Tag: Morgan Reilly

NHL podcast with Len Shapiro: Blackhawks Bedard back in line up tonight; Panthers Reinhart smartest forward in NHL says coach; plus more news

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Chicago Blackhawks Connor Bedard will return tonight against the Pittsburgh Penguins at the United Center in Chicago. Bedard who suffered a broken jaw in early January has returned a lot earlier than expected. (AP file photo)

On the NHL podcast with Len Shapiro:

#1 Connor Bedard the number one NHL draft choice is back in the line up tonight from a broken jaw he and the Chicago Blackhawks will be facing off against the Pittsburgh Penguins His return is earlier than expected and Bedard leads the Blackhawks in scoring.

#2 Things are going relatively well for the Florida Panthers forward Sam Reinhart. Reinhart has a career high 39 goals. Panthers head coach Paul Maurice said that Reinhart has the high IQ of a forward.

#3 Len, the Vancouver Canucks Phil Kessel will be working out at the Canucks AHL affiliate Abbotsford Canucks facilities. Kessel played all last season for the Vegas Golden Knights and has not played for Vancouver yet. Kessel is 36 years old and had 36 points, 14 goals, 22 assists in 82 games regular season games for the Knights. Kessel did not play in the Knights post season.

#4 The Philadelphia Flyers who will be in the Navy Federal Credit Union NHL Stadium Series outdoor game this Saturday against the New Jersey Devils at Met Life Stadium in East Rutherford are still waiting to see how Tyson Forester (lower body injury) and Rasmus Ristolainen (upper body injury) are coming along. Neither played on Monday against the Arizona Coyotes nor practiced on Wednesday.

#5 The Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Morgan Reilly who crossed checked the Ottawa Senators Ridly Grieg in the head was suspended by the NHL Department of Player Safety for five games. Grieg as laid out after the cross check in Saturday’s game. The penalty happened within the last few seconds of the game as the Senators were leading the Leafs 4-3. Grieg scored on a empty netter with six seconds left and that’s when Reilly came up from behind Grieg and crossed checked him. Reilly’s motivation for the crosscheck was that Greig was piling on when the Sens had a one goal lead with six seconds left for a 5-3 Senators win.

#6 Tuesday the Boston Bruins goaltender Linus Ullmark was fined $5,000 for high sticking the the Tampa Bay Lightning’s forward Michael Eyssimont. The penalty was at 5:21 of the third period. Sometimes frustrations happen but apparently the officials ruled that Ullmark’s high stick went too far and Ullmark ended up getting the maximum fine by the NHL’s Department of Player safety.

#7 The San Jose Sharks wing man Tomas Hertl will miss several weeks after having left knee surgery. The surgery was performed to remove cartilage from the knee. Hertl after recovery will rehab and will be evaluated when he could return. Hertl was aware of the knee prior to playing the NHL All Star Game and decided to have the surgery after the All Star break.

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

Sharks Buried 7-1 by Maple Leafs, Losing Streak at 12

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The Toronto Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews (34) and forward Mitch Marner (16) scramble for the puck against the San Jose Sharks forward William Eklund (72) in the first period at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto on Tue Jan 9, 2024 (Canadian Press via AP photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks lost 7-1 to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday. Morgan Reilly, Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, Pontus Holmberg, Jake McCabe and Nicholas Robertson scored for Toronto, with Marner scoring twice.

Martin Jones made 22 saves for the win. Sharks defenseman Henry Thrun scored for the Sharks, his first goal in the NHL. Kaapo Kahkonen made 16 saves on 20 shots before being relieved by Mackenzie Blackwood, who made 22 saves in the loss.

Morgan Reilly opened the scoring at 16:48 of the first period, a wrist shot from low in the slot. Tyler Bertuzzi was creating a good screen right in front of the Sharks goaltender. Assists went to William Nylander and TJ Brodie.

Auston Matthews made it 2-0 with a slap shot on the power play at 17:22. Low in the faceoff circle, Matthews sent the puck between Kahkonen and the post. Assists went to Mitch Marner and William Nylander.

Mitch Marner scored just 54 seconds into the second period to make it 3-0. From just above the goal line, and facing away from the goal, Marner pushed the puck behind him into the blue paint where it slipped by Kahkonen. Assists went to Jake McCabe and Timothy Liljegren.

Pontus Holmberg scored the fourth goal at 2:06. Skating into the zone, Holmberg held Kyle Burroughs off with his left hand while guiding the puck with one hand on the stick. Assists went to Bobby McMann and David Kampf.

The Sharks changed goaltenders after that goal, bringing in Mackenzie Blackwood.

Henry Thrun got one back for the Sharks at 7:21 of the second. Thrun tipped a shot from Mikael Granlund on the power play, scoring his first goal in the NHL. Assists went to Granlund and Anthony Duclair.

Jake McCabe made it 5-1 at 1:27 of the third period. Off a faceoff win, Marner’s pass found McCabe out in the open and a snap shot beat Blackwood. Assists went to Marner and Simon Benoit.

Marner scored his second of the game at 4:00 of the third period. The first of two goals they would score during a 4-minute major penalty against the Sharks, Marner pushed the puck over the line after Morgan Reilly’s shot was slowed down by Blackwood. Assists went to Reilly and William Nylander.

The second goal for that power play was scored by Nicholas Robertson at 5:54. His shot came from the faceoff dot through some traffic. Assists went to Matthew Knies and Jake McCabe.

The Sharks had Scott Sabourin in the lineup, his debut with the team. The forward had five hits in 11:12 of ice time and took one penalty, that four-minute penalty in the third period. He was called for a high-stick to the face of Simon Benoit.

The Sharks were out-shot badly, 45-23. this was most conspicuous in the first period when they had just five shots to the Leafs’ 16. In the face-off circle they struggled too, winning only 38.7% of the draws. Neither team did well with their penalty kills, as both teams were perfect on the power play.

The Sharks next play on Thursday at 4:00 PM PT in Montreal against the Canadiens.

San Jose Sharks podcast with Mary Lisa Walsh: Leafs don’t give Sharks a chance in 4-1 win Friday night

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Photo credit: rapidcityjournal.com

On the Sharks podcast with Mary Lisa:

#1 The San Jose Sharks fell 4-1 to the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena Friday. Toronto goals came from Jake Muzzin, Morgan Reilly, Ilya Mikheyev and Auston Matthews.

#2 Mary Lisa, was this a little different game than the Sharks’ win over the Canadiens on Thursday night?

#3 Former Toronto Maple Leaf Patrick Marleau played in his old building the Scotiabank Arena on Friday, which turned out to be his 1,500th game with the Sharks.

#4 Leafs goalie Frederik Anderson stopped 16 out of 17 as Kevin Labanc got the lone goal for San Jose. Anderson didn’t face a whole barrage of shots and the Leafs defense kept the puck away from the Sharks most of the night.

#5 The road trip continues to Ottawa on Sunday night. Mary Lisa tells us how she sees these two teams in the Sharks fifth game on this five-game road trip.

Mary Lisa does the Sharks podcasts each Saturday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Sharks Fall 4-1 to Maple Leafs

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Photo credit: @SanJoseSharks

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks fell 4-1 to the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena Friday. Toronto goals came from Jake Muzzin, Morgan Reilly, Ilya Mikheyev and Auston Matthews. Goaltender Frederik Andersen made 15 saves for the win. The lone Sharks goal was scored by Kevin Labanc, while goaltender Martin Jones made 24 saves in the loss. It was Patrick Marleau’s 1500th game as a Shark.

The Sharks had to kill five penalties in the game, and only had one power play. Captain Logan Couture talked about how the team handled this second game in two nights, and third in four days:

I thought we put ourselves in a position to win a game. Obviously too many penalties, but the kill was great, kept us in it. Joner made big saves when we had breakdowns on it. You’re gonna have nights like tonight when, you know, you’re not feeling it and you’re not getting much offensively. We were close to pulling out a point there. It’s tough we couldn’t get one but I liked our kill and I liked our defensive, I guess, desperation.

The penalty problem was something the Sharks had discussed before the game. Head Coach Peter DeBoer said:

I think we talked coming in, in 3 in 4 and a back-to-back, that we needed to do a few things and one of them was stay out of the penalty box. You know, you can’t, you got a little bit of a tired team, we took, what, five minors? It’s hard and I thought we ran out of gas in the third killing all those penalties. Made it tough on ourselves with the penalties.

Sharks defenseman Brenden Dillon was asked about a hit he made on Auston Matthews during the game: “Obviously you want to be physical on the good players but I never want to see a guy get injured like that. I saw him leave, I was happy to see him come back in the third. Kinda said, you know, didn’t mean to catch him like that but at the same time, you know, you gotta be hard on those guys, they’re such good players.”

The Sharks started the scoring midway through the first period. Tomas Hertl made a quick play up the boards to Brent Burns at the blue line and Burns took a shot at the net. Kevin Labanc got a piece of it as it went in the net for his fourth of the season. Burns and Hertl got the assists.

Through the second period, the Sharks successfully killed two penalties but only managed three shots on goal. The score stayed 1-0 until the final minute of the second.

Jake Muzzin scored for Toronto with just 3 seconds left in the period. As Muzzin skated to the net, the puck came to him from the corner off of Jason Spezza’s stick. Assists went to Spezza and Ilya Mikheyev.

Toronto took the lead in the third period with a goal from Morgan Reilly at 14:31. William Nylander, Alexander Kerfoot and Cody Ceci entered the zone at speed, drawing the attention of the Sharks defense. Morgan Reilly trailed and Nylander found him as he came across the line. Reilly had also started the play with the first pass in the defensive zone.

Two more goals came from Ilya Mikheyev and Auston Matthews in the final minute of the third. Mikheyev’s goal was into an empty net, with and assist to Mitch Marner. Marner also got an assist on the Matthews goal.

The Sharks next play on Sunday against the Ottawa Senators at 4:00 PM PT.