Tag: St Louis Blues

San Jose Sharks podcast with Mary Lisa: Sharks hoping to end 9 game skid tonight in St Louis

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The San Jose Sharks goaltender MacKenzie Blackwood (29) and defenseman Jon Rutta (84) defend as the Minnesota Wild’s center Joel Eriksson Elk (14) tries to find the back end of the net in the first period on Thu Mar 28, 2024 at XCel Energy Center in St Paul MN (AP News photo)

On the SJ Sharks podcast with Mary Lisa:

#1 The Minnesota Wild broke 1-1 deadlock when they ended up scoring two goals in the third period to win it 3-1 handing the San Jose Sharks their ninth loss in a row.

#2 The Wild’s Matt Boldy scored a tie breaking goal to put the Wild in front at 18 seconds into the third period. The Sharks were hoping to get a win and snap out of their loss streak but rather than move ahead Boldy and the Wild held and took the game.

#3 Boldy said that guys in the dressing room are playing the game the right way and it’s coming out to wins. The Wild’s Joel Eriksson Elk got a goal, Ryan Hartman picked up an empty netter, and Kirill Kaprizov picked up two assists.

#4 Sharks head coach David Quinn said after the contest that the Sharks are dying for a win and he feels for the players but said you have to play for 60 minutes not 40 minutes.

#5 The Sharks face off against the St Louis Blues tonight at Enterprise Arena in St Louis. The Blues are fourth in the NHL Central at 39-30-4 and have won seven of their last ten games. How tough will this one be for the Sharks in St Louis and trying to end that nine game losing streak?

Catch the San Jose Sharks podcasts each Saturday with Mary Lisa at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

San Jose Sharks podcast with Mary Lisa: Sharks get great defense against Blues; SJ take on Canucks in Vancouver Monday night

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The San Jose Sharks Mikael Granlund (64) congratulates Sharks goaltender (36) Kaapo Kahkonen on making 44 saves out of 45 shots against at SAP Center on Thu Nov 16, 2023 (AP News photo)

On the SJ Sharks podcast with Mary Lisa:

#1 Mary Lisa the San Jose Sharks (3-13-1) lit up the lamp against St Louis Blues (8-6-1) for four goals in the second period on Thursday night at SAP Center in San Jose.

#2 The Sharks got scoring from Luke Lunin, Givani Smith and William Eklund with a goal each and Mike Hoffman added two goals this is the kind of offense the Sharks have not seen too much of this early season.

#3 The Sharks Ryan Carpenter helped out with two assists and his veteran experience has helped the Sharks with a game like this a three goal win over the decent Blues team.

#4 Between the pipes for San Jose goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen stopped 44 shots and allowed just one St Louis goal.

#5 The Sharks open a brief two game road trip on Monday night against the Vancouver Canucks (12-4-1) a 7:00pm PT face off at the Rogers Centre in Vancouver. The Sharks head to Seattle against the Kraken on Wed Nov 22 at Climate Pledge Arena.

Join Mary Lisa for the Sharks podcasts each Saturday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Sharks Beat Blues In Decisive 5-1 Victory; Three Game Skid Comes To An End

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The San Jose Sharks had lots to be happy about as they’re offense was on as they defeated the visiting St Louis Blues at SAP Center in San Jose on Thu Nov 16, 2023 (photo from Hockey News)

Thursday, November 16th, 2023

By Troy Ewers

San Jose, CA – It’s the San Jose Sharks against the St. Louis Blues in another regular season game and the Sharks are still looking for their third win. The positive for SJ right now in this wild season is that Tomas Hertl leads the Sharks in points and after last game he’s tied with Owen Nolan (206) for fifth on Sharks’ all-time goals list and can take over the spot after tonight. 

The first period was one of the strongest periods for the Sharks this season. Two minutes into the game former St. Louis player Mike Hoffman scored in the slot off a pass from Nico Sturm that put the Sharks up early, 1-0 San Jose.

Last game against the Florida Panthers, Hoffman scored his first goal of the season and now comes back in the building and gets his second. The Sharks had a way stronger attack this period than they did at any point last game plus there’s a sense of chemistry that the Sharks have been looking for from this group.

Another bright spot about this first period was Kaapo Kahkonen who blocked 11 shots this period, but had a couple saves that got big applause from the Sharks crowd. 

San Jose blew the doors open this second period with four goals and it was in outstanding fashion. 17 seconds in Nikita Okhotiuk hits a slapshot and it’s deflected by William Eklund and he gets the second goal. Eklund’s third goal of the season 2-0 SJ.

The rally continued from an “unlikely” source, Givani Smith got his first goal of the season with a wrist shot (assisted by Kunin & Carpenter), 3-0 SJ. A minute after that Luke Kunin scored making it 4-0 and the Blues changed goalies from Joel Hofer to Jordan Binnington, but the game didn’t change even though the goalies did.

The Blues were deflated, but San Jose wasn’t, they were amplified to a level unseen all season. 13:45 into the period and the Sharks scored again. Hoffman got his second goal on a breakaway and the score became 5-0 all the way through the rest of the period.

This second period wasn’t just a showcase of SJ’s best stuff, but it was an improvement on the faults that Coach Quinn wanted them to fix and it seems like they did exactly that.

Kaapo’s continued his great performance stopping everything in his path early in the third period. At this point in the game six Sharks players had multi points (Okhotiuk, Hoffman, Smith, Carpenter, Zadina, and Kunin) and on top of that this was Kunin’s third consecutive game with a goal.

Smith’s goal was the 300th goal scored in franchise history and all these positives resulted in probably the best game of this Sharks season so far. The Sharks couldn’t end their night in a shutout that’s a fairy tale, the Blues get a goal with about six minutes left in the game, but Kaapo still had 39 saves by the time of the goal. 5-1. The clock ran down and the game ended with this 5-1 score and a happy San Jose fan base.

The Sharks get a deserved break before their next game which is November 20th against the Vancouver Canucks Rogers Centre in Vancouver.

Sharks Lose 5-3 to Panthers In Their Return Home

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The San Jose Sharks center Luke Kunin (left) celebrates scoring against Florida Panthers goaltender Anthony Stolarz (41) in the third period at SAP Center in San Jose on Tue Nov 14, 2023 (AP News photo)

Tuesday, November 14th, 2023

By Troy Ewers

San Jose, CA – At the SAP Center it’s the San Jose Sharks who are looking for a third win on the season against the Florida Panthers who are 9-4-1 and second in the Atlantic division. The Sharks lost their last game against the Ducks 4-1, but San Jose had their eyes set on last year’s Eastern Conference champions but couldn’t seal the deal in a two goal 5-3 loss.

Tomas Hertl leads the Sharks with 10 points (2 goals, 8 assists) entering tonight’s game alongside William Eklund, the offense looks to shake things up against a defense who isn’t afraid to get physical. Goalie Mackenzie Blackwood was pivotal in the Sharks only wins this season, but if the Sharks want any traction, Blackwood can’t be the only defensive presence out there on the ice. 

 The first period was a tale of two parts. The first part was a combination of sloppy play and bad rotation on defense where Ryan Lomberg scored the first goal of the game unassisted. 1-0 Panthers. The Sharks this season are notoriously bad when the opponent scores first (0-9).

The Sharks got the tying goal three minutes after the Florida goal and it was from the Sharks Mike Hoffman, his first of the season (assisted by Jan Rutta and Ryan Carpenter) making it 1-1. The Sharks strengthened up the defense to keep it tied at the end of the period and a sense of optimism was held over the SAP Center. 

The goalies were the highlight for the majority of the second period, both goalies showing out as they controlled the momentum. That changed when a roughing call to Givani Smith led to a power play goal by Panthers points leader Sam Reinhart, who scored his 12th goal of the season so far, assisted by Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Matthew Tkachuk 2-1 Panthers.

Smith even with the penalty still upheld his role as an enforcer, because his style of play started to frustrate the Panthers. Smith wasn’t the only guy throwing his body around, the Sharks physicality was clearly something to highlight in this period. As the period came to a close a tripping call with 18 seconds left on Panthers center Nick Cousins gave San Jose an advantage going into the third. 

Sharks third period had high hopes. Tomas Hertl scored on a powerplay goal from a beautiful pass by Zetterlund to make it 2-2. Right after that Luke Kunin scored on a rebound with a backhand shot and now it was 3-2 San Jose and the SAP Center was electric. “We Want Tacos!” chants started to circulate as the fans didn’t just want the win, they wanted free tacos, but that would come with a price.

Carter Verhaeghe on a power play hit a diving goal that tied things up and special teams was something that Coach Quinn stressed for his Sharks players, “a focus before the game” he said, but it would end up being a thing that kept them away from victory.

Kevin Stenlund put the Panthers back on top with a redirect on Balinskis shot that went five hole on Blackwood and now it was 4-3. 38 seconds later Sam Bennett appeared to close the game out for Florida, but Coach Quinn successfully challenged the play for offside and it was no goal, still 4-3. With 2:30 left in the game Quinn emptied his net, but the strategy would fail as Barkov scored into an empty net and it was a 5-3 to end the game. 

The Sharks lose another game, but the beauty of the NHL is there’s always a game around the corner and for the Sharks that game comes after one day’s rest. San Jose will be back in the Shark Tank to face the St. Louis Blues, a team that Coach Quinn credits for “having good forwards”. Last time the Sharks were in the Tank they had a two game win streak, but now it’s back to fighting from underneath and trying to find out what works and what doesn’t for this team. 

NHL podcast with Len Shapiro: Rangers closing in on second place; Flames win ties them with Jets for Wild Card spot; plus more

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Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy (88) stands near the goal as the New York Rangers celebrate a goal by Chris Kreider during the third period at Madison Square Garden in New York on Wed Apr 5, 2023 (AP News photo)

On the NHL podcast with Len:

#1 The New York Rangers Chris Kreider and Tyler Motte scored a goal each in the Rangers win over the Tampa Bay Lightning to notch closer to second place in the Metro Division. The Rangers picked up a 6-3 win at Madison Square Garden and are now just three points behind first place New Jersey Devils.

#2 The Calgary Flames are in a tie with the Winnipeg Jets for a second wild card for the Stanley Cup Playoffs in the Western Conference. The Flames defeated the Jets 3-1 at Canada Life Centre Wednesday night. You wanted to say something Jacob Marston.

#3 The Edmonton Oilers are having a great season and their closing in on first place in the NHL Pacific Division picking up their sixth straight win defeating the Anaheim Ducks 3-1. The Oilers Ryan Nugent-Hopkins reached 100 points and goaltender Jack Campbell stopped 27 shots. The Oilers extended their points streak to 12 games.

#4 The Minnesota Wild Kirill Kaprizov got to practice on Wednesday for the first time since Mar 8th due to a lower back injury. Kaprizov wore a non contact sweater during the practice. Kaprizov will sit out Thursday’s game against the Pittsburgh Penguins. However Kaprizov could return on Saturday against the St Louis Blues.

#5 The Washington Capitals will miss their first post season for the first time in eight years It’s the first time the Caps have missed the Stanley Cup Playoffs since 2013-14 season. The Capitals played .500 hockey (34-34-9) but was not good enough to make the playoffs. The Caps are in 13th place in the Eastern Conference.

Join Len Shapiro for the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs podcasts each Thursday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Karlsson Matches Franchise D-man Mark, Sharks Get Swept By Blues in 4-2 Loss

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The St Louis Blues center Robert Thomas (18) is jazzed as the Blues defeated the San Jose Sharks at the Enterprise Center in St Louis on Thu Mar 9, 2023 (@StLouisBlues photo)

By Matthew Harrington

Erik Karlsson matched the San Jose Sharks single-season record for points by a defenseman, but the Sharks still fell to the St. Louis Blues 4-2 Thursday night in the Gateway City, suffering a season sweep at the hands of their Midwest foes. Tomas Hertl scored the Sharks other goal and Alexander Barabanov had a pair of assists in defeat. The Blues (28-31-5) received goals from four different players. The Sharks (19-35-12) had a 26-19 shot edge heading into the third period, but were tied at 2-2 before the Blues cracked the game open late. San Jose had two possible goals called back for not crossing the goal as well.

Karlsson will certainly smash the franchise record, set by Brent Burns in the 2018-19 season. Burns set the mark over 82 games with 16 goals and 67 assists for a Sharks team that picked up 101 points for a second place finish in the regular season standings for the Western Conference. What makes Karlsson’s feat all the more impressive is that this iteration of the Sharks will finish somewhere…. much lower in the standings.

For Karlsson, the team feat matches an individual achievement. The Swedish defenseman’s previous career high in points was 82, coming in a rare full season for the injury-riddle d-man for the 2015-16 Ottawa Senators. He sits one goal off his career high of 21 in 2014-15 and three back of matching his career high in assists of 66 in his previous career-best year. He also now has the second best point total by a defenseman 32 years or older since Ray Bourque had 91 points(1993-94) per Curtis Pashelka of the San Jose Mercury News. Brent Burns was also 34 when he had his 83 point season.

Karlsson scored his 20th goal of the year much like he scored many of his others 10:23 into the first period , beating Jordan Binnington on a snap shot through traffic that had eyes. He’s mastered the dying art of goal scoring by a defenseman this season even as goals have been hard to come by for San Jose.

The Blues Torey Krug tied the game up at the 12:31 mark of the period after he was sprung on a two-on-one with Robert Thomas carrying the puck. Thomas passed the puck to Krug while Nico Sturm backchecked Alexei Toropchenko into Kaapo Kahkonen in the Shark’s net for a 1-1 tie.

The Blues’ Sammy Blais skated in on the breakway before going fore-hand back-hand on Kahkonen at the 10:06 mark of the second period to score his third of the year, but Tomas Hertl answered back with his 18th of the year with 5:29 left in the period. Alexander Barabanov forced a turnover on the forecheck, passed the puck to Hertl streaking down the center lane and picked up the assist when Hertl beat Binnington clean for a 2-2 tie.

Just 2:53 into the third period the Blues took the 3-2 lead on Jakub Vrana’s first goal with the Blues after a shot went wide on the Sharks net. Pavel Buchnevich tried to bank the rebound off Kahkonen’s back side but didn’t convert. The rebound was there for Vrana to bat home though.

Robert Thomas sealed the game for the Blues on a power play goal with 4:58 left in regulation. The Sharks offense sputtered in the final frame, putting only eight shots on the Blues net while surrendering 12. Despite the late power play strike, the Blues were only 1 for 4 on the power play while the Sharks failed to convert on any of their four opportunities.

San Jose returns home to face the Minnesota Wild Saturday night. It kicks off a four-game home stand with tilts with the Blue Jackets, Kraken and Islanders looming at the SAP Center.

NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs podcast with Len Shapiro: Binnington lost for rest of second round lower body injury; Lightning lights up the lamp leads Panthers; plus more

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Colorado Avalanche left winger JT Compher (37) reaches for the puck against the St Louis Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington (50) during game 3 of the Western Conference second round playoffs at the Enterprise Center in St Louis. This would be Binnington’s last game for this round due to an injury on Sat May 21, 2022 (AP News photo)

On the NHL Stanley Cup Playoff podcast with Len Shapiro:

#1 St Louis Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington will miss the rest of the Western Conference second round with a lower body injury rumored to be left leg against the Colorado Avalanche. Binnington got hurt during game 3 when teammate Calle Rosen and Aves Nazem Kadri knocked Binnington over. How is the loss of Binnington going to impact the Blues the rest of the second round?

#2 Also Colorado’s Samuel Girard is out for the rest of the playoffs with a broken sternum in game 3 in the first period at 1:42 on Saturday he was checked hard by the Blues Ivan Barbashev.

#3  In the battle of Florida The Tampa Bay Lightning are in the driver’s seat with the series lead 3-0 and their getting some great scoring not to mention great goaltending from Andrei Vasilevskiy in their game 3 win today 5-1.

#4 The Carolina Hurricanes lead the series 2-1 against the New York Rangers and played game 3 today at Madison Square Garden. The Rangers won a crucial game 3-1 how did home ice pay off for the Rangers today?

#5 The Calgary Flames and the Edmonton Oilers are battling it out in Edmonton the Flames had Oilers came back on the Flames in game 1 only to lose the lead 9-6. The Oilers bounced back in game 2 with a 5-2 win and goaltender Mike Smith stopped 37 shots.

Join Len Shapiro for the NHL Stanley Cup postseason podcasts each Sunday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

NHL Stanley Cup Playoff podcast with Len Shapiro : Hurricanes up 2-0 with series going back to MSG; Oilers-Flames take game 3 to Calgary; Aves take a 2-1 lead over St Louis

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On the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs podcast with Len:

Carolina Hurricanes’ Brendan Smith, center, celebrates his goal with teammates Sebastian Aho (20) and Teuvo Teravainen (86) in second period action at PNC Arena in Raleigh in game 2 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs on Fri May 20, 2022 (AP News photo)

#1 The Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Antti Raanta stopped 21 shots on his way to a 2-0 shutout Friday night his first playoff shutout in game 2 of the Eastern Conference playoffs. The win puts the Hurricanes up 2-0 over the New York Rangers.

#2 After watching the first two games of this series how concerned does the proposition of going down in the first two games have to be for Rangers head coach Gerard Gallant and can the Rangers consider going back to MSG for the next two games a chance to get back into this thing?

#3 Last Wednesday the Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames battled to a 9-6 Flames win. The Flames had to breath a sigh a relief in that one up 3-1 they gave up four goals in the second period to the Oilers but came back to win game 1.

#4 In game 2 on Friday night the Oilers had an opportune moment when the Oilers Zach Hyman took advantage of a break away in the middle of the third period with the score tied at 3-3. Hyman got a shot over the glove of the Flames goaltender Jakob Markstrom to put the Oilers ahead 4-3 at 10:14.

#5 A thriller in Denver the Colorado Avalanche get a big win taking it to the St Louis Blues with a game 3 win the Blues were up front but the Avalanche came back to overtake the Blues 5-3 and take a 2-1 series lead. The Avalanche got two goals from Artturi Lehkonen.

Len Shapiro filled in Matt Harrington for the NHL Stanley Cup Playoff podcasts heard each Saturday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

San Jose Sharks podcast with Mary Lisa Walsh: Reedy showed potential in minors and scores twice with the Sharks

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San Jose Sharks center Scott Reedy (54) celebrates with Jasper Weatherby (26) after Reedy’s goal in the first period against the Columbus Blue Jackets at the SAP Center in San Jose on Tue Apr 19, 2022 (AP News photo)

On the Sharks podcast with Mary Lisa:

#1 The San Jose Sharks (30-34-12) defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets (35-36-6) 3-2, ending a ten-game losing streak. It was also their first win with Kaapo Kahkonen in net.

#2 Scott Reedy scored twice for the Sharks and Rudolfs Balcers added the third goal. Reedy had huge success during his time in the Sharks minor league affiliate at the San Jose Barracuda and his promotion is paying off.

#3 Kahkonen made 22 saves for the win and had a shutout going through the first two periods and ended up allowing two goals but good enough to keep the Blue Jackets at bay.

#4 After the game, Sharks Captain Logan Couture talked about finally getting a win for goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen. Couture mentioned the goalie’s work ethic and said that Kahkonen “fits in really well, gets along everyone in the room.

#5 The Sharks next play on Thursday at 7:30 PM PT at home against the St. Louis Blues (46-20-11) the Blues have won nine of their last ten games and could be a force in the post season. The Sharks could have their hands full on Thursday night.

Catch Mary Lisa with the Sharks podcasts each Wednesday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

NHL podcast with Matt Harrington: Ovechkin close to winning Hart Trophy; Wild’s Kaprizov out for tonight vs. Washington; plus more

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The Washington Capitals Alexander Ovechkin a three time MVP winner is up for the Hart Trophy Award (NHL.com file photo)

On the NHL podcast with Matt Harrington:

#1 The Washington Capitals Alexander Ovechkin who has won the MVP three times is up for the Hart Trophy so far with 24 goals, 50 points, and has helped the Capitals to get to first place in the Metropolitan Division.

#2 The Boston Bruins Trent Fredric hit the Minnesota Wild’s Kirill Kaprizov hitting him into the boards and Kaprizov’s skates got caught up with his teammate Matt Grzelcyk receiving an upper body injury at 10:09 of the second period in the 3-2 Wild win on Thursday night. Kaprizov will not play against the Washington Capitals tonight.

#3 The St Louis Blues dropped their odds a bit losing right winger Vladimir Tarasenko, defensemen Scott Perunovich, and Jake Walman to Coronavirus protocols. Each will miss two games after testing positive for Coronavirus.

#4 The Vegas Golden Knights know how to spoil a reunion as they defeated the New York Rangers 5-1 in the return of former Knights head coach Gerrard Gallant. Gallant was the Knights first coach in their franchise history before being replace by Peter DeBoer on Jan 15, 2020.

#5 Three games were canceled in Canadian cities due to attendance restrictions New Jersey had two games postponed @ Montreal Jan 15 and at Toronto Jan 17th. The Chicago Blackhawks at Edmonton Oilers were postponed for Jan 18. The Ottawa Senators had three games postponed.

#6 The San Jose Sharks gave Evander Kane his unconditional release today because of a fake Covid 19 card and he will no longer be skating for the Sharks minor league team the San Jose Barracuda. Kane has ability but because of off ice issues is no longer with San Jose.

Join Matt for the NHL podcasts each Saturday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com