Tag: Ryan Warsofsky

Sharks Fall 6-3 to Briuns, Smith Gets Two Points in Homecoming; Loss is San Jose’s Third Straight

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The Boston Bruins right wing Oliver Wahstrom goes airborne and San Jose Sharks right wing Carl Grundstrom both slam into the boards in the second period on Mon Jan 20, 2025 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

Vinni Lettieri, David Pastrnak, Charlie Coyle, Brad Marchand and Elias Lindholm scored for the Bruins. Joonas Korpisalo made 25 saves for the win. Barclay Goodrow, Will Smith and Fabian Zetterlund scored for the Sharks. Yaroslav Askarov made 27 saves in the loss.

The game was a homecoming of sorts for several Massachusetts natives on the Sharks team, including Will Smith, Collin Graf and Head Coach Ryan Warsofsky. It was their first time in Boston as NHL players and coach.

“I thought for the majority of the game I liked our game. We just got very immature in the third period,” said Ryan Warsofsky. “Just a young team that got scrambly. You know, they put us on our heels and we couldn’t relieve the pressure by making some plays. We got back to kind of flipping pucks to the middle of the ice and they feed off of that stuff.”

Vinni Lettieri scored the first goal at 9:27 of the first period. Lettieri tipped Jordan Oesterle’s shot from the blue line. Assists went to Oesterle and Oliver Wahlstrom.

Barclay Goodrow tied the game with a goal at 13:16. Ty Dellandrea dumped the puck in from the centerline. Nico Sturm chased it down and then passed it back to a trailing Goodrow for the shot.

Boston outshot San Jose 11-6 in the first period. The Sharks pushed back in the second, outshooting Boston 14-10.

David Pastrnak gave the Bruins their second lead with a power play goal at 7:02 of the second period. Pavel Zacha carried the puck around behind the net and then sent the puck to Pastrnak in the circle. Patrnak scored with a snap shot. Assists went to Zacha and Elias Lindholm.

Will Smith tied it again at 8:52. Smith took the puck away from John Beecher, then carried it back across the blue line and passed it back and forth with Mikael Granlund before shooting it by Korpisalo on the short side.

Fabian Zetterlund gave the Sharks their first and only lead of the game at 15:18. Zetterlund carried the puck all the way from the Sharks’ zone, took a shot, caught his own rebound and put it in the net. An assist went to Will Smith.

Charlie Coyle tied the game again at 8:22 of the third period. Skating to the net, Coyle caught a pass from the boards and snapped it in. Assists went to Matthew Poitras and Brad Marchand.

Coyle scored again at 14:11. Shooting as he crossed the goal line, his shot went off of Askarov and in. Assists went to Poitras and Mason Lohrei.

Brad Marchand made it 5-3 with an empty net goal at 18:45. Assists went to Pastrnak and Brandon Carlo. Elias Lindholm made it 6-3 with a second empty net goal at 19:35. Assists went to Coyle and Andrew Peeke.

The Sharks next play on Tuesday in Nashville against the Predators at 5:00 PM PT.

Sharks Beat Red Wings 6-3 end 3 game skid, Wings end 7 game win streak, SJ scores 4 in third period

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The San Jose Sharks defenseman Cody Ceci and defenseman Jan Rutta (84) celebrate a first period goal that put the Sharks up on the Detroit Red Wings at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit on Tue Jan 14, 2025 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks defeated the Detroit Red Wings 6-3 on Tuesday. Jan Rutta, Nico Sturm, William Eklund, Mikael Granlund, Tyler Toffoli and Mario Ferraro scored for the Sharks. Alexandar Georgiev made 25 saves for the win. Vladimir Tarasenko and Lucas Raymond scored for the Red Wings. Ville Husso made 18 saves in the loss.

The Sharks have given up the lead in the third period in several recent games. After the game, Jan Rutta said: “We’ve been in this situation more than a few times this year. So, we got the job done today. Hopefully that’s just a sign of us taking steps in the right direction and that when we have the lead we can play like tonight.”

Sharks Head Coach Ryan Warsofsky talked about Georgiev’s performance in the win: “He was tracking pucks, he was locked in, made some huge saves for us, so… You can see his game it’s been trending in the right direction. So happy that he got rewarded tonight with the win for sure.”

The Sharks took an early lead with a goal from Jan Rutta at 1:45. Alexander Wennberg stole the puck away from Detroit below the goal line, then centered it for Will Smith. Smith took the shot and then caught his own rebound. He passed it up to Rutta above the faceoff circles. Rutta took the shot from high in the slot through some traffic. Assists went to Smith and Wennberg.

The Sharks added to their lead with a short-handed goal at 17:41. William Eklund broke away into the neutral zone then lost the puck before he got to the Detroit blue line. He gathered the puck back up and passed it to Nico Sturm on the blue line. Sturm carried the puck in and took the shot from just above the goal line. Assists went to Eklund and Marc-Edouard Vlasic.

The Sharks were badly outshot in the first period, 12-6 by the Red Wings. The Sharks took the only first period penalty. Their penalty kill allowed two shots but also took two shots and scored once.

Vladimir Tarasenko got the Red Wings on the board at 1:28 of the second period, catching a rebound from Simon Edvinsson’s shot for a snap shot. Assists went to Edvinsson and Jonatan Berggren.

The Sharks outshot the Red Wings in the second, 9-6. The Sharks also took the only second period penalty. The penalty kill got one short handed shot and did not allow any shots against.

William Eklund made it 3-1 28 seconds into the third period. Eklund passed the puck behind the net to Celebrini, who then passed it back through the blue paint to Eklund, who knocked it into the net. Celebrini and Tyler Toffoli got the assists.

Tarasenko trimmed the Sharks’ lead again, with his second of the night. Erik Gustafsson shot the puck off the backboards so that it centered just as Tarasenko arrived at the net to shoot it in. Gustafsson and Joe Veleno got the assists.

The Sharks took back their two goal lead at 7:43 with a power play goal. Mikael Granlund caught a pass from Macklin Celebrini at the top of the faceoff circle. Granlund carried the puck almost past the net before scoring with a backhand shot.

Lucas Raymond got one back for Detroit at 9:56 with a wrist shot. Going right to the net after a faceoff, he caught the pass from faceoff winner Dylan Larkin.

Tyler Toffoli made it 5-3 at 10:57. William Eklund gathered up a loose puck in front of the net and passed it ahead to Toffoli, who shot it in from a bad angle.

Mario Ferraro scored an empty net goal at 18:22 with a shot from just above the Sharks’ goal line.

The shots were almost even at 10-9 Sharks in the third period. The Red Wings took their first penalty of the game and the only one called in the third. The Sharks power play got two shots on goal and scored.

The Sharks next play on Thursday at 4:00 PM PT in Columbus against the Blue Jackets.

Sharks Fall 2-1 to Utah, Close Not Good Enough

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Utah Hockey Club center Clayton Keller (9) moves the puck against San Jose Sharks defenseman Henry Thrun (3) in the first period at the Delta Center on Fri Jan 10, 2025 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks fell 2-1 to the Utah Hockey Club on Friday. Nick Schaltz and Barrett Hayton scored for Utah and Karel Vejmelka made 18 saves for the win. Fabian Zetterlund scored for the Sharks and Alexandar Georgiev made 23 saves in the loss.

Although the game was close, it was disappointing for the Sharks. “It wasn’t good enough tonight. Puck play was awful. It just wasn’t enough,” said Sharks Head Coach Ryan Warsofsky. Mikael Granlund said: “We weren’t really good with the puck. Didn’t really get anything going on offensively all night so… they defended well but we got to be better with the puck, we got to win some battles and sustain some o-zone time.”

Perhaps the only bright spot was that Sharks goalie Georgiev played well. Granlund said, of the goaltender: “He was great tonight. He gave us a chance to win this game and we were in it. So, too bad we couldn’t get it done.”

The first goal of the game came just 58 seconds in. Mikael Granlund took a shot from the face off circle. Vejmelka stopped that but Fabian Zetterlund jumped on the rebound and put it in the net. Assists went to Granlund and Cody Ceci.

Utah outshot the Sharks 10-8 in the first period. The Sharks took the only penalty of the period.

Nick Schmaltz tied the game at 5:57 of the second period. He skated with the puck most of the way around the Sharks’ zone before taking his shot from inside the faceoff circle. Assists went to Clayton Keller and Nick DeSimone.

The Sharks only had three shots on goal in the second period while Utah had six. Utah took the single penalty called in the second period. The Sharks got their first shot of the third period at the nine minute mark, by which time Utah had two shots.

At 3:22 of the third period, Keller put the puck in the net but the goal was called back after Warsofsky challenged it for goaltender interference. Schmaltz skated into the blue paint and bumped Georgiev from behind.

Barrett Hayton scored the tie-breaking game winner with just 32 seconds left in regulation. He took a snap shot while skating across the top of the faceoff circle. Assists went to Nick Bjugstad and Olli Maatta.

With just five seconds left in the game, William Eklund took a high stick to the face and earned the Sharks a four minute power play. That was the only penalty called in the third. By the end of the period, The Sharks had eight shots on goal and Utah had nine.

The Sharks next play on Saturday at 7:00 PM PT in San Jose against the visiting Minnesota Wild.

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

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

By Mary Walsh

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sharks Fall 3-1 to Panthers, Blackwood Makes 50 Saves

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Florida Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky (72) and defenseman Dimitri Kulikov (7) defend the net against the San Jose Sharks right wing Tyler Toffoli (73) at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise FL on Sat Dec 7, 2024 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks lost to the Florida Panthers 3-1 on Saturday. Matthew Tkachuk scored two goals for Florida and Aleksander Barkov scored the third. Sergei Bobrovsky made 27 saves for the win. Tyler Toffoli scored for San Jose and Mackenzie Blackwood made 50 saves for the Sharks.

Of Blackwood’s performance, Sharks Head Coach Ryan Warsofsky said: “One of the best goalie performances I’ve ever seen really. He stood on his head for us to be in that game even, on the score sheet, what he did was super impressive. Not surprised though.”

After the game, Sharks forward Nico Sturm talked about what a team could learn from the Florida Panthers:

“Tempo-wise for sure, the fastest team we’ve played against. I mean it goes to show why they’re winning. It’s because they don’t do it just in playoffs. They do it in September, in December. Doesn’t matter if they play the best team in the League or the worst team in the League. They’ve got everybody rolling, top to bottom.”

The Sharks seemed tentative at times in the game. Warsofsky said “I don’t think we respected them too much. They have our respect, I think they have the whole League’s respect. I think at times we play in fear and we lose our swagger. And that’s where we’re at right now.”

Matthew Tkachuk gave the Panthers a lead just 23 seconds into the game. Sam Bennett crashed the net and shot the puck but Mackenzie Blackwood stopped that. The puck went up in the air and Tkachuk batted it into the net.

That was it for scoring in the first period. Florida took the only penalty in the first but still outshot San Jose 14-6.

Tkachuk made it 2-0 midway through the second. Carrying the puck in, he scored with a backhand as he skated to the right of the net. Tomas Nosek got an assist.

Aleksander Barkov made it 3-0 with a power play goal at 13:17. Carter Verhaeghe centered the puck and Sam Reinhart, in front of the blue paint, tapped it over to Barkov on the other side of the net. Barkov took the shot from just above the goal line.

The penalty count went up in the second period, with the Sharks taking three and the Panthers taking two. Florida outshot San Jose 20-9 in the second.

Tyler Toffoli got the Sharks on the board at 18:35 of the third period with a power play goal. Toffoli tipped in a shot by Mikael Granlund. Jake Walman got an assist as well.

The Panthers outshot the Sharks again in the third period, 20-13. They also took six penalties to the Sharks’ three.

The Sharks next play on Tuesday in Raleigh against the Hurricanes at 4:00 PM PT.

Lightning Scorch Sharks 8-1, Score Five in First period

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Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Emil Lilleberg (78) knocks the puck away from San Jose Sharks Ty Dellandrea (53) in first period action at Amalie Arena in Tampa Bay on Thu Dec 5, 2024 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks were defeated 8-1 by the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday. Cam Atkinson, Conor Geekie, Brandon Hagel, Jake Guentzel, Anthony Cirelli, Nick Perbix, and Nick Paul scored for the Lightning. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 20 saves for the win. Alexander Wennberg scored for San Jose. Vitek Vanecek made 7 saves in the first period. Mackenzie Blackwood made 20 saves in the second and third periods.

The Sharks gave up a stunning five goals in the first period. The Lightning outshot the Sharks in the period, but not by an enormous margin (12-9). “Not a great start. I don’t know, we didn’t play to our identity tonight at all. We kind of took our foot off the gas on a lot of little things,” said Sharks defenseman Mario Ferraro. Of the team’s defensive woes, Ferraro said “I feel like most of it was the chances we gave up were sort of grade A, some shots from the point. So it has a lot to do with our box-outs and then when we recover the puck to be able to get the puck out. “

Sharks Head Coach Ryan Warsofsky described the game as a reality check: “When you don’t skate, and you don’t compete against really good hockey teams or any team in the National Hockey League, this is what’s going to happen.”

Cam Atkinson tipped in a shot from Conor Geekie 1:26 into the game. Geekie took a pass from Atkinson at the Sharks blue line, then carried the puck in and scored on the blocker side at 7:29. Victor Hedman also got an assist on that goal. That second goal triggered a flurry of three goals in less than 90 seconds.

Brandon Hagel scored at 8:32. Shortly after an offensive zone faceoff, Hagel caught a pass from Jake Guentzel on the blue line. He skated in front of the goal and then backhanded the puck in. Ryan McDonagh got a secondary assist.

Brandon Hagel scored again just 23 seconds later. This time he carried the puck in from the blue line, skated across in front of the goal to the other side before backhanding the puck in. Erik Cernak got an assist.

Jake Guentzel made it 5-0 with a power play goal at 17:45 of the first period. Guentzel tipped in a shot from Victor Hedman with Brayden Point picking up an assist as well.

The Sharks changed goaltenders after the first period, putting Blackwood in net.

Anthony Cirelli made it 6-0 at 4:16 of the second period. He tipped a shot from Ryan McDonagh and Brayden Point picked up another assist.

Nick Perbix made it 7-0 at 18:32. Brayden Point pass the puck up out of the faceoff circle to Perbix high in the slot. Perbix scored with a wrist shot. Point and Emil Lilleberg got the assists.

Alexander Wennberg scored the only Sharks goal 14 seconds into the third period. Fabian Zetterlund carried the puck into the zone, then found Wennberg with a pass in the faceoff circle. Wennberg carried it across the slot and scored with a wrist shot. Assists went to Zetterlund and Jan Rutta.

Nick Paul made it 8-1 at 6:01 of the third. Paul caught a cross-ice pass from Brayden Point, then skated in to score with a backhand shot. Point and J..J. Moser got the assists.

The Sharks next play on Saturday in Sunrise against the Panthers at 3:00 PM PT.

Sharks Win 4-2 Over Kraken, Back-to-Back Wins for San Jose

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Seattle Kraken left wing Brandon Tanev (13) watches the puck it’s deflected off San Jose Sharks defenseman Mario Ferrero (38) and goaltender MacKenzie Blackwood (29) in the third period at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle on Sat Nov 30, 2024 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks beat the Seattle Kraken 4-2 on Saturday. It was the second win against the Kraken in two days. Mario Ferraro, Luke Kunin, Cody Ceci and Will Smith scored for the Sharks. Mackenzie Blackwood made 36 saves for the win. Jaden Schwartz and Jared McCann scored for the Kraken. Joey Daccord made 19 saves in the loss.

After the 8-5 game just a day earlier, it would have been easy to expect a low-scoring game Saturday. That is not exactly what came to pass. The Sharks defense was somewhat more effective in this game than the last. After the game, Blackwood said: “They’re great. They really care. They commit to taking away the seams, they block shots when they can and they clear the rebounds.”

The Sharks finished scoring about half way through the game. Nonetheless, Sharks Head Coach Ryan Warsofsky said:

“What I like about our group tonight is we did that. We had a 4-1 lead opening night and we gave it up. And tonight we came into the third period and I thought it was one of our better periods of the night. So we learned how to play the right way.”

Mario Ferraro gave the Sharks a 1-0 lead late in the first period. Mikael Granlund carried it over the blue line and then gave it away to Seattle. The Seattle player gave it back to the Sharks as Timothy Liljegren intercepted a pass. Liljegren sent it right back to Granlund, who found the Trailing Ferraro with a pass. Ferraro took some time before seeing his chance for a shot.

At the end of the first, the Kraken were outshooting the Sharks 13-9. The Sharks took two penalties and had one power play.

The Sharks scored early and often in the second. At 1:51, Luke Kunin followed Ty Dellandrea into the zone. Dellandrea made a drop pass as they approached the net and then continued on, acting as a screen for Kunin to shoot through. Assists went to Dellandrea and Jake Walman.

Cody Ceci made it 3-0 at 8:59, scoring his first road goal in more than three years and 127 road games. Maccklin Celebrini sent the puck to the net and it ended up going behind the goal and bouncing off the boards on the other side of the net. Ceci was on his way and met the puck in a perfect spot to shoot it in. Assists went to Celebrini and Walman.

Will Smith scored the Sharks’ fourth goal less than a minute later. Mikael Granlund carried the puck from the Sharks’ blue line almost to the Kraken net, skating two-on-one with Smith. Granlund made the pass and Smith shot it in. Assists went to Granlund and Klim Kostin.

The Kraken got on the board at 10:17. Matty Beniers shot the puck into the end boards from the blue line. The puck came back fast and Jaden Schwartz caught the pass and put it on net. It seemed like Blackwood did not expect that puck to come off the boards quite so fast. Assists went to Beniers and Oliver Bjorkstrand.

The Kraken again outshot the Sharks in the second period, 17-10. There were no penalties in the second.

Jared McCann scored the second Kraken goal at 6:27 of the third period. McCann Carried the puck into the zone and then shot it through traffic. Assists went to Ryker Evans and Brandon Montour.

With the net empty and a sixth skater on the ice, the Kraken put the puck in the net at 19:52. Beniers caught a rebound out of traffic in front of the net and shot it back in. The goal was called back, however, for goaltender interference. Yanni Gourde made contact with Blackwood’s head shortly before the goal was scored. The review was initiated by the Situation Room.

The Sharks next play on Tuesday in Washington, D.C. against the Capitals at 4:00 PM PT.

Sharks Lose 5-2 to Dallas, Give Up 2 Empty Net Goals

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San Jose Sharks goaltender MacKenzie Blackwood (29) deflects a shot by the Dallas Stars center Logan Stankoven (11) as defenseman Mario Ferrero (38) looks on in the first period at the American Airlines Center in Dallas on Wed Nov 20, 2024 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks were defeated by the Dallas Stars 5-2 on Wednesday. Jason Robertson, Wyatt Johnston, Jamie Benn, Roope Hintz and Evgenii Dadonov scored for the Stars. Jake Oettinger made 21 saves for the win. Mikael Granlund and Jake Walman scored for the Sharks. Mackenzie Blackwood made 26 saves in the loss.

After the game, Jake Walman described the Sharks game as being close despite small problems: “For the most part we’re doing the right things but it’s just those little parts in the game. We got to hold each other accountable.” William Eklund also sounded like he thinks the team is close to finding a new level: “Turnovers cost us a little bit, some mistakes cost us a little bit today. We still find a way to keep it tight, keep it close.”

Sharks Head Coach Ryan Warsofsky said:

“We shoot ourselves in the foot in goals that we give up that are completely preventable. Until we learn how to play in the National Hockey League against really good second period teams, which are most teams that know how to transition in the second period, we’re going to be fighting this uphill battle in games.”

Jason Robertson opened the scoring at 15:33 of the first period. Mathew Dumba made a pass from the blue line and found Robertson as he entered the slot. Robertson spun and shot, beating Blackwood on the short side. Assists went to Dumba and Thomas Harley.

Mikael Granlund tied the game at 18:44. Short-handed, he broke away and skated almost to the blue paint before taking his shot. An assist went to William Eklund.

Dallas outshot San Jose 14-9 in the first period. The Sharks took three penalties and had one power play. They had two shots on their power play and gave up seven shots while short-handed.

Wyatt Johnston made it 2-1 for Dallas 56 seconds into the second period. Johnston and Roope Hintz skated into the Sharks zone two on one. Hintz put the puck behind the Sharks defender for Johnston to gather up and shoot in. Assists went to Hintz and Jason Robertson.

Jamie Benn made it 3-1 at 10:56 of the second. Benn was lurking beside the Sharks net while Sharks chased Logan Stankoven behind the net. Stankoven got the puck out to Benn for a shot.

The shots were much closer in the second period, 8-6 Dallas. The Sharks took no penalties in the second and they had one power play. They had one shot on goal during that power play.

Jake Walman made it 3-2 at 13:25 of the third period. Granlund carried the puck into the zone, then made a pass from the boards that caught Walman as he skated in. Walman took his shot from just inside the faceoff circle. Granlund and Cody Ceci got the assists.

With the Sharks net empty, Roope Hintz scored to make it 4-2. Johnston and Robertson got assists. Two Sharks collided with an official in the corner and went down, helping Johnston take control of the puck for that play.

Evgenii Dadonov also scored and empty net goal to make it 5-2. An assist went to Oskar Bäck.

With a little more than two minutes left, Granlund was called off the ice after he took a hit to the head from Ilya Lyubushkin. No penalty was called but the Sharks were without Granlund for the final minutes. There were no updates about his condition right after the game.

The Sharks next play on Thursday in St. Louis against the Blues at 5:00 PM PT.

Sharks Fall 4-3 in SO to Penguins, Come Back From 3-0 to Tie Game, Again

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Pittsburgh Penguins Bryan Rust (17) celebrates his goal with Evgeni Malkin (71), Jack St Ivany (3) and Michael Bunting (8) first period against the San Jose Sharks at PPG Pants in Pittsburgh on Sat Nov 16, 2024 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks lost 4-3 in a shootout to the Pittsburgh Penguins Saturday. Bryan Rust, Evgeni Malkin, Jesse Puljujarvi and Sidney Crosby scored for the Penguins. Alex Nedeljkovic made 26 saves for the win. Tyler Toffoli and Mikael Granlund scored for the Sharks. Vitek Vanacek made 8 saves on ten shots in the first period. Mackenzie Blackwood made 25 saves on 26 shots in the second, third and overtime periods.

The Sharks earned points in three games in this four game road trip. Of this tally, Tyler Toffoli said: “We’re staying in games and giving ourselves a chance to win. It’s a matter of time before we are able to play with leads and finish games off.”

The Sharks have made some impressive comebacks recently. Of this trend, Sharks Head Coach Ryan Warsofsky said:

“Credit to the guys, we stuck with it. It’s a hole we don’t want to be in and we’re in it too often right now. But I give the guys a lot of credit for battling back and getting a point in this game where it wasn’t looking pretty for a long time. We’ve got to look and find some ways to start on time.”

Blackwood said that he had about five minutes to prepare to get in the game. “It’s tough, you know. Obviously you’re cold and you have no feel of the game so you gotta go in there and get into the game quick. Typically, I struggle with that, I’ve struggled to come off the bench and put up a good performance. So I’ve been working on it.”

Warsofsky said, of his goaltenders: “I haven’t gotten an update yet on Vitek, just told he wasn’t coming back. Outstanding by Blackwood. Some of the best saves you’ll see in this League this year I assume.”

The Penguins scored just 1:01 into the first period. Bryan Rust carried the puck up from behind the net and backhanded it under Vitek Vanacek. Assists went to Michael Bunting and Evgeni Malkin.

Evgeni Malkin put the puck in the net at 5:46. Carrying the puck in, he cut across the slot and shot the puck off the post and in with a backhand. The Sharks challenged the goal as offside and the goal was overturned.

Jesse Puljujarvi got that goal back at 6:34. Drew O’Connor took a shot from the boards, and the rebound from that shot slid in front of Puljujarvi as he arrived at the net. Vanacek could not get across in time and Puljujarvi had an open net. A secondary assist went to Owen Pickering.

The teams were tied in shots at the end of the first period at 10-10. The Penguins took the only penalty of the period. Vanacek did not return for the second period due to injury. Blackwood stepped in.

Sidney Crosby made it 3-0 at 4:19 of the second with a shot through traffic from the point. Assists went to Erik Karlsson and Anthony Beauvillier.

Tyler Toffoli got the Sharks on the board with a power play goal at 12:05 of the second. Will Smith got the assist. Macklin Celebrini carried the puck into the zone but his pass was intercepted. Will Smith got the puck back and sent it to the net. Toffoli arrived at the net just in time to gather up the puck and score.

The Penguins outshot the Sharks 10-7 in the second period. The Sharks had two power plays and one shortened penalty kill in the period.

Mikael Granlund cut the lead to one goal at 6:56 of the third period. William Eklund made a pass off the boards to Fabian Zetterlund in the neutral zone. Zetterlund carried it over the blue line and made a cross-ice pass to Granlund, who caught the puck in the slot and shot without breaking stride.

Tyler Toffoli tied the game with his second goal of the night. Ty Dellandrea carried the puck in along the boards before finding Toffoli on his way to the net. Toffoli skated around several defenders to get in position for the shot. Assists went to Dellandrea and Jake Wallman.

Third period shots were close again, 11-10 Sharks. The Penguins took the only penalty in the period. In overtime, the Penguins dominated 6-1 in shots but Blackwood shut the door.

Mikael Granlund and William Eklund scored in the shootout. Macklin Celebrini, Will Smith and Alexander Wennberg were stopped by Nedeljkovic.

Sidney Crosby, Anthony Beauvillier and Evgeni Malkin scored in the shootout. Bryan Rust and Rickard Rakell were stopped by Blackwood.

The Sharks next play on Monday back in San Jose against the visiting Detroit Red Wings at 7:30 PM PT.

Sharks Fall 4-3 to Flyers in Shootout

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San Jose Sharks Tim Liljegren (left), clears the puck away from the Philadelphia Flyers Ryan Poehling (right) in the second period at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia on Mon Nov 11, 2024 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks were defeated by the Philadelphia Flyers 4-3 in a shootout Monday. Eric Johnson, Travis Konecny and Matvei Michkov scored for the Flyers. Samuel Ersson made 27 saves for the win. Jack Thompson, Mikael Granlund and Barclay Goodrow scored for the Sharks. Vitek Vanacek made 39 saves for the Sharks.

The game was fairly one-sided, but changed sides midway through. The Flyers scored three, then the Sharks scored three. What accounted for this shift, at least on the part of the Sharks? Barclay Goodrow said:

“We had to tighten things up. I think by this point in the year we know how we need to play in order to be successful and when we stray away from that you get the results that you saw early in the game. So I think we dialed it back in and we’ve just got to find a way to play like that from the start.”

Sharks Head Coach Ryan Warsofsky also talked about reasons for the slow start: “Back to back probably would be the first part. We just couldn’t get into the game, we had some pushes at times, we did some good things at times. But just couldn’t play with that same energy and competitiveness I would say as last night.”

Eric Johnson opened the scoring 1:40 into the game. Anthony Richard got control of the puck coming out of the Flyers’ zone and skated into the Sharks’ zone with Johnson. A cross-ice pass got around Jack Thompson to Johnson for a wrist shot that beat Vanacek. That was the first shot of the game.

Travis Konecny made it 2-0 with a power play goal at 15:56. In a very pretty play, The puck went from Emil Andrea on the blue line to Matvei Michkov near the goal line and back up to Konecny in the slot for a snap shot.

Michkov scored his own goal at 5:09 of the second period, breaking away in the neutral zone. Two Sharks chased him into the zone after he caught a pass right on the Sharks blue line. His shot went under Vanacek and in. Ryan Poehling and Egor Zamula got the assists.

Barclay Goodrow fought Nicck Seeler at 12:09 of the period, possibly motivating the Sharks for the comeback that started a few minutes later. The fight was the only penalty called in the period. Givani Smith also fought Eric Johnson right after the first goal of the game, but that fight did not lead to a scoring spree.

Jack Thompson got the Sharks on the board at 15:29 of the second. William Eklund carried the puck in and sent it across the goal mouth at the last moment. It went off of Thompson’s skate and in. Mikael Granlund also got an assist.

Granlund made it 3-2 at 18:33 of the second. Eklund controlled the puck off an offensive zone draw and skated behind the net. Instead of continuing around, he doubled back with a pass to Granlund for a shot on the short side. Granlund’s wrist shot squeaked in under the bar. Assists went to Eklund and Fabian Zetterlund.

Early in the third period. Givani Smith made an impressive save as Sharks and Flyers scrambled in front of the net. The puck was on its way to the line but Vanecek couldn’t see it. Smith swept it back and under his goaltender.

Barclay Goodrow tied the game at 17:36 of the thirds period. Henry Thrun sent the puck to the net from the point. Goodrow snapped it in from a bad angle. Assists went to Thrun and Cody Ceci.

At the end of the third period, Michkov took a penalty for punching Macklin Celebrini in the face a couple of times, putting the Sharks on the power play to start overtime. The Sharks had four shots in overtime and the Flyers had two.

Owen Tippett, Matvei Michkov and Travis Konecny shot for the Flyers. Michkov and Konecny scored.

Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith shot for the Sharks but Ersson stopped both of them.

The Sharks next play on Thursday at 4:00 PM PT, in New York against the Rangers.