NHL podcast with Len Shapiro: Bruins blank Senators 2-0 behind Korpisalo’s shutout; Red Wings get a jump on Habs in 4-2 win; plus more news

The Boston Bruins left winter Brad Marchand (63) takes a poke at the puck in an attempt to score on the Ottawa Senators goaltender Anton Forsberg (31) in the third period at TD Garden in Boston on Thu Jan 23, 2025 (AP News photo)

On the NHL podcast with Len Shapiro:

#1 The Boston Bruins took care of business shutting out the Ottawa Senators at TD Garden in Boston on Thursday night. The Bruins and Sens didn’t score in the first period but the Bruins got single goals in the second and third periods. Bruins Morgan Geekie (13) score in the second period at 2:06 and David Pastrnak (23) at 19:55 in the third period in the 2-0 win. Bruins goaltender Joonas Korpisalo stopped all 29 Ottawa shots for the shutout.

#2 The Detroit Red Wings won a two goal game over the Montreal Canadiens 4-2 at Little Caesars Palace in Detroit on Thursday. The Red Wings Jonatan Berggren (8) scored the game’s first goal in the first period at 13:00. The Wings scored a second goal at 19:56 in the first period by Alex DeBrincat (20) to go up 2-0. Second period Andrew Copp (9) at 4:25 and Dylan Larkin (21) at 7:50 both scored. The Wings came away with a 4- 2 lead after two periods. Neither team scored in the third period.

#3 The New York Rangers defenseman K’Andre Miller scored a goal and had an assist. The Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin stopped 35 shots in the Rangers convincing win over the Flyers 6-1 at Madison Square Garden on Thursday night.

#4 The Carolina Hurricane put away the Columbus Blue Jackets 7-4 at the Lenovo Center in Columbus. The Canes Seth Jarvis scored two goals and had two assists. Sebastian Aho had a goal and two assists, as the Hurricanes scored five goals in the second period and came away with a three goal win.

#5 The Minnesota Wild who are 28-16-4 took a rather shocking defeat 4-0 to the Utah Hockey Club (21-19-7) at the Target Center in Minneapolis on Thursday. Utah’s Barrett Hayton scored two goals, Lawson Crousse, and Clayton Keller scored a goal each in the win. Utah goaltender Karel Vejmelka stopped all 26 Minnesota shots for the shutout.

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

NHL podcast with Len Shapiro: Nylander scores game winner in OT for Leafs; Caps Ovechkin now 21 shy of Gretzky’s goal record; plus more NHL news

Toronto Maple Leafs William Nylander (88) scored the game winning goal against the New Jersey Devils, he is joined in the celebration with teammates Jake McCabe (22) and Phillipe Myers (88) at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto on Thu Jan 16, 2025 (Canadian Press via AP)

On the NHL podcast with Len Shapiro:

#1 The Toronto Maple Leafs William Nylander scored the game winning overtime goal at 1:10 to defeat the New Jersey Devils 4-3 at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto on Thursday night. Nylander on a Mitch Marner stretch pass and shot the puck for a goal past New Jersey goaltender Jacob Markstrom glove side from the blue line.

#2 Alexander Ovechkin scored the game winner for the Washington Capitals for his 874th career goal at 3:07 in overtime to defeat the Ottawa Senators 1-0 at Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa. Ovechkin is now 21 goals away from breaking Wayne Gretzky’s NHL goal scoring record at 894. Ovechkin took a pass from Ramus Sandin on a two on one and beat the Sens Leevi Merilainen with a snap shot.

#3 The Tampa Bay Lightning Jake Guentzel scored in the shootout to defeat the Anaheim Ducks 4-3 at the Amalie Arena in Tampa Bay on Thursday. The Lightning’s Brayden Point scored, Victor Hedman picked up his career 600th assist. The win puts the Lighting at 3-1-1 in their last five games. Tampa Bay goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy saved 34 shots.

#4 The Detroit Red Wings Cam Talbot stopped 41 shots on a busy night to defeat the Florida Panthers 5-2 at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise. Talbot had the hot hand stopping 23 shots in the third period. The Wings Dylan Larkin had two goals and an assist to keep the offense going.

#5 The Columbus Blue Jackets kept their win streak alive with a convincing 4-1 win over the San Jose Sharks at Nationwide Bank Arena in Columbus on Thursday. The Jackets James van Riemsdyk scored twice and Zach Werenski picked up his 18th consecutive home point.

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

San Jose Sharks fall to Ottawa Senators in midweek matchup 4-3

Henry Thrun (3), Mario Ferraro (38), Nico Sturm (7), and Will Smith (2) celebrate with Klim Kostin (10) after scoring a goal. (Via San Jose Sharks/X)

Despite dominating the whole game, the San Jose Sharks fell to the Ottawa Senators 4- 3.

By Madison Montez

SAN JOSE–The San Jose Sharks hosted the Ottawa Senators for a midweek matchup Wednesday night. This is the first meeting between the two teams this season. The last time these two teams faced off was on March 9th where the Sharks won 2-1 on two Thomas Bordeleau goals.

San Jose went onto the powerplay early when Ridly Greig took a 2 minute penalty for interference but weren’t able to take advantage. Shortly after coming off of the penalty kill, Ottawa opened up the scoring on an Adam Gaudette goal at 4:35 of the 1st. Ottawa had their first opportunity on the powerplay as Klim Kostin took a 2 minute penalty for high-sticking. 42 seconds into the powerplay, Josh Norris scored his 9th of the season assisted by Drake Batherson and Tim Stutzle.

Although outshooting Ottawa 24-10, Ottawa kept their lead throughout the 2nd. At 9:19 into the 2nd, Mario Ferraro cut down Ottawa’s lead to 1 assisted by Will Smith and Klim Kostin. This was Ferraro’s first goal of the season.

Previous to this, he hadn’t scored since April 13th against the Minnesota Wild. Ottawa extended their lead to 3-1 at 15:22 on a Tyler Kleven goal; his first of the season assisted by Claude Giroux. Late into the 2nd period with 23.6 seconds left, Mario Ferraro went to the box for holding which meant Ottawa would start the 3rd period on a 1:45 powerplay.

San Jose cut down Ottawa’s lead again on a goal by Macklin Celebrini assisted by William Eklund and Jake Walman at 4:48. San Jose stayed alive at 12:32 with a Will Smith PPG assisted by Fabian Zetterlund and Timothy Liljegren. With 5 minutes left in the 3rd, Adam Gaudette netted his 2nd of the night assisted by Tom Stutzle and Brady Tkachuk to seal Ottawa’s 4-3 win.

Three stars of the game:

1. Tim Stutzle

2. Will Smith

3. Adam Gaudette

San Jose will be back in action on Friday hosting the Seattle Kraken at 12:30pm.

NHL podcast with Len Shapiro: Bruins Korpisalo saves 21 to shutout Utah 1-0; Knights clip Senators 3-2; plus more NHL news

Utah Hockey Club center Alexander Kerfoot (15) tumbles in front of Boston Bruins defender Brandon Carlo (25) and goaltender Joonas Korpisalo (70) in the second period at TD Garden in Boston on Thu Nov 21, 2024 (AP News photo)

On the NHL podcast with Len Shapiro:

#1 The Boston Bruins Joonas Korpisalo stopped 21 shots to shutout the Utah Hockey Club on Thursday night in Boston. It was the first game under interim head coach Joe Sacco who replaced former head coach Jim Montgomery who was fired after accumulating a 120-41-23 record after two seasons. Sacco said that the win felt pretty good and for the guys it was even more important.

#2 The Vegas Golden Knights wound up handing the Ottawa Senators a 3-2 loss, their fourth straight loss on Thursday at the Canadian Tire Center in Ottawa. Knights Ilya Samsonov stopped 39 shots. Samsonov made 16 saves in the third period including an amazing slide across the crease for a pad save on the Senators David Perron’s wrist shot.

#3 With just 52 seconds left in the game the Detroit Red Wings Lucas Raymond scored a go ahead goal as the Wings came back from behind to beat the New York Islanders at Little Caesar’s Pizza Arena in Detroit 2-1. It’s was a rough road trip for the Islanders who drop to 1-2-2. Raymond said that everyone wants to score goals but as long as were winning games everybody is happy.

#4 The New Jersey Devils defeated the Carolina Hurricane 4-2 in New Jersey on Thursday. Jesper Bratt scored two goals and an assist. Jack Hughes got three assists and Devils goaltender Jacob Markstrom stopped 20 shots in his 500th career game.

#5 The Colorado Avalanche’s Miles Wood scored the go ahead goal in the third period against the Washington Capitals for a 2-1 win at the Capital Center on Thursday. The Aves Mikko Rantanen scored and goaltender Alexander Geogiev stopped 28 shots for the win.

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

NHL podcast with Len Shapiro: Bruins Marchand scores gamer in OT to beat Flames; Panthers win 6th straight game with 6-2 win over Preds; plus more NHL news

Boston Bruins left wing Brad Marchand right celebrates his goal with teammate defensemen Charlie McAvoy (left) in overtime at the Boston Garden on Thu Nov 7, 2024 (AP News photo)

On NHL podcast with Len Shapiro:

#1 The Boston Bruins Brad Marchand with 20 seconds left in the overtime stanza to help the Bruins with a 4-3 win over the Calgary Flames at Scotiabank Arena in Calgary. The Flames battled earlier scoring two goals in the third period forcing a tie.

# 2 The Florida Panthers are hot they have now won six in a row defeating the Nashville Predators on Thursday night 6-2. The Predators have won five of their last six games. The Panthers Carter Verhaeghe had three points scoring a goal and with two assists.

#3 The New York Islanders Bo Horvat scored a goal and had two assists and stopped the Ottawa Senators from coming back in the Isles 4- 2 win at Canadian Centre in Ottawa. The Isles Anders Lee scored a goal and an assist, Jean-Gabriel Pageu and Oliver Wahlstrom added goals.

#4 The Utah Hockey Club’s Dylan Guenther scored what later be the game winning goal with 3:21 left in the game as Utah defeated the St Louis Blues 4-2 at Enterprise Center in St Louis on Thursday. Guenther had an assist at 16:39 intercepting a pass by the Blues Jordan Kyrou when his centering pass deflected off of the Blues defensemen Colton Parayko.

#5 Winnipeg Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck stopped all 35 of the Colorado Avalanche’s shots for a 1-0 shutout at the Canada Life Centre. The Jets set a record with the win becoming the second NHL team to win 13 of their first 14 games ironically joining the 2007-08 Senators. The win was the Jets fifth straight.

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

Utah goes O 4 Canada, gets blanked by Ottawa 4-0, First Utah home loss and first Ottawa road win for season

Ottawa Senators defenseman Thomas Chabot (72) winds up to shoot the puck against forward Alexander Kerfoot (15) and the Utah Hockey Club at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Tue Oct 22, 2024 (AP News photo)

Coming into Tuesday night’s contest between the Ottawa Senators and Utah Hockey Club, fans of the NHL’s newest franchise had every reason for optimism with the team sporting a 4-1-1 record to start the season, just one point out of a tie for first place in the Central Division and undefeated on home ice.

Local recording artist Krispin Banks performed the first-ever rendition of O Canada for an NHL game at Delta Center, followed by a stirring rendition of the American national anthem, and everyone was ready for another great night of hockey. Unfortunately the Utah Hockey Club couldn’t seal the deal and not only that couldn’t score a goal on home ice getting shutout 4-0 at the Delta Center. Utah now with a 4-2-1 record.

The two teams traded chances to no avail throughout the first half of the first period until Noah Gregor and Jack McBain were each sent to the box for roughing penalties. That’s when it all went downhill for Utah HC. During the two-minutes of 4-on-4 play, Ottawa’s Drake Batherson and Claude Giroux each found the back of the Utah net to quickly put the Senators up 2-0.

Five minutes later, with Robert Bortuzzo serving a minor penalty for holding against Tim Stützle, Ridley Greig scored a power play goal to put the Senators up 3-0. Adding insult to injury, Brady Tkachuck made it 4-0 with eight seconds remaining in the opening frame.

Goaltender Karel Vejmelka replaced Connor Ingram to start the second period of play. Vejmelka had appeared in only one previous game so far this season, Utah’s only regulation loss to the New Jersey Devils. He turned away all 5 shots he faced in the second period, but Utah still faced a 4-0 deficit heading into the third period.

Utah HC has scored 5 or more goals in a game three times already this season, but they needed to pull it off all in one period if they were to mount a comeback against Ottawa, but this was not to be their night. Vejmelka stopped all 14 shots he faced in the third period, but the offense was unable to push the puck past Anton Forsberg of the Senators who was perfect against 31 shot attempts to record his first shutout of the season.

Following the game, Utah Hockey Club Head Coach André Tourigny spoke of a drop-off in his team’s focus. “I think we obviously came out strong, playing well, but we didn’t stay in the moment. We got carried away, a little bit soft, defensively, forced a play turnover, you know, and just we had them where we wanted. We played well. We just need to stay patient, stay humble, go one shift at a time, and we got ahead of ourselves and we paid for it.”

With regard to pulling goalie Connor Ingram after the first period, Tourigny added, “Everybody in life has bad days at the office sometimes. And I think when you’re a goaltender, you’re exposed more than anybody else. So I think you need to make the right decision for the team. It’s nothing personal.”

Karel Vejmelka addressed his mindset entering the game in a relief role. “Obviously it’s not easy, but I try to be prepared to play. Like any other game, just be ready anytime. So just try to focus for the first shot and get into it.”

Team captain Clayton Keller commented on the inevitability of games such as this one. “You know it’s going to happen. It’s a long season. You can’t get frustrated, you got to stay patient. Get better every day and good things happen.”

In the other locker room, winning netminder Anton Forsberg commented on his first visit to Salt Lake City as an NHL city. “It was a nice arena. We had a good day yesterday and went to some nice coffee shops. So I didn’t see a lot but it seems like a good city. I’m happy to be able to come out here. It’s been one of the cities I haven’t visited yet, so that’s great.”

Moving forward, Utah HC hopes that visiting teams enjoy the city while finding Delta Center itself far less hospitable on the ice.

Having lost for the first time at home, Utah now gears up to face division rival Colorado Avalanche on Thursday at the Delta Center.

NHL podcast with Len Shapiro: Bedard says he’s ready for his sophomore year with Blackhawks; Utah’s Guenther thrilled about 8 yr deal; plus more news

Chicago Blackhawks Connor Bedard (88) skates against the New Jersey Devils on Jan 5, 2024 in Newark NJ. Bedard says he’s excited about his second year and looking forward to the 2024-25 season (AP file photo)

On the NHL podcast with Len Shapiro:

#1 The Chicago Blackhawks Connor Bedard says he more than ready for this upcoming season. Bedard says he’s rested, relaxed and ready to go. Bedard says he’s ready coming in, he said the excitement was there last season and he’s more relaxed this season.

#2 Dylan Guenther was signed to an eight year deal with the Utah Hockey Team. Financial teams were not disclosed. Guenther a 21 year forward is entering his third season of his three year entry level deal. Guenther said this was a happy day for he and his family. Guenther who played with the Arizona Coyotes last season had 17 goals, 18 assists and 35 points.

#3 It didn’t take long for the Chicago Blackhawks number two draft pick defenseman Artyom Levshunov is slated to be out with a foot injury for the next four weeks. That could change sooner than expected it was reported that Levshunov could be skating soon. Bedard said it was bad that the season started like this for him. The Hawks are anxious to get a look at Levshunov.

#4 New York Rangers Igor Shesterkin is starting the season in his fourth season. Shesterkin says he has one more year on his contract and he doesn’t care about that he’s hoping to work out a four year contract with the Rangers. Shesterkin said that he hopes to stay in New York but could become a free agent after this season.

#5 The Ottawa Senators and the National Capital Commission announced that they are close to completing a deal in principal with a ten acre parcel in the LeBraton Flats District in downtown Ottawa. The Senators had been playing 15 miles outside of downtown and will relocate downtown. The new arena would be just 1.24 miles from the Canadian Parliament building. Len location, location, location finally for the Senators who have been in Ottawa since 1997.

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

Sharks Break 9 Game Losing Streak Beating Ottawa 2-1

San Jose Sharks goaltender Magnus Chrona (30) celebrates the win over the Ottawa Senators with Fabian Zetterlund (20) at SAP Center in San Jose on Sat Mar 9, 2024 (AP News photo)

Saturday, March 9th, 2024

By Troy Ewers

San Jose, CA – The San Jose Sharks hosted the Ottawa Senators and finally ended their nine game losing streak on Saturday night at SAP Center with a 2-1 win after a wild trade deadline. The Sharks made a total of five trades before the trade deadline Friday.

Anthony Duclair, Kaapo Kahkonen, and Tomas Hertl were amongst the five traded and fans may not seem happy, but that also has to do with their current losing streak. Last game on Thursday night was the ninth loss in a row against the New York Islanders, 7-2.

The Sharks played in their 2,500th NHL game in franchise history. San Jose now owns an all-time record of 1,139-1,041-121-199. Thomas Bordeleau (1g, 0a) netted his first power goal of the season and now has three points (2g, 1a) in seven NHL games this year.

Mike Hoffman (1g, 0a) has logged points in three of his past five games played (2g, 2a). William Eklund (0g, 1a) has a career-long four-game point streak (2g, 2a). Fabian Zetterlund (0g, 1a) has tallied six points (1g, 5a) in his past five games played.

Givani Smith (0g, 1a) equaled his career high in assists with his third marker of the season and is now three points shy of tying his career high (7) set during the 2021-22 season as a member of the Detroit Red Wings.

Game recap: First period for the Sharks was a big boost especially with a big crowd on this weekend day game. Brady Tkachuck got a tripping penalty five and a half minutes into the period and the Sharks capitalized on the Ottawa captain’s penalty with good special teams offense.

Fabian Zetterlund and Mikael Granlund gained assists as Bordeleau scored right in the slot making it 1-0 for San Jose off the power play goal. The rest of the period, the Sharks were generating good shots and controlling a lionshare of offense. On top of that Magnus Chrona had a good period blocking eight shots on goal, keeping the score by intermission 1-0 Sharks. 

The second period was a better offensive period shooting wise for Ottawa, but that wouldn’t change the fact that at the end of this period the Senators would be still down one goal. Ottawa would tie it up with a power play goal quickly after a Mario Ferraro penalty.

Tim Stutzle with a shot past Chrona, 1-1. The Sharks came right back minutes later with a great set up power play that consisted of crisp passing and smart movement that led to Bordeleau’s second goal of the night. 2-1 Sharks as the game enterted the third period. 

It was a quieter third period for both teams, but both goalies stopped what came into their path. Ottawa completely out shot the Sharks, but that didn’t matter because the real number was on the scoreboard. A cheap shot on Mike Hoffman by Tkachuck doesn’t get called, but it motivated the Sharks to close this game out and break their losing streak. Sharks put up a steel curtain while Ottawa had an empty net and Sharks won 2-1.

Breaking a nine game losing streak, especially after the last two days with trades and everything led to the crowd making a lot of noise and a huge ovation for Chrona and the Sharks. The Sharks now go on a road trip before being back to San Jose on Thu March 21st a 7:30pm PDT face off.

San Jose Sharks podcast with Troy Ewers: Sharks try to snap nine game skid tonight against Ottawa at SAP Center

The New York Islanders center Matthew Barzal (13) skates away from the net after scoring on the San Jose Sharks goalie Magnus Chrona (30) at SAP Center in San Jose on Thu Mar 7, 2024 (AP News photo)

On the San Jose Sharks podcast with Troy Ewers:

#1 Troy, the New York Islanders just really took it to the San Jose Sharks on Thursday at SAP Center here in San Jose. Scoring four goals in the second period to bury the Sharks 7-2.

#2 In the Sharks last four out of six games they have given up six or more goals and had given up seven goals in three of those.

#3 The Sharks got scoring help from Thomas Bordeleau and Mike Hoffman in their ninth consecutive loss. The Sharks just couldn’t get any offense going in the five goal loss.

#4 The Sharks started Magnus Chrona who save 26 shots but allowed the whopping seven goals another tough outing for Chrona.

#5 The Sharks are trying to rebuild again with their recent trades getting draft picks for Anthony Duclair who was dealt to the Tampa Bay Lightning and Tomas Hertl who was dealt to the Vegas Golden Knights for a 2025 number one draft pick and forward David Edstrom.

Troy Ewers is a San Jose Sharks beat writer for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Sharks Lose to Senators 5-4; Sens Tarasenko gets gamer with 5 seconds left

The Ottawa Senators defenseman Thomas Chabot (72) celebrates with teammates after scoring on the San Jose Sharks in the first period at the Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa on Sat Jan 13, 2024 (Canadian Press via AP photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks fell 5-4 to the Ottawa Senators on Saturday. Claude Giroux, Thomas Chabot, Brady Tkachuk, Drake Batherson, and Vladimir Tarasenko scored for the Senators. Joonas Korpisalo made 14 saves for the win. Anthony Duclair, Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Kevin Labanc and Filip Zadina scored for the Sharks. Mackenziie Blackwood made 36 saves in the loss.

The scoring was back and forth through all three periods and then ended with a goal in the last three seconds. After the game, Anthony Duclair talked about the importance of playing every second of the game: “Obviously, it’s tough to go down that way, especially in the last few seconds there but that’s a thing we’ve got to continue improving on is playing the full 60 right to the end there.”

Sharks Head Coach David Quinn said: “I’m just really disappointed because, you know, we did a lot of good things in Montreal and didn’t follow it up tonight.” He went on to describe what was lacking in Saturday’s game:

“I just thought it was our lack of compete, really, throughout the night. I didn’t think we competed anywhere near the level we needed to, regardless of your opponent. I thought our puck play, we really struggled. There just weren’t many areas that we were real efficient in tonight.”

Claude Giroux scored the first goal of the game at 4:12 of the first period. Finding the puck lose in traffic in front of the net, he snapped it over the goalie. Assists went to Brady Tkachuk and Artem Zub.

Thomas Chabot made it 2-0 for the Senators at 9:58 with a slap shot from the faceoff circle. Assists went to Vladimir Tarasenko and Tim Stützle.

Anthony Duclair got the Sharks on the board at 12:35 with a slap shot from high in the slot. Assists went to Alexander Barabanov and Mario Ferraro.

The Sharks and Senators were close in shots for the first period, at 9-8 Sharks. In the second period, however, the Senators out-shot the Sharks 22-4. Nonetheless, the Sharks scored with two of those shots.

Marc-Edouard Vlasic tied the game at 3:53 of the second. Following up a 2-on-1 by Anthony Duclair and Mikael Granlund, he scored his first goal since January 2023. Assists went to Duclair and Granlund.

Kevin Labanc gave the Sharks the lead at 6:20 with a wrist shot off a sneaky backwards pass from Mario Ferraro. Assists went to Ferraro and Mike Hoffman.

Brady Tkachuk tied the game again at 7:11. Drake Batherson made a pass from the slot to Tkachuk as Tkachuk skated into the zone from the bench. Assists went to Batherson and Tim Stützle.

Batherson gave the Senators the lead at 12:59. He scored with a wrist shot off a rebound that came to him at the edge of the faceoff circle. Assists went to Artem Zub and Tim Stützle.

Filip Zadina tied the game again at 16:56 of the third period. He scored with a slap shot off a cross-ice pass from Tomas Hertl. Assists went to Hertl and Mario Ferraro.

Vladimir Tarasenko scored the game-winner. He caught a rebound off off Zub’s shot from the blue line. Assists went to Artem Zub and Tim Stützle.

The Sharks were out-shot 11-5 in the third period for a total shot count of 41-18 Senators. The Sharks won 42.6% of the draws. Their power play had two shots in two opportunities and gave up one short-handed shot. They gave up four shots on two penalty kills and had one short-handed short.

The Sharks next play on Monday at 9:00 AM PT in Buffalo against the Sabres.