Tag: Sam Montembeault

Canadiens Sink Sharks 4-3 in OT, Sharks Losing Streak at 7

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Montreal Canadians Alex Newhook (15) scores on the San Jose Sharks goaltender Alexander Geogiev in the third period at the Belle Centre in Montreal on Thu Feb 27, 2025 (Canadian Press via AP)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks fell 4-3 in OT to the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday. Nick Suzuki, Alex Newhook and Cole Caulfield scored for Montreal. Sam Montembeault made 23 saves for the win. Fabian Zetterlund, Nico Sturm and Will Smith scored for San Jose. Alexandar Georgiev made 29 saves in the loss.

After the game, Sharks forward Will Smith said: “We gotta learn how to win. It’s been I don’t even know how many times this year so, it adds up and we’ve just gotta be better.”

Nico Sturm explained what was missing from the Sharks’ game at this point: “I think the one thing we haven’t done all year is score another goal. Either when we’re up or the game is tied, just score another goal and put a two goal lead or three goal lead. That’s what we haven’t done.”

The game got off to a flying start with four goals scored in the first period. At 3:56, Fabian Zetterlund scored to give San Jose the lead. Will Smith won the race for the puck and carried it behind the net. He passed it up to Zetterlund for a snap shot just outside the goal post. Assists went to Smith and Alexander Wennberg.

Nick Suzuki tied the game at 6:49 with a snap shot from high in the slot. Assists went to Cole Caulfield and Juraj Slafkovsky.

Nico Sturm made it 2-1 Sharks at 12:39. Sturm and Klim Kostin skated into the zone. Kostin carried the puck below the goal line before sending it back up to Sturm for the shot. Assists went to Kostin and Collin Graf.

Nick Suzuki tied it again in the final minute of the period. Suzuki won the offensive zone face-off, then caught Lane Hutson‘s pass from the blue line and took the shot from just above the hash marks. Assists went to Hutson and Jayden Struble.

Will Smith gave the Sharks their third lead of the game at 17:21 of the second period. Alexander Wennberg won a faceoff in the defensive zone and got the puck to Shakir Mukhamadullin. Mukhamadullin passed it to Smith, who carried it through the neutral zone, into the Canadiens’ zone, and scored with a shot from the hash marks.

Alex Newhook tied it 3-3 at 2:22 of the third period. Newhook, Patrik Laine and Owen Beck swarmed the crease and the puck ping-ponged around among them. Laine and Beck got the assists.

Cole Caulfield scored the game winner at 3:21 of OT. He caught Suzuki’s pass on the Canadiens’ blue line and carried the puck all the way down the ice for a snap shot from in close. Assists went to Suzuki and Montembeault.

The Sharks next play on Saturday at 4:00 PM PT in Ottawa against the Senators.

Sharks Defeat Canadiens 3-2, Blackwood’s 1st Road Win of Season;12 game skid finally comes to an end

Published on by M WalshLeave a comment

San Jose Sharks Filip Zadina (18) raises arms to join teammates in celebration after snapping their 12 game losing streak at the Bell Centre in Montreal on Thu Jan 11, 2024 (San Jose Sharks photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks defeated the Montreal Canadiens 3-2 on Thursday, ending a 12-game losing streak at the Bell Centre in Montreal. Luke Kunin, Fabian Zetterlund and Nick Okhotiuk scored for the Sharks. Mackenzie Blackwood made 33 saves for his first road win of the season. Brendan Gallagher and Josh Anderson scored for the Canadiens. Sam Montembeault made 32 saves in the loss.

Sharks defenseman, Mario Ferraro, said that the team felt good going into the game. The Sharks had a good practice and a team dinner the night before. Ferraro explained how those helped the team:

“What happened on the ice was a reflection of how we were feeling prior to the game. And that was more positive, leaning on each other a little bit more and finding the love in this game a little bit more. Obviously being on that little losing streak that we had, … you kind of forget about the reason why you play. We brought that back, we brought some light back to the locker room.”

Sharks Head Coach David Quinn said:

“As we’ve touched on, we’ve been digging ourselves out of a mental hole. And I thought our start was just okay and then I thought we got better and better as the game went on. You don’t go through what we’ve been through and all of a sudden feel great about yourselves. You’ve got to earn it and we started earning it shift after shift. And that’s how we have to get out of this and we took a big step today.”

The first period saw the Sharks take a two goal lead. Luke Kunin started the scoring with a goal at 5:19 of the first. Kunin intercepted a pass in front of the net for his sixth of the season.

Fabian Zetterlund made it 2-0 for the Sharks at 17:25. On his way behind the net, Tomas Hertl made a backhand pass right to Zetterlund on the edge of the faceoff circle. Assists went to Hertl and Filip Zadina.

Just 21 seconds later, Brendan Gallagher got one back for the Canadiens. Mike Matheson made a pass into traffic in the slot and found Gallagher who scored with a snap shot. Assists went to Matheson and David Savard.

Montreal out-shot the Sharks 11-7 in the first period but the Sharks had a good first in the faceoff circle, winning 65.4% of the draws.

Nick Okhotiuk made it 3-1 for the Sharks late in the second period. Mikael Granlund carried the puck around behind the net, battling defenders. Continuing to the top of the faceoff circle, he spotted Okhotiuk on his way down from the point. The defenseman was almost at the net when he caught Granlund’s pass for a snap shot. Assists went to Granlund and William Eklund. It was Okhotiuk’s first goal with the Sharks, and he also became the youngest Sharks defenseman to score a goal in Montreal.

The Sharks pulled ahead on the shot clock with 17 shots to Montreal’s 9 in the second period.

The Canadiens pulled their goaltender with more than five minutes left in the third. 90 seconds later, the Sharks had not been able to push the puck out of the zone even once. The gambit paid off for Montreal. Mike Matheson scored with a slap shot from the middle of the blue line to make it 3-2. Assists went to Cole Caulfield and Nick Suzuki.

The Canadiens pulled their goaltender again with a minute left and again hemmed the Sharks in the defensive zone. The Sharks did finally clear the puck out with less than a second remaining. The final shot count was 36-35 Canadiens. The Canadiens improved in the faceoff circle as the game went on, so that the Sharks’ advantage slipped to 54.4% by the end. Both teams had perfect penalty kills.

Marc-Edouard Vlasic returned to the lineup Thursday. He played just under 21 minutes and had two shots on goal.

The Sharks next play on Saturday in Ottawa against the Senators at 1:00 PM PT.