Oilers Rout Sharks 9-2, McDavid Earns 100th Point of Season

The San Jose Sharks William Eklund (72) taking a shot that was blocked by the Edmonton Oilers Evan Bouchard (2) in the third period at Rogers Place in Edmonton on Mon Apr 16, 2024 (The Canadian Press via AP)

By Mary Walsh

Connor McDavid, Adam Henrique, Warren Foegele, Dylan Holloway, Corey Perry, Cody Ceci, Evan Bouchard scored for the Oilers. Stuart Skinner made 19 saves for the 9-2 win over the San Jose Sharks at Rogers Place in Edmonton. Connor McDavid earned his 100th assist of the season in the game, only the second Oiler and the fourth NHL player to do so.

Danil Gushchin and Fabian Zetterlund scored for the Sharks. Mikael Granlund extended his point streak to 12 games with an assist. Devin Cooley made 14 saves on 22 shots before being pulled in the second period. Georgi Romanov made 15 on 16 shots saves in his NHL debut.

For the third time this season, the Sharks allowed nine or more goals. After the game, Sharks Head Coach David Quinn said: “We never looked like we were really… thought we had a chance. That’s kinda what it felt like. We were slow, very slow in everything that we were doing. We were losing a lot of battles and it was a lot of hesitation in our game.”

Sharks defenseman Mario Ferraro said: “That was really what I thought went wrong today, is we maybe looked at the lineup on the other end and we played scared in the first period. And obviously it was a snowball effect.”

Sharks center Luke Kunin talked about the disappointing game and how the team let goaltender Devin Cooley down: “We didn’t help him out at all. With the odd-mans, how many looks he was getting, with the way that we started the game. You know, try to say a few things to him, obviously he’s a competitive guy as well, it wasn’t his fault by any means.”

Connor McDavid started the scoring just 53 seconds into the first period. McDavid carried the puck into the zone at speed and as he approached the goal line, he centered the puck for Zach Hyman. The pass did not get through. Instead, it hit Marc-Edouard Vlasic and went into the net. An assist went to Darnell Nurse.

Adam Henrique made it 2-0 at 4:01. Catching a Brett Kulak pass from the blue line, Henrique settled the puck down in traffic before lifting it over Cooley for the goal.

Warren Foegele added another at 10:40. Skating in two-on-one with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Foegele scored with a wrist shot from inside the faceoff circle. An assist went to Leon Draisaitl.

At this point, the Sharks still only had one shot on goal. By the end of the period, they had six shots ot the Oilers’ 10.

At 19:35, Dylan Holloway tipped in the fourth Oilers goal off a shot from Adam Henrique. Assists to Henrique and Nurse.

The Sharks got on the board at 1:58 of the second period. Danil Gushchin took a shot from the goal line that snuck between the Skinner and the post. An assist went to Thomas Bordeleau.

Less than three minutes later, Foegele scored his second of the night to make it 5-1. Foegele redirected a shot from Nugent-Hopkins. Cooley stopped that but the puck got away from him and Foegele followed up and poked the puck over the line. Assists went to Nugent-Hopkins and Draisaitl.

Corey Perry made it 6-1 near the midpoint of the period. Evan Bouchard went for the shot and Cooley came out to stop it. But the puck went past him and Perry was lurking by the other post to poke the puck in. Assists went to Bouchard and Holloway.

Cody Ceci made it 7-1 at 13:18. Trailing the play and then going ot the net, Ceci redirected a pass from Henrique. Assists went to Henrique and Hyman.

Evan Bouchard made it 8-1, just 31 seconds later. In a play almost exactly like the prior one, Corey Perry sent the puck across the ice for Bouchard to redirect past Cooley on the glove side. Assists went to Perry and Holloway.

The Sharks pulled Cooley after that one and put rookie Georgi Romanov in net.

A little less than a minute later, Zach Hyman scored to make it 9-1. In another two-on-one, Connor McDavid and Hyman skated in. McDavid a short pass for Hyman to nudge in. Assists went to McDavid and Nurse.

That was it for the Oilers. The Sharks scored one in the third period. Mikael Granlund carried the puck in two-on-one with Fabian Zetterlund. Granlund took a shot while skating through center ice. Skinner stopped that. William Eklund got a stick on it but it did not go in. The puck bounced around in the blue paint before Zetterlund got his stick on it and scored with a backhand shot. Assists went to Eklund and Granlund.

The Sharks will play their final game of the season at 6:00 PM PT on Thursday in Calgary against the Flames.

Sharks Fall Prey to Surging Predators, Lose 8-2

San Jose Sharks goaltender Chrona Magnus (30) was pelted with shots all night here the Nashville Predators right winger Michael McCarron (47) celebrates after scoring in the second period at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville on Tue Mar 19, 2024 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks fell 8-2 to the Nashville Predators Tuesday. The Predators have now won 13 of their last 15 games, and earned overtime points in the other two of those 15. Roman Josi, Jason Zucker, Michael McCarron, Luke Evangelista, Mark Jankowski and Tommy Novak scored for Nashville.

Juuse Saros made 18 saves for the win. Mikael Granlund and Mario Ferraro scored for San Jose. Magnus Chrona made 32 saves in the loss. The Sharks have now lost five in a row. In their last ten games, they have one win, one overtime loss and one shootout loss.

After the game, two former Predators described the game in gloomy terms. Mikael Granlund described the game as: “A good thirty minutes and bad next 30 minutes.” Luke Kunin said: “Bad in the D zone, not closing quick enough, giving ‘em too much time and space, them getting behind us, us turning pucks over. I think it was pretty clear the things we were doing to kind of feed their offense.”

Sharks Head Coach David Quinn gave the Predators credit for playing well: “They obviously are in a great groove right now, they’re playing really good hockey, they’re fast, they’re physical, they really play to their identity, each line plays to their identity, they know who they are.” On the other hand, of the Sharks he said: “I thought we did a good job for the first 30 minutes and [then] just really got away from giving ourselves any type of chance.”

The first goal of the game came midway through the first period. Filip Forsberg got to the puck after a faceoff, sent it to Ryan McDonagh at the point. McDonagh sent it along the blue line to Roman Josi who scored with a slap shot.

Mikael Granlund tied the game at 17:18. Klim Kostin’s pass found Granlund skating into the zone clear of any defenders. He took a quick wrist shot to score his tenth of the season. Assists went to Kostin and Mario Ferraro.

Mario Ferraro gave the Sharks a 2-1 lead with a wrist shot from high in the zone at 5:46 of the second period.

Jason Zucker tied it back up at 9:37. When Colton Sissons’ shot trickled under Chrona, Zucker got behind the goaltender to push it over the line. Assists went to Sissons and McDonagh.

Michael McCarron gave the Predators the lead again at 15:26. Roman Josi skated down to the net and had almost reached the goal line when he centered the puck into some traffic. Keifer Sherwood took a shot and that created a rebound that went to McCarron for a shot at an open net.

Luke Evangelista made it 4-2 at 17:50. Skating across the slot, he took a backhand shot that beat Chrona. Assists went to Josi and Forsberg.

Cole Smith deflected a shot into the net after time expired for the period, scoring the first of two consecutive disallowed goals for the Predators.

Luke Evangelista pushed the puck into the net early in the third period but the goal was called back as Zucker pushed Chrona into the net before Evangelista took the shot.

Michael McCarron scored his second of the night at 10:35 of the third period. He caught a pass off the boards and shot around some traffic to score. An assist went to Sherwood.

Mark Jankowski made it 6-2 at 14:13, deflecting a shot from Tyson Barrie. Barrie and Anthony Beauvillier got the assists.

Filip Forsberg scored his second of the night just 30 seconds later. Gustav Nyquist failed to score from the goal line but created a rebound for Forsberg. Assists went to Nyquist and McDonagh.

Tommy Novak scored his 15th of the season to make it 8-2 at 16:16 with a backhand shot. Assists went to Sherwood and Jankowski.

The Sharks next play on Thursday back in San Jose against the Tampa Bay Lightning at 7:30 PM PT.

NHL podcast with Len Shapiro: Stadium Series gets TV ratings boost from outdoor games; Canes Andersen is on the way back from blood clotting; plus more news

TV ratings were up 21% at the Met Life East Rutherford in the NHL Navy Federal Credit Union Stadium Series on Sat Feb 17 with the Philadelphia Flyers vs. the New Jersey Devils and on Sun Feb 18 New York Rangers vs. New York Islanders (AP News photo)

On the NHL podcast with Len:

#1 Len, the NHL Stadium Series with the Philadelphia Flyers and New Jersey Devils on Sat 17th and the New York Rangers and New York Islanders Sun 18th were big hits at Met Life Stadium in East Rutherford. Both games combined for 150,000 fans and the TV rating were up 21% from last season’s Stadium Series. ABC TV had 1.37 million viewers and 449,000 in the 18-49 demographic.

#2 Len talk about the Toronto Maple Leafs Austin Matthews he’s been unstoppable on Wednesday night he scored his 50th and 51st goals of the season in 54 games. Matthews also has 24 assists and a total of 75 points. San Ramon’s very own Matthews was born in your neck of the woods Contra Costa County.

#3 The Chicago Blackhawks Connor Bedard is a big fan of the Detroit Red Wings Patrick Kane for the first time this season. Bedard who will face Kane who has won the Stanley Cup three times and looks at it as a challenge and an honor to face one of the best former Blackhawks in history. Face off between the two teams at the United Center in Chicago is Sunday at 6:00pm ET/3:00pm PT.

#4 The Philadelphia Flyers after winning three straight games dropped their next two one to the Toronto Maple Leafs and the second to the New Jersey Devils. Flyers head coach John Tortorella was barking at his players during the Monday morning skate “not enough” and said he wanted “more from everybody” and it looked like it worked as the Flyers who took on the Blackhawks on Wednesday night and played a much tighter game and getting the win 3-1.

#5 The Toronto Maple Leafs and the Edmonton Oilers have expressed interest in a possible trade for the San Jose Sharks center Luke Kunin and defenseman Mario Ferraro. Ferraro is in the third year of his four year $13 million contract and Kunin is under team control and would be a restricted free agent after this season. The Sharks would get a first rounder from either club.

Join Len Shapiro for the NHL podcast Thursdays at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Jets Shut Out Sharks 1-0, Ferraro and Granlund Return, Hertl and Couture Out

Winnipeg Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck (37) deflects the puck that goes wide as the Jets Dylan DeMelo (2) defends against the San Jose Sharks Mikeal Granlund (64) at Canada Life Center in Winnipeg on Wed Feb 14, 2024 (The Canadian Press via AP photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks were shut out 1-0 by the Winnipeg Jets on Wednesday. Morgan Barron scored the only goal in the game and Connor Hellebuyck made 17 saves for the shutout win. Kaapo Kahkonen made 38 saves in the loss.

After the game, Sharks goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen said, of the many shots he faced: “They’re a pretty high shot volume team but overall I think what we did well was, even though they got a lot of shots on net, I think we boxed out, we kinda kept them outside so that was good for me.”

Sharks Head Coach David Quinn had a more dismal view of what the Sharks were doing with the puck:

“We had plenty of opportunities to make crisp passes and didn’t do it, I thought our puck play was really slow. I thought we were standing still when we got pucks. That really was the story to me of the night. I didn’t think we had any pace to our game with the puck.”

The Sharks started well in the first period, getting four shots on net before the Jets had any. The Jets turned that around and had 15 shots without allowing the Sharks any more in the period.

With 2:13 left in the period, the Jets scored. Morgan Barron deflected Adam Lowry’s shot from the point for his ninth goal of the season. Assists went to Lowry and Neal Pionk.

The Sharks took one penalty in the first period and allowed one shot to the Jets power play.

At 17:10 of the second period, it looked like Anthony Duclair might have tied the game. A review showed that the puck was stopped by Mark Sheifele, who had slipped in behind his goaltender.

The Jets again out-shot the Sharks in the second period, 16-8. Each team took a penalty in the second period. The Sharks allowed one shot to the Jets power play, and had one short-handed shot. They had no shots in their own power play.

Midway through the third period, Nico Sturm left the game after a hit from Logan Stanley, Stanley’s knee came up behind Sturm’s legs as Sturm fell, causing Sturm to hit the ice head and shoulders first.

In the final minute, Kaapo Kahkonen sustained what appeared to be a lower body injury. He was able to get to the bench so the Sharks could add an extra skater.

The final shot count was 40-18 Jets. In the face-off circle, the Sharks won 38.5% of the draws. Nico Sturn led the team in shots with four.

Mario Ferraro and Mikael Granlund were back in the lineup after being injured before the All Star break. Both Tomas Hertl and Logan Couture were out. Hertl had scheduled knee surgery after the All Star Game. The team had advanced notice and, while the surgery was not emergent, it was needed. Logan Couture is having problems with the same lower body injury that kept him out for most of the season.

The Sharks next play on Thursday at 6:00 PM PT in Calgary against the Flames.

Sharks Beat Kings 4-3 in Shootout, Couture Scores in SO; San Jose wins second straight game in LA

Logan Couture (39) the San Jose Sharks center and team captain with the Los Angeles Kings center Anze Kopitar (11) meet at center ice with former Los Angeles Rams running back Marshall Faulk (28) for the pre game puck drop ceremonies at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks defeated the Los Angeles Kings 4-3 in a shootout on Monday. Fabian Zetterlund, William Eklund, Justin Bailey scored for the Sharks in regulation. Zetterlund and Logan Couture scored in the shootout. Kaapo Kahkonen made 44 saves for the win. Trevor Moore, Quinton Byfield and Drew Doughty scored for the Kings and David Rittich mdae 24 saves in the loss.

Midway through the second period, Sharks defenseman Mario Ferraro sustained a lower body injury going into the boards after a hit by Trevor Lewis. He dragged himself to the bench and did not return to play. Sharks Head Coach David Quinn said that he expects Ferraro to miss at least “a couple games.”

Ferraro’s injury left the team short one defenseman for roughly half of regulation. After the game, Quinn said:

“Yeah, it was a gritty one. Listen, obviously we went down to five D there and you could see our D getting tired and they turned it up a little bit there in the third and towards the end of the second. But we just kept battling and competing and I give our D-corps a ton of credit. They turned it up and we answered.”

In a scoreless first period, the Sharks were out-shot by the Kings 18-6. They picked things up in the second. With an extra skater on during a delayed penalty, Fabian Zetterlund scored with a snap shot in the slot at 7:46. Assists went to Mike Hoffman and Tomas Hertl.

William Eklund made it 2-0 with a snap shot at 9:06.. Skating into the zone with Nico Sturm, Eklund caught Sturm’s pass and took the shot from inside the left circle. Assists went to Sturm and Jan Rutta

Trevor Moore got the Kings on the board with a snap shot at 17:06. From the right circle, he put the puck into the far corner. An assist went to Kevin Fiala.

Quinton Byfield tied the game with a slap shot at 1:33 of the third. Adrian Kempe centered the puck from near the goal line and Kahkonen could not get across in time to stop Byfield’s shot. Assists went to Kempe and Jordan Spence.

Justin Bailey gave the Sharks a 3-2 lead at 6:07. Skating in on a breakaway, Bailey’s wrist shot went under Rittich for Bailey’s third of the season. An assist went to Ryan Carpenter.

Drew Doughty tied it again on the power play with six Kings skaters on the ice. He scored with a slap shot from just below the blue line at 18:02. Assists went to Kevin Fiala and Quinton Byfield.

The game went through overtime, during which the Sharks had just two shots to the Kings’ five. In the shootout, Logan Couture and Fabian Zetterlund scored. Kahkonen stopped shots from Trevor Moore and Adrian Kempe.

The Sharks were out-shot by the Kings 47-27 in the game. They won 54.7% of the draws. Logan Couture led the team in face-offs, winning 9 of 14 draws.

The Sharks next play Tuesday, back in San Jose against the New York Rangers at 7:30 PM PT.

Sharks Defeat Canadiens 3-2, Blackwood’s 1st Road Win of Season;12 game skid finally comes to an end

San Jose Sharks Filip Zadina (18) raises arms to join teammates in celebration after snapping their 12 game losing streak at the Bell Centre in Montreal on Thu Jan 11, 2024 (San Jose Sharks photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks defeated the Montreal Canadiens 3-2 on Thursday, ending a 12-game losing streak at the Bell Centre in Montreal. Luke Kunin, Fabian Zetterlund and Nick Okhotiuk scored for the Sharks. Mackenzie Blackwood made 33 saves for his first road win of the season. Brendan Gallagher and Josh Anderson scored for the Canadiens. Sam Montembeault made 32 saves in the loss.

Sharks defenseman, Mario Ferraro, said that the team felt good going into the game. The Sharks had a good practice and a team dinner the night before. Ferraro explained how those helped the team:

“What happened on the ice was a reflection of how we were feeling prior to the game. And that was more positive, leaning on each other a little bit more and finding the love in this game a little bit more. Obviously being on that little losing streak that we had, … you kind of forget about the reason why you play. We brought that back, we brought some light back to the locker room.”

Sharks Head Coach David Quinn said:

“As we’ve touched on, we’ve been digging ourselves out of a mental hole. And I thought our start was just okay and then I thought we got better and better as the game went on. You don’t go through what we’ve been through and all of a sudden feel great about yourselves. You’ve got to earn it and we started earning it shift after shift. And that’s how we have to get out of this and we took a big step today.”

The first period saw the Sharks take a two goal lead. Luke Kunin started the scoring with a goal at 5:19 of the first. Kunin intercepted a pass in front of the net for his sixth of the season.

Fabian Zetterlund made it 2-0 for the Sharks at 17:25. On his way behind the net, Tomas Hertl made a backhand pass right to Zetterlund on the edge of the faceoff circle. Assists went to Hertl and Filip Zadina.

Just 21 seconds later, Brendan Gallagher got one back for the Canadiens. Mike Matheson made a pass into traffic in the slot and found Gallagher who scored with a snap shot. Assists went to Matheson and David Savard.

Montreal out-shot the Sharks 11-7 in the first period but the Sharks had a good first in the faceoff circle, winning 65.4% of the draws.

Nick Okhotiuk made it 3-1 for the Sharks late in the second period. Mikael Granlund carried the puck around behind the net, battling defenders. Continuing to the top of the faceoff circle, he spotted Okhotiuk on his way down from the point. The defenseman was almost at the net when he caught Granlund’s pass for a snap shot. Assists went to Granlund and William Eklund. It was Okhotiuk’s first goal with the Sharks, and he also became the youngest Sharks defenseman to score a goal in Montreal.

The Sharks pulled ahead on the shot clock with 17 shots to Montreal’s 9 in the second period.

The Canadiens pulled their goaltender with more than five minutes left in the third. 90 seconds later, the Sharks had not been able to push the puck out of the zone even once. The gambit paid off for Montreal. Mike Matheson scored with a slap shot from the middle of the blue line to make it 3-2. Assists went to Cole Caulfield and Nick Suzuki.

The Canadiens pulled their goaltender again with a minute left and again hemmed the Sharks in the defensive zone. The Sharks did finally clear the puck out with less than a second remaining. The final shot count was 36-35 Canadiens. The Canadiens improved in the faceoff circle as the game went on, so that the Sharks’ advantage slipped to 54.4% by the end. Both teams had perfect penalty kills.

Marc-Edouard Vlasic returned to the lineup Thursday. He played just under 21 minutes and had two shots on goal.

The Sharks next play on Saturday in Ottawa against the Senators at 1:00 PM PT.

Sharks Lose 3-1 to Avalanche, Ferraro Injured; SJ suffers eighth straight loss

The Colorado Avalanche’s right winger Valeri Nichushkin (13) takes a shot as the San Jose Sharks defenseman Henry Thrun covers in the first period at the Ball Arena in Denver on Sun Dec 31, 2023 (AP News)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks fell 3-1 to the Colorado Avalanche Sunday night. Mikko Rantanen, Valeri Nichushkin and Josh Manson scored for Colorado. Alexandar Georgiev made 10 saves for the win. Tomas Hertl scored for San Jose and Kaapo Kahkonen made 31 saves in the loss. It was the Sharks’ eighth loss in a row.

After the game, Sharks Head Coach David Quinn recognized that his team was at a disadvantage, losing “our best defenseman five minutes into the game, playing a team that, you know, has a great chance to win the Stanley Cup.” Nonetheless, he saw some good in the Sharks game: “With our d-corps as young as we are, to hang in there against this team, I couldn’t be prouder of our team. Our goalie was outstanding. It’s 1-1 with five minutes to go and they get a … six-on-five goal and … an empty netter.”

The first goal of the game came on a Colorado power play at 6:58 of the first period. Nathan MacKinnon sent the puck across the ice low in the offensive zone. Mikko Rantanen was there to catch it and snap it over Kaapo Kahkonen. Assists went to MacKinnon and Nichushkin.

The Sharks had just three shots in that first period, while Colorado had ten. Additionally, midway through the first period, Sharks defenseman Mario Ferraro took a hit from Nathan MacKinnon that knocked him out of the game with an upper-body injury. The team gave no update on his status after the game.

The only penalty in the first period was the too many men call against the Sharks. By contrast, the second period saw a slew of penalties: interference, hi-sticking, slashing, hooking and a set of matching roughing penalties, distributed fairly evenly between the teams.

The Sharks tied the game during one of those penalties, scoring a power play goal at 16:53. Mikael Granlund’s pass found Tomas Hertl in the slot for a quick shot past the goaltender. Assists went to Granlund and Calen Addison. That was the Sharks’ eighth shot of the game, their fifth of the second period.

The Sharks held the game 1-1 until late in the third period, despite having no shots in the period until the final five minutes. Even then, they only had two shots in the third.

During a delayed penalty against the Sharks, Colorado took the lead at 16:31. Valeri Nichushkin scored from just above the goal line off a pass from Jack Johnson. Assists went to Johnson and MacKinnon.

The Sharks pulled Kahkonen during a late penalty and then kept him out during the final minute. The Avalanche missed a few shots at the empty net before Josh Manson finally got one in.

The Sharks next play on Tuesday in San Jose at 7:30 PM PT against the Detroit Red Wings.

Sharks Fall to Golden Knights 5-4 in SO

Las Vegas Golden Knights right wing Jonathan Marchessault (81) takes a shot against the San Jose Sharks goaltender Kappo Kahkonen (36) during the shootout at T Mobile Center in Las Vegas on Sun Dec 10, 2023 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks were defeated, 5-4 in a shootout, by the Golden Knights in Las Vegas on Sunday. Vegas goals came from Jonathan Marchessault (2), Chandler Stephenson and Brayden McNabb. Jiri Patera made 35 saves for the win. Sharks goals came from Mario Ferraro, Mike Hoffman(2) and Calen Addison. Kaapo Kahkonen made 23 saves in the loss.

The Sharks started the game without William Eklund or Marc-Edouard Vlasic in the lineup. Anthony Duclair left the game one shift into the second period with a jaw injury. Additionally, Justin Bailey missed more than 20 minutes of playing time but did return. Nonetheless, the Sharks managed a lot of shots on goal (39) and pulled off a surprising comeback to earn a point.

After the game, Sharks defenseman Mario Ferraro said, of the lineup changes: “When we lost those guys, obviously it doesn’t help us but I don’t think we had to change anything in terms of the way that we were playing. We were already going, we already felt good, I think if we had [Duclair] stay in the lineup for the full 60 minutes, who knows.”

Sharks Head Coach David Quinn said: “Just so proud of our guys, and then you throw in the fact that we lose two forwards during the course of the game, Duclair and Bailey… really had a short bench. Guy had to play a lot of minutes at the end of a road trip.”

Mario Ferraro opened the scoring 29 seconds into the game with a wrist shot from the top of the circle. It was his first goal of the season. Assists went to Kyle Burroughs and Mikael Granlund.

Marchessault tied the game 5:34 into the second period. His wrist shot went short side off after a quick entry that caught the Sharks outnumbered. An assist went to Ben Hutton.

Chandler Stephenson gave the Knights the lead with a deflection on the power play at 15:44. Assists went to Alex Pietrangelo and Mark Stone.

Brayden McNabb made it 3-1 with a wrist shot at 1:43 of the third period. Assists went to Jack Eichel and Kaedan Korczak.

Mike Hoffman cut the lead to 3-2 at 3:56 with a power play goal. Assists went to Granlund and Kaapo Kahkonen.

Marchessault scored his second of the night to make it 4-2 at 9:23. Assists went to Stephenson and Zach Whitecloud.

Calen Addison scored his first of the season and his first as a Shark at 16:15 of the third, cutting the Knights’ lead to 4-3. Assists went to Justin Bailey and Filip Zadina.

With the Sharks’ net empty, Hoffman scored his second of the night to push the game to overtime. That goal came at 19:21 and assists went to Tomas Hertl and Alexander Barabanov.

After a scoreless overtime period, Jack Eichel and Marchessault both scored in the shootout, giving the Golden Knights the win. Kevin Labanc and Granlund shot for the Sharks but Patera stopped them. Nicolas Roy’s shot was stopped by Kahkonen.

The Sharks will return home to play the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday at 7:30 PM PT.

Sharks Shut Out 6-0 by Lightning; San Jose remains winless at 0-6-1

The San Jose Sharks goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen (36) replaces Sharks starting goalie MacKenzie Blackwood in the second period at Amalie Arena in Tampa Bay on Thu Oct 26, 2023 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks, still winless after seven games, fell to the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-0 in Thursday. Brayden Point, Michael Eyssimont, Steven Stamkos, Brandon Hagel, Nicholas Paul and Luke Glendenning scored for the Lightning. Jonas Johansson made 31 saves for the shutout win, his second shutout in a row. Mackenzie Blackwood made 16 saves on 21 shots before Kaapo Kahkonen replaced him in the net. Kahkonen made 9 saves on 10 shots.

Though not their first loss of the season, this was the first time the Sharks were shut out. After the game, Sharks defenseman Mario Ferraro said: “Not good, not good at all. Weren’t hard enough to play against, too much time and space for them. It wasn’t a good game for us. No, we’re not happy about that one, there’s nothing positive to take out of that.”

When asked what the team needs to do to improve offensively, Ferraro said: “I think we just as a team have to stop worrying about that.” He later elaborated on that:

“I think maybe we’re thinking too much on what we got to do offensively and how to create and I think just narrowing it down to the little things, our compete and being good teammates and working hard every night. Until we’re consistent with that, we can’t worry about scoring.”

Brayden Point scored the first of the game at 1:41 of the first. Mikhail Sergachev made a pass from the left side of the blue line down tot the right circle and Point shot it to the far side over Blackwood’s shoulder. Assists went to Sergachev and Nick Perbix.

Michael Eyssimont scored next, at 6:03, tipping a blue line shot while falling in front of the net. That shot came from Calvin deHaan. Perbix also got an assist.

Steven Stamkos made it 3-0 with a goal in the final minute of the period, during a 5-on-3 power play. Assists went to Nikita Kucherov and Mikhail Sergachev.

Brandon Hagel made it 4-0 with a break away goal at 4:01 of the second period. Assists went to Alex Barré-Boulet and Victor Hedman.

Nicholas Paul added another at 7:29, with a back-hand on a rebound in traffic. Assists went to Stamkos and Hedman.

The Sharks pulled Blackwood after that goal and sent Kaapo Kahkonen into the net.

The sixth goal of the game came from Luke Glendenning at 5:44 of the third period. Connor Sheary’s shot was deflected by Glendenning and then went off of Matt Benning and Kyle Burroughs before bouncing into the net. Assists went to Sheary and Darren Raddysh.

The Sharks had just seven shots in each of the first two periods and nine in the third. They had two unsuccessful power plays and killed three of four penalties. The Sharks won 61.5% of the faceoffs. The Sharks were again without Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Alexander Barabanov was out due to injury.

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

NHL podcast with Len Shapiro: Sens Norris scores goal in first game since Jan 21st; Jets Vilardi out with knee injury; plus more NHL news

The Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Chad Ruhwedel (2) pushes the Ottawa Senators center Josh Norris (9) on Wed Jan 18, 2023 at Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa. Norris had been out of action since Jan 21, 2023 due to a shoulder injury. Norris returned to action Wed Oct 18, 2023 against the Washington Capitals and scored a goal in the contest. (The Canadian Press via AP photo)

On the NHL podcast with Len Shapiro:

#1 Ottawa Senators center Josh Norris made his season debut Wednesday night at the Canadian Tire Center. Norris played in his first game since Jan 21 Norris had tweaked his shoulder just one week before training camp started. Norris had missed 90 games because of shoulder injuries.

#2 The Winnipeg Jets center Gabriel Vilardi is expected to be out four to six weeks due to a MCL in his right knee. Vilardi doesn’t need surgery and Jets head coach Rick Bowness said he’s glad that would have put Vilardi out for awhile and that this was the best case scenario.

#3 Len talk about the shot that Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Fredrik Andersen right between the eyes off the mask that took him out of the game from a San Jose Sharks Mario Ferraro shot in the first period on Tuesday night. Antti Raanta replaced Andersen. The Hurricanes called up Pyotr Kochetkov from their Syracuse AHL affiliate.

#4 The Nashville Predators defenseman Luke Schenn will miss four to six weeks due to a lower body injury. Schenn has been out of action since Oct 10th the Preds opening night when they lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-3. Schenn leads the Predators in defense with four hits and one blocked shot.

#5 The NHL Heritage Classic this Oct 29th will mark the 20th outdoor game between the Edmonton Oilers and the Calgary Flames. The game will be held at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton. Commonwealth holds 57,000 fans. Two refrigeration trucks are helping getting the ice installed. The trucks traveled from Ontario to Edmonton.

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