Tag: Ryan Johansen

Sharks Buried by Avalanche 6-2 in Denver, Studnicka Makes Sharks Debut

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Colorado Avalanche Nathan MacKinnon gets congratulated by the Avalanche bench after scoring in the second period against the San Jose Sharks at Ball Arena in Denver on Sun Dec 17, 2023 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks were defeated 6-2 by the Colorado Avalanche Sunday. Colorado goals came from Valeri Nichushkin, Mikko Rantanen, Miles Wood, Ryan Johansen, and two from Nathan MacKinnon. Alexander Georgiev made 27 saves for the win. Tomas Hertl scored twice for the Sharks and Mackenzie Blackwood made 23 saves in the loss.

The Sharks’ newest player, Jack Studnicka, made his debut Sunday. Studnicka was acquired Friday from the Vancouver Canucks in exchange for defenseman Nick Cicek and a 2024 sixth-round pick. Sunday he had one shot, three hits and won 4 of 16 faceoffs in 12:18 time on the ice.

After the game, he described his performance as “Just okay. I didn’t really have my legs, it’s kind of been a whirlwind. That’s no excuse but it’s been a lot of travel recently. Some ok moments, some good moments, some moments I’ve got to work on.”

Sharks Head Coach David Quinn said, of Studnicka’s first game: “Tough game to be thrown into, you know, I’m sure he’s just glad it’s over with. Didn’t really think he had a lot of pop in his skating tonight which usually he does. So it’s a tough situation to be put into but I thought he was fine.”

Less than three minutes into the game, Sharks defenseman Jacob MacDonald was called for boarding Sam Malinski. Malinski seemed to catch his skate and was off-balance before MacDonald hit him. Malinski was injured and bleeding. He missed a substantial amount of time in the first period, but returned to play before the period ended. MacDonald, however, was given a game misconduct.

During the ensuing five minute penalty, Colorado scored once. The Sharks penalty kill held the Avalanche off for 4:30. In the final seconds, Jonathan Drouin found Valeri Nichushkin next to the net for a tap-in goal. Assists went to Drouin and Nathan MacKinnon.

The Sharks were back on the penalty kill at 10:37, and Colorado scored at 12:15. Mikko Rantanen deflected a shot from MacKinnon, again late in the power play. Assists went to MacKinnon and Devon Toews.

Miles Wood made it 3-0 with a sharp angle shot at 18:20. Assists went to Ross Colton and Jonathan Drouin. Nathan MacKinnon made it 4-0 at 3:44 of the second period with an unassisted goal.

Tomas Hertl scored on the power play to make it 4-1 at 9:01 of the second. Hertl deflected a shot from the blue line by Mikael Granlund. The secondary assist went to Alexander Barabanov.

Ryan Johansen made it 5-1 at 9:01 of the third period. A rebound off of a Caleb Jones shot went right to Johansen with an open net in front of him. Assists went to Jones and Andrew Cogliano.

Hertl scored his second of the night, again on the power play. Right in front of ther net, Hertl gathered up a rebound after William Eklund took a shot. Assists went to Eklund and Granlund.

Nathan MacKinnon scored his second of the night at 15:11, into an empty net. The Sharks pulled their goaltender with five minutes left in the game.

The Sharks did well in shot count for the game, just one behind Colorado’s 29. In the face-off circle, the Sharks struggled again, winning only 38.2% of the draws.

The Sharks started the game missing several veteran players. Apart from the injured players, Anthony Duclair was a healthy scratch. After the game, David Quinn declined to share details about that decision and said only that Duclair would be back.

Sharks next play on Tuesday back in San Jose at 7:30 PM PT against the Los Angeles Kings.

NHL podcast with Len Shapiro: Preds Johansen out 12 weeks; Caps Ovechkin returns tonight; plus more

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The Nashville Predators will miss 12 weeks following leg surgery from an injury from Tue 14, 2023 game against the Vancouver Canucks Quinn Hughes whose skate cut Johansen on the right leg. (photo from nhl.com)

On the NHL podcast with Len:

#1 Nashville Predators Ryan Johansen’s right leg got caught by the skate of Vancouver Canucks defenseman Quinn Hughes which made contact on Johansen’s lower leg Tuesday night at 16:43 of the second period. Johansen had to be assisted off the ice. Johansen had to have surgery on the leg and will miss at least 12 weeks he could make it back for the first round of the playoffs.

#2 Alexander Ovechkin had missed the last five games with the Washington Capitals after his father Mikhail passed away at age 71 in Russia. Mikhail was a soccer player in his youth. Ovechkin is returning tonight in Anaheim against the Anaheim Ducks. Ovechkin said he looks forward to getting back to work. The Caps lost to the Ducks 4-2 on Thursday night for the Caps sixth straight loss.

#3 The Chicago Blackhawks in a trade with the Ottawa Senators acquired defenseman Nikita Zaitsev . Ottawa received two draft picks from Chicago plus future defensemen considerations. Zaitsev has 108 points, 18 goals and 19 assists in 426 regular season games with the Senators and Toronto Maple Leafs. Zaitsev has five assists in 28 games with Ottawa this season.

#4 Len, the New York Rangers are looking to bolster their roster some more, as you know they picked up Vladimir Tarasenko from the St Louis Blues on Feb 10th and now their in talks with the Chicago Blackhawks about acquiring Patrick Kane. Rangers general manager Chris Drury said “Never say never’ regarding acquiring Kane.

#5 New Jersey defeated the Los Angeles Kings 4-3 in overtime here’s one team who is interested in Patrick Kane.

#5 The San Jose Sharks Timo Meier remains one of the top sought after players before the trade deadline. The New Jersey Devils and the Carolina Hurricanes are inquiring about Meier’s services with the Devils being the team who want a long term deal with Meier but the Canes have said that would not be a prerequisite with them. Meier is currently hurt with an upper body injury and has been out since the second period of Sat Feb 18th’s game against the Buffalo Sabers.

6. Edmonton Oilers defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins 7-2 as the Oilers Conner McDavid scored two goals tonight with 109 points leading the NHL.

Join Len for the NHL podcasts Thursday nights at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Sharks Fall 1-0 to Predators in OT

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Nashville Predators’ Mattias Ekholm (14) celebrates with Ryan Johansen (92) after Johansen scored the winning goal against San Jose Sharks goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen (34) in overtime at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville on Tue Apr 12, 2022 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks lost their seventh in a row 1-0 in overtime to the Nashville Predators Tuesday. Ryan Johansen scored the lone goal of the game. Juuse Saros made 25 saves for the win. The Predators moved into the first wild card spot with the win. Kaapo Kahkonen made 40 saves for San Jose in the loss.

Sharks goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen described what he saw from his team: “Good road game. We battled hard and we didn’t step back and did a lot of good things. We were in the game all game, just a tough result again. But I think a lot of good things for being on the road and playing a good team.”

Despite their current losing streak, the Sharks have been very close in many of their recent games, including this one. Sharks forward Rudolfs Balcers described the mood in the room after the game: “Frustrating, you know, trying to get that win here, it’s been too many losses. I mean, it’s just tough, you don’t score goals you don’t win a game. So, the guys are a little down.”

The Sharks put up a good fight, including fights in the first period and the third from Jeffrey Viel and Nicolas Meloche. In general, the team played well and certainly improved on their prior meeting with Nashville, when they lost 8-0. After the game, Sharks Head Coach Bob Boughner said:

“I think that we did a decent job of sort of establishing our game. I think I looked up at the clock at one point in time it was 11 or 12 minutes to play in the first period and the shots were 2-1. So, those were things that we wanted to come out and establish. You know, we stood up to them physically and [Couture] came out hitting, [Viel], Meloche, guys like that. We took the hit to make the play we gave hits, it was a physical grind and I thought we answered the bell.”

There were two goals from the Predators in the game, but the first one was called back when the Sharks challenged the play for offside. Ryan Johansen’s overtime goal came 3:18 into the the extra frame. Johansen took the shot from a bad angle and it seemed to deflect of off a Shark before slipping under Kahkonen and into the net. Assists went to Mattias Ekholm and Filip Forsberg.

The Sharks were outshot by the Predators 25-41 through the game. In the face-off circle, they did well in the first period but by the end of the game were down to 43%. The Sharks killed two penalties, allowing just three shots. Their power play had one opportunity and got one shot on goal. Matt Nieto led the team in shots with four.

The Sharks play again on Thursday in Chicago against the Blackhawks at 5:30 PM PT.

2015 NHL All Star Weekend Recap

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By Mary Walsh

Team Black won the Skills Competition, Team White won an All Star Game marked by more goals than ever and two plus hat tricks. Ryan Johansen was the MVP, Alex Ovechkin got a car (but not the one he asked for), the first ever All Star Draft trade took place. It was a busy weekend in Columbus Ohio.

The NHL opened the 2015 All Star Weekend in Columbus by announcing that a World Cup of Hockey will take place in September of 2016. Last held in 2004, the 2016 tournament will include teams from Canada, the USA, Russia, the Czech Republic, Finland and Sweden. In addition, two All Star teams will be assembled of players from countries not represented in that group. Future tournaments may be expanded to include qualification rounds to determine which countries will participate. The tournament is expected to last about two weeks and will start on September 17, 2016 at Air Canada Center in Toronto.

The NHL also announced that the 2016 Winter Classic will be held at the Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, with the Boston Bruins hosting the Montreal Canadiens. Two more outdoor games are scheduled for 2016. The first will be between the Minnesota Wild and the Chicago Blackhawks, on February 21 at TCF Bank Stadium at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. On February 27, the Colorado Avalanche will host the Detroit Red Wings at Coors Field in Denver, Colorado.

On Friday, January 23, the All Stars gathered to draft their teams in Columbus Ohio. Alex Ovechkin said that he wanted to be chosen last, because he needed the car. He made this point repeatedly, with hand-written signs held up to the camera and in statements during interviews. His motives could have been guessed at but he kept the secret well enough that his fellow All Stars did not take the hint, and picked him third to last. It was eventually revealed that he wanted to give the car to a program called Nova Cool Cats Special Hockey. Learning this, Honda decided to help him out. Read all about that here.

DRAFT RESULTS:

Team Black captain: Nick Foligno. Alternates: Patrick Kane and Drew Doughty. Coach: Darryl Sutter.

Team Foligno, with the first overall pick,  chose the Columbus Blue Jackets’ Ryan Johansen. It was a wise choice. Johansen went on to win the Breakaway Challenge and the MVP award.

The rest of the team was drafted as follows: 3rd: Duncan Keith (CHI), 5th: Anze Kopitar (LAK), 7th: Steven Stamkos (TBL), 9th: Tyler Seguin (DAL), 11th: Carey Price (MTL), 13th: Claude Giroux (PHI), 15th: Dustin Byfuglien (WPG), 16th: Marc-Andre Fleury (PIT), 17th: Brian Elliott (STL) (replacement for injured Sergei Bobrovsky), 19th: Brent Burns (SJS) (“The second best 88 in the league” per Patrick Kane), 21st: Kevin Shattenkirk (STL), 23rd: Bobby Ryan (OTT), 25th: Radim Vrbata (VAN), 27th: Oliver Ekman-Larsson (ARI), 29th: Zemgus Girgensons (BUF), 31st: Alex Ovechkin (WSH), 34th: Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (EDM).

Team White captain: Jonathan Toews. Alternates: Ryan Getzlaf and Rick Nash. Coach: Peter Laviolette.

Team Toews drafted Phil Kessel (TOR) first. Commenting on their choice, Jonathan Toews made reference to Kessel being the last All Star drafted in 2011:

We know that Phil had a tough one a couple of years ago, I think he deserved to be at the top end of the draft this year. And I think, the three of us were just talking, that he’s one of the most coachable players out there so we’re happy to have him on our team.

About half way through the draft, Team Toews traded Kessel for Tyler Seguin. Asked if he saw the trade coming, Seguin said: “You never expect it, you never expect to get traded. It’s tough to swallow right now but I’m really excited. A big opportunity over there with White, so it’ll be fun.”

The rest of Team Toews was drafted as follows: 4th: Shea Weber (NSH), 6th: Jake Voracek (PHI), 8th: Corey Crawford CHI), 10th: John Tavares (NYI), 12th: Roberto Luongo (FLA), 14th: Brent Seabrook (CHI), 16th: Vladimir Tarasenko (STL), 18th: Patrice Bergeron (BOS), 20th: Jaroslav Halak (NYI), 22nd: Aaron Ekblad (FLA). 24th: Patrick Elias (NJD), 26th: Ryan Suter (MIN), 28th: Marc Giordano (CGY), 30th: Justin Faulk (CAR), 32nd: Tyler Johnson (TBL), 34th: Filip Forsberg (NSH)

In a little rule change, both of the last two picks (Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Filip Forsberg) received Honda Accords.

On Saturday, the Skills Competition was won by Team Foligno 25-19. Both Tampa Bay’s Tyler Johnson and Colorado’s Erik Johnson were unable to play due to injury. It appears that Johnson was an unlucky name for All Stars in 2015.

The winner of the NHL Breakaway Challenge, as chosen by fan vote, was Ryan Johansen. Johansen left the puck in the slot, skated back to the bench and brought one of the training staff’s sons out with him to take the shot. A few rounds later, Jakub Voracek did the same thing, but brought out Johnny Gaudreau out instead of a child.

In the accuracy competition, the home team’s Patrick Kane had the fastest time overall.

The highlight of the Skills Relay was Ryan Getzlaf’s turn in the mini-net passing drill. He hit the four targets in five tries. The extra try was a second shot at a net he had already hit.

In the hardest shot competition, Shea Weber’s second shot (his first missed the net) won with 108.5 mph. That is just behind Zdeno Chara’s standing record of 108.8. Ovechkin came in second with 101.4. Brent Burns, shooting against Florida rookie Aaron Ekblad, lost his heat with a 93.3 mph shot. Ekblad’s shot was clocked at 95.3 mph.

In the shootout, Team Foligno won with 25 goals to Team Toews’ 19. Brent Burns scored once and missed once.

The All Star Game itself took place on Sunday. The final score was 17-12 Team Toews. The game set an All Star record with 29 goals scored. During the second period, a new All Star record was set with 11 goals. For every shot on goal, the NHL gave 200 dollars to the Ronald MacDonald House Charities. 92 shots produced a donation of $18,400.

The MVP award went to Ryan Johansen. The prize was a Honda Accord.

The forward lines for Team Toews were Nash-Toews-Vorcek, Tarasenko-Getzlaf-Seguin, Elias-Bergeron-Tavares, Gaudreau-Forsberg. (Tyler Johnson was out with a lower body injury.)

The defense pairs for Team Toews were: Suter-Weber, Faulk-Ekblad, Giordano-Seabrook.

For Team Foligno, the forward lines were Nugent Hopkins-Girgensons-Vrbata, Foligno-Johansen-Ovechkin, Ryan-Kopitar-Stamkos, Kane-Giroux-Kessel.

Team Foligno’s defense pairs were Keith-Doughty, Burns-Shattenkirk, Ekman Larsson-Byfuglien.

Jakub Voracek, Ryan Johansen, Rick Nash, Tyler Seguin, Patrick Kane, Steven Stamkos, Filip Forsberg and John Tavares all had multi-goal games. Tavares was the first to get a hat trick, and he went on to tie the All Star record with four goals. Voracek also had a hat trick.

The Sharks’ Brent Burns had a goal and an assist for Team Foligno.

Roberto Luongo played the first period for Team Toews, Corey Crawford played the second, and Jaroslav Halak played the third. Corey Crawford led Team Toews in saves with 14 on 18 shots.

Carey Price played the first period for Team Foligno, Marc-Andre Fleury played the second, and Brian Elliot played the third. Carey Price led Team Foligno in saves with 12 on 16 shots.

Four players on Team Toews were tied for the team lead in assists with four each: Aaron Ekblad, Jonathan Toews, Patrice Bergeron and Vladimir Tarasenko.

Alex Ovechkin led Team Foligno in assists with three.

Entertainment notes: Locksley played The Whip (aka the CBJ goal song) in the pregame show. Fall Out Boy performed during the first intermission, beginning with Light Em Up. The second intermission featured O.A.R. performing Love and Memories and Two Hands Up.