Tag: NHL

Sharks Fall 5-4 to Stars; SJ’s fourth loss in last five games

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After being down 4-1 the San Jose Sharks closed the gap on the Dallas Stars but in the third period a goal by the Stars Joe Pavelski (center) at 7:44 proved to be the game winner celebrates with center, celebrates with Miro Heiskanen (4) and Jason Robertson (21) at the SAP Center in San Jose on Sat Apr 2, 2022 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

SAN JOSE- The San Jose Sharks fell 5-4 to the Dallas Stars Saturday after nearly erasing a three-goal first period deficit. Jason Roberston, Vladislav Namestnikov, Jani Hakanpaa, Roope Hintz, Jason Roberston, and Joe Pavelski scored for Dallas. Scott Wedgewood made 24 saves for the win. Nick Bonino, Brent Burns, John Leonard and Logan Couture scored for San Jose. Kaapo Kahkonen made 10 saves in the first period and James Reimer made 14 saves in the loss.

Nick Bonino gave the Sharks an early lead, scoring off a rebound from a Noah Gregor shot. The goal was scored just 1:25 into the first period. Assists went to Gregor and Erik Karlsson.

Vladislav Namestnikov tied it up just 25 seconds later. Tyler Seguin intercepted a pass behind the Sharks net and centered it for Namestnikov, right on the doorstep.

Jani Hakanpaa gave the Stars the lead at 8:11. Tyler Seguin tried for a shot from up above the circle, but the puck went off the heel of his stick and wound up on the other side of the ice, on Hakanpaa’’s stick. Assists went to Seguin and Namestnikov.

Roope Hintz made it 3-1 a couple of minutes late. John Klingberg flung the puck at the net as Hintz and Pavelski skated to the net. The puck went off of Hintz’s leg and in for his 30th goal of the season. Assists went to Klingberg and Joe Pavelski.

Jason Roberston made it 4-1 in the final second of the period. The Stars pulled their goaltender after an icing call against the Sharks. Robertson scored by banking the puck off of the goaltender. Assists went to Denis Gurianov and Tyler Seguin.

The Sharks replaced Kahkonen with Reimer after the first period.

Brent Burns scored for San Jose at 7:53 of the second period, going to the net and trying to make a pass across the slot to Chmelevski. The puck went off of a defender’s skate instead and bounced into the net. Assists went to Chmelevski and Jaycob Megna.

Joe Pavelski scored what would be the game-winner, 7:44 into the third period. Pavelski and Hintz skated into the Sharks zone with the Sharks hot on the heels of the puck carrier Hintz. Hintz got a pass away to Pavelski in the slot and Pavelski lifted the puck past Reimer on the blocker side. Assists went to Hintz and Robertson.

John Leonard narrowed the lead at 15:21 with his first goal of the season. After Erik Karlsson threw the puck into traffic at the net, Leonard found the puck on a rebound and shot it past Wedgewood. Assists went to Karlsson and Mario Ferraro.

Logan Couture brought the Sharks within one at 18:32. He pushed the puck over the line after Sasha Chmelevski doggedly pushed the puck past the goaltender’s skate at the corner of the net. Assists went to Chmelevski and Gregor.

The Sharks power play had one opportunity but got no shots on goal. Their penalty kill successfully killed three penalties, giving up just three shots. In the face-off circle, the Sharks won 47% of the draw.

Mario Ferraro and Jonathan Dahlen were both back in the lineup, recovered from injury.

The Sharks next play on Tuesday at home, against the Edmonton Oilers at 7:30 PM PT.

NHL podcast with Matt Harrington: Colton scores twice for Bolts in win over Hawks 5-2; Ducks end 11 game loss streak with a shutout

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Tampa Bay Lightning center Ross Colton (79) puts one on net against the Chicago Blackhawks center Tyler Johnson (90), and defenseman Calvin de Haan (44) at Amalie Arena in Tampa Bay on Fri Apr 1, 2022 (AP News photo)

On the NHL podcast with Matt:

#1 The Tampa Bay Lightning’s (43-18-6) Ross Colton found the back of the net twice on Friday night in helping the Bolts defeat the Chicago Blackhawks (24-35-10) 5-2 at the Amalie Arena in Tampa Bay. The Lightning’s Steven Stamkos and Brayden Point both scored a goal each.

#2 The Anaheim Ducks (28-30-12) Trevor Zegras helped end the Ducks 11 game loss streak with a sound 5-0 shutout over the Arizona Coyotes (21-42-5) at Gila River Arena in Glendale on Friday night. Zegras scored his 17th goal of the season at 9:42 in the first period. Ducks goalie Anthony Stolarz a shutout saving 22 shots.

#3 The Vegas Golden Knights (38-28-4) Jack Eichel scored twice to help the Knights pick up a three goal win over the Seattle Kraken (21-41-6) 5-2 at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle.

#4 New York Islander (31-27-9) goaltender Semyon Varlamov stopped 27 shots in a 3-0 shutout over the New York Rangers (44-20-9) at Madison Square Garden in New York. It was Varlamov’s second shutout this season and his fourth straight over the Rangers at MSG.

#5 The Buffalo Sabres (25-33-11) Tage Thompson scored two times and was good enough as the Sabers edged the Nashville Predators (39-25-4) at KeyBank Center in Buffalo. The Sabers Peyton Krebs and Victor Olofsson scored a goal each in the Sabers 4-3 win.

Join Matt for the NHL podcast each Saturday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Sharks Fall 4-2 to Avalanche; SJ loses six of last nine games

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San Jose Sharks center Logan Couture, left and Colorado Avalanche left wing Andre Burakovsky (right) scramble for the puck at the Ball Center in Denver on Thu Mar 31, 2022 (AP News photo )

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks fell 4-2 to the Colorado Avalanche Thursday, the second loss in as many nights for the Sharks. Alex Newhook Darren Helm, Mikko Rantanen and Andre Burakovsky scored for the Avalanche. Pavel Francouz made 25 saves for the win. Timo Meier and Brent Burns scored for San Jose and Kaapo Kahkonen made 42 saves in the loss.

This was Kaapo Kahkonen’s second start as a Shark. After the game, Sharks Head Coach Bob Boughner said, of Kahkonen: “I thought he was excellent, I thought that, you know, a couple of those goals he had no help on. I thought he made some big saves for us at the right time. I thought he played extremely well.” Of the team’s performance, he said: “I thought that we played hard for being in a back-to-back situation. I thought there’s a lot of good things to our game.”

Alex Newhook gave the Avalanche a 1-0 lead at 1:54 of the second period. Kurtis MacDermid sent the puck to the slot for Newhook, who spun and shot it past three skaters in front of the goaltender. Assists went to MacDermid and Erik Johnson.

Timo Meier tied it up at 12:09. Tomas Hertl fought his way into the zone and to the net before being pushed down in the slot. The puck still got to Meier to the side of the net so he could score his 31st of the season. Assists went to Hertl and Alexander Barabanov.

Darren Helm made it 2-1 for the Avalanche at 2:05 of the third period. Helm was going to the net when he caught the pass from Valeri Nichushkin. He skated across in front of the goaltender before taking a shot that went off of the post and in.

Brent Burns tied it at 6:29 when Tomas Hertl got the puck to him off of a face-off. Burns carried it to the middle of the ice and took a quick wrist shot.

Mikko Rantanen restored Colorado’s lead with a power play goal at 12:17. Nazem Kadri set him up with a nice cross-ice pass down low for Rantanen’s 34th of the season. Assists went to Kadri and Cale Makar.

Andre Burakovsky scored the insurance goal at 15:16, collecting a rebound in close and lifting it into the net. Assists went to Erik Johnson and Nazem Kadri.

The Avalanche outshot the Sharks 46-27. The Sharks power play had three shots in three opportunities and their penalty kill allowed nine shots I three penalty kills, including one five-on-three.

The Sharks next play on Saturday back in San Jose against the Dallas Stars at 7:30 PM PT.

Late third period rally sparks Coyotes past Sharks 5-2

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Training staff and doctors attend the Arizona Coyotes Clayton Keller (9) who got his skate caught under the dasher boards and suffered a broken femur and was carted off the ice vs. the San Jose Sharks at Gila River Arena Glendale on Wed Mar 30, 2022 (AP News photo)

By Daniel Dullum
Wednesday, March 30, 2022

GLENDALE, Ariz. – Jan Jenik scored his first two goals of the season, both assisted by Phil Kessel, as the Arizona Coyotes snapped a six-game losing streak, defeating the visiting San Jose Sharks 5-2 Wednesday at Gila River Arena.

Jenik has scored four goals in his NHL career– all of them against the Sharks.

Both teams are in the midst of a rebuild andnot headed to the postseason. San Jose is sixth in the NHL Pacific Division with66 points (29-29-8); the Coyotes are eighth in the Central Division with 43points (21-45-1).

Jenik’s second goal of the game put the Coyotes ahead 3-2 at 7:11 of the third period. For the second time in the game,Kessel assisted Jenik, who took a pass from the veteran while positioned in the slot, beating San Jose goaltender James Reimer.

Barrett Hayton scored an insurance tally for Arizona at 17:02 of the third period, just after teammate Clayton Keller was taken from the ice on a stretcher with an undisclosed injury. The Coyotes’ Nick Schmaltz tacked on an unassisted empty-netter at 19:14, his 20th goal of the season.

“It looked like (Keller) lost his balance and hit the boards hard. You could see he was in a lot of pain,” Sharks captain Logan Couture said. “At a time like that, all your thoughts are on him, and you have to give him his space. But when you start playing again, you have to regroup and we didn’t, and they got that fourth goal right away.”

San Jose outshot the Coyotes 42-24. Karel Vejmelka made 40 saves, including all 11 shots he faced in the third period.Reimer was credited with 19 saves, facing 13 shots in the first two periods.
On the Sharks’ third period defensive collapse, Couture added, “(Reimer) made some big saves for us tonight, but he can’t make all of them.”

Arizona took a 2-1 lead at 8:33 of the second period on Jenik’s first goal of the season on a clever assist Kessel. From the trapezoid behind Reimer, Kessel picked up a loose puck and flipped a backhand pass to the slot area that found Jenik, who converted a one-timer to Reimer’s stick side.

Brent Burns responded with his seventh goal of the season, tying the game at 2-2 at the 14:07 mark of the second period.Burns fired a low shot through traffic in front of the net and past Vejmelka.

The Sharks used a power play goal to open the scoring at 12:13 of the first period. Scott Reedy was parked near the crease and redirected a shot from the right point by Ryan Merkley, beating Vejmelka to the glove side.

Nick Ritchie’s 10th goal of the season provided the equalizer at 15:46 of the first period for the Coyotes.Schmaltz was skating in from the right and sent a pass to the blade of Ritchie’s stick, and the puck was steered past Reimer’s right skate just inside the goal post.

The Sharks’ next game is Thursday in Denver against the Colorado Avalanche.

SHARK BITES: San Jose’s pregame scratches were Jonah Gadjovich, Radim Simek, Jonathan Dahlen ad Matt Nieto. … This was the Sharks’ final visit to Gila River Arena, as the Coyotes are moving to Arizona State’s new 5,000-seat college hockey arena in Tempe for the next three seasons. To accommodate NHL expansion to Seattle, Arizona moved to the NHL Central Division this year, thus, the two longtime Pacific Division rivals only met twice this season.

San Jose Sharks podcast with Mary Lisa: Sharks face struggling Coyotes in Glendale tonight

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The San Jose Sharks right winger Timo Meier pursues the Anaheim Ducks Ryan Getzlaf (15) in the second period of Sat Mar 28, 2022 at the SAP Center in San Jose (AP News photo)

On the San Jose Sharks podcast with Mary Lisa:

#1 The San Jose Sharks are playing .500 hockey face off against the Arizona Coyotes tonight at Gila River Arena in Glendale and the Coyotes are on a six game losing streak. That said there those nights when Sharks head coach Bob Boughner has to wonder which Sharks team will show up.

#2 The Sharks offense has been struggling scoring only 2.6 goals per game and can’t seem to score on the power play with 18.6 goals on the five on four advantage.

#3 The Sharks have three players that could break it open at anytime with Timo Meier with 30 goals most for the Sharks, defenceman Brent Burns with 36 assists, and Tomas Hertl has been putting shots on net with 175 this season.

#4 On the defensive side of the puck for the Sharks they have allowed 3.1 goals per game the Sharks strength on defensive they have been able to kill off the power play 84.4 percent of the time.

#5 The Sharks have been inconsistent trying to put a winning steak together and as a road team haven’t been able to successfully finish games how do you see them facing off against the Coyotes who are hungry in trying to end their long losing streak in Glendale tonight?

Join Mary Lisa for the Sharks podcasts each Wednesday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Sharks Sink Ducks 4-1, Meier Scores Hat Trick

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San Jose Sharks right wing Timo Meier (28) tries to get the puck away from Anaheim Ducks center Trevor Zegras (46) at the SAP Center in San Jose on Sat Mar 26, 2022 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

SAN JOSE- The San Jose Sharks beat the Anaheim Ducks 4-1 on Saturday. It was Anaheim’s ninth loss in a row. Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Timo Meier scored for the Sharks, Meier with the hat trick. James Reimer made 27 saves for the win. Gerry Mahew scored for the Ducks and Lukas Dostal made 20 saves in the loss.

The Sharks started slowly on Saturday, taking two first-period penalties and getting just six shots in the first. After the game, Sharks Head Coach Bob Boughner talked about his goaltender’s performance:

“I thought Reims really kept us in it, at the beginning of the game, made some huge stops, especially on the penalty kill. We were just a little sloppy. But we used that, Reims’ saves, and we settled down and played a pretty good hockey game after that.”

Marc-Edouard Vlasic gave the Sharks the lead with his third goal of the season, at 14:48 of the first period. Ryan Merkley made a pass from just above the goal line back up the ice to Vlasic for the shot. Assists went to Merkley and Scott Reedy.

Timo Meier made it 2-0 at 1:41 of the second period. Meier got the puck from Alexander Barabanov near the boards, then carried it out to the slot for the shot. It was his 28th of the season.

Gerry Mahew got the Ducks on the board at 1:05 of the third period. Dominik Simon caught a turnover in the neutral zone and went the other way. Mahew followed in a hurry and Simon dropped the puck to him for the shot.

Timo Meier scored his second of the night on the power play at 3:56 of the period. Meier gathered up the puck from a cross-ice pass across the ice then skated closer to the net and shot the puck right by the goaltender. Barabanov and Hertl got the assists.

Meier completed his hat trick at 15:55. Tomas Hertl carried the puck into the zone and almost to the net before making a pass back to Meier, through three defenders. The pass was a little behind Meier so he reached his stick back and tapped it between his skates to set up for the shot. Hertl and Burns got the assists.

The Sharks power play had three shots and one goal in three opportunities. Their penalty kill gave up five shots in four penalties. The Ducks out-shot the Sharks 28-24. In the face-off circle, the Ducks won 57% of the draws.

Logan Couture was out of the lineup with the upper body injury sustained on Thursday.

The Sharks next play on Wednesday against the Coyotes in Arizona at 7:00 PM PT.

NHL podcast with Matt Harrington: Caps Ovechkin scores tying and winning goals; Kreider scores twice for Rangers in 5-1 win over Pens; plus more

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Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin, left, gets congratulated by teammates right wing Tom Wilson (43), defenseman Martin Fehervary (42) and left wing Axel Jonsson-Fjallby (45) after scoring the game winner in the overtime shootout at Key Bank Arena in Buffalo on Fri Mar 25, 2022 (AP News photo)

On the NHL podcast with Matt:

#1 The Washington Capitals (36-20-10) Alex Ovechkin can do it all he scored his 41st goal of the season a real bullet no time for the Buffalo Sabers goalie Dustin Tokarski to get a glove on the top shelf goal and later Ovechkin scored the winning goal in the shootout against the Sabers (23-33-9) for the 4-3 win at Key Bank Arena in Buffalo on Friday night.

#2 The New York Rangers (41-19-5) Chris Kreider took it to the Pittsburgh Penguins (39-17-10) with two goals in a four goal win 5-1 for the Rangers at Madison Square Garden. Mika Zibanejad picked up his 500th career point and Andrew Copp scored his first goal with the Rangers.

#3 Another disappointing finish for the Montreal Canadiens (17-37-10) who were eliminated on Friday night when the Capitals defeated the Sabers. The Canadiens who sit in 16th and last place in the Eastern Conference will have to go home after the regular season and figure it out for next season.

#4 Patrik Laine made his Winnipeg (31-25-10) return in the Columbus Blue Jackets (32-29-4) uniform for the first time since being traded to the Jackets back on Jan 23, 2021. Laine had four shots on goal and three shots blocked by the Jets on Friday night. The Jets edged the Jackets in overtime 4-3.

#5 The Chicago Blackhawks (24-32-9) Jonathan Toews will play in his 1000th game against the Florida Panthers (43-14-6) next week Thursday and it did not come easy as Toews missed all of last season because of chronic immune response syndrome and this year had to deal with concussion issues missing 11 games. Is Toews facing the end of his career he says he’s not sure what he will do after this season.

Matt Harrington does the NHL podcasts each Saturday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Sharks Fall to Oilers 5-2, Kahkonen Makes 36 Saves in SJ Debut

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San Jose Sharks’ Noah Gregor (73) chases Edmonton Oilers’ Leon Draisaitl (29) during first-period at Rogers Place in Edmonton on Thu Mar 24, 2022 (Canadian Press photo via AP)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks lost to Oilers in Edmonton by a score of 5-2 Thursday. Kailer Yamamoto, Leon Draisaitl, Derick Brassard, and Evander Kane scored for the Oilers. Mike Smith made 28 saves for the win. Erik Karlsson and Tomas Hertl scored for the Sharks. Kaapo Kahkonen made 36 saves in the loss, his first appearance as a Shark.

Logan Couture left the game midway through the second period after being injured by a Brent Burns shot. The puck seemed to hit him in the side and the injury was described as upper-body. There were no specific updates after the game. Timo Meier, who left Tuesday’s game with a lower body injury, was on the ice Thursday.

The Sharks penalty kill was conspicuously less good on Thursday than it has been this season. They failed to kill either of the penalties they took. That is in part due to the absence of regular penalty killers, Jake Middleton and Andrew Cogliano who were traded Monday and Matt Nieto who is still injured.

After the game, Sharks Head Coach Bob Boughner said: “We’re using a lot of different faces in our penalty kill and you could see that tonight.” Some of those new faces included Rudolfs Balcers, Sasha Chmelevski and Noah Gregor.

Sharks defenseman Erik Karlsson did not think the penalty kill was terrible: “They’re one of the best power plays in the league, I think they showed that today. The goals that they scored are high-skilled goals. There’s nothing you can do about it sometimes.”

Karlsson scored the first goal of the game at 1:08 of the second period. After cleaning up an odd-man rush the other way that started with a broken stick in the Oilers’ zone, Karlsson got the puck to Timo Meier by the blue line, then skated in. Meier passed the puck across the ice to Tomas Hertl, who sent it back across the ice to Karlsson by the net for the shot.

Kailer Yamamoto tied it up at 4:34 with a power play goal. The Oilers got past the Sharks at the blue line and Yamamoto was in a shooting position before the Sharks could get back. Assists went to Ryan McLeod and Duncan Keith.

Leon Draisaitl scored at 7:39. Zack Kassian got the puck off of Erik Karlsson’s stick by giving him a shove in the hip and throwing him off balance. That went uncalled as Draisaitl skated by and took the puck to the net to score. After the game, Karlsson said, of the incident: “That’s hockey, it’s going to happen.”

Derick Brassard made it 3-1 at 6:49 of the third period. Brassard thew the puck at the net from the blue line. At first it seemed to go off of Ryan-Nugent Hopkins as he dove for the net. It did not hit him as it bounced over the line. Assists went to Jesse Puljujarvi and Evan Bouchard.

Tomas Hertl cut the Oilers lead down to one with a goal at 7:18. Timo Meier Had the puck on his was to the goal line and he found Hertl in the slot with a pass. Hertl shot it past three Oilers and past Smith of the stick side. Assists went to Meier and Karlsson.

Leon Darisaitl scored his second of the night at 13:55, on the power play. Zach Hyman caught a cross- ice pass from Connor McDavid and sent the puck to the net for Draisaitl to tuck into the net.

Evander Kane scored into an empty net at 17:18, with assists to McDavid and Yamamoto.

The Sharks were outshot 41-30 and won 49% of the face-offs. Their power play had four shots in two opportunities.

The Sharks next play on Saturday at home against the Anaheim Ducks at 7:30 PM PT.

Sharks Win 4-3 Against Flames in Calgary; Couture and Barbanov score key goals

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San Jose Sharks’ Alexander Barabanov, center, celebrates his goal against the Calgary Flames with Timo Meier, left, and Tomas Hertl at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary on Tue Mar 22, 2022 (Photo by The Canadian Press via AP)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks defeated the Calgary Flames 4-3 Tuesday in Calgary. The Sharks are 3-0 against the Flames this season. Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Timo Meier, Alexander Barabanov and Logan Couture scored for the Sharks. James Reimer made 28 saves for the win. Johnny Gaudreau, Dillon Dube, and Mikael Backlund scored for the Flames, Jacob Markstrom made 34 saves in the loss.

After the game, Sharks Head Coach Bob Boughner said:

“As the game went on we got a couple bounces and I think it gave us a little bit of energy. I thought the guys played hard for each other. I thought that we had some energy out of the Gadjovich Viel line. Every time they were one the ice. It took us a while to get going but once we did I thought we played a pretty responsible game. That’s a great team offensively obviously and [Reimer] came up huge at the end with some stops.”

He observed that the circumstances of the game were noteworthy: “Coming into this building after the trade deadline, having guys injured and out of the lineup, Nieto and [Dahlen] and guys like that and some young guys in pretty big roles tonight, I thought it was a great team effort.”

Johnny Gaudreau started the scoring at 4:17 with a power play goal. He stopped the puck with his skate and lifted the puck into the top corner. Assists went to Matthew Tkachuk and Elias Lindholm.

Dillon Dube made it 2-0 at 8:16. Tkachuk kept the puck in and sent it back to the slot where Dube was ready to take a quick shot.

Marc-Edouard Vlasic got the Sharks on the board at 14:54 with shot from the point. He had just kept the puck in and threw it on net. It snuck by Markstrom on the blocker side.

The Sharks had two penalties to kill in the first. They gave up the one goal and allowed two shots. They had one power play that got three shots on goal. The shot count for the period was 14-9 Sharks.

Mikael Backlund scored at 4:08 of the second period, restoring Calgary’s two-goal lead. Johnny Gaudreau took advantage of a neutral zone turnover and carried the puck in two-on-one with Backlund. Gaudreau made the pass across the slot and Backlund took a backhand shot close in to the net.

Gaudreau was awarded a penalty shot at 14:59 after Brent Burns slashed him. Reimer caught the shot in his glove.

Timo Meier trimmed the Flames lead back to one at 17:30. Burns took a shot from above the circle that it a defenseman. The rebound went out to Timo Meier just above the goal line by the boards. His bad angle shot found its way into the net. Assists went to Burns and Alexander Barabanov.

The Flames outshot the Sharks in the second period 12-10. The Sharks had the only power play in the period and got five shots on goal.

Barabanov tied the game at 11:07 of the third, after Tomas Hertl lifted the puck between defenders from behind the net to make a pass to Barabanov. Barabanov was right in front of the blue paint and he lifted it over the goaltender for his tenth goal of the season.

Logan Couture gave the Sharks the lead less than 30 seconds later. Noah Gregor carried the puck to the et and took a shot. Markstrom stopped that but the rebound went to Couture who as following Gregor. Couture’s shot trickled under the goalie for Couture’s 21st of the season. Assists went to Gregor and Sasha Chmelevski.

Calgary pulled their goaltender with about 90 seconds left but the Sharks held them off. The final shot count was 38-31 Sharks but the Sharks only won 46% of the face-offs.

In the final minutes of the game, Timo Meier left the ice with a lower body injury.

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

Sharks Trade Middleton, Cogliano, Merkley, Acquire Kahkonen, Bitteto, Picks

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The San Jose Sharks in a trade acquired goaltender Kappo Kahkonnen from the Minnesota Wild seen in photo file on Mon Mar 21, 2022 (file photo from Hockey Wilderness)

By Mary Walsh

SAN JOSE– On Monday, the trade deadline, the San Jose Sharks moved three players to playoff contenders. They traded defenseman Jake Middleton to the Minnesota Wild in exchange for goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen and a 2022 fifth-round draft pick. Forward Nick Merkley went to the New York Rangers in exchange for defenseman Anthony Bitteto. The Sharks sent forward Andrew Cogliano to the Colorado Avalanche for a 2024 fifth round draft pick. San Jose also traded goaltender Alexei Melnichuk to the Tampa Bay Lightning for center Antoine Morand.

Jake Middleton has been with the Sharks organization since 2017, when he was signed as a free agent. He played in 59 games with the Sharks, scored nine points and had 82 penalty minutes.

Last season, Kaapo Kahkonen set a Wild rookie record, posting nine consecutive wins. He played 25 games with the Wild this season, posting a record of 12-8-3, a 2.87 GAA and a .910 save percentage. In his 54-game NHL career, his record is 31-17-4, a 2.89 GAA and a .907 save percentage. He will become a restricted free agent next season.

After the trade, Kahkonen talked about the trade and what he knows about the Sharks:

A good team. You know, the games I played against San Jose, I remember there’s a lot of good players there. I think it’s going to be, for sure we’re going to be a team that’s going to be able to compete in the near future and it’s going to be a great opportunity.

Kahkonen was asked whether he expected to be traded by the Wild. He said:

“I had no idea. I was actually on the ice, they pulled me out of there from the morning skate and just told me I had to leave the ice. At first I was kind of thinking that something happened to someone in my family or something but… so I was scared but then I heard I was getting traded.”

In a press release Monday, the Sharks said: “Kaapo is a quick, athletic goaltender who has shown the ability to win consistently at every level he has played,” San Jose assistant general manager Joe Will said. “He provides our club additional depth at the goaltending position this season and in the coming years.”

The Sharks acquired Nick Merkley last summer from the New Jersey Devils in exchange for defenseman Christian Jaros. Merkley played nine games with the Sharks and earned one goal and two assists.

Of Anthony Bitteto, a Sharks press release said:

“‘Anthony is a physical, veteran defenseman who gives us additional depth on our blueline,’ said Sharks Assistant General Manager Joe Will.

“This season, Bitetto has appeared in 39 games with the Hartford Wolf Pack of the American Hockey League, posting 15 points (four goals, 11 assists) and 26 penalty minutes in 39 games. He ranks second among team defensemen in goals and third in both assists and points.

“Bitetto has appeared in 197 NHL games with Nashville, Minnesota, Winnipeg, and the Rangers, posting 31 points (three goals, 28 assists) and 142 penalty minutes.”

Bitteto will be a free agent this summer.

Andrew Cogliano played 56 games with the Sharks this season, scored four goals and earned eleven assists. He will be a free agent this summer. In a press release, the Sharks said:

“Andrew was an important leader and a respected veteran in our dressing room this season,” said Sharks Assistant General Manager Joe Will. “Our players will be better pros for having had Andrew as a teammate.”

Antoine Morand has yet to play in the NHL. In their press release, the Sharks said:

In 138 AHL games with San Diego and Syracuse, Morand has posted 44 points (15 goals, 29 assists).

The five-foot-eleven, 190-pound native of Chateauguay, Quebec was originally selected by Anaheim in the second round (60th overall) of the 2017 NHL Draft.

Melnichuk appeared in three games with the Sharks last season. In their press release, the Sharks said:

Melnichuk appeared in 31 games with the Barracuda this season, posting a 10-14-2 record with a 3.92 goals-against average and an .867 save percentage.

Tomas Hertl is staying put with an eight-year contract extension, as the Sharks announced last week. The Sharks also did not move goaltender James Reimer, or forward Alexander Barabanov. Both players made the trade rumor mill before the deadline. Barabanov will be a free agent this summer and Reimer has one more season under contract with the Sharks.