Tag: Michael Raffl

Sharks Fall 2-1 to Stars, Losing Streak at nine

Published on by M WalshLeave a comment

Dallas Stars defenseman Jani Hakanpaa (2) and center Joe Pavelski (16) defend against San Jose Sharks center Logan Couture (39) in real close battle at the American Airlines Center in Dallas on Sat Apr 16, 2022 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

The Sharks lost their ninth in a row Thursday, 2-1 to the Dallas Stars. Tyler Seguin and Michael Raffl scored for the Stars. Jake Oettinger made 23 saves for the win. Timo Meier scored for the Sharks and Kaapo Kahkonen made 24 saves in the loss.

After the game, Sharks Head Coach Bob Boughner compared the game to the previous outing:

“I thought tonight we played exactly how we want to play in this building against an urgent team. We know how important this game was for Dallas, we tried to match that urgency early. I thought we did. I just thought our game was better, I thought that we played with good structure.”

The Sharks were eliminated from playoff contention after their loss to the Blackhawks on Tuesday. So it should be no surprise that a number of rookies in need of game time were in the lineup Thursday. Out of the lineup were Alexander Barabanov, Erik Karlsson and Radim Simek with injuries of varying degrees. Forward Jasper Weatherby had 8:01 TOI and won 29% of his face-offs, centering Jeffrey Viel and Scott Reedy. Viel had 7:51 TOI. Reedy had two shots, a hit and a blocked shot in 12:10 TOI. Sasha Chmelevski had three shots, two hits, and won 29% of his face-offs in 16:56 TOI, centering Noah Gregor and Matt Nieto. Defenseman Ryan Merkley had an assist, three shots, a blocked shot and a hit in 16:40 TOI, playing with Marc-Edouard Vlasic. Defenseman Nicolas Meloche had a shot, a hit and a blocked shot in 20:31 TOI, playing with Mario Ferraro.

Boughner was not unhappy with the performance of the younger players, and said:

“I thought the young guys all played well, I thought Weatherby coming in, I thought he played fine in the middle. I thought he had a little trouble in his face-offs. You know, but I thought Reedy, and Sasha, [Merkley], all those guys gave us good minutes.”

Tyler Seguin scored the first goal, at 5:55 of the first period. He redirected a shot from Jamie Benn that came across the ice to Seguin, right in front of the blue paint. Assists went to Benn and Ryan Suter.

Michael Raffl scored the second Dallas goal, short handed at 13:32 of the second period. Luke Glendening carried the puck from one o-zone to the other, two on one with Raffl. Glendening made the pass through a sliding Brent Burns to Raffl, who had a clear shot. Assists went to Glendening and Esa Lindell. It was the eleventh short-handed goal that the Sharks have given up this season.

Timo Meier scored at 19:23 of the second, his 33rd of the season. Ryan Merkley sent the puck to the middle of the slot for Meier, who took the shot through traffic. Assists went to Merkley and Mario Ferraro.

The shots were close throughout the game, with a final count of 26-24 Stars. Each team had three shots on the power play, but the Stars had three short-handed shots as well as the short-handed goal. The Sharks won 41% of their face-offs.

The Sharks next play on Sunday at 2:30 PM PT in Minnesota against the Wild.

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

Published on by M WalshLeave a comment

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

By Mary Walsh

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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