Tag: NHL

Sharks Fall 4-1 to Ducks; SJ has now dropped two straight

Published on by M WalshLeave a comment

The San Jose Sharks Mike Ferraro (38) skates with the puck in front of the Anaheim Ducks Troy Terry (19) during the first period at the Honda Center in Anaheim on Nov 12, 2023 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks lost to the Anaheim Ducks 4-1 on Sunday. Frank Vatrano scored twice for Anaheim, and Mason McTavish and Radko Gudas added two more. John Gibson made 25 saves for the win. Luke Kunin scored for San Jose and Mackenzie Blackwood made 40 saves in the loss.

The Sharks had two power plays in the game, and three shots with the man advantage. After the game, Sharks Head Coach David Quinn talked about the Sharks’ struggling power play:

“They get the power play goal late in the first, make it 2-1, and then we get our power plays and it just really deflated us. I mean really, you know, not a lot of pace, not a lot of urgency to our power play right now. You know, you may not score but you need to gain some momentum off your power play and that’s not happening right now.”

Tomas Hertl also talked about what the Sharks need to do to fix their power play: “We have to just try to shoot through and get some rebounds, some greasy goals more than fancy and we have to keep working on it.”

Anaheim scored first 4:49 into the game. Frank Vatrano tipped a shot from Ilya Lyubushkin. Ryan Strome got the secondary assist. It was Vatrano’s tenth goal of the season.

Luke Kunin tied the game at 13:05. After Tomas Hertl shot the puck in, it bounced up in a high rebound and Kunin batted it down and into the net. Assists went to Hertl and William Eklund. It was Kunin’s second goal of the season.

Vatrano scored his second of the game with a slap shot off a Cam Fowler pass. The power play goal came at 18:22, giving Ahamein at 2-1 lead. Assists went to Fowler and Jakob Silfverberg.

A scoreless second period saw the Sharks have their best shot count of the game, with 12 to the Ducks’ 18. the period saw a number of penalties, including a fight between Luke Kunin and Max Jones.

Mason McTavish made it 3-1 1:52 into the third period. Skating right down the slot, he caught a pass from Leo Carlsson right in front of the blue paint. Assists went to Carlsson and Pavel Mintyukov.

Radko Gudas made it 4-1 just under a minute later. A crazy high-flying puck went up well out of reach of any defenseman and dropped behind Blackwood, who did not realize it was in the air. Assists went to Strome and Vatrano.

The Sharks’ penalty kill gave up two goals on five Ducks power plays. They also had two short-handed shots in the game.

The Sharks next play on Tuesday back in San Jose at 7:30 PM PT against the Florida Panthers.

NHL podcast with Matt Harrington: Sabres Skinner and Peterka score to help edge Wild 3-2; Panthers get three goal win defeat Canes 5-2; plus more NHL news

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

The Buffalo Sabres left wing Jeff Greenway (12) takes a high stick to the face from the Minnesota Wild’s defenseman Zach Bogosian (24) in front of the Minnesota net at the XCel Energy Arena in Minneapolis on Fri Nov 10, 2023 (AP News photo)

On the NHL podcast with Matt:

#1 Matt taking a look at Friday night’s NHL action the Buffalo Sabres got scoring help from Jeff Skinner and JJ Peterka who both scored goals and got an assist to help defeat the Minnesota Wild 3-2 at KeyBank Center in Minneapolis. Sabers defenseman Henri Jokiharju scored the other Sabres goal with goaltender Devin Levi stopping 33 for Buffalo.

#2 The Florida Panthers Matthew Tkachuk and Carter Verhaeghe each scored a goal and an assist helping the Panthers to extend their win streak to three with a 5-2 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday. The Panthers Alexander Barkov scored a goal and an assist and Uvis Balinskis scored his first goal as a Panther at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise.

#3 The Washington Capitals center Evgeny Kuznetsov scored two goals to help beat the New Jersey Devils 4-2 at the Prudential Center in Newark on Friday night. In his season debut for the Capitals right winger Nicolas Aube-Kubel picked up a goal and an assist, Tom Wilson had two assists and goaltender Charlie Lindgren stopped 24 shots in the win for Washington.

#4 The Toronto Maple Leafs William Nylander scored two times and got an assist and picked up his 14th consecutive game point in the Leafs shootout win over the Calgary Flames 5-4 at Scottiabank Arena in Calgary. Leafs goaltender Joseph Woll stopped 24 shots in the one goal win.

#5 Matt what could you say about the Vegas Golden Knights who picked up a huge win over the San Jose Sharks on Friday night at T Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The Knights scored twice in the first period and picked up another three goals in the third period in the 5-0 final. Sharks goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen was just overmatched as the Knights attacked the zone and the net for multiple red lights behind Kahkonen in the San Jose loss.

Join Matt Harrington is an NHL analyst for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Sharks win nail-biter against the Oilers 3-2

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

Photo courtesy of San Jose Sharks. The Sharks celebrate a victory (taken on 7/11/23).

By Titus Wilkinson (@TitusWisme)

SAN JOSE- The Sharks took on Edmonton at home and were able to extend their winning streak to two with a win by a final of 3-2.

In goal for San Jose was Mackenzie Blackwood while Stuart Skinner was between the pipes for Edmonton.

Tonight also saw the debut of Calen Addison in a Sharks jersey as he was acquired from the Minnesota Wild the day before.

The first period saw Edmonton’s power play get to work early as just a couple minutes in Nikita Okhotiuk took a penalty for slashing. Instead of creating chances they were giving up them up as William Eklund got a breakaway but was stifled by Skinner.

Things remained pretty even until Fabian Zetterlund broke things open with a one time goal from the slot on a nice pass from Tomas Hertl. The goal was Zetterlund’s fourth of the season as Eklund was also given an assist on the goal.

At the end of the first the shots favored Edmonton 14-6.

The second period did not get off to a good start for the home team as Darnell Nurse sniped one home on a 2-on-1 tying the game up at one.

Edmonton continued to push but Blackwood made some solid saves as he helped keep the score tied.

The Sharks responded with a goal as Hertl benefitted off of a lucky bounce out front that went right to him making it 2-1. It was Hertl’s second of the season with Zetterlund and Okhotiuk getting the assists.

Closing out the second the shots still favored Edmonton at 24-14.

The third ended up being quite the opposite of the second as just a couple minutes in on a 2-on-1 Filip Zadina scored off a feed from Nico Sturm. The goal was Zadina’s third of the season with Ryan Carpenter also getting credited for an assist.

San Jose then got a great opportunity to extend their lead on the power play but took a penalty of their own making it a 4-on-4 for 28 seconds.

It then came down to crunch time as the Sharks tried to hold on to their 3-1 lead. With the goalie pulled Edmonton got within one as Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored on a juicy rebound getting his third of the season.

Granlund then took a tripping penalty putting Edmonton in prime territory to tie the game up. Blackwood and the Sharks defense though stood strong killing off the penalty and holding on for the victory.

At the end of the day this was another game were Blackwood single-handedly kept San Jose in it as he made 39 saves on 41 shots. Ending his night with a 2.00 GAA and 951 SV%.

Both teams power plays were nonexistent tonight as the Oilers went 0/4 while San Jose went 0/2.

With this loss the Oilers fall to 2-9-1 which is their worst start in franchise history and ties them for last in the league with the Sharks.

The three stars of the game were: 1st: Mackenzie Blackwood 2nd: Tomas Hertl 3rd: Fabian Zetterlund

The Sharks will not get much time to rest as they will play Vegas tomorrow at 7 p.m. on the road.

NHL podcast with Len Shapiro: Sens Stutzle opens up on offense against Leafs; Wild get Bogosian from Lightning; plus more news

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

Detroit Red Wings defenseman Filip Hronek goes after Ottawa Senators left wing Tim Stutzle who puts the puck on net against the Detroit Red Wings goaltender Ville Husso at Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa on Tue Feb 28, 2023 (AP file photo)

On the NHL podcast with Len Shapiro:

#1 Len talk about the Ottawa Senators Tim Stutzle scored a goal and picked up three assists. The Senators scored three unanswered goals in 3:11 defeating the Toronto Maple Leafs 6-3 at Scotiabank in Toronto.

#2 In a trade on Wednesday the Minnesota Wild got Zach Bogosian from the Tampa Bay Lightning for a seven round draft pick in 2025, and Calen Addison to the San Jose Sharks for Adam Raska and a 2026 fifth round draft pick.

#3 The Colorado Avalanche Ross Colton forward was fined $5000 which is the maximum under the Collective Bargaining Agreement for cross checking New Jersey Devils forward Timo Meier on Tuesday night. The penalty came at 10:44 in the second period and Colton was hit with a major penalty and a game misconduct.

#4 The Chicago Blackhawks Connor Bedard is finding his way around goal creases, Bedard has three goals and five assists and has been a force with Nick Foligno and Philipp Kurashev on the same line. How crucial is Bedard for the Blackhawks.

#5 The San Jose Sharks picked up their first win of the season after losing 11 straight games. The Sharks goaltender MacKenzie Blackwood stopped 39 Flyers shots to save the night. The Sharks defeated the Philadelphia Flyers 2-1 after getting blasted by the Vancouver Canucks 10-1 and Pittsburgh Penguins 10-2. The Sharks defense looked far more improved against the Flyers can you talk about the improvements?

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

Sharks Win, Finally, 2-1 Against Flyers; 11 game skid comes to an end at SAP Center

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

Mike Ferraro defenseman (left), Anthony DuClair left wing (center), and Mikael Granlund (64) celebrate Duclair’s third goal of the season in the first period against the Philadelphia Flyers at SAP Center in San Jose on Tue Nov 7, 2023 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

SAN JOSE- The San Jose Sharks ended their miserable losing streak Tuesday. The Sharks won 2-1 over the Philadelphia Flyers at SAP Center. Anthony Duclair and William Eklund scored for the Sharks and Mackenzie Blackwood made 38 saves for the win. Joel Farabee scored for the Flyers and Samuel Ersson made 17 saves in the loss.

Sharks goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood described the mood post-game: “It’s nice. It’s a lot of relief in here, everyone’s happy, it’s been a long time coming. Now we can take a breath and start to try and put some more together.”

Tomas Hertl described how the team felt during the game: “I know everybody was dialed in, everybody fight, everybody hit, everybody just put everything there.”

“There’s just so many things that went into tonight and at some point you say enough’s enough,” said Sharks Head Coach David Quinn. “I give a ton of credit to our leaders and our older players. I thought they really stepped up tonight.” He continued with a little bit of a reality check:

“And it wasn’t like we played great. I don’t want to think like ‘oh wow, they won a game!’ We played the way we’re capable of playing. We can play much better. But we checked a lot of boxes and showed some characteristics that we’re going to need. I thought there were a lot of good things but I thought we left a lot of offense on the table.”

The first goal of the game came just 1:43 into the game. Mikael Granlund’s pass sent Kevin Labanc into the Flyers’ zone with Anthony Duclair, two-on-one. Labanc made the pass late, drawing the goaltender to him and leaving space for Duclair’s shot from the other side.

The Sharks finished the period with only four shots on goal to the Flyers’13 shots.

William Eklund scored the second goal of the game on a power play late in the second period. After a long time in the zone, Duclair made a quick pass from the blue line to Eklund in the face-off circle. Eklund sent a slap shot into the far side of the net.

The Flyers got on back in the final minute of the second. Joel Farabee caught a cross-ice pass from Travis Sanheim and squeezed the puck past Blackwood. The on-ice official called no goal but a review determined that the puck did cross the line. Assists went to Sanheim and Scott Laughton.

In the final seconds, Duclair and Laughton had a confrontation that resulted in 10 minute misconducts.

Sharks forwards had an excellent night in the face-off circle, winning 69.8% of the draws. The Sharks had seven shots in the second period to the Flyers’ 11. In a scorelss third period, the Sharks had eight shots to the Flyers’ 15. In all, the Sharks had just 19 shots in the game to the Flyers’ 39. The Sharks scored on one of five power plays and killed all four of their penalties.

The Sharks next play on Thursday in San Jose at 7:30 PM PT against the Edmonton Oilers.

Sharks lose back-to-back games by double digits this time against Pittsburgh 10-2

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

Photo courtesy of Pittsburgh Penguins. Vinnie Hinostroza celebrates his first goal with Penguins.

By Titus Wilkinson (@TitusWisme)

Still searching for their first win the Sharks took on the Penguins at home with Erik Karlsson making his return to San Jose.

Getting the start for San Jose was Mackenzie Blackwood while the Penguins had Tristan Jarry in goal.

The first period saw Reilly Smith get two goals for the Penguins with one coming on the power play.

Then in the second period the wheels really fell off the bus. Goals by Jake Guentzel and Vinnie Hinostroza blew it open to 4-0.

A goal from Anthony Duclair on the power play cut the Penguins lead to three.

To close out the second period the Penguins scored three straight as Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang, and former Shark Matt Nieto lit the lamp making it 7-1.

After the goal from Letang Blackwood’s night would end as Magnus Chrona stepped in to take his place. Chrona actually made his NHL debut when he stepped in goal.

The third period saw the score get run up to double digits once again as the Sharks became the first team in 58 years to give up ten goals in back-to-back games.

The culprits for the Penguins would be Bryan Rust, Malkin, and Jake Guentzel with one goal coming from the Sharks as Jacob MacDonald scored on the power play.

The score ended at 10-2 with the shots favoring the Penguins at 35-26.

If there was any bright spot for the Sharks they did go 2/6 on the power play while Pittsburgh went 2/4.

The three stars of the game were: 1st: Bryan Rust 2nd: Reilly Smith 3rd: Jake Guentzel

The Sharks will look to get their first win on Tuesday against the Flyers at home at 7:30 p.m.

NHL podcast with Matt Harrington: Rangers Fox out 10-24 days; Stars Pavelski 39 playing like he’s in his prime; plus more news

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

The New York Rangers defenseman Adam Fox (23) is out for 10-24 days with a lower body injury against the Carolina Hurricanes on Thu Nov 2, 2023. (photo from NHL.com and Jared Silber NHLI)

On the NHL podcast with Matt:

#1 New York Rangers defenseman Adam Fox is on the long term injured list. Fox was injured on Thursday night against the Carolina Hurricanes in a 2-1 win. Fox was injured in the first period Fox collided with the Hurricanes Sebastian Aho leg on leg with 7:57 left in the period. Fox could be out from ten to 24 days. How much of impact will Fox injury have on the Rangers?

#2 In nine games the Dallas Stars 39 year old forward Joe Pavelski is lighting up the lamp like he was in the prime of his career. So far Pavelski has ten points, with four goals and six assists. On Thursday Pavelski had a goal and two assists in the Stars 4-3 win over the Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place.

#3 Every hockey player has his day if not every hockey player certainly the Philadelphia Flyers goaltender Carter Hart and forward Sean Courturier each player is day to day. Hart has a mid body injury he got in a 5-2 loss against the Buffalo Sabres on on Wednesday. Courturier suffered a suffered a lower body injury and ended up playing Wednesday. Courturier was called up from the AHL Leigh Valley team. Courturier was injured during the game.

#4 Chicago Blackhawks forward Taylor Hall could be back in the line up he got hurt against Florida Panthers on Saturday. Hall missed the last two games due to a left shoulder injury. Hawks head coach Luke Richardson said that Hall looked great in practice. Hall is day to day and Richardson said he wants to be cautious before putting Hall back in the line up.

#5 When the San Jose Sharks lost their last game in Washington 3-1 after having a 1-0 lead until the third period when the Capitals scored three times for their ninth loss in the row it was the goal of the Sharks to try and win at home against the visiting Vancouver Canucks. Who would have thought the Sharks would think they were in the movie “The Mighty Ducks” as Sharks goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen saw a barrage of Canucks goals six goals in all before MacKenzie Blackwood relieved him in net and gave up four goals himself. The Sharks have now lost ten straight games.

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

San Jose Sharks podcast with Mary Walsh: Sharks hope to pick up first win against Karlsson and Penguins tonite in San Jose

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

San Jose Sharks goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen (36) was pelted with six goals against by the Vancouver Canucks on Thu Nov 2, 2023 at SAP Center in San Jose (AP News photo)

On the SJ Sharks podcast with Mary Walsh:

#1 Mary, the San Jose Sharks continue their skid on Thursday they took a beat down from the Vancouver Canucks at SAP Center in a 10-1 loss it was their ninth consecutive defeat.

#2 The Canucks Quinn Hughes had himself a night scoring a goal and four assists and eight Canucks scored in the lopsided affair.

#3 Brock Boeser had two goals and an assist, Anthony Beauvillier scored twice in Beauviller’s 500th career game.

#4 The Sharks goaltenders saw the red lamp lit behind them quite a few times for starting goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen he faced 19 shots and allowed six goals and relief goaltender MacKenzie Blackwood saw 14 shots allowed and allowed four goals.

#5 This might be the Sharks best chance to get their first win of the season as they host the Pittsburgh Penguins at SAP. The Penguins are 3-6-0. They have lost their last two games. Former Shark Erik Karlsson returns to San Jose for the first time since being dealt to the Penguins.

Join Mary Lisa Walsh for the San Jose Sharks podcasts each Saturday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Sharks Drop To 0-9-1 After A Devastating Loss To Vancouver 10-1

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

The San Jose Sharks left winger Anthony Duclair (10) attempts to put the puck on net against the Vancouver Canucks goaltender Thatcher Demko (35) in the third period at SAP Center in San Jose on Thu Nov 2, 2023 (AP News photo)

Thursday, November 2nd, 2023

By Troy Ewers

San Jose, CA – The San Jose Sharks are back home and they are coming off a winless opening month of hockey and they hope to start the month of November off with a win. That will come with a challenge though as they face off against the Vancouver Canucks who are looking like one of the best teams in the Western Conference this early in the season. 

The first period for San Jose was why they’re projected to be not only the worst team this season, but one of the worst teams in NHL history. Two and a half minutes into the game, the Canucks scored a power play goal after Nico Sturm’s high sticking minor.

The goal was scored by Brock Boeser (assisted by Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes) on a great slap shot that followed elite passing, 1-0 Vancouver. Not even two minutes later J.T. Miller scored the second goal, still on the power play, but this time when Boeser cleared the puck it ricocheted off the boards and Miller scooped it and backhanded it past Kaapo, 2-0 Vancouver.

The spiral continued four minutes later after another was scored, but this one is attributed to sloppy defense from the Sharks. The goal was scored by Hughes, who at this point had three points (1 goal and 2 assists) and the building might as well have been here for drinks and atmosphere.

Thatcher Demko of Vancouver stopped all six shots the Sharks brought his way, but the story here was the Sharks defense never leaving the starting blocks. A Mario Ferraro tripping penalty gave the Sharks their second penalty, but more importantly it gave Boesar his second goal of the game (assisted by Andrei Kuzmenko and Miller) and by the end of the opening period, the Sharks made their way back to the locker room down 4-0. 

The second period was even worse for the Sharks and it felt like the end of the road for San Jose. One minute in the period and Vancouver immediately jumped on the Sharks with a one time goal by Ilya Mikheyev (assisted by Soucy and Pettersson), 5-0 Canucks.

The next goal for Vancouver was not only bad, because it added to the avalanche of goals, but Kaapo Kahkonen was injured during the goal. Andrei Kuzmenko scored with assists by Pettersson and Mark Friedman to make it 6-0, but the damage was done.

Kahkonen was out with an injury and Mackenzie Blackwood was in, but the scoring didn’t stop. Sam Lafferty would add to this with a wrap-around goal and it was 7-0.

The fourth goal of the period for the Canucks was by Pius Suter for his first of the season, but on this goal Quinn Hughes got the assist and by the end of this second period, Hughes had five points in an 8-0 lead as the we were in the second intermission.

Sharks fans booed and some walked out, but it was clear that air was taken out of the building. This is Coach David Quinn’s 300th game and this might be the game where fans call for his job. The stats show that it’s not his fault this Sharks team is this bad, but don’t tell that to these fans. 

The final period wasn’t any different from the rest of the game if anything it was David’s nightmare. “Fire Quinn” chants began after Anthony Beauvillier scored on a power play to make it 9-0 and we were only three minutes into the period.

 Beauvillier scored his second goal eight minutes after his first and at this point it was 10-0 and the Canucks had scored more goals in one game than the Sharks have all season. By the end of this game the Sharks scored one goal by Fabian Zetterlund and the crowd that was still in attendance popped for it, but the game was more than over, it was a goal for Quinn.

The next game for San Jose is against some familiar foes when they face off against the Pittsburgh Penguins and this is Erik Karlsson’s first game back in San Jose with his new team and this doesn’t look good for the Sharks as analysts project another loss for the Sharks, but that seems like the what whole regular season is projected at this point.

NHL podcast with Len Shapiro: Senators sports wagering scandal forces Dorion out as GM; Wild’s Boldy back in line up for Thursday night; plus more NHL news

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

Pierre Dorion was fired by the Ottawa Senators on Wed Nov 1, 2023 by owner Michael Andlauer (photo from NHL.com)

On the NHL podcast with Len Shapiro:

#1 Ottawa Senators fired general manager Pierre Dorion. The firing came under new Senators owner Michael Andlauer who as owner within his first 30 days had a inherited a sports wagering scandal. Shane Pinto was suspended for 41 games for sports wagering. The suspension started Oct 26th. The Senators also lose a first round draft pick and the trade for Evgeni Dadonov was invalidated. Steven Staios has been named as the new general manager.

#2 Minnesota Wild forward Matt Boldy is expected to get back in the line up for Thursday night against the New Jersey Devils. Boldy had been out with an upper body injury since Oct 14 on the second night of the regular season against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Boldy said getting hurt in the second game of the year stinks.

#3 The Philadelphia Flyers goaltender Carter Hart is out with an upper body injury. Hart sustained the injury against the Buffalo Sabers at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia on Wednesday. It was Hart’s eighth start in ten games.

#4 For the Chicago Blackhawks Connor Bedard says he’s getting used to the NHL life. Bedard so far has four goals and two assists and hoped to see a lot more action. Bedard said that he looks forward to an exciting NHL season.

#5 Len, the Carolina Hurricanes Paul Stastny is retiring from hockey after 17 years. Stastny has not filed any retirement papers but said in September he would be done after this season. Stastny came in as a second pick (44) in 2005 by the Colorado Avalanche. Stastny has 822 career points (293 goals and 529 assists).

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