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Sharks’ Power Play Slump Snaps After 30 Attempts as They Blank Blues 2-0

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Photo credit: @SanJoseSharks

By Jerry Feitelberg

The San Jose Sharks finally snapped their power play drought, and it came at the most opportune time. Mikkel Boedker broke a scoreless tie with 7:48 left in regulation, scoring on the man-advantage for San Jose’s first extra strength goal in 13 games. Tomas Hertl added an empty-net goal and San Jose limited the St. Louis Blues to a season-low 16 shots on goal in a 2-0 win. Martin Jones picked up the shutout, helping San Jose leapfrog the Anaheim Ducks into second place in the Pacific Division with a game in hand.

The Sharks entered the game on an 0-28 power play skid, the absence of prolific passer Joe Thornton (out with a knee injury) evident in every missed opportunity.  A second period Blues penalty didn’t yield better results. It wasn’t until Kyle Brodziak picked up a holding the stick infraction with 9:30 left in the final frame to put San Jose up a man.

Joonas Donskoi went to work, dangling along the boards before working the puck to Dylan Demelo on the blue line. Demelo tapped the puck right back to Donskoi who worked his way up the boards to the faceoff dots. From there he fed a pass to Boedker who was cocked in the slot. Boedker’s quick-release snapshot beat Blues goalie Jake Allen over his blocker shoulder for the Dane’s 13th goal of the season. Demelo picked up the second assist on the goal, notching his fifth point in three March games.

Allen played an otherwise spectacular game, making 34 saves to keep the Blues in the game despite being greatly outshot. It was a performance made all the more impressive by the fact that Allen wasn’t expected to start. As early as morning skate, backup goalie Carter Hutton was expected to get the nod against his former team. An injury forced Allen into net, giving Palo Alto native Ben Wexler the chance to suit up as emergency backup goaltender. Wexler’s highest level of play before tonight was club hockey at the University of Illinois.

Tomas Hertl punched in an empty-netter with 15 seconds left, with Brent Burns picking up an assist on the Czech’s 16th goal of the year. San Jose pulled ahead of the Ducks, losers 4-2 in Nashville, but couldn’t gain ground of Los Angeles. The Kings beat the Washington Capitals 3-1 at home Thursday.

Up Next: The Sharks host the Washington Capitals on Friday afternoon at 1:00 pm PT.

Barracuda win second in a row in a 2-1 shootout victory over Reign

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Photo credit: @sjbarracuda

By Marko Ukalovic

SAN JOSE — The shootout hasn’t been too kind to the San Jose Barracuda (24-22-3-3), but they were able to change their fortunes with a 2-1 shootout victory over the Ontario Reign (27-19-4-2) on Sunday afternoon at SAP Center.

Michael Brodzinski scored the only goal in the shootout and Antone Bibeau (16-11-2) stopped all three Reign attempts to preserve the Cuda’s second win in a row on their current four-game homestand.

Ontario would draw first blood at the 12:46 mark of the first period. Oscar Frantenberg fired a shot from the point that Bibeau saved off his blocker, creating a rebound in front of the crease. After a mad scramble in front of the net, Andrew Crescenzi was able to get a hold of the puck and shoot it past Bibeau for his 11th goal of the season. The goal came seconds after the Cuda killed off a penalty by Jacob Middleton.

The best scoring chance in the period for San Jose came at the eight-minute mark. Filip Sandberg’s tip-in attempt was stopped by Reign goalie Cal Petersen (16-9-1) as well as Rourke Chartier’s rebound chance immediately after.

The Cuda’s top line of John McCarthy, Rudolfs Balcers and Adam Helewka created sustained pressure five minutes into the second period, but were unable to put the pack in the back of the net, despite numerous shots on goal.

Bibeau made a nice save on Matt Roy’s shot that came on a 3-on-2 odd man with three and a half minutes left in the period.

“I saw the puck really well,” said Bibeau after the game. “The boys played hard and really well. On top of that the effort was there, which is one thing that has been lacking in the last few weeks was lacking. There’s 16 games left and we’re really looking forward to it.”

The Cuda tied the score late in the second period when Radim Simek was able to intercept a clearing attempt by Ontario and snapped a shot from just atop the left circle that snuck past Petersen to lower left corner of the net for his fifth goal of the season at the 18:38 mark.

There was no scoring in the third period, however, McCarthy had two separate scoring chances on an abbreviated power play with five minutes left in the period as he whacked at the puck twice each time in front of the crease only to have Petersen send him away empty-handed. Ontario out shot the Cuda 10-8 in the period.

“It was kind of a broken play,” said McCarthy. “The puck squirted over to me and I had two pretty clear looks, tried to beat him and he saved them. As long as the chances keep coming, I think we’ll be going in the right direction.”

The overtime would also go scoreless. Bibeau made two critical saves in overtime. First on Alex Lintuniemi and then on Michael Mersch on a breakaway.

“He’s been solid for us all year,” said head coach Roy Sommer about his #1 goalie. “If he can stay to (only allowing) one goal per game we’ll get in (to the playoffs), let’s put it that way.”

Bibeau’s impressive day concluded with 38 saves on 39 shots for the victory, while Petersen suffered the defeat, making 28 saves on 29 shots.

GAME NOTES: San Jose’s power play–the worst in the AHL–was 0/2, while Ontario also went 0/2.

Cuda defenseman Calvan Firtzgerald suffered a lower body injury in the first period and did not return to the game. He is listed as day-to-day.

Things got chippy in the third period when there were to separate skirmishes on both sides of the net. Neither resulted in any penalties.

The announced attendance was 4,095.

UP NEXT: The Barracuda continue their four-game homestand with a weekend series against the Cleveland Monsters beginning on Friday night on March 9 at 7 pm PT.

Sharks Score a Touchdown, Shellac Hawks 7-2

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Photo credit: @SanJoseSharks

By Jerry Feitelberg

SAN JOSE — For San Jose Sharks fans, Thursday night felt great, better than the average win. The Sharks destroyed the rebuilding Chicago Blackhawks, longtime playoff foes and once-perennial Cup contenders by a score of 7-2. Joe Pavelski scored twice. Five other Sharks scored and Dylan Demelo and Joonas Donskoi each had multi-assist games with three and two, respectively. Logan Couture tied Owen Nolan for fourth on the franchise all-time goals scored with 206.

Martin Jones made 32 saves in net, including surviving a penalty shot from Anthony Duclair in the third period. The Sharks goalie has now allowed two goals or fewer in 11 of his last 13 starts. The win for Jones and co. kept the Sharks two points ahead of the Los Angeles Kings for second place in the Pacific Division.

For a moment, the Blackhawks looked like they we’re going to do something they haven’t done often enough all season; be competitive. Looking up at Anaheim 12 points back of the final playoff spot in the Western Conference, Chicago took much-needed momentum by scoring first. Artem Anisimov scored his 18th goal of the season 2:12 into the game.

From there, it was an all-out assault on J.F. Berube and the Blackhawks. Pavelski finished off a perfect cross-ice pass from Brent Burns with 9:38 left in the period, beating Berube on the post-to-post desperation slide to tie the game. In a theme for the night, Donskoi also picked up an assist on a crisp pass up to Burns, one of many perfect feeds of the night.

Couture picked up his team-leading 27th goal with 5:46 left in the first after Tomas Hertl’s dogged effort in the high slot. Hertl shook a Hawks defender, spinning on his backhand to dish to Mikkel Boedker on the right post. Boedker swung the puck to Couture, waiting on the opposite post for the easy redirect past Berube and a 2-1 lead.

2:13 into the second, another thread of a cross-crease pass by Chris Tierney gave Kevin Lebanc an gaping open net to bury his eighth goal of the season. Timo Meier broke up the string of finishes off passes, instead tipping a Brendan Dillon point shot between the pads of Berube for his 17th goal of the year and a 4-1 Sharks lead just over five minutes into the second.

The Captain picked up his second goal of the night with 7:46 left in the middle frame when, you guessed it, he received a textbook dish from Donskoi. Pavelski now had 18 goals on the season, collecting 16 points over his last 12 games. Evander Kane assisted for his third point–all assists–in his second game since join the Sharks at Monday’s trade deadline.

Marc-Edouard Vlasic sent Berube to the showers early, continuing his career year by potting his 10th goal of the year with just under 2 seconds left in the 2nd. Berube caught a Shark shot without needing to drop into the butterfly then flung it to his left to keep the play alive. His defenseman wasn’t ready, kicking the puck to Vlasic waiting at the opposite post with an open net. Sharks had a 6-1 advantage.

With Berube chased, the Sharks greeted his replacement Anton Forsberg to more of the same. Barclay Goodrow kicked the extra point for San Jose 2:32 into the third, scoring his sixth goal of the year while sliding to center for the injured Eric Fehr on the fourth line. Nick Schmaltz scored in garbage time for Chicago’s second goal.

San Jose continues its six-game homestand with a chance at revenge. The Columbus Blue Jackets head to the Tank Sunday after blowing a 2-0 firsst period lead against the Kings Thursday night. San Jose is currently 2-0 on the homestand after beating Edmonton Tuesday night at home,

Donskoi scores two goals, Sharks beat Coyotes 6-5 in wild overtime game

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Photo credit: San Jose Sharks

By Mary Walsh

SAN JOSE- The San Jose Sharks defeated the Arizona Coyotes 6-5 in overtime at SAP Center Saturday.

It was the Sharks’ first game back after their mid-season break that started last Monday. The Sharks’ goals came from Joe Thornton, Joe Pavelski, Logan Couture, Marc-Edouard Vlasic and two from Joonas Donskoi. The Coyotes’ goals came from Derek Stepan, Alex Goligoski, Christian Fischer, Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Josh Archibald. Sharks’ backup goaltender

Sharks’ backup goaltender Aaron Dell made 13 saves on 14 shots after coming in to relieve Martin Jones en route to a thrilling victory. Coyotes goaltender Scott Wedgewood made 38 saves on 44 shots in a losing effort.

After the game, Dell said: “It wasn’t too bad. We were playing pretty well, I think the bounces just weren’t really going our way. I guess they weren’t really going anyone’s was. Kind of a weird night all around.”

Sharks’ head coach Pete DeBoer said:

It looked like the first game back after a five day break. I thought we had great energy, great legs. We were making some really good plays, I thought a little loose in some situations defensively. But you know, we found away. It was one of those games where there were some strange bounces and the chances they got they ended up sticking in the net, so we had to show some resiliency and we did.

The first period exploded with six goals scored. Every time the Sharks took a lead, the Coyotes tied it up. Joe Thornton scored at 5:53, off a sneaky behind the net pass from Pavelski. Stepan scored a few minutes later, with a shot from the faceoff circle that touched Jones’ left sleeve and went in. Assists went to Brendan Perlini and Richard Panik.

Joe Pavelski scored a power play goal at 10:59. Pavelski’s shot initially seemed to go off of Tomas Hertl’s stick, but in fact, it went off of Coyotes defenseman Jason Demers’ stick. Assists went to Thornton and Brent Burns. 1:17 after that goal, Alex Goligoski scored off a faceoff win by Stepan.

Logan Couture answered that with a goal about a minute and a half later. The Coyotes were breaking out of their zone when Burns sent a pass back the other way. Donskoi caught it and fought his way to the net under pursuit. He managed to get a shot off and it rebounded gently to Couture as he came down on the other side of the ice. Scott Wedgewood could not get back across and Couture had an open net. Assists went to Burns and Donskoi.

Christian Fischer tied it up a third time less than 30 seconds later. His backhand beat on a breakaway after a Sharks miscue at the Coyotes’ blue line. An assist went to Kevin Connauton.

That was the third goal given up on six shots for Jones. Dell came in to replace him.

The second period was predictably more sedate. Donskoi got lucky with a breakaway, set up by his goaltender and Mikkel Boedker. He was even luckier when, as Wedgewood came out to poke the puck away, his stick collided with Wedgewood and the puck popped out of the collision and then bounced over the goalie and into the net. Assists went to Boedker and Dell.

Going into the third period, the Sharks had taken over 50 attempted shots for their 4-3 lead, while the Coyotes had fewer than 30.

The Coyotes tied the game at four apiece when Oliver Ekman-Larsson’s shot from the blue line went off of Tim Heed in front of the net. The Coyotes took their first lead at 6:22. Archibald’s shot, again from up near the blue line, got through with the help of some traffic in front of Dell. DeBoer issued a challenge on the bass of goaltender interference.  The goal stood up.

The Sharks pulled Dell with 2:17 left in regulation. They used almost every remaining second and Donskoi scored with just 15.8 seconds left. Burns had taken a shot from the blue line that was stopped by Demers’ skate. The puck trickled under Wedgewood and Donskoi was there to tuck it across the line. Assists went to Burns and Chris Tierney.

The Coyotes started overtime with possession, but a miscue at center ice gave Chris Tierney a breakaway. He took the shot, but was also able to get the puck back after the rebound. The Sharks held the puck almost exclusively after that until Pavelski’s shot caused some chaos at the Coyotes net. Marc-Edouard Vlasic followed Dvorak into the net. The puck went into the net off Dvorak’s skate, though, Vlasic’s stick seemed to touch it as well. The NHL situation room challenged it for goaltender interference, but the goal held up. Assists went to Joe Pavelski and Joe Thornton.

Up Next: The Sharks next play the Kings on Monday in Los Angeles at 1:00 pm PT.

Barracuda win a wild OT thriller 6-5 over Heat

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Photo credit: @sjbarracuda

By Marko Ukalovic

SAN JOSE–Rudolfs Balcers and the San Jose Barracuda (14-11-0-2) have a flair for the dramatics as they overcame a two goal deficit in the second period to win 6-5 in a overtime thriller over the Stockton Heat (16-8-2-2) at the SAP Center on Thursday afternoon.

Balcers’ game-winning heroics came at the 2:39 mark of overtime when Stockton misfired on a pass at their own blue line. Balcers picked up the puck and made a nice move to skate around Heat forward Andrew Manginapane to get to the front of the crease where his initial shot was stopped by a sprawling Heat goalie Jon Gillies (9-6-3) but was able to slide home his second attempt into the net.

“It just plopped right in front of me”, said Balcers on his game-winning goal. “I just wanted to get a good angle for a shot when I saw Jon (Gillies) go the other way, I just deked him and tucked it in there.”

It didn’t take long for the fireworks to get started as Mangiapane opened the scoring with his 12th goal on the season after a turnover by Danny O’Reagan not being able to clear puck out of the Cuda’s zone. Mangiapane took a feed from Ryan Lomberg and ripped a wrist shot to the far corner past goalie Parker Gahagen (2-1-0) just 1:07 into the game.

Stockton kept the momentum going after Mangiapane’s goal with the Barracuda by taking two penalties 1:28 apart to set up a 5-on-3 opportunity for the Heat. However San Jose’s penalty kill was able to keep the puck of the net. They controlled play for the most of the first period as they had multiple odd man rushes but weren’t able to capitalize on them.

San Jose would tied the score at one when defenseman Michael Brodzinki scored his second of the season at 11:20 of the first period when his shot from the right point ricocheted off of Heat defenseman Oliver Kylington and over Gillies’ shoulder and bounced into the net. Radim Simek and Filip Sandberg assisted on the goal

Both teams would trade goals just 38 seconds apart late in the first period. Jon Martin scored his third goal on season for the Cuda when he was able to bury a rebound into an empty net. Tim Clifton won a battle along the boards and got the puck over to Emerson Clark, whose shot found a wide open Martin after bouncing off the pads of Gillies at 16:04. The Cuda were guilty of a bad turnover in the neutral zone when Emile Poirier skated in on a 3-on-1 down the right wing and wristed a shot past Gahagen at 16:42. The unassisted goal was Poirier’s third goal of the season.

The Heat made the most of the opportunities in the second period. Mangiapane scored his 13th goal of the season and second of the game at 13:57 when he skated in from the right slot and used Jacob Middleton as a screen and fired a shot past Gahagen for a 3-2 lead. Rasmus Andersson and Oleg Yevenko assisted on the play.

After a bad pinch in by San Jose’s Radim Simek lead to a 2-on-1 beak for the Heat, Brett Findley was able to finish off a spectacular tic-tac-toe give and go passing display between him and Mangiapane for his sixth goal on the season at the 16:02 mark for a 4-2 lead. Ryan Lomberg also received an assist.

O’Reagan would atone for his earlier error in the game when he cut the lead to 4-3 with just 16.8 seconds left in the second period. His seventh goal of the season came after Balcers was able to keep the puck in the Heat zone and fed O’Regan who was able to dipsy-do his way up to the left slot and fire a shot past Gillies.

Cuda defenseman Julius Bergman tied the game 4-4 at 5:56 of the third period when he scored his third goal of the season from the right point after taking a cross ice pass from Jacob Middleton. Bergman’s shot found its way into the back of the net with a bunch of traffic screening Gillies into the top left corner of the goal.

Not to be outdone by his fellow defenseman, Nick DeSimone gave the Cuda a 5-4 lead just 1:18 later on a deja vu play as his shot also from the right point beat Gillies with players screening him in front of the goal at the 7:14 mark. Brandon Mashinter and Radim Simek provided the assists on the goal.

“We’re not a one dimensional team,” head coach Roy Sommer said on his defensemen’s contributions on offense. “If we don’t get the full compliment of people scoring, we’re going to be in trouble.”

The Heat’s Hunter Shinkauk would tie the game at 15:56 when he skated in from the middle of the blue line all alone in front of Gahagen snapping a shot past him. Marek Hrivik and Poirier assisted on the goal.

Gahagen earned his second win of the season by making 24 saves on 29 shots including stopping a breakaway attempt by Stockton’s Poirier late in the 3rd period. Gillies took the loss making 26 saves on 32 shots.

GAME NOTES: Both teams were 0/4 on the power play. San Jose is 16/16 in their past four games on the penalty kill.

The teams exchanged fisticuffs twice during the game. Joesph Crammarosa and Calvan Fitzgerald fought in the first period and Brandon Bollig dropped the gloves with Oleg Yevenko in the third period.

UP NEXT: The Barracuda travel up to the Great White North for the first of back to back games against the Manitoba Moose on Saturday December 30th at Bell MTS Iceplex in Winnipeg.

Merry Little Shutout: Sharks Beat Kings 2-0, Jones Picks Up 100th NHL Win

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Photo credit: @PR_NHL

By Mary Walsh

SAN JOSE — The San Jose Sharks shutout the Los Angeles Kings 2-0 at SAP Center Saturday night. It was Martin Jones’ 100th NHL win and the first time the Sharks shutout the Kings in San Jose in over a decade. Sharks goals were scored by Marcus Sorensen and Joe Pavelski. Jones made 28 saves for the win, while Jonathan Quick made 31 saves in a losing effort for the Kings. Pavelski’s power play goal extended the Sharks’ power play success to an eight-game streak.

After the game, Sharks assistant coach Rob Zettler said:

I thought that was one of our best games of the year so far, against a division team, obviously and able to gain two points on those guys. Defensively we’ve been good all year, we’ve been starting to put the puck in the back of the net the last few games, last couple of weeks so it’s a good feeling.

Over those last couple of weeks, the Sharks have had to lean on their top lines for scoring. With Logan Couture injured, the team needs even more from the bottom six than before. That was the difference Saturday, said Zettler:

Tonight specifically I thought we got some quality minutes from our fourth line: Ward, Boedker, Sorensen, obviously scored the goal. I thought that was a major difference, being able to put those guys out in key times, key moments, and keep our big guys’ minutes down a little bit.

The game started with a strange sequence of penalties. First, Justin Braun was called for tripping Marian Gaborik, and it was a questionable call at best. 42 seconds into the Kings power play, Oscar Fantenberg was called for delay of game by concealing the puck. Depending on your bias, he either fell or threw himself down to the ice, momentarily concealing the puck. The puck was visible and moving almost immediately, so if it was an attempt to freeze the puck it was not a successful one.

Apart from penalties, it was a very rough-and-tumble game. Brenden Dillon and Timo Meier stood out, but it was a skirmish-laden event for almost everyone on the ice.

“It was fun to be on the bench, the physical part was fun. You know, Timo and Dillon and Burnsie’s hit against good players, really fun to be a part of,” said Zettler after the game. “You could feel the energy, not only in the building but you could feel it on the bench.”

The second period started with more penalties. First, Jonny Brodzinski hit Timo Meier, who responded by holding on and being dragged away from the boards. Brodzinski then threw Meier to the ice and got four minutes for roughing. Meier got two minutes for holding. During the ensuing four-on-four, the Kings were called for too many men on the ice, giving the Sharks about a minute of four-on-three action. With three penalty killers and then with four, the Kings killed off all of that.

One second past the midpoint of the game, Sorensen put the Sharks on the board. Key to his goal was that Quick was too far out of his net as the Sharks entered the zone. Sorensen changed direction abruptly right in front of Quick and was able to put the puck in with a backhand. Assists went to Mikkel Boedker and Dylan DeMelo.

The second goal came in the third period, on the Sharks’ fifth power play of the night. Tomas Hertl was in moving in front of the net, with Pavelski a little ways up in the slot. Burns took the shot from the blue line and Pavelski redirected it in. Burns took that shot right off a faceoff win by Pavelski, just six seconds into the power play.

The Sharks return to action Thursday when they host the Calgary Flames at 7:30 PM PT.

Barracuda rebound from previous loss, down the Stars 3-1

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Photo credit: @TheAHL

By Marko Ukalovic

SAN JOSE–Playing the back end of a back-to-back against the team with the most points in the Pacific Division is not an easy task. However, the San Jose Barracuda (13-11-0-2) rebounded from a tough shootout loss last night on the road and ended up downing the Texas Stars (17-11-1-1) 3-1 at SAP Center on Friday night.

Cuda captain John McCarthy got the Cuda on the board with his fifth goal of the season on the power play at 9:12 of the first period. The power play goal set off a flurry of stuffed teddy bears being thrown from the rafters on to the ice with it being Teddy Bear Toss Night at the Tank.

Forward Danny O’Reagan, who was reassigned back down yesterday, threw a shot at the net that hit off Stars goalie Landon Bow (11-6-1) and rebounded to McCarthy. He was able to knock in his second attempt past Bow for a 1-0 lead.

San Jose’s Brandon Bollig didn’t need to wait for Santa on the 25th, as the Stars gave him an early Christmas present in the second period when defenseman Dillon Heatherington skated out in front of his own net and tripped over his teammate Brian Flynn’s skate leaving the puck all alone for Bollig to tap it past Bow for an unassisted goal, his sixth of the season.

“What’s the old saying? The harder you work, the luckier you are,” said head coach Roy Sommer. “I thought we deserved the game. We’re winning ugly, but we’re still winning.”

The Stars were lifeless in the second period without having a shot on net more than half way through the period, thanks to the Cuda maintaining puck possession. They came on strong late in the period when Brian Flynn scored his eighth goal of the season, thanks to a pretty pass from Curtis McKenzie behind the Cuda net that found a wide open Flynn at the top of the slot who buried the shot past Antoine Bibeau (8-6-0) at the 17:55 mark. Texas ended up outshooting San Jose 13-9 in the second period.

The Stars carried that momentum into the third period as Bibeau made two nice saves in the first two minutes of the third period. Texas controlled the play of the game for the first 10 minutes until San Jose clamped back down on defense not allowing another goal.

The Stars were also victims of some bad luck as they hit two posts in the third period. Denis Gurianov hit the post after 2-on-1 opportunity created by McKenzie five minutes left in the game. Flynn hit the crossbar earlier in the period that beat Bibeau.

The Barracuda has chances to put the game away twice when Brandon Masinter had a golden opportunity to score at the 11-minute mark when he drove to the net, made a deke on Bow, but his backhander attempt was stoned by Bow as he sprawled out reaching back behind him to grab the puck. Rudolfs Balcers’ breakaway attempt was stopped by Bow with four minutes remaining in the game

Brandon Mashinter finally iced the game with an empty net goal, his sixth of the season, at 19:07 when Manny Wiederer found him all alone at the Stars’ blue line and Mashinter was able to skate all the way in before depositing it into the net.

Bibeau, who played strong from the beginning to the end, finished the night with 29 saves on 30 shots for his eighth win of the season. Bow took the loss on 26 saves on 28 shots.

“Beebs (Bibeau) bailed us out,” said McCarthy. “He’s come in and played hard and he’s playing well. He won the game for us tonight I would say.”

GAME NOTES: San Jose was 1-for-2 on the power play while Texas was 0-for-3. There were no penalties in the third period. The game drew 4,158 in attendance on the third annual Teddy Bear Toss Night.

UP NEXT: The Christmas break is upon for the Barracuda. They don’t return to action until next Thursday 12/28 when they host the Stockton Heat at 1:15pm at the SAP Center.

Sharks Bank on Labanc’s 4 Points in 5-4 OT Win over Canucks

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Photo credit: @PR_NHL

By Matthew Harrington

SAN JOSE, Calif. — The San Jose Sharks defeated the Vancouver Canucks 5-4 in overtime at the SAP Center Thursday night, thanks to a four-point night from Kevin Labanc. The rookie forward capped a career night with the game-winner at 1:53 of overtime, his first goal in 23 games.

Joe Thornton netted a pair of goals and finished the night in sole possession of 18th place on the all-time points list with 1,416.

The Sharks coughed up 3-1 and 4-3 leads in the game, but Labanc buried his fourth goal of the year to pull out the two-point effort. Labanc took Tomas Hertl’s feed from beside the net and ripped a shot from the slot for a goal to go along with his three assists.

Labanc last scored on October 14th against the New York Islanders and lit the lamp twice Opening Night against Philadelphia.

Daniel Sedin scored his eighth goal of the season just 2:09 into the third period, tying the game at four apiece. The Sharks had taken the lead at the end of the second period on a 5-on-3 man-advantage that saw Joe Pavelski feed Tomas Hertl with a cross-crease pass that Hertl pulled from his feet and buried for his ninth goal of the season.

Hertl’s goal was the fifth goal of the second period, with the Sharks opening the scoring in the period on Timo Meier’s fifth goal of the year, burying a slot pass from Dylan Demelo at 5:20 into the frame, and Thornton’s second beautiful shot of the game on the power play 6:29 into the middle frame for a 3-1 lead. Jake Virtanen would score a 4-on-4 goal and Brock Boeser would add a rebound tally late in the frame to tie the game at 3-3.

Vancouver scored first in the contest just 1:58 into the game, but Thornton went top shelf on Canucks goaltender Jacob Markstrom for the first of 3 San Jose power play goals in 5 opportunities. It was career point No. 1,415, moving Jumbo past Doug Gilmour for 18th best all-time. Jumbo also picked up an assist, putting him just 4 points behind no. 17, Adam Oates.

San Jose finished the game with 32 shots on goal while the Canucks put up 40. Sharks netminder Aaron Dell made 17 saves in the second period alone to hang on for his fifth straight win.

The Sharks continue the homestand with a Christmas Eve eve tilt against the reviled Los Angeles Kings. The Sharks currently sit in third place in the Pacific Division, eight games back of the leading Kings and six back of second place Vegas.

Sharks Score Five Again, Shut Out Slumping Sens 5-0

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Photo credit: San Jose Sharks

by M. Walsh

SAN JOSE — The San Jose Sharks handed the Ottawa Senators a resounding defeat to the tune of 5-0 at SAP Center on Saturday night. The win followed up a surprising 5-4 overtime win over the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday night, when the Sharks led a furious comeback after trailing by three goals. Saturday’s goals came from Logan Couture, Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Melker Karlsson, Joe Pavelski and Tomas Hertl. Couture, Pavelski, Brent Burns and Kevin Labanc all had multi-point games and back-up goaltender Aaron Dell made 25 saves for the Sharks’ shutout win. At the other end of the ice, Craig Anderson made 45 saves on 50 shots in a losing effort for the Senators.

Sharks head coach Pete DeBoer said that San Jose’s goal was to start fast against Ottawa, avoiding the slow start that marked their previous game: “I liked our game. Compared to the game against Carolina, I thought we were really sharp and really carried over the way we played in the third period against them into tonight.”

The Sharks checked a lot of boxes in Saturday’s game, killing four of four penalties and scoring on two of seven power plays. Tim Heed returned after dealing with an upper body injury, and Paul Martin is scheduled to start a conditioning stint with the Barracuda. So much rosy news begs the question of whether the Sharks have reached a turning point in the season.

DeBoer would not say that it is a turning point, but he did say that the goals are important for more than the score: “It was nice to score some goals, nice to get some power play goals. Guys have been working awful hard, we generate a lot of chances and we haven’t finished enough this year. So it was nice to have a night like that. Whether we can do that again tomorrow night I don’t know. But confidence is a big part of scoring and there was a lot of guys feeling good about themselves tonight.”

Logan Couture opened the scoring near the midpoint of the first period. The Sharks had outshot the Sens 10-0 at the 12-minute mark. Dell had just fought off the Senators’ first couple of shots in a flurry of activity on the edge of his crease. After Hertl won a defensive zone faceoff, the Sharks went the other way fast, with Labanc making a lovely pass so Couture could beat Anderson as he moved across. Assists went to Labanc and Justin Braun.

At the end of the first period, the shot count was 16-6 San Jose.

Early in the second period, the Sharks had just come off of a power play when Vlasic blasted a shot past Anderson. Tim Heed caught a pass from Kevin Labanc from behind the net, and sent the puck across the ice to the waiting Vlasic.

The Senators were keeping pace at least in shots past the midpoint of the period, but the Sharks did not let up. Joe Thornton passed the puck backward behind the net to a trailing Pavelski, who quickly sent it back up above the goal line for Melker Karlsson to pop into the net.

The Sharks’ power play came to life in the third period with two goals, one early and one late. The first third period power play resulted from a fight between Marcus Sorensen and Ryan Dzingel, when Dzingel was given an extra minor for roughing. Pavelski tipped a quick Couture shot from high in the slot. A second assist went to Brent Burns.

The Senators appeared to have scored at 5:12, in a power play that followed soon after the Sharks’ fourth goal. Braun was in the box for slashing. Matt Duchene took a shot from the face off dot and Bobby Ryan pushed it in. The official waved it off and did not even stop play. On later review, the NHL concluded that the puck had not crossed the line before Vlasic swept the puck back out.

The final power play of the game came when Alex Burrows used the butt end of his stick to bloody Dylan DeMelo’s face. Burrows was ejected with a fighting major and a roughing minor. DeMelo received roughing minor as he went to the dressing room to be patched up. Tomas Hertl scored after catching a bouncing puck off of Erik Karlsson’s hand. Assists went to Brent Burns and Logan Couture.

The Sharks next play on Sunday at 6:00 pm PT against the Minnesota Wild.

Barracuda let Roadrunners escape with a 3-1 win

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Photo credit: @sjbarracuda

By Alexandra Evans

SAN JOSE—The San Jose Barracuda put up a solid defensive fight through Friday night’s match against the Tucson Roadrunners, who managed to notch two goals in the final two minutes of the game and earn a 3-1 win.

Both teams played sound defensively in the first period until the final two minutes when Roadrunners’ Michael Bunting approached the net, prompting Cuda goaltender Antoine Bibeau to move out of the net to stop what looked like a play. With Bibeau out of the way, Bunting put the puck right in the net at the 18:08 mark to give Tucson the lead.

In the second period, Rudolfs Balcers scored a power play goal at the 3:08 mark. Despite putting up an additional 16 shots (for 29 total), including some promising attempts from Danny O’Regan on a five-on-three run, the Cuda failed to make it past Hunter Miska, but managed to stop the Roadrunners from scoring again…until the end of third period.

Both teams held one another scoreless for the first 18 minutes of the third, when all of a sudden, Mike Sislo copped a rebound goal with a minute and a half remaining, followed by another from Bunting 23 seconds later to make the final score 3-1.

“It happened so quick,” Bibeau said of Tucson’s final two goals. Despite each “blink of an eye” (so to speak), he saw the puck far better than he had during Wednesday’s 6-0 shutout loss.

Bibeau, who came off of his fifth consecutive win on Sunday evening in Bakersfield, agreed that the team’s defense was very sound throughout the entire match. The team’s inability to score impacted the game, but did not reflect their effort as a whole.

The Roadrunners are ranked #1 in the Pacific Division of the AHL, and some may wonder if it takes even more momentum and strength to stand up to such a team. Not necessarily, according to Bibeau. He explained that there was not much the Cuda needed to change as far as effort, as, coming off of the 6-0 shutout loss, effort was more important to them than whether or not they defeated the Roadrunners (whose sound playing styles he acknowledged, and the fact that they stimulated strong competition that evening).

Edging on their next two matches against Tucson on Tuesday and Wednesday (in the desert), Bibeau said that taking time to relax on the team’s off days will serve them well, and that they will play the next two games with a mindset no different than one which they would have against a lower-ranked team.

Roster update: Danny O’Regan was reassigned to the Barracuda from the Sharks this afternoon, and Bryan Moore was recalled from the Allen Americans. Additionally, the club signed Emerson Clark of the ECHL’s Jacksonville Icemen to a professional tryout agreement.