Tag: Timo Meier

Sharks Beat Red Wings 3-2 in OT; Fifth win out of last eight for SJ

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San Jose Sharks center Logan Couture (39) gets the puck past Detroit Red Wings goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic (39) as Nick Leddy (2) defends for the game winning goal in overtime at the SAP Center in San Jose on Tue Jan 11, 2022 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

SAN JOSE– The San Jose Sharks beat the Detroit Red Wings 3-2 in overtime in San Jose on Tuesday. Timo Meier, Jeffrey Viel and Logan Couture scored for San Jose. Adin Hill made 17 saves for the win. Tyler Bertuzzi and Nick Leddy scored for Detroit and Alex Nedeljkovic made 37 saves in the loss.

The Sharks played Red Wings just a week ago in Detroit, and lost 6-2. That was the game when Jacob Middleton was injured in a hit from Givani Smith. The Sharks responded by giving up two short-handed goals in the ensuing five minute major. Early in the first period on Tuesday, Jeffrey Viel and Givani Smith fought and went to the box.

The Sharks took a 1-0 lead at 14:24 with a power play goal from Timo Meier. Jonathan Dahlen carried the puck almost to the goal line before making a backhand pass, through traffic, across the slot to Timo Meier right in front of the goal. Nedeljkovic could not get across in time to stop Meier’s 15th goal of the season. Assists went to Dahlen and Brent Burns.

The Sharks had two power plays in the first period, and had three shots and the goal. Their penalty kill gave up no shots in their one kill.

The Red Wings tied it at 19:38 of the second period, with a two man advantage. Filip Hronek sent the puck to the net from the blue line and Tyler Bertuzzi deflected it in. Assists went to Hronek and Mortiz Seider.

In the second period, the Sharks had one power play and got two shots. Their three-man penalty kill gave up the one shot that went in the net.

The Red Wings took the lead at 1:48 of the third with a goal from Nick Leddy, who carried the puck from one end of the ice to the other and then took a shot around Ryan Merkley. The puck went over Hill’s shoulder for Leddy’s first NHL goal. Assists went to Hronek and Bertuzzi.

Jeffrey Viel tied it back up at 3:18. Viel was chasing the puck to the net when he lost his footing with some help from a defender. He ended up sliding into the net himself and making some contact with the goaltender. An assist went to Brent Burns.

The Sharks pressed hard in the final minutes of the period, but Nedeljkovic held his ground and the game went to overtime.

Logan Couture scored with the Sharks’ only overtime shot. Brent Burns took a shot from the left side of the net and the puck went under the goaltender, coming to rest just above the goal line. Logan Couture was falling down on the other side of the net after fighting for space. He was able to reach across with his stick and nudge the puck over the line. Assists went to Burns and Dahlen.

After a lengthy review in Toronto, the goal was allowed. The review was for off-side and may have also been about the octopus that was thrown onto the ice during play.

The Sharks out-shot the Red Wings 40-19, and did so in each period, 12-6 in the first, 14-6 in the second and 13-6 in the third. The Sharks also led in the face-off circle, winning 52% of the draws.

The Sharks next play on Thursday, in San Jose against the New York Rangers at 7:30 PM PT.

Sharks Win in Buffalo, Beat Sabres 3-2

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San Jose Sharks goaltender Adin Hill stops one of the 37 shots he saved against the Buffalo Sabers this one in the first period in Buffalo on Thu Jan 6, 2022 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks defeated the Buffalo Sabres 3-2 Thursday. It was just the Sharks’ fourth win in Buffalo in franchise history. Matt Nieto, Timo Meier, and Tomas Hertl scored for the Sharks. Adin Hill made 36 saves for the win. Jeff Skinner and Zemgus Girgensons scored for the Sabres. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 18 saves in the loss.

The Sharks were again without Logan Couture and Jonathan Dahlen but defenseman Mario Ferraro returned to the lineup from the COVID-19 list. Goaltender James Reimer was also unavailable due to a lower body injury of unspecified severity. This puts some pressure on Adin Hill to return to form as the starter.

Sharks Head Coach Bob Boughner mentioned that Adin Hill had his swagger back in Thursday’s game, and the team fed off of that confidence. He summed up the team’s performance as: “We weren’t perfect but we were a lot better and it’s a good sign.”

Sharks forward Matt Nieto talked about scoring a goal with his line-mates Andrew Cogliano and Nick Bonino: “We haven’t really created offense the way we would like to. We think we’ve gotten a lot of chances so it’s nice to get one tonight. Hopefully more start coming.”

Nieto started a brief first-period flurry of scoring for the Sharks at 12:27. Andrew Cogliano sent the puck up from the goal line to Nieto inside the face-off dot. Nieto took the shot from an awkward angle but got it by Luukkonen on the blocker side. Assists went to Cogliano and Nick Bonino.

Timo Meier made it 2-0 at 13:44. Tomas Hertl got the puck across the line and then dropped it to Meier. Meier took a quick shot from the point and rang it off the post and in. Assists went to Hertl and Mario Ferraro.

Tomas Hertl made it 3-0 at 17:24. Alexander Barabanov cleared the puck out of the Sharks zone and then chased it down to carry it into the Sabres zone. He dropped it to a trailing Hertl who took the shot from the slot for his 17th of the season.

Jeff Skinner scored for Buffalo at 7:56 of the second. Skinner pulled the puck out of a board battle and carried it to the slot before taking the shot. The puck went over Hill’s stick, off the post and in. Victor Olofsson got the assist.

Zemgus Girgensons made it 3-2 with a power play goal at 18:14 of the third. Tage Thompson took a shot from the point that went off of the bar and came back out to bounce down Hill’s shoulder before landing behind him. Before Hill could find it, Girgensons swept it in. Assists went to Thompson and Rasmus Dahlin.

The Sabres pulled their goaltender with 92 seconds left and made a good push but the Sharks held on.

The Sabres out-shot the Sharks in every period for a shot total of 39-21, and in the third period they out-shot the Sharks 22-5. The Sabres also beat the Sharks in the face-off circle, winning 60% of the draws. The Sharks only had one power play but had no shots on that one. The Sabres had three power plays in which they had seven shots and a goal.

The Sharks’ next game is on Saturday in Philadelphia against the Flyers at 4:00 PM PT.

Sharks Beat Coyotes 8-7 in Shoot-Out

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San Jose Sharks center Tomas Hertl scores as teammates congratulate him in the third period with Jayden Halbgewachs (89), Mario Ferraro (38), Noah Gregor (73) and Brent Burns (88) against the Arizona Coyotes on Tue Dec 28, 2021 at SAP Center in San Jose (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

SAN JOSE- The San Jose Sharks won 8-7 in a barn-burner against the Arizona Coyotes on Tuesday. Alexander Barabanov, Nick Bonino, Radim Simek, Jeffrey Viel, Timo Meier, Tomas Hertl and Logan Couture scored for the Sharks. James Reimer made 39 saves for the win. Lawson Crouse (2), Janis Moser(2), Clayton Keller, Shayne Gostisbehere and Andrew Ladd scored for the Coyotes. Scott Wedgewood made 20 saves in the loss.

On Monday, Adin Hill was added to the Sharks COVID-19 protocol list. Jonathan Dahlen and Tomas Hertl were added to the list list on December 21. Brent Burns was put on the list on the 17th, and removed from it on December 26. That made him available to play his 1200th game Tuesday.

Shortly after a fight between Jonah Gadjovich and Jan Jenik, Alexander Barabanov started the scoring at 2:46 of the first period. Logan Couture took a shot from the slot that banked perfectly off of Barabanov and into the net. Couture and Timo Meier got the assists.

Lawson Crouse tied it up at 5:36. Phil Kessel set up the shot with a pass from the corner, to Crouse in the slot.

Nick Bonino made it 2-1 Sharks at 11:22. Bonino started the play by knocking the puck off of Shayne Gostisbehere’s stick. When Andrew Cogliano took a shot, Bonino was on hand to gather the rebound and backhand it in. Assists went to Matt Nieto and Andrew Cogliano.

Janis Moser tied it back up at 17:40, scoring his first NHL goal. Lawson Crouse got the puck away from Brent Burns below the goal line and made a qick pass up to Moser for the shot. An assist went to Crouse.

The Sharks had the only power play of the first period, and had two shots with the man advantage. The Coyotes out-shot the Sharks 14-8 in the first.

Radim Simek gave the Sharks a 3-2 lead at 5:27 of the second period. Tomas Hertl was in front of the net when Simek tooka shot from the blue line. The puck went between Hertl and Janis Moser and over Wedgewood’s glove. Assists went to Jayden Halbgewachs and Marc-Edouard Vlasic.

Jeffrey Viel scored his first NHL goal to give the Sharks a 4-2 lead at 5:34. Viel may have been making a pass to center ice, where Jonah Gadjovich was going to the net. The puck never reached Gadjovich, and instead went off of a Coyote defender and into the net. Assists went to Gadjovich and Lane Pederson.

Clayton Keller got one back for Arizona at 7:48. The Coyotes were having trouble getting through the neutral zone when Phil Kessel found Keller across the ice and in the open. Keller was into the zone and taking the shot before the Sharks could get to him. Assists went to Kessel and Johan Larsson.

Timo Meier restored the Sharks’ two-goal lead at 14:13. With Couture, Barabanov and Meier attacking the net, Meier knocked the puck out of the air and over the goaltender for his 13th of the season. Assists went to Barabanov and Couture.

Janis Moser cut the lead back down to one, with his second NHL goal, on the power play at 19:37. After a failed clear, the Sharks penalty kill was looking weary when Moser took the shot from the blue line. The puck went by five skaters and in. Assists went to Larsson and Loui Eriksson.

The Coyotes had the only second period power play, and had two shots with the man advantage. Arizona out-shot San Jose again, this time 14-11.

Tomas Hertl made it 6-4 at 1:44 of the third. Noah Gregor got the puck to Hertl with a back-hand centering pass from the boards. Hertl put it away with a slap shot, scoring his 15th of the season.

Lawson Crouse scored for Arizona at 7:35. Crouse gathered a loose puck up at the corner of the net, then slipped between Reimer and Erik Karlsson before lifting the puck into the net. Assists went to Dysin Mayo and Phil Kessel.

Logan Couture scored the Sharks’ seventh of the night at 13:00. Still in the neutral zone, Erik Karlsson banked the puck off of the end boards. Barabanov got to it first and the dropped it to Couture for the shot. Assists went to Barabanov and Karlsson.

Shayne Gostisbehere scored for Arizona at 16:51. Gostisbehere took a shot from the blue line that went off of Nick Bonino and in. Assists went to Kessel and Larsson.

Andrew Ladd tied the game at 18:31 on the power play. Ladd was the last Coyote to touch it before it bounced up and over Reimer and into the net. Assists went to Crouse and Gostisbehere.

The Sharks penalty kill gave up 8 shots and a goal in the third period across two penalties. The Sharks power play got no shots on goal in the third. In overtime, the Sharks power play got one shot on goal and gave up two short-handed shots to the Coyotes. The Coyotes won 57% of the face-offs.

The game went to a shootout after a scoreless overtime. Logan Couture and Tomas Hertl scored for San Jose, Nick Schmaltz missed for Arizona and James Reimer stopped Clayton Keller.

The Sharks next play on Thursday at 7:30 PM PT in San Jose against the Philadelphia Flyers.

On Sunday, Jim Wiley passed away at the age of 71. Wiley was the Sharks’ third Head Coach, coaching the Sharks for most of the 1995-1996 season. He was a professional hockey player for eight years, from 1972-1980. He went on to coach for fourteen years, retiring in 2008.

Canucks Sink Sharks 5-2, Meier Scores 100th

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Timo Meier (28) is congratulated by San Jose Sharks teammate Erik Karlsson (65) after scoring his 100th career goal in the first period at SAP Center in San Jose on Thu Dec 16, 2021 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

SAN JOSE– The San Jose Sharks fell 5-2 to the Vancouver Canucks Thursday. Bo Horvat, J.T. Miller, Jason Dickinson scored for Vancouver, and Brock Boeser scored twice. Thatcher Demko made 34 saves for the win. Timo Meier and Andrew Cogliano scored for San Jose and Adin Hill made 25 saves in the loss,

The win lifted the Canucks record to 6-0 since Bruce Boudreau took over as head coach. Meanwhile, the Sharks have just two wins in their last six outings. Tomas Hertl is on a 6 game point streak and Timo Meier’s goal was his 100th in the NHL.

Afte the game, Sharks Head Coach Bob Boughner shared his impression of his team’s performance:

“I thought that, you know, the way we played tonight, I felt good about our team. I felt good about the way we played but we just didn’t execute, like I said, we didn’t capitalize. I thought that, you know, we probably needed a save earlier that we didn’t get. And sometimes that’s demoralizing too, when you’re sitting on the bench thinking you’re carrying the play and you’re chasing the game.”

Sharks forward Andrew Cogliano said: “It seems like, you know, opportunities that they get are going in and we’re not fighting hard enough to score our goals. We just have to be more desperate. I think we’re in a situation now where we’ve given some games back in a race that there’s a lot of teams in. And our will to win needs to increase.”

Brock Boeser scored the first goal of the game at 12:41 of the first period. Tanner Pearson made a pass across the ice to Boeser, who took the shot from just above the hask marks.

Bo Horvat made it 2-0 with a power play goal at 16:23. J.T. Miller made a cross-ice pass to Horvat, who was just below the hash marks that Boeser scored from. Assists went to J.T. Miller and Quinn Hughes.

Timo Meier cut the Canucks lead in half with a goal at 17:22. An Erik Karlsson shot was blocked and bounced out to Meier in the face-off circle. His shot went through traffic and in. Assists went to Erik Karlsson and Tomas Hertl.

Brock Boeser made it 3-1 with his second of the game at 17:17 of the second period. J.T. Miller passed the puck up from below the goal line and found Boeser in the face-off circle. Boeser took the shot and the puck went off of Hill’s glove and before going into the net just under the bar. Assists went to Miller and Tanner Pearson.

Andrew Cogliano made it 3-2 at 8:29 of the third period. Cogliano chased down his own dump-in and took a shot from a bad angle that may have suprised Demko. Assists went to Lane Pederson and Brent Burns.

J.T Miller scored into an empty net at 17:32. Jason Dickinson scored into an empty net at 18:57. Assists went to Elias Petterson and Kyle Burroughs.

The Sharks out-shot the Canucks 34-30 in the game. In the third period, however, while the Sharks trailed, the Canucks out-shot the Sharks 15-11. The Canucks won 57% of the face-offs. The Sharks had one power play and it had two shots on goal. The Sharks penalty kill allowed three shots and one goal in three penalties.

Jayden Halbgewachs made his NHL debut with the Sharks Thursday. He took one penalty and had three shots on goal in 16:44 of ice time with the second line.

The Sharks will host the Vancouver Canucks again on Tuesday, at 7:30 PM PT.

Sharks Fall 3-1 to Kraken; Seattle strikes with 3 goals in third period

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Seattle Kraken center Jared McCann (16) puts one on goal against San Jose Sharks goaltender James Reimer (47) in the second period at SAP Center in San Jose on Tue Dec 14, 2021 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

SAN JOSE– In their first ever matchup, the San Jose Sharks fell 3-1 to the Seattle Kraken. Ryan Donato, Brandon Tanev and Calle Jarnkrok scored for Seattle and Chris Driedger made 33 saves for the win. Logan Couture scored for San Jose and James Reimer made 27 saves in the loss.

After the game, Sharks Head Coach Bob Boughner said:

“Any time you’re not scoring a goal until you pull the goalie it’s going to be a tough way to win a hockey game and you almost gotta play perfect on the other side of the puck. And, you know, I didn’t think we played bad defensively but I think we opened it up, down 1-0, gave them a few chances.”

Sharks forward Timo Meier, who had five shots in the game, said: “Obviously, frustrating to lose this game. You know, we were right there the whole game. Had a tough time to score some goals. Their goalie made some big saves. I thought we didn’t do enough in the offensive zone, we didn’t work hard enough to get that bounce and score that goal earlier.”

The first two periods were scoreless. Seattle outshot San Jose 11-8 in the first, while San Jose outshot Seattle 12-7 in the second. There was a single penalty in the game, to Seattle in the second period. The Sharks power play got two shots on goal.

Ryan Donato scored the first goal of the game at 6:23 of the third. Joonas Donskoi took a shot that Reimer stopped but Donato was on the doorstep to gather up the rebound. The puck went off of Radim Simek’s skate and into the net. Assists went to Donskoi and Carson Soucy.

Brandon Tanev made it 2-0 at 14:18. Morgan Geekie caught a pass from Calle Jarnkrok in the neautral zone and carried it to the Sharks net. He got a pass around Brent Burns, setting Tanev up for the shot. Assists went to Geekie and Calle Jarnkrok.

Logan Couture scored with the Sharks net empty at 17:53. Brent Burns took a shot through traffic and the puck went off of a defenseman. It bounced right to Couture in the face-off circle. Couture put the puck into an open net. Assists went to Burns and Tomas Hertl.

Calle Jarnkrok scored into the empty net with six seconds left. Mason Appleton and Alex Wennberg got the assists.

The final shot count was 34-30 Sharks. In the face-off circle, the Sharks edged the Kraken, winning 51% of the draws,

The Sharks next play on Thursday, against the Vancouver Canucks in San Jose at 7:30 PM PT.

San Jose Sharks podcast with Mary Lisa Walsh: It seems like Timo Time all the time lately

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The San Jose Sharks Noah Gregor gets congratulations from teammates after scoring at 4:26 in the first period against the New Jersey Devils at the Prudential Center in Newark on Tue Nov 30, 2021 (AP News photo)

On the Sharks podcast with Mary Lisa:

#1 The San Jose Sharks (12-9-1) Timo Meier continues to find the back end of the net. Meier on Sunday did all the scoring for the Sharks against the Chicago Blackhawks in their 2-0 win and on Tuesday night Meier lit the lamp twice with two goals of his own against the New Jersey Devils (9-7-4) in a three goal 5-2 win.

#2 The Sharks had a big rally in the second period scoring three goals that pretty broke it wide open for them against New Jersey.

#3 In goal goaltender James Reimer stopped 29 shots and allowed two goals and the Sharks have been getting plenty of defense from Reimer during this current road trip.

#4 Noah Gregor, Jacob Middleton and Erik Karlsson all three have been opening the doors up on offense for San Jose as well and scored a goal each on Tuesday night.

#5 There is a possibility that Thursday night’s game against the New York Islanders (5-10-2) could be postponed due to eight players that have Covid. The Islanders will make the announcement sometime today.

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

Sharks Shutout Blackhawks 2-0; Reimer makes 29 stops for SJ

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San Jose Sharks goaltender James Reimer (47) makes one of his 29 saves this one against Chicago Blackhawks center Kirby Dach (72) during the first period at the United Center in Chicago on Sun Nov 28, 2021 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks defeated the Blackhawks 2-0 Sunday in Chicago. Timo Meier scored both Sharks goals and James Reimer made 29 saves for his 25th career shut out. Chicago’s Marc-Andre Fleury made 20 saves in the loss.

After the game, Sharks Head Coach reflected on James Reimer’s shut out performance: “The double rebound in front, I mean that’s when you know you’re in the zone. When you make the save and it’s basically an open net and you find a way to stab your glove out and save another one.”

The Sharks needed that performance, especially in the first period, when the Blackhawks outshot the Sharks 11-4. Boughner said:

“I wasn’t happy about the way we were playing in our defensive zone. I thought that we weren’t collapsing, I thought we weren’t protecting the house, we weren’t stopping our feet, we were losing all kinds of battles. So we talked about that in between the first and second.”

Sharks defenseman Mario Ferraro also talked about how well Reimer has been playing for the Sharks:

“His shut out should have came a lot earlier. So he’s been playing great for us, he’s the reason we why we have a lot of the wins that we do. Him and [Hill], they’ve stepped up big. So, super proud of him, we’re super happy for him, he was especially big in the first period when we weren’t playing very strong.”

The first period saw just one power play, for the Sharks. The Sharks had one shot in that power play. In the face-off circle, the Sharks won 62%.

Timo Meier scored his first at 13:39 of the second period. Logan Couture’s pass got to Rudolfs Balcers deep in the slot. Balcers took a shot and it went off of Meier’s stick before going in. Assists went to Balcers and Couture.

The Sharks outshot the Blackhawks 15-9 in the second, and won 65% of the face-offs. The Sharks took the only penalty of the period, for too many men on the ice. Their penalty kill allowed two shots.

Meier scored his second from the middle of the neutral zone, into an empty net, at 18:29 of the third. Logan Couture got the assist.

The Blackhawks outshot the Sharks 9-3 in the third period. The Sharks took the only penalty in third period. Their penalty kill did not allow any shots. The face-off circle saw a big drop off for the Sharks in the third. They won just 35% of the draws.

The Sharks are scheduled to play on Tuesday against the Devils in New Jersey at 4:00 PM PT.

Sunday, the Sharks placed Evander Kane on waivers for the purpose of assigning him to the AHL Barracuda. .

Sharks Beat Senators 6-3; San Jose scores 3 unanswered goals in 3rd period

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Timo Time the San Jose Sharks Timo Meier is exalted after scoring a third period goal against the Ottawa Senators at SAP Center in San Jose on Wed Nov 24, 2021 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

SAN JOSE- The San Jose Sharks (10-8-1) won 6-3 against the Ottawa Senators (4-12-1) in San Jose on Wednesday. Matt Nieto, Tomas Hertl, Nick Bonino, Timo Meier, Logan Couture and Jacob Middleton all scored for San Jose. James Reimer made 26 saves for the win. Josh Norris, Brady Tkachuk and Connor Brown scored for the Senators and Matt Murray made 23 saves in the loss.

It was Jacob Middleton’s first NHL goal and Timo Meier had three points in the game. Nick Bonino scored his first point of the season in 700th NHL game.

The Sharks scored first but the Senators fought back to take the lead in the second period. The Sharks had a 3-0 third period to close it out. After the game, Sharks Head Coach Bob Boughner said:

“I was happy with the way we stuck with it. I think it could have went the other way on us real quickly. I didn’t like our first period at all. I thought we were playing an urgent team that was looking to get back on track and we knew they would come out hard. They won more battles than us and they were more hungry in the first period.”

The game started with and early fight, between Auston Watson and Jacob Middleton, before Matt Nieto gave the Sharks a lead at 7:16 of the first period. Nieto, Labanc and Weatherby broke into the zone three-on-two, with Nieto carrying the puck. With Weatherby driving the net, Nieto opted to take the shot and got it through on the far side. Assists went to Kevin Labanc and Erik Karlsson. It was Nieto’s first goal of the season.

Ottawa tied the game at 13:38 with a goal from Josh Norris. Assists went to Brady Tkachuk and Lassi Thomson. The goal was Norris’ eighth of the season.

The shots for the period were close, 12-11 Ottawa. Ottawa was better in the face-off circle, winning 60% of the draws. The Sharks power play had four shots on goal.

Tomas Hertl gave the Sharks the lead again just 47 seconds into the second period. Hertl carried the puck from behind his own net all the way to the other ed of the ice, finishing with a wrist shot into the near side. Assists went to Timo Meier and Mario Ferraro. It was Hertl’s eighth of the season.

The Senators tied it again at 14:38, when Brady Tkachuk scored his fourth of the season. Thomas Chabot’s shot from the circle went off of Tkachuk in the blue paint. Assists went to Chabot and Artem Zub.

Connor Brown gave the Senators their first lead of the game 93 seconds later. The teams were playing four on four when Chabot’s pass found Brown in the slot. Reimer was moving across as if to follow a cross-ice pass and he couldn’t get back in time when the pass stopped short. Assists went to Chabot and Tim Stutzle.

Nick Bonino scored his first of the season to tie it back up at 19:29 on the power play. Logan Couture made a pass down to Timo Meier on the goal line and Meier tapped it back up to Bonino for a shot from the slot.

The shots were close in the second period as well, 13-10 Senators. The Sharks improved in the face-off circle to 60%. Ottawa had three power plays as seven shots on the power play. The Sharks had two power plays and on power play shot. They also had one short-handed shot.

Timo Meier scored his seventh of the season to take the lead back for the Sharks. He held the puck for a moment, high in the slot, before sending a hard wrister under a Senators defender and over the goalie’s glove. Assists went to Rudolfs Balcers and Marc-Edouard Vlasic.

Logan Couture scored his seventh, into an empty net at 18:56. Jacob Middleton scored his first NHL goal at 19:28, into an empty net. Assists went to Andrew Cogliano and Erik Karlsson.

The Sharks power play had no shots in the the third period, and their penalty kill gave up none. Most of the penalty time in the third were overlapping our matching penalties, but the Sharks did have one full power play. The Sharks outshot the Senators 7-4 in the third.

The Sharks next play on Friday against the Toronto Maples Leafs at 7:30 PM PT.

Sharks Beat Wild 4-1; Reimer keeps pucks out of the nets with 26 saves

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The Minnesota Wild’s Marco Sturm (7) takes a shot on net as San Jose Sharks goaltender James Reimer (47) gets a pad save on Tue Nov 16, 2021 in Minneapolis (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks won 4-1 on the road, against the Minnesota Wild Tuesday. The win was a nice follow-up to Monday’s induction of Sharks GM, Doug Wilson, into the Hockey Hall of Fame. Mario Ferraro, Timo Meier, Erik Karlsson and Tomas Hertl scored for San Jose. James Reimer made 26 saves for the win. Joel Eriksson Ek scored for the Wild and Cam Talbot made 17 saves in the loss.

Sharks Captain Logan Couture, said, of the win: “Great effort. We played more of our style of hockey. Kind of frustrated them at times.” He also mentioned the upcoming game as a chance to show that the team is back on track: “St. Louis is a big game for us too, to finish off this trip on a good note. A three and two trip, with what we’ve gone through, would be pretty good.”

Mario Ferraro opened the scoring at 5:55 of the first. Timo Meier made a neat pass off the boards to Logan Couture, who was on his way to the net. Instead of taking the shot, Couture made a pass across to Ferraro by the opposite goal post. The puck landed right on Ferraro’s stick for the shot. It was his second goal of the season.

Timo Meier scored the next one. Coming out of the corner, he slipped between the Wild defenders to get the rebound from Marc-Edouard Vlasic’s shot. He had one knee on the ice as he took the shot for his sixth goal of the season. Assists went to Vlasic and Couture.

At the end of the first period, the Sharks led in shots 9-7. The Sharks power play got only one shot on goal, a power play that bled into the start of the second period.

Joel Eriksson Ek scored for the Wild at 5:25 of the second. Though two Sharks were right with him as he entered the zone, his shot went by them and over James Reimer’s glove. It was Eriksson Ek’s sixth of the season. Assists went to Kevin Fiala and Jonas Brodin.

At 8:42 of the second, Matt Dumba threw a hit on Alexander Barabanov that looked ugly. Tomas Hertl took issue with it and went after Dumba. Hertl went to the box for roughing. Soon after, Jonah Gadjovich tried to revisit the matter with Dumba, but Marcus Foligno wound up being his fight partner.

After the game, Boughner described these events as turning points in the game and said:

“Tommy Jumping in for Barabanov and then later on [Gadjovich] going out and, you know, looking to get physical. I think our team feeds off of that, we need that element and I think it’s very very important.”

At 9:32, Erik Karlsson scored his third of the season to make it 3-1. With the teams playing four-on-four between abbreviated power plays, Karlsson let loose a blast from the top of the circle. The shot went off of the bar and in. Assists went to Jacob Middleton and Rudolfs Balcers.

The Wild took the shot lead in the second, 13-8. Four different players spent time in the penalty box during the second, but neither team had a full power play out of it because penalties overlapped. The Sharks got two shots during their abbreviated power play and the Sharks penalty kill allowed no shots to the Wild.

Tomas Hertl scored the only goal of the third period at 9:25. The Sharks moved the puck from the goal line to above the circle and back down to Hertl who was just above the goal line. Assists went to Barabanov and Balcers. It was Hertl’s seventh goal of the season.

Late in the period, Mario Ferraro blocked a shot and seemed to sustain an upper body injury. He went down the tunnel but returned and was on the ice when the final buzzer sounded.

The Sharks made a good showing in the face-off circle, winning 59% of the draws. The Sharks penalty kill allowed just one shot in the game.

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

COVID-19 Protocols Purge Roster, Sharks Beat Jets Anyway 2-1

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San Jose Sharks left wing Alexander Barabanov (94) and Winnipeg Jets left wing Nikolaj Ehlers (27) make contact while chasing the puck in the third period at the SAP Center in San Jose on Sat Oct 30, 2021 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

SAN JOSE– The San Jose Sharks defeated the Winnipeg Jets 2-1 in overtime Saturday. Tomas Hertl and Timo Meier scored for the Sharks and James Reimer made 34 saves for the win. Winnipeg’s Connor Hellebuyck made 34 saves in the loss. That could be the result of a Sharks game on most nights, but Saturday was distinctly different from regular regular season Sharks games.

Late Saturday afternoon, the Sharks roster looked a lot like a preseason game. A slew of players, eight in total, were pulled from the lineup at the last minute and seven were replaced by call-ups from the AHL Barracuda. Andrew Cogliano, Jonathan Dahlen, Erik Karlsson, Jacob Middleton, Matt Nieto, Radim Simek, Marc-Edouard Vlasic, and Head Coach Bob Boughner were all held out of the game due to NHL COVID-19 protocol. Logan Couture was alsoout due to illness but not in COVID-19 protocol.

Seven players had just hours notice that they would be playing Saturday. Defenseman Santeri Hatakka made his NHL debut, with Ryan Merkley, Nicolas Meloche, and Jaycob Megna making their season debut on the blueline. The forwards making their season debuts were RW Nick Merkley, LW Jonah Gadjovich and LW John Leonard. Mike Ricci stepped in behind the bench to fill out the coaching roster.

Sharks defenseman Brent Burns said that a crazy day like Saturday can be good for a player who is making a debut with an NHL team: “Sometimes that’s the best thing. So those guys got to play their first game with not a lot of time to think about it and they get a good result in it and I think that can just really help all those guys.”

After the game, Sharks assistant coach John Maclean talked about the team’s response to these strange circumstances:

“They had great energy and they all knew that they had to play. Everybody got ice. It was like, the bench was lively, they were pretty much coaching themselves. They were excited to get out there and play. So that’s always fun to see.”

The first period shot count was very close, 14-13 San Jose. The Sharks power play got two shots on net. In the face-off circle the Sharks struggled. Nick Bonino won 60% of his draws and Jasper Weatherby won 50%, but Tomas Hertl was around 20%. As a result, the Sharks won just 25% of their draws in the first.

The Sharks scored the first goal of the game, 54 seconds into the second period. Barabanov carried the puck down the wall to the goal line, where he spun and threw it at the net. The puck went off of Timo Meier’s stick and across the goal mouth to Tomas Hertl, who was able to put it away. Meier and Barabanov got the assists.

The Sharks out-shot the Jets 13-7 in the second period. The Sharks improved in the face-off circle to 54%, but Hertl still seemed outmatched, especially against Pierre-Luc DuBois, who he drew against 7 times in the first two periods, and won only once.

Sharks Defenseman Santeri Hatakka did something about that at 3:43 of the third period, drawing a high-stick from DuBois. DuBois earned a double-minor and Hatakka went to the box for cross-checking. Still, the Sharks did not get credit for a single shot during that power play, and their face-off numbers did not improve.

The Jets tied the game at 16:48 of the third. DuBois drew the Sharks defense to himself as he drove the net. His shot bounced into the slot, where Nikolaj Ehlers picked it up for another try. Reimer stopped that too but Kyle Connor found the puck and put it in the net before Reimer could get across. Assists went to Ehlers and DuBois.

By the end of regulation, the only Shark with a better than even win percentage was Jasper Weatherby, who only took nine draws. He won six (67%) of those. Bonino had dropped from a high of 60% to 41% and Hertl went from 20% to 21%. All around, it was not a good night for the Sharks in the face-off circle. In shots, the Jets out-shot the Sharks 15-6 in the third.

Thirty seconds into overtime, Nikolaj Ehlers was called for interference on Brent Burns and Timo Meier scored the game winner 1:07. Burns sent the puck to Labanc near a face-off dot. Labanc skated with it to the top of the slot and then made a subtle touch-pass to Meier for the winning shot.

The Sharks next play on Tuesday, in San Jose against the St. Louis Blues at 7:30 PM PT.