jonathan Marchessault. With the win, the Knights added to their already astonishing first season record of 14-6-1.

Neither team was at their best defensively, which made for a wide-open game. Both teams changed goalies at some point in the game. After the game, Sharks head coach Peter DeBoer said:

It was a track meet, it was pond hockey out there. The offense came, I think, because it was loose. We don’t want to play that type of game. We had to, we were forced to because of how we started and found a way to get a point out of it. That’s about all the good that came out of it.

Of coming back from a 3-1 deficit, Sharks forward Logan Couture said: “Yes, I guess pretty good but not good enough. We put ourselves in that hole. I thought they were better than us. We had some jump for a small period of time and that was it.”

The Knights jumped out to a fast start, scoring twice in the first period. Shea Theodore’s goal came just 2:33 in, with assists to Cody Eakin and Brendan Leipsic. The second goal came in the middle of the period, on a power play. James Neal’s goal came after a lot of movement from the power play, with several cross ice passes that drew Sharks goalie Martin Jones across the goal mouth more than once. When the shot came, it was over Jones’ shoulder just under the bar. Assists went to Erik Haula and Jonathan Marchessault.

Tomas Hertl scored late in the first off an impressive feed from Joonas Donskoi. Donskoi first jumped to catch the puck out of the air, then had to recover after being knocked down by Knights goalie Maxime Lagace. His quick reverse pass still connected with Hertl in front of the net. Assists went to Donskoi and Marc-Edouard Vlasic.

William Karlsson scored twice in the second period, the first only ten seconds in. Still on a carry over the power play from the first period, the Knights pushed the play into the Sharks’ zone in a somewhat chaotic scramble. A bouncing puck found its way to Alex Tuch below the face-off dot. His shot bounced some more as it crossed the goal mouth to Karlsson, who knocked it in. A second assist went to Reilly Smith.

The Sharks replaced goalie Martin Jones with Aaron Dell at that point, only to see Karlsson score again at 6:55, when he tipped a Marchessault shot from the blue line.

Of the goaltending change, DeBoer said: “It’s too bad we didn’t start on time. That’s the disappointing part. It didn’t help Jonesy at all and I got him out of there just because I didn’t want him to have to play a whole night in front of that.”

Just a little over a minute later, Brent Burns scored his first of the year with one of his trademark blasts from the blue line. The lone assist went to Joe Thornton.

Chris Tierney scored his fifth of the season not long after the Sharks’ first power play of the game. The Knights had just iced the puck and the Sharks gained control after the faceoff. Joel Ward won a puck battle in the corner, allowing Tierney to send the puck up to the blue line. Justin Braun took a wide shot and Tierney got to the net in time to redirect it in. Assists went to Braun and Ward.

The tying goal came with less than a minute left. Joe Pavelski’s shot got caught in traffic but bounced out to the slot where Mikkel Boedker caught it and shot it in before Lagace could get set to stop it.

The Golden Knights changed goaltenders in the third period, replacing Lagace with Malcolm Subban. There were no goals scored in the third, but late in the period, Logan Couture had a goal called back. The explanation given was that Joonas Donskoi touched skates with goaltender Malcolm Subban in the crease.

Marchessault scored the overtime winner 1:22 into overtime. Brent Burns had just broken a stick and gone to replace it. The remaining players held off the goal for several seconds before Marchessault’s shot went into defensive traffic and off of Joe Thornton’s skate into the goal.

The Sharks next play on Saturday against the Winnipeg Jets, in San Jose at 7 pm PT.

Sharks Shut Out Canucks 5-0; Dells stops 41 as Couture and Tierney combine for four goals

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San Jose Sharks’ Logan Couture (39) scores past Vancouver Canucks goalie Jacob Markstrom during the second period of an NHL hockey game Saturday, Nov. 11, 2017, in San Jose, Calif. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

by M. Walsh

SAN JOSE– The San Jose Sharks defeated the Vancouver Canucks by a score of 5-0 Saturday. Sharks goaltender Aaron Dell stopped 41 shots in his second NHL shutout. Tomas Hertl scored first, while Logan Couture and Chris Tierney each scored twice. Vancouver netminder Jacob Markstrom made 26 saves on 29 shots.

The win stood in sharp contrast to the Sharks’ previous game, a 5-1 loss. Of the 5-0 win, Sharks head coach Pete DeBoer said: “It’s a huge divisional game. Deller was our best player, which is, you know, why we have him. He was great and we found a way. ” As the Sharks’ backup goaltender, Aaron Dell has only started four games this season. Of his performance Saturday night, Sharks forward Logan Couture said:

We believe in him in this room. And 40 saves or whatever it was tonight is pretty impressive. He was tracking pucks well, he’s been great every time we put him in so we have a lot of confidence in him.

Tomas Hertl finished the game with a goal and two assists. After the game, Couture said of Hertl:

He’s been good, he’s had so many chances over these past six or seven games where you just figured he was going to get an ugly one and, you know, we need goals so we hope that this is the start of something.

In all, the Sharks scored at even strength, short-handed, into an empty net and on a penalty shot. The only thing missing was a power play goal. Couture described that missing piece as an ongoing source of frustration:

Our power play’s really draining the energy from us. I mean it’s just getting frustrating. Us guys on the power play, we can’t let that happen. We need to create some energy instead of deflating our team.

The Canucks came to San Jose after an unexpectedly good start to their season, winning eight of sixteen games and adding a couple of points for overtime losses. Those 18 points are good for third in the Pacific right now. Their scoring leader is Derek Dorsett, who has met his second best season total in just 16 games. He has seven goals in this his tenth NHL season. His career best was 12 in 2011-12. Second in scoring for Vancouver is Bo Horvat, now in his fourth NHL season. He has six goals, putting him on track to easily eclipse last season’s 20.

The Sharks scored just 48 seconds into the game, a point shot from Justin Braun that went off of Tomas Hertl in front of the net. A second assist went to Melker Karlsson.

At 11:07, Timo Meier had a very good chance during a delayed Canucks penalty. His shot went just under Markstrom’s glove but hit the far post and bounced out. During the power play, the Sharks had just two shots. The powerplay units were Brent Burns, Tim Heed, Logan Couture, Joe Thornton and Joe Pavelski, then Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Mikkel Boedker, Joonas Donskoi, Tomas Hertl and Joel Ward.

With 5:06 left in the first, Donskoi drew a hooking penalty to give the Sharks another power play chance. The sharks only mustered one shot during those two minutes, and a few seconds after the power play expired, the Canucks had their own chance with the man advantage. Timo Meier was called for slashing at 17:02. The Canucks bolstered their shot count by four but did not score. Though the Sharks led the Canucks in shots 11-4 in the middle of the period, the Canucks had closed the gap to 14-10 by the end of the period.

The Sharks had a third power play early in the second period, but it was cut short just 37 seconds in by a penalty to Joe Pavelski for hooking. During the four on four, a Brent Burns shot from the blue line hit the top bar and left the defenseman still waiting for his first goal of the year.

The Sharks drew a fourth power play at 9:30 of the second, an interference call against Alex Biega. The Canucks managed to thwart the Sharks on almost every entry, forcing them to mostly dump it in and never get set up. The Sharks did not get a shot on goal in that fourth power play. Brent Burns and Tomas Hertl were able to get in with self-passes off the boards but they were quickly stripped of the puck and sent back out by the penalty killers.

That penalty kill seemed to energize the Canucks and they put pressure on the Sharks for several shifts, racking up shots and wearing out the San Jose defenders. That push took a toll on the Sharks and resulted in a slashing penalty to Joel Ward at 15:30. The power play started with a short-handed chance for Couture and Hertl but Markstrom gloved Couture’s shot away.

That short-handed chance foreshadowed another chance for the same pair just seconds later. Hertl chased the puck down along the boards in the Sharks zone and nudged it in Couture’s direction near the Sharks blue line. Couture had enough speed to evade pursuit and take another shot at Markstrom. This time it went in. Hertl received the only assist.

The Canucks led the Sharks in shots during the second period, 14-6, but the Sharks still had the 2-0 lead where it counts.

The Canucks came out fast and furious in the third, firing five shots on goal in the first two minutes. The shot imbalance evened out as the period went on, until the Sharks scored three times in the final two minutes. Logan Couture scored into an empty net at 18:19. Assists went to Joel Ward and Tomas Hertl.

In the final two minutes, Timo Meier was charged with elbowing and given a five minute major and game misconduct.

With the net still empty, Chris Tierney scored twice in 20 seconds. The first was into an empty net and the second was on a penalty shot. It was his first NHL penalty shot goal.

The Sharks next play on Sunday in Los Angeles against the Kings, at 7:30 PM PT.

Sharks End Road Trip With 3-2 Win Over Sabres

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Photo credit: San Jose Sharks

by Mary Walsh

BUFFALO, N.Y. — The San Jose Sharks defeated the Buffalo Sabres 3-2 on Saturday afternoon. The win extended their win streak to three against a team that was once nigh unbeatable for the Sharks, at least in Buffalo. Sharks goals came from Logan Couture, Joonas Donskoi, and Chris Tierney. Sabres goals came from and Ryan O’Reilly and Jason Pominville. Sharks goaltender Aaron Dell made 31 saves on 33 shots for the win, while Sabres goalie Robin Lehner made 28 saves on 31 shots.

The game concludes a five game road trip for the Sharks, during which they added three wins to their record. After the game, Sharks forward Tomas Hertl said: “Six points on the road trip is huge for us but we have to be ready coming home we got a lot of good teams like Tampa, Nashville and we have to win home. It’s like our building, our tank and we have to play better there.”

Sharks head coach Pete DeBoer said, of the six points:

We’ll take six. You know, six, seven, eight, I mean you want as many points as possible but I like how we’re starting to play. I think the majority of our play is heading in the right direction and we’re giving ourselves a chance to win every night which is a big part of it.

The game marked a significant improvement in the Buffalo power play, ranked 27th in the NHL before Saturday. Though they only scored once in five chances, the Sabres showed signs of returning to last season’s top ranked power play. The Sabres’ power play goal ended the Sharks’ impressive streak of 16 consecutive penalties killed on the road trip. The Sharks had three chances on the power play but did not score, and at even strength each team had dangerous moments. Both goaltenders had their work cut out for them, but neither team was especially sloppy on defense.

In a near miss for the Sharks, a Buffalo goal was called off with 2:48 left in the first period for goaltender interference. Sam Reinhart caught Dell’s leg and then blocker while skating through the blue paint, turning Dell away from the play and making it harder for him to get back in position. After the game, DeBoer said of the decision to challenge that goal:

It was a great challenge by Dan Darrow and Johan Hedberg who handle that end for us. That helped us get a little momentum too early… When you look at it, I don’t have those feeds, those guys do. But it’s clear that’s what the rule is in place for, for exactly that situation. So I’m glad they got it right.

The first goal came at the tail end of a Buffalo power play, when Joonas Donskoi came out of the penalty box and catch a stray puck that Matt Tennyson failed to stop at the Sharks blue line. Donskoi broke away with a step on the Sabres defense and had room to pick a spot just wide of Lehner.

The second goal of the game came on the first Sabres power play of the second period. Joel Ward was in the box for hooking. Both teams were on their way into the zone after Timo Meier’s short handed chance. O’Reilly came in as the trailer and beat Dell from above the faceoff circle. Assists went to Kyle Okposo and San Reinhart.

The Sabres took the lead with a goal at 14:51 of the second. Evander Kane pushed the puck down low to Jack Eichel, who passed it back up to Pominville. Pominville got his shot around both Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Justin Braun for his third goal of the year against the Sharks. Assists went to Eichel and Kane.

The Sharks tied the game back up with just 12 seconds left in the second period. Their power play had just expired. Chris Tierney, Melker Karlsson and Timo Meier had just come on the ice. Meier carried the puck behind the net under pressure from Rasmus Ristolainen. Melker Karlsson trailed the pair, pulled the puck off the boards and took a hard shot from just above the goal line. The puck went off of the goalie and Tierney was on the other side to knock it down and in the net. It was Tierney’s second goal of the season. Assists went to Meier and Karlsson.

Logan Couture’s game winner came 16:08 into the third period. He fought his way through a check from Jake McCabe to catch a pass from Tomas Hertl. McCabe followed after Couture and gave him a shove while he took the shot. No matter, the shot went in anyway. Assists went to Tomas Hertl and Justin Braun.

After the game, DeBoer gave his assessment:

Tough game, they’re a desperate team. We wanted to end this road trip right and we knew it wasn’t going to be easy. We shot ourselves a little I thought early in the game with the penalties but recovered and did enough to win, got a great performance from Deller. So it was a good win for us.

The Sharks next play on Monday in San Jose against the Toronto Maple Leafs at 7:30 PM PT. The game will be Patrick Marleau’s first visit to the Tank as a Maple Leaf.

Sharks Fall to Islanders Again, 5-3

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Photo credit: San Jose Sharks

by Mary Walsh

NEW YORK — In spite of Logan Couture’s hat trick on Saturday, the Sharks lost to the New York Islanders by two goals, for the second time this season. Islander goals came from Andrew Ladd, Josh Bailey, John Tavares and two from Anders Lee. Thomas Greiss made 28 saves for the win, while Aaron Dell made 18 saves for San Jose. The game was the second of back to backs for the Sharks, and the same skaters were in the lineup as the night before. The only only change from Friday’s game was in net, with Dell in for Martin Jones.

Sharks defenseman, Brent Burns, who had eight shots in the game, said of Couture’s recent success: “He’s a great player. He’s an elite player and that’s huge for us.” On how Couture and linemate Tomas Hertl have played together this season, he said:

They’re both great players. I think Hertl is very under-rated on his puck control and his battle level. Great at controlling the puck in the zone and making little plays. He’s just hard to play against, obviously huge that he’s got a great shot and great hands. Battles hard, and I think it’s good to see them getting chemistry.

An uneventful first period was followed by a four goal second period. The Sharks scored first, on a power play at 6:26. Brock Nelson was in the box for hooking Kevin Labanc. The goal came 35 seconds into the power play, starting with a faceoff win by Joe Thornton. Thornton won the faceoff and then passed the puck back to Brent Burns at the point. Burns hesitated briefly, then shot it for Logan Couture to redirect it in. Assists went to Burns and Thornton.

The Islanders responded with two goals, the first less than two minutes later. Nick Leddy got around Boedker to get to the puck behind the Sharks net. From there he sent the puck back to Anders Lee for a neat shot past Dell. Leddy and John Tavares got the assists.

The next Islanders goal came less than a minute later at 8:31. Josh Bailey took advantage of a takeaway and stick handled around Joe Pavelski to beat Dell one on one.

Logan Couture tied the game back up at 12:44. Jannik Hansen followed the puck over the line and had to reach for it. He managed to pass it to Couture as he was approaching the faceoff circle. From there, Couture could shoot without interference and he hit the mark. Assists went to Hansen and Brenden Dillon.

Early in the third period, the Islanders took the lead again with a goal from Andrew Ladd. Mathew Barzal carried the puck around behind the net, driven there by a lot of Sharks defenders. Possibly Barzal got too much attention because Ladd was able to skate into an open space in the slot and when he got the pass from down low he was ready for it. Dell was not quite ready for the shot. Assists went to Barzal and Josh Bailey.

Moments later, Joe Pavelski was hit in the wrist area and appeared to be in some distress. He stayed on the bench and did not leave the game.

The Sharks had some good chances during a power play in the third, in particular the unit of Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Tomas Hertl, Joonas Donskoi, Mikkel Boedker and Kevin Labanc. The Sharks had plenty of chances in the third. Half way through the period, the shots were 13-2.

The Islanders scored twice more in the third period. The first came on a two on one after Joakim Ryan got tangled up on the boards with 15, while trying to keep the puck from escaping up the boards. The two were John Tavares and Anders Lee, with Brent Burns back. Tavares’s pass went through Burns’s skates right on to Lee’s tape. Assists went to Tavares and Cal Clutterbuck.

Couture closed the gap with just under two minutes left in the game. He was at the net when Burns sent a shot from the blue line, and after a little scramble, redirected it into the net.

Incidentally, that third goal from Couture won $100,000 for Wanda Lockwood in the Safeway Score & Win contest.

The final goal of the game went into an empty net at 19:04, off of Tavares’s stick. Assists went to Lee and Calvin de Haan.

After the game, Burns was asked if Joe Thornton got a get out of jail free card after a bad turnover during the game. He responded:

Every goal happens, there’s always three or four breakdowns that happen before. I mean I don’t even know which one you’re talking about to be honest. Hockey’s pretty fast, this team especially comes hard so it’s usually not on the puck controller, usually it’s the support and guys talking to him. I honestly don’t know which one you’re talking about but, I assume, there’s a lot of other things that happen on every goal. We don’t really have get out of jail free cards or blame game.

The Sharks next play on Monday against the Rangers at 4:00 PM PT in New York.

Sharks Lose 4-1 to Kings

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San Jose Sharks’ Mikkel Boedker, left, celebrates after scoring against the Los Angeles Kings during the first period of an NHL hockey game Saturday, Oct. 7, 2017, in San Jose , Calif. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

by M. Walsh

SAN JOSE– After Saturday’s 4-1 loss to the Los Angeles Kings, Sharks Captain Joe Pavelksi said:

“It’s two games in, we’re not panicking by any means but we need results and that’s on us as players. We’ve been given something that we know inside out and the commitment to do it has to be there. There’s just too many odd man rushes, a few too many battles that we lose and we’re not getting those second chances. So there’s just a commitment level that has to go up and doing it the right way.”

That described the game quite accurately. Logan Couture’s comments were more sweeping:

“That was just horrible. You can’t make excuses because that was a very very poor effort. From the first minute to the sixtieth minute, from power play to penalty kill. That was just garbage hockey.”

For Los Angeles, two goals came from Anze Kopitar, one from Dustin Brown and one from Nick Shore. Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick made 24 saves on 25 shots. The lone goal for the Sharks came from Mikkel Boedker, while Martin Jones made 25 saves on 29 shots and backup Aaron Dell made 9 saves. It is worth noting that Sharks forward Melker Karlsson took a hit during the second period and did not skate during the third.

Martin Jones started out looking like he might have a better game than he did. As the team struggled to get a shot on goal, the goaltender made a fine save near the four minute mark after the Kings stormed into the zone three on one. The Kings seemed to get more energy from that than the Sharks did and two minutes later the Sharks had a shot on goal but the Kings had a goal. Dustin Brown’s bad angle shot went over Jones’ shoulder through an opening that probably should not have been there. An assist went to Anze Kopitar.

That did spark the Sharks and just 1:06 later, Mikkel Boedker put the Sharks’ second shot past Jonathan Quick. Assists went to Brenden Dillon and Dylan DeMelo.

After a skirmish in the corner behind the Kings goal line at 8:31, Kurtis MacDermid was called for roughing. The Sharks added just one shot to their tally during that power play.

Logan Couture was called for tripping at 11:29, and the Sharks killed the penalty. Tomas Hertl took the next penalty, for hooking. The Sharks killed that one off as well, but as the seconds wound down, the Kings kept the pressure on. A regrettable line change gave Kopitar an opening to skate in nearly unfettered. He did not waste the opportunity and scored with just 8 seconds to go. The period ended with the score 2-1 Kings, with the shots an ominous 17-6 for Los Angeles.

5:57 into the second, the Sharks were on the penalty kill after Brenden Dillon high-sticked Kopitar. The Sharks killed the penalty off and were rewarded with a power play of their own at 8:34. It did not amount to much, and was riddled with bad takeaways by the Los Angeles penalty killers.

At 12:07 the game went from bad to worse as a shot got through to Jones and bounced over him to sit momentarily in the blue paint. No Shark was there to prevent Kopitar from tucking it over the line.

There were plenty of teal sweaters around the Sharks net when the next goal went in. Jones seemed to catch a long bouncing shot in his glove, but the puck instead bounced out and pinballed around and into the net to make it 4-1. The goal was awarded to Nick Shore. Aaron Dell came into the game to replace Martin Jones.

By the end of the second period, the score was 4-1, with the shot count still an abysmal 32-18 Los Angeles.

The third period provided little redemption for the Sharks. They did not give up any more goals, but the Kings did not look very motivated to increase the three goal lead. The Sharks killed three more penalties, while the Kings killed two. The Sharks pulled their goaltender with three minutes to go but it did not change the score.

The Sharks next play on Thursday against the Buffalo Sabres at 7:30 PM PT.

Sharks Preseason 2017: Sharks Win 5-4 in Arizona

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Photo credit: San Jose Sharks

By M. Walsh

The San Jose Sharks won their third preseason game on Saturday, against the Coyotes in Arizona. The final score after a shootout was 5-4. Tim Heed got the game winner, with Sharks goaltender Troy Grosenick stopping 24 of 28 shots.

San Jose got off to a slow start in Saturday’s preseason game in Arizona, falling behind by three goals before turning the tables late in the first period and through the second. Mikkel Boedker started the rally with two goals, followed by goals from Barclay Goodrow and Kevin Labanc, with goals in the shootout from Logan Couture and Heed. Coyotes goals came from Nick Cousins (2), Derek Stepan and Luke Schenn. Max Domi added a shootout goal.

For their third preseason contest, the Sharks lineup included forward prospects Timo Meier, Noah Rod, Ryan Carpenter, Kevin Labanc, and Rudolfs Balcers. On defense, Joakim Ryan, Radim Simek, Nick DeSimone and Tim Heed joined Sharks veterans Brendan Dillon and Dylan DeMelo. Recent addition Brandon Bollig played at forward with Sharks regulars Logan Couture, Chris Tierney, Barclay Goodrow, Joonas Donskoi, and Mikkel Boedker. Troy Grosenick started in net with Aaron Dell backing up. Goaltender Antti Raanta played the first two periods for Arizona, and his backup Marek Langhamer played the third.

The Coyotes jumped out to a strong lead with two goals in the first period. The first came just 30 seconds in from Nick Cousins, asisted by Alex Goligoski and Christian Dvorak. The second came from Derek Stepan at 7:26, assisted by Clayton Keller. The Sharks challenged the second goal as offside, but the call held up on review and the Sharks came away witha penalty to kill.

The Coyote power play was shortened by a hooking call to Goligoski at 9:01. Playing 4 on 4, the Sharks gave up another goal, this one to Luke Schenn, with Stepan and Keller picking up the assists.

The Sharks scored on the ensuing power play when Mikkel Boedker beat Coyote goaltender Antti Raanta. Assists went to Ryan and Heed. Boedker cut the lead to one when he took advantage of a broken play to score, assisted by Joonas Donskoi at 18:49.

Nick Cousins started the second period as he had the first, extending the Coyotes lead back to two at 1:38. The lead lasted for several minutes, until Barclay Goodrow and Kevin Labanc both scored in just over a minute. Sorensen and Carpenter took assists on the first, Tierney and Meier assisted on the tying goal.

Brandon Bollig and Michael Latta exchanged blows in the second half of the period. The teams exchanged penalties as the period wound down, but the score remained tied going into the third.

The Sharks had a scare in the middle of the third when Logan Couture caught a puck to the upper body after Simek tried to dump the puck in. Couture went down but got back up and seemed fine.

The game went to overtime and then on to the shootout. Logan Couture was the first San Jose shooter and he scored. He was followed by Mikkel Boedker, Kevin Labanc and Chris Tierney before Tim Heed got the game winner. Clayton Keller, Max Domi, Derek Stepan, Brendan Perlini and Conor Garland shot for Arizona, with the lone goal scored by Domi.

The Sharks next play on Thursday the 28th at Anaheim.