Tag: NHL

Sharks add Seventh Straight Loss Against Calgary 3-1 at SAP Center

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Another Saturday night action at the tank as the Sharks hosted the Flames in front of a big crowd that expected a victory.

Calgary Flames in action against San Jose Sharks at SAP Center in San Jose on Dec 28, 2024 (AP Photo)

By: Fernando Abarca

Lately, Calgary has been a tough customer for the Sharks as the team added up the eighth loss in nine of the last nine games Sharks losing Saturday night 3-1. Unsurprisingly, the team from Alberta, Canada, is currently fifth in the standings showing great hockey.

Friday night against Vegas, the Sharks suffered one of the most painful losses in the season so far with a 6-3 score in a game where the Sharks completely dominated for most of the 60 minutes of hockey. Saturday night, it was the same result.

The team had many positive things to take away and one of them was the performance of goaltender, Yarovlav Askarov who recorded 30 saves throughout the game.

Also, there were plenty of shots on goal but only one on goal, it has been one of those nights in which the Sharks have not found ways to get ahead.

Macklin Celebrini, is at the top of the rookie scoring with 12 goals and 27 points showing the quality of player that he is and what he has shown in the first half of the season.

Macklin scored a goal in the second period assisted by Alexander Wennberg.

Calgary, despite dominating and being the winner, was very passive. Jonathan Huberdeau put Calgary 1-0 in the first period, while the second goal fell in the second period by Mikael Backlund. In an empty net, Huberdeau sealed the game with a goal in the last seconds of the third.

This game has surely been one of the most challenging for the Sharks due to the injuries that occurred during the course of the game, especially to key players who decide the game. At the press conference, Macklin Celebrini appeared indifferent, pensive, and at times evasive.

Clearly, they do not want to get used to losing, especially in instances where they can play a good game.

The Sharks will close the year at home, receiving the Flyers on New Year’s Eve.

San Jose Sharks podcast with Mary Lisa: Sharks can’t hold the line Knights score 4 times in third in 6-3 win

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San Jose Sharks Luke Kunin (11) makes a move on the net against the Vegas Golden Knights net minder Adin Hill (33) at SAP Center in San Jose on Fri Dec 27, 2024 (Bay Area News Group photo)

On the SJ Sharks podcast with Mary Lisa:

#1 The San Jose Sharks (11-21-6) were sailing along through the second period with a 3-2 lead until the third period happened and the visiting Vegas Golden Knights (24-8-3) opened up a can on the Sharks scoring four unanswered goals taking a 6-3 lead and then the win.

#2 Mary taking a look at the first period of the game the Sharks defenseman Shakir Mauhamadulin scored his first goal of the season at 14:40 giving the Sharks a 1-0 lead. The Knights would even the score at 6:58 when Noah Hanifin to make it 1-1.

#3 In the second period the Knights Mark Stone scored the first goal of the period at 3:27 to make it 2-1 Knights. The Sharks Will Smith at 5:53 scored for the Sharks to tie it up at 2-2. Then Tyler Toffoli scored his 14th goal of the season at 15:57 and gave the Sharks a 3-2 intermission lead.

#4 The Knights in the third period scored four unanswered goals to quickly erase any lead and any chance for a win for the Sharks. Vegas scorers in the fourth Brayden McNabb at 1:03, Jack Eichel at 1:26, Pavel Dorofeyev at 5:46 and to close all damage out at 19:28 Brett Howden an empty netter for a 6-3 final.

#5 Sharks playing back to back nights face the Calgary Flames on Saturday night at SAP Center for a 7:00pm PST face off. The Flames are fifth in the Pacific Division at 16-11-7. The Flames have won four of their last ten games. The Sharks are in last in the Pacific and with the loss to the Knights being their sixth in a row.

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

Utah HC Comes Up Empty Again At Home In 4-1 Loss To Colorado 

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Colorado Avalanche Artturi Lehkonen (62) gets the puck past Utah Hockey Club goaltender Karl Vejmelka (70) in third period action at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Fri Dec 27, 2024 (AP News photo)

By Tom Walker

SALT LAKE CITY–Utah would have liked to put their 2024 home record behind them after going 1-3-2 in December the pain continues as Utah took a three goal loss to Colorado 4-1 on Friday night at the Delta Center.

The Utah Hockey Club wrapped up their 2024 home schedule on Friday night against the visiting Colorado Avalanche. It was the third and final matchup of the season between the division rivals, with the two teams splitting their previous encounters.

The first period wound up scoreless, with Utah netminder Karel Vejmelka stopping 14 shots and his Colorado counterpart, Mackenzie Blackwood, stopping 11.

Nearly 12 minutes into the second period, Avalanche forward Artturi Lehkonen gave Colorado the first lead of the game with his 11th goal of the season, assisted by Nathan MacKinnon and Sam Malinski. Utah failed to respond in a period which concluded in a fight between MacKinnon and Barrett Hayton with eight seconds remaining.

At 2:36 of the third period, Avs forward Mikko Rantanen went to the penalty box for tripping against Olli Määttä. A little over a minute into the man-advantage, Utah evened the score when Logan Cooley fed the puck to Mikhail Sergachev who ripped a shot from deep in Utah’s offensive zone which was tipped in by Nick Schmaltz for his sixth goal of the season.

With a little more than five minutes remaining in the third, Artturi Kehkonen struck again with his 12th goal of the season, assisted by Valeri Nichushkin and Nathan MacKinnon. As the clock ticked down, Utah pulled Vejmelka for an extra attacker, but the strategy failed when Mikko Rantanen atoned for his penalty with an empty net goal, his 20th of the season, assisted by MacKinnon. As fans began to head to the exits, Artturi Kehkonen completed the hat trick into an empty net unassisted with 26 seconds remaining.

The loss gives Utah a 1-3-2 record at home in December with the regulation losses coming against their closest division rivals competing for the wild card positions. Asked in the locker room about the team’s challenges winning at home, defenseman Mikhail Sergachev commented, “I don’t know. Honestly, we’re coming in every game with the same approach to win and to play our best. At home, it doesn’t show. I don’t think we were changing anything. I don’t know. … Obviously, we want to win in front of our fans, and they get us going every game, but it sucks. We’re trying to win every game. It’s not like we’re not trying at home. I think fans see that we’re not giving up ever. We’re coming in. We’re hitting, going strong, skating well. It’s just unfortunate.”

Head coach André Tourigny, commenting on his team’s performance, “I think we played against a really good team who were ready to play. They played hard the first two periods. I will say, especially in the first period, I think we tried to do a little bit too much with the puck, and we could not get inside. They defended well. I think in the second period, we had a good forecheck and quite good offense from it. In the third period, I think we had a great push. Our goalie was really good. I think we played against a team who will raise their level and that was good hockey.”

Utah, which is 11-6-2 on the road this season, hopes to continue their road success during their next four games in Seattle, Edmonton, Calgary, and Dallas. They will return to Salt Lake City on January 8 to face the Florida Panthers for the first of seven consecutive games at home where they hope to turn the corner in 2025.

Sharks Add Another Loss in Hertl’s Homecoming 6-3

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Tomar Hertl laps around the ice during his tribute video at SAP Center in San Jose during his return as a Golden Knights player on Dec 27, 2024 (Photo by Golden Knights Media)

The San Jose Sharks are back at the Tank to close out 2024 with a series of seven games at home with a very special one among those nights

By: Fernando Abarca

SAN JOSE, CA –– After all the Christmas noise, celebrations, and much more, having the guys back in town is always nice after their trip to Canada. On their last road trip, they played Edmonton and Vancouver, performing well and showing good hockey, but they could not convert in the game’s final instances, losing by one goal in both games.

Vegas is coming Red Hot, winning four of their last five games.

The game also had a different taste as former Shark Tomas Hertl made his return to the tank for the first time after being traded to Vegas early this year. Before puck drop, the team prepared a tribute showing on the jumbotron some of the most remarkable moments of his stint with the Sharks. A standing ovation that was well-received.

In the first period, The 2023 Stanley Cup champions struck first and took advantage of the poor defensive labor to retrieve the puck with a shot on goal by Noah Hanifin, assisted by Victor Olofsson, making it a 1-0 for the Golden Knights.

The building was noisy as the Sharks tried to find ways to score with lots of shots on goal and back and forth hockey.

Late in the first period, Shakir Mukhamadullin made it even with a powerful shot deflected against the boards to give some joy to the fans.

Before the end of the first period, the young San Jose star Macklin Celebrini was sent to the box for a penalty against Jack Eichel for Hooking.

During the second period, The Sharks completed dominated with intensive chemistry, intensive unity, and aggressive hockey. Not to mention the outstanding performance from both San Jose and Vegas goaltenders, again. the chemistry between Smith and Celebrini seems like a good pairing every time they are on the ice.

The Golden Knights scored first in the second period, with Mark Stone putting the second for the Knights.

The Sharks quickly recovered from that goal and showed heart by scoring two goals by Will Smith and Tyler Toffoli, assisted by Macklin Celebrini and Mikael Grandlund, taking the lead by 3-2.

The momentum did not last long, In the third, the Vegas Golden Knights showed why they are top of the standings. Brayden McNabb and Jack Eichel helped the Knights put two more shorthanded goals in favor of the visitors in less than a minute.

It was not enough, four minutes later, Pavel Dorofeyev sealed the fifth one for the Knights. The Teal clearly showed themselves vulnerable, lacking depth, and lacking ideas for execution, errors that cost them the good game they were having.

Tense moments and fights took place in the final minutes of the game. In a 4 4, the Golden Knights took advantage to close the night with six goals and completely ruin a night that the Sharks seemed to have dominated and controlled.

Clearly, it is a loss that certainly hurts.

The Teal is back at home tomorrow night against the Calgary Flames.

NHL podcast with Len Shapiro: McLellan new Red Wings head coach; Wings become McLellan’s 4th team

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Former Los Angeles Kings head coach Todd McLellan has been hired by the Detroit Red Wings on Thu Dec 26, 2024 to replace Derek Lalonde. McLellan formerly coached the San Jose Sharks, Edmonton Oilers and Los Angeles Kings. (AP file photo)

On the NHL podcast with Len Shapiro:

#1 The Detroit Red Wings on Thursday hired former San Jose Sharks head coach Todd McLellan who signed a multi year contact. The Wings fired former head coach Derek Lalonde. McLellan who was fired from his last job with the Los Angeles Kings on Feb 2. McLellan is 598-412-134 in 1444 games. McLellan also was head coach for the San Jose Sharks, Edmonton Oilers, before joining the Kings and has a 42-46 playoff record. McLellan ranks sixth among winningest head coaches. Lalonde is the fourth NHL coach to be fired this year.

#2 For McLellan this is his fourth NHL team and when you consider him the sixth ranking winningest NHL head coach that makes a NHL team looking for an head coach no doubt look for the best in who’s available.

#3 For the Red Wing general manager Steve Yzerman is a third of the way into his third season and had to make a move as the Red Wings were on a three game losing streak previous to Thursday’s coaching change. The Wings have lost nine of their last 12 games and 21 of their first 34 games this season.

#4 Yzerman didn’t see any improvement from Lalonde as the Wings are just above the last place Buffalo Sabres in the Eastern Conference. Lalonde was midway into his third season with the Wings. Lalonde had success as an assistant coach in Tampa Bay winning two Stanley Cup Championships there.

#5 Former San Jose coach and the Red Wings associate coach Bob Boughner was also fired from the Wings and replaced by Trent Yawney to work as an assistant coach. McLellan has a success record out nine of 14 seasons McClellan has led his teams to the post season.

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

Stars Snap Utah HC Eight Game Points Streak In 3-2 Victory 

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Utah Hockey Club’s Ian Cole (28) take a shot at the net in the first period against the Dallas Stars at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Mon Dec 23, 2024 (AP News photo)

By Tom Walker

SALT LAKE CITY–Utah came within a goal late in the game, but could not overcome second period difficulties.

The Utah Hockey Club welcomed the Dallas Stars to Delta Center on Monday for their second faceoff in Salt Lake City this month, the first ending in Utah’s only regulation loss over the past 12 games during which they posted a record of 8-1-3, earning 19 points and re-emerging in the Wild Card hunt.

Dallas winger Colin Blackwell kicked off the scoring eleven minutes into the game with his 4th goal of the season, assisted by Oskar Back. Utah responded less than two minutes later as defenseman Ian Cole ripped a fierce shot from the blue line which was tipped in by Kevin Stenlund for his sixth of the season, with an additional assist given to Michael Carcone.

The Stars owned the second period as center Roope Hintz netted his 15th goal of the season followed by winger Jamie Benn with his 7th.

With just over eight minutes remaining in the third period, Utah center Barrett Hayton, while being pushed down to the ice by Dallas defenseman Miro Heiskanen, tipped in a shot by Nick Schmaltz to get Utah back to within one, but that’s where the game ended up 3-2.

After the game, Hayton, whose goals in back-to-back games have given him 100 career points, commented on the loss. “I think that second period is a learning lesson, obviously. We knew coming into this game, it’s a four point game, a division game. Obviously those matchups are huge. I thought we did a great job in the first period. We were urgent, we were intense, we were on the ball, playing the right way, and you just can’t afford those lapses against good teams. That was what our second period was. It’s gonna be something we have to take as a learning experience right now. We’re all pissed off about it and disappointed and frustrated in ourselves, and yeah, that’s a big game, and sucks for it to go that way.”

Utah Hockey Club head coach André Tourigny, when asked whether the second period decided the outcome, said, “I agree, I think we had 12, 15 or eight minutes where we were not aggressive enough defensively, which led to them possessing the puck a lot, and we could not change from there. But I think we were successful when we are aggressive defensively, when we play with pace and we cut possession, which leads to our own offense and being able to have good chances and having energy out there. So when we stopped doing that, the game turned around.”

Utah concludes its three-game homestand at 7:30pm MST on Friday against the Colorado Avalanche before embarking upon a four-game trip to Seattle, Edmonton, Calgary, and Dallas.

Sharks Fall 4-3 to Canucks, Demko 12-0 Against Sharks

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Vancouver Canucks goaltender Thatcher Demko (35) puts the stop on a shot by the San Jose Sharks in the first period at Rogers Center in Vancouver on Mon Dec 23, 2024 (Canadian Press via AP)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks fell 4-3 to the Vancouver Canucks Monday in the last game before Christmas. Brock Boeser, Kiefer Sherwood and Elias Pettersson scored for the Canucks, with Pettersson scoring twice. Thatcher Demko made 26 saves for the win. William Eklund, Cody Ceci and Luke Kunin scored for the Sharks. Yaroslav Askarov made 20 saves in the loss.

The win was Thatcher Demko’s 12th against the Sharks, maintaining a perfect record against San Jose. While the Sharks improved their third period performance, a brief collapse in the second period was the difference in the game. After the game, Barclay Goodrow talked about that collapse:

“A couple pucks we didn’t get deep, I failed to get behind their D, they turn it up, it’s in the back of our net. That created momentum for their team and next thing you know they’ve scored three. Obviously if we don’t have that little stretch in the game it might be a different outcome.”

Shortly after being hit hard into the boards by Tyler Myers, William Eklund scored the first goal of the game. On a five-on-three power play, Eklund took the shot from the faceoff circle through traffic. Assists went to Mikael Granlund and Macklin Celebrini. The goal was scored at 11:36 of the first period.

Brock Boeser tied the game at 14:10. Skating to the net, he tipped in a shot from Quinn Hughes. An assist also went to Vincent Desharmais.

Though Eklund played through the period, he did not return after the first intermission.

The Sharks outshot the Canucks 10-6 in the first period. Each team took two penalties and a fighting major.

Kiefer Sherwood gave the Canucks a lead at 16:42 of the second period. Sherwood skated into the Sharks zone and shot around Henry Thrun. Assists went to Teddy Blueger and Nils Hoglander.

Elias Pettersson scored Vancouver’s third goal of the game at 17:08 of the period. The Sharks challenged the goal for goaltender interference. While Connor Garland made some contact with Askarov, the NHL upheld the call on the ice, putting the Sharks on the penalty kill.

The Canucks made it 4-1 on that power play. Elias Pettersson Had too much time to pick his shot and he used it to put the puck in the top corner. Assists went to J.T. Miller and Quinn Hughes.

Vancouver outshot the Sharks 14-6 in the second period. Early in the third period, Henry Thrun took a shot to the face and had to leave the ice for repairs. He did return to the game with a gash on hi8s forehead. Elias Pettersson took one shift in the third period and then left the game.

Cody Ceci made it 4-2 with a shot from the point at 4:21 of the third period. Demko almost stopped it but it trickled through. An assist went to Fabian Zetterlund.

With just under 2:30 to go, the Sharks pulled Askarov for an extra skater. With six seconds left in the game, Luke Kunin caught a rebound and shot it in from a tight angle. Assists went to Celebrini and Toffoli.

The Sharks outshot the Canucks 14-4 in the third period.

The Sharks next play on Friday at 7:30 PM PT in San Jose against the Vegas Golden Knights.

Ducks Overcome 4-1 Deficit To Defeat Utah HC In Shootout 

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Anaheim Ducks Troy Terry (19) shoots as defenseman Jackson LaCombe (2) assists while Utah’s goaltender Jaxson Stauber (33) defends with defenseman Ian Cole (28) and center Logan Cooley (92) at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Sun Dec 22, 2024 (AP News photo)

By Tom Walker

Utah starts fast but fails to hold on in 5-4 shoutout loss to the Anaheim Ducks.

SALT LAKE CITY–Utah Hockey Club returned home on Sunday for the first of three games at Delta Center, a welcome respite from the previous four consecutive one-game visits to home ice. The road has been good to Utah where they have won their last seven including Friday’s 2-1 victory in Minnesota in which Dylan Guenther scored his 15th and 16th goals of the season. On Sunday against the Anaheim Ducks, Utah hoped to build upon last week’s overtime win versus Vancouver which snapped a five-game home losing streak.

Captain Clayton Keller struck quickly for Utah just 86 seconds into the game with his 12th goal of the season, assisted by Juuso Välimäki and Barrett Hayton. Anaheim wasted no time evening things up a few minutes later as Robby Fabbri netted his third goal of the season for the Ducks, assisted by Mason McTavish. Late in the first, Utah center Barrett Hayton put his squad up 2-1 with his sixth goal of the season, assisted by Olli Määttä and Keller.

In the second period, Utah padded its lead early with a power play goal by Logan Cooley, his eighth of the season, assisted by Keller and Mikhail Sergachev, followed a few minutes later as Keller recorded his second goal and fourth point of the game, assisted by Sergachev and Nick Schmaltz, giving the home team a 4-1 lead.

Unfortunately for Utah, that’s where the wheels fell off and Anaheim began to mount its comeback. The Ducks were able to trim their deficit to 4-2 midway through the second period as center Isac Lundestrom found the back of the net for his 4th of the season, assisted by Olen Zellweger and Jansen Harkins.

With less than eight minutes remaining in the third period there was a scrum at the Utah net where Robby Fabbri somehow managed to knock a puck through the pads of netminder Jaxson Stauber which appeared to travel in super slow motion behind Stauber and trickle just across the line to draw Anaheim back to within one. Fabbri’s second goal of the game was assisted by Cutter Gauthier and Pavel Mintyukov.

At 13:31 of the third period, Utah forward Logan Cooley was sent to the penalty box for slashing against Mason McTavish. With just 16 seconds remaining in the penalty kill, Ducks winger Brett Leason completed Anaheim’s comeback with his 4th goal of the season, assisted by Gauthier and Zellweger, making it 4-4.

Following a scoreless overtime period, the two squads sent their champions to center ice for the shootout. Utah elected to go first, and Anaheim goalie Lukas Dostal turned away Nick Schmaltz, Clayton Keller, and Nick Bjugstad. Keller’s shot went off the crossbar and fans initially cheered as if it had crossed the goal line, but the official and video replay both indicated no-goal. For his part, Jaxson Stauber turned away Ducks penalty shot specialist Troy Terry and Brock McGinn, but ultimately could not stop Mason McTavish who won the game for Anaheim on a snap shot.

In Utah’s locker room forward Barrett Hayton, who scored the second goal of the night, commented, “Right now, it doesn’t feel like we walked away with a point with the way we handled that second half and obviously handled the lead. (That) can’t happen. It’s disappointing.” Addressing how things unraveled, he said, “I think it happened a little bit at the start of the game and then creeped back in. I think (we were) just getting too loose, giving up too much. You give a team that many power plays, it’s tough. I think there were a lot of things throughout the entire game. Obviously, fell apart in the third. It wasn’t good enough.”

Captain Clayton Keller weighed in, “It was kind of a back-and-forth game. We just weren’t good on our details. Just kind of played a little too loose. That’s what happens; they get some life, they get some bounces and we unfortunately lose the game. But the good thing about this is (that) we play tomorrow. We don’t have to think about it too much. We’ll address it and be better from it.” With regard to his four point game, Keller said, “Just playing simple, doing everything I can to help this team win. My linemates have done a great job as well. We’re on to tomorrow. … We’ll address it in the morning tomorrow, the things we need to do better. I still feel like we have a lot of confidence in this room. We still got a point tonight. We still have confidence and a quick reset (for) tomorrow.”

Utah Hockey Club head coach André Tourigny also talked about turning the page to tomorrow’s contest against the Dallas Stars. “We have to. Today is a good testimony of our maturity. That’s unfortunate. It is what it is. Anaheim is a tough team to play. They apply pressure, they have talent. You have to know that. And you need to show up with your ‘A’ game every night…Last week, I was here sitting in front of you and I was talking about urgency. That’s the most important thing. We need to have energy, yeah. But, urgency is a super important currency. If you have it, we can play against anybody and we can sustain success. If we don’t, you have your answer. That’s the problem tonight. The guys wanted to play well; they worked hard. I didn’t feel anyone was not working that hard. But I think we were not as urgent. We didn’t stop on pucks. We were not reloading with the same urgency. We didn’t take the simple decisions. We tried to make plays where there were no plays. That turnover goes on the other side. You take bad penalties. That kind of stuff. That’s just urgency. If you play for your life, you don’t do those things. It’s just what happened today. Those guys, they mean good. They want to do the right thing. They’re as mad as me right now. Nobody’s happy. They care; they care a ton. I have no doubt about it. We need to learn from it. That’s, unfortunately, the maturity part. Same thing when I was a young guy. You need to go through some adversity, some battle scars. So you learn from it and you get better…It’s frustrating, but it is what it is. I’m not mad at them. I’m mad at the situation. It’s (about) how we react to it. Adversity is what builds you. It shapes you. Either you become better or you become worse. If you become worse, that’s who you choose to be. That’s not what we will choose to be.”

The mood was much lighter in Anaheim’s locker room after the game which was filled with upbeat music including the resurgent Village People anthem “YMCA.” Ducks forward Robby Fabbri, who scored twice in the game, spoke about his team’s comeback. “I don’t think it was anything specific that we did. I think we just didn’t stray away from our team. When you’re down like that on the road, it’s easy just to pack it in. We don’t have that in our room here, and we showed that tonight.”

Anaheim’s head coach Greg Cronin addressed the media about keeping the faith when coming from behind. “I mean, it’s kind of a weird game, but there’s a lot of penalties. You know, they got up three to one, and I thought when it got four to one, there was that point in the game where we were trying to generate some energy internally to get the faith and the belief back. And then we got that second goal, which really changed the dynamic of the game. I didn’t attribute a lot to the physicality, I just thought we started skating more in the third period.” With regard to that third period, “Ironically, we had the five on three, and then we ended up making it a four on three. Then we ended up, you know, killing a penalty for 30 seconds… but I thought after that was over, we had that goal at the goal mouth [the third goal], when we made it four to three, that goal changed it. We could just tell there was more belief in our play, and then I think there was a little bit more confidence that if we got pucks down deep, we got them back, and would get an opportunity to get some scoring chances off of direct shots or rebounds.”

Cronin talked about the extra incentive to get a win for the dads who are tagging along on this road trip. “I don’t know what they were thinking about. I know after the second period, I had told them that the dads are here, and they have come a long way to watch you guys play. Let’s finish this off and get a win. Killorn’s dad, Matt, read the pregame lineup… he did a great job, so I’m gonna carry him with us on all the trips.”

Utah will immediately lace up their skates on Monday at 7:00pm MST for their final game before Christmas against the Dallas Stars. Dallas won their previous matchup 2-1 at Delta Center three weeks ago. The two teams are tied for points in the Central Division with 38 each, but Dallas has a game in hand.

Sharks Fall 3-2 in OT to Oilers, Give Up another Lead in the Third

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Edmonton Oilers Connor Brown (28) scrambles for the puck against the San Jose Sharks Cody Ceci (4) in the second period at Rogers Place in Edmonton on Sat Dec 21, 2024 (Canadian Press via AP photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks were defeated by the Edmonton Oilers 3-2 in overtime Saturday. Zach Hyman, Mattias Ekholm and Leon Draisaitl scored for the Oilers. Calvin Pickard made 20 saves for the win. Luke Kunin and Jan Rutta scored for the Sharks. Yaroslav Askarov made 39 saves in the loss. Askarov’s 23 saves in the second period were the most saves in one period by a Sharks goaltender since the 2015-16 season.

After the game, Sharks Head Coach Ryan Warsofsky said, of the goaltender: “He was outstanding. He’s the reason we got a point. He was seeing the puck really well, quick. He made some really big saves.”

The Sharks took the lead twice in the first period, then held it until the last minute of overtime. Warsofsky talked about how the game got away from the Sharks: “We got slow, we got put on our heels, we didn’t defend quick enough. We didn’t skate to make them move the puck a little quicker.”

Luke Kunin opened the scoring 3:23 into the game. Alexander Wennberg chased the puck all the way down the ice into the Oilers’ corner, then passed it back to the trailing Kunin for the shot. Assists went to Wennberg and Timothy Liljegren.

Zach Hyman tied the game at 7:07. Connor McDavid carriws the puck around behind the net and then sent a pass across the slot to Hyman. Assists went to McDavid and Evan Bouchard.

Jan Rutta gave the Sharks a 2-1 lead at 8:21. Jake Walman carried the puck through the neutral zone and down as far as the faceoff circle before making a pass back to Rutta at the top of the slot. Rutta scored with a snap shot down up the middle. Assists went to Walman and Macklin Celebrini.

The Sharks were outshot 9-7 in the first period, and then 23-7 in the scoreless second period. In the first period there was a single penalty called, and that was against Edmonton. In the second period, the Sharks took the only penalty.

At 19:42 of the third period, with their goaltender pulled, the Oilers tied the game. Skating down from the point, Mattias Ekholm caught a pass from Corey Perry and shot through traffic. Assists went to Perry and McDavid.

Leon Draisaitl scored gane overtime winner 18 seconds into overtime. Daraisaitl carried the puck into the zone and then passed it across the ice to Bouchard. Bouchard gave it to McDavid, who passed it back to Draisaitl for the shot.

The Sharks next play on Monday in Vancouver against the Canucks at 6:00 PM PT.

San Jose Sharks podcast with Mary Lisa: Sharks could have their hands full with Oilers tonight at Rogers Place

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Colorado Avalanche left winger Joel Kiviranta (94) congratulates goaltender MacKenzie Blackwood (39) after defeating the San Jose Sharks at Ball Arena in Denver on Fri Dec 19, 2024 (AP News photo)

On the San Jose Sharks podcast with Mary Lisa:

#1 Mary Lisa, knowing the San Jose Sharks playbook a little bit how much of advantage was it for former Colorado Avalanche goaltender MacKenzie Blackwood to defend against the Sharks on Thursday night for a 4-2 win.

#2 The Aves Joel Kiviranta scored twice in the third period as Colorado picked up three goals to erase the Sharks 2-1 lead.

#3 In your view Mary Lisa Sharks goaltender Alexander Georgiev just couldn’t stop the Aves attack but also was it the Sharks defense up front that let Georgiev down in that third period.

#4 The Sharks have given up multiple third period goals in their last five games and Sharks head coach Ryan Warsofsky said during Thursday’s morning skate that he’s disappointed the Sharks can’t close out their opponents.

#5 The Sharks battle the Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place in Edmonton tonight. The Oilers could be a handful their in third place in the Pacific Division and are on a roll having won eight of their last ten games. They’re a loaded team.

Mary Lisa does the San Jose Sharks podcasts Saturdays at http://www.sportsradioservice.com