NHL podcast with Len Shapiro: Tampa Bay’s Vesilevskiy fastest goalie to reach 300 wins; New Jersey’s Bratt gets hat trick defeat Panthers 6-2; plus more news

The Tampa Bay Lightning’s defenseman Victor Hedman (77) congratulates goaltender Andrei Vesilevskiy (88) after he picked up his 300th career NHL win in Tampa Bay on Thu Nov 14, 2024 (AP News photo)

On the NHL podcast with Len:

#1 The Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Andrei Vesilevskiy became the fastest goalie to reach 300th win as the Lightning defeated the Winnipeg Jets 4-1 at Amalie Arena in Tampa Bay on Thursday night. It was the Jets second loss in 15 games.

#2 The New Jersey Devil’s Jesper Bratt’s hat trick help beat the Florida Panthers 6-2. It was Bratt’s second career hat trick. New Jersey got goals from Stefan Noesen who scored twice, Nico Hischier and Jack Hughes picked up a goal a piece in the win.

#3 The Philadelphia Flyers Matvei Michkov scored a game winning overtime goal to defeat the Ottawa Senators 5-4 in at Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa on Thursday. Michkov’s game winner was a sharp angle shot that went past Senators goaltender Linus Ullmark with just enough daylight to get the Flyers the win.

#4 For the New York Rangers Mika Zibanejad the nine game drought without a goal has ended as Zibanejad scored off a rebound on Adam Fox’s shot at 11:41 in the second period that tied up the game 1-1. The Rangers would add two more goals for a total of three goals in the second period that was all the scoring they would need to edge the San Jose Sharks 3-2 at Madison Square Garden.

#5 The Buffalo Sabres edged the St Louis Blues Thursday night 4-3 in overtime. Tied 3-3 in the overtime stanza the Sabres Rasmus Dahlin scored at 1:33 on a power play goal to lift Buffalo to victory. It was a back in forth game that saw the Sabres score twice in the first period to make it 2-1, the Blues came right back with two goals to take the lead 3-2, the Sabres would score in the third period to tie it and get the win in the overtime.

Len Shapiro does the NHL podcasts each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Sharks lose 6-3 to Hurricanes

Photo credit: @SanJoseSharks

By Mary Anne

The San Jose Sharks continued their four-game homestand with game No. 3 against the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday night. The Sharks lost 6-3 to the Hurricanes at SAP Center. San Jose fell to 0-2-1, while Carolina improved to 3-1-0.

Sharks goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood made 36 saves in a losing effort, while Hurricanes goaltender Antti Raanta made 12 saves before exiting the game. Frederik Andersen made one save in relief of Raanta.

The Sharks drew first blood. Fabian Zetterlund helped the Sharks to an early 1-0 lead with a wrist shot 3:14 into the opening period. Tomas Hertl collected the lone assist on Zetterlund’s goal.

The Hurricanes tied the game 1-1. Seth Jarvis fired a wrist shot on the power play for a power play goal 4:06 into the first period. Michael Bunting and Teuvo Teravainen collected the assists on Jarvis’ game-tying goal.

The game was tied 1-1 after 20 minutes. The Hurricanes outshot the Sharks 18-5.

The Hurricanes took a 2-1 lead. Jaccob Slavin scored an unassisted goal, a short-handed one off a wrist shot, at 8:52 of the second.

The Hurricanes’ lead was short-lived. The Sharks tied the game 2-2 just 19 seconds later. Filip Zadina fired a wrist shot on the power play for a power play goal at 9:11 of the second period. Fabian Zetterlund collected the lone assist on Zadina’s game-tying goal.

The Sharks regained the lead 3-2. William Eklund fired a wrist shot on the power play for a power play goal at 16:06 of the second period. Henry Thrun and Tomas Hertl collected the assists on Eklund’s go-ahead goal.

The Sharks led 3-2 through 40 minutes. Carolina outshot San Jose 31-11.

The Hurricanes tied the game 3-3. Stefan Noesen fired a wrist shot on the power play for a power play goal at 9:08 of the third period. Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Brady Skjei collected the assists on Noesen’s game-tying goal.

The Hurricanes regained the lead 4-3. Seth Jarvis scored an unassisted goal on a slap shot on the power play at 11:51 of the third period. Brent Burns, a former San Jose Shark, collected the lone assist on Jarvis’ go-ahead goal.

The Hurricanes extended their lead 5-3. Martin Necas fired a wrap-around shot for a 5-3 lead at 14:53 of the third period. Michael Bunting and Brady Skjei collected the assists on Necas’ goal.

The Hurricanes expanded their lead 6-3. Brett Pesce fired a wrist shot for a 6-3 lead at 15:08 of the third period. Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Stefan Noesen collected the assists on Pesce’s goal.

The Hurricanes won 6-3. Carolina outshot San Jose 42-16.

Notes
With his 28th save of the game, Mackenzie Blackwood has now made the most saves by any Sharks goalie in his first two games with the team (79). Kaapo Kahkonen made 78 on March 24-31, 2022 (36, 42).

The Sharks’ November Breakaway Pass offers nine games for $89, including the Sharks and Golden State Warriors’ Bay Area Unite Night and SJSharksGaming Night. For more information, click here.

Up Next
The Sharks will wrap up their homestand against the Boston Bruins on Thursday night at 7:30 p.m. Pacific.

Sharks Fall 5-2 to Blues, San Jose 1-3-0 Since Coaching Change

sfgate.com photo: St. Louis Blues defenseman Alex Pietrangelo shoots for a goal against the San Jose Sharks during the third period of an NHL hockey game in San Jose, Calif., Saturday, Dec. 21, 2019.

By Mary Walsh

SAN JOSE- The Sharks fell 5-2 to the St. Louis Blues Saturday. Blues goals came from Jordan Kyrou, Jaden Schwartz, Alex Pietrangelo, and Ryan O’Reilly. Jake Allen made 34 saves in the win. Sharks goals came from Brent Burns and Stefan Noesen. This was Noesen’s first game as a Shark after being claimed off of waivers from the Pittsburgh Penguins on December 19. Martin Jones made 23 saves in the loss.

The Sharks are 1-3-0 since Bob Boughner took over as Sharks Head Coach on December 11. In two of those games they gave up five or more goals against. After Saturday’s game, Sharks captain Logan Couture described the Sharks’ offensive zone struggles:

I thought in the offensive zone we didn’t have enough, I guess polish around their net, you know, we weren’t winning enough battles to score enough goals. The pucks were there, he wasn’t handling many of the shots well. There were a lot of rebounds in the slot, we just didn’t get there to got the second opportunities.

Asked for a reaction to these two losses in a row where the Sharks out-shot their opponent, Couture said: “I don’t care about shots on goal, I care about us losing. We’ve been doing a lot of that. So, the feeling sucks, I mean it’s not fun.”

At the other end of the ice, the Sharks fell short as well. Sharks goaltender Martin Jones said: “Made some mistakes that we shouldn’t be making late in the game and they cost us. When you do that you need a save and we’re not getting that either.” Of Jones’s performance, Bob Boughner said: “He was pretty decent. He gave us a chance. I think their first goal was just okay but there’s not much he could do on the other two. We ask our goalies not to try and have to win us a game, just give us a chance. I thought he gave us a chance tonight.”

The Sharks out-shot the Blues in the first period 15-6 but the period ended with the Sharks on a power play and no goals scored.

Brent Burns changed that at the start of the first period, before the Sharks power play expired. He scored his first goal in 16 games with a beautiful shot that went off the post and in. Receiving a pass from Burns in the corner, Erik Karlsson took a moment to settle the puck at the top of the slot before sending the puck back to Burns for the shot above the face-off circle.

The Blues got that back in less than two minutes. Jordan Kyrou entered the zone and split the defense with his formidable speed. One on one with Jones, his back hand went right under the goaltender.

The visitors went on to take the lead at 5:30 of the period during a power play caused by a delay of game penalty to Evander Kane. Brayden Schenn sent the puck right through the blue paint in front of Jones and Jaden Schwartz had his stick free on the other side of the net so he could tap the puck in. Assists went to Schenn and David Perron.

The Sharks tied it back up when Brenden Dillon’s stretch pass found Stefan Noesen just above the St. Louis blue line. Noesen caught it in stride and skated until he was a nose ahead of the Blues defender before he took the shot. He beat Jake Allen on the short side. Assists went to Dillon and Burns. It was Noesen’s second of the season and his first as a Shark.

The shot count was a little closer in the second period, 13-9 Sharks.

St. Louis took the lead back at 11:07 of the third period with a goal from Alex Pietrangelo. Pietrangelo and Ivan Barbashev came out of the neutral zone with only Marc-Edouard Vlasic back. Vlasic effectively eliminated the pass so Pietrangelo shot from the top of the face-off circle and put it in the top corner. Assists went to Jaden Schwartz and Brayden Schenn.

The Sharks got a game-ending power play at 16:53, not unlike the end of their last game in Arizona. The Sharks could not score again and this time they also gave up a short-handed, empty net goal. That was scored by Ryan O’Reilly with an assist to Justin Faulk. Alex Pietrangelo scored another at 19:52.

The Blues out-shot the Sharks 13-8 in the third period.

The Sharks next play on Sunday at 7:00 PM PT against the Vegas Golden Knights.