Tag: Vancouver Canucks

San Jose Sharks Podcast with Mary Lisa Walsh: Sharks prepare for three-game road trip starting tonight in Edmonton

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Photo credit: nhl.com/sharks

On the San Jose Sharks Podcast with Mary Lisa:

1.The Sharks are coming off two wins out of their last four games. The Sharks got a 5-3 win past the Detroit Red Wings on Monday night. What a relief it was as San Jose recently struggled on home ice with losses to the Columbus Blue Jackets and Washington Capitals.

2. The Sharks improved their power play with a power play goal last Thursday against the St. Louis Blues after going 0-30 on their 32nd try they lit the lamp to snap the drought.

3. The Sharks face the Edmonton Oilers, a team they handled without a problem on Tuesday, February 27th, but after the convincing win past ex-coach Todd McLellan and company, the Oilers will be out for revenge on their home ice tonight.

4. The Sharks also have to contend with Connor McDavid, who dominates in Edmonton and leads the Oilers in goals. Will the Sharks’ double team him to slow down his offense?

5. The Sharks conclude their road trip Friday and Saturday with back-to-back nights in Calgary and Vancouver. How do you see these match ups this weekend?

Mary Lisa Walsh is the San Jose Sharks beat writer for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

 

NHL Podcast with Matt Harrington: Sharks get shutout in Sat matinee 2-0; Stars get scoring help in the third period to get by Ducks; CBJs win their third in a row; Flames on solid defense and goaltending help in 2-1 win

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Photo credit: @DallasStars

On the NHL podcast with Matt Harrington:

1 The Dallas Stars got scoring help on power play goals from Devin Shore and Jamie Benn in the third period that got them by the Anaheim Ducks 2-1. The Stars improved their lead for a first place spot in the wild card with the win.

2 The Columbus Blue Jackets edged the Detroit Red Wings 3-2. The Jackets are hot they’ve won three straight as the Jackets’ Seth Jones found the back of the net twice to help lift Columbus to a home ice win. Sergei Bobrovsky, who missed two games due to an illness, came in as the Jackets netminder and stopped 22 shots.

3 Sam Bennett and Mat Stajan scored all the goals the Calgary Flames needed in a win over the Ottawa Senators 2-1. The Flames goaltender David Rittich saved the day with 29 saves.

4 The Minnesota Wild’s Eric Staal made it to the top three stars with a go-ahead goal to help pace the Wild to a 5-2 win past the Vancouver Canucks. Staal is on a roll with 11 goals in his last nine games. He has 37 for the season.

5 Injuries on the NHL front: The Stars’ Martin Hanzal is scheduled for back surgery and is not going to return for the rest of the season his recovery is expected to be six months. Also, the Sabres’ Kyle Okposo suffered a concussion when he collided with the Sens’ Bobby Ryan and is listed out indefinitely the injury happened during Thursday’s game.

Matt Harrington does the NHL Podcast each week and is a San Jose Sharks beat writer for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Jones Stands Tall, Sharks Beat Canucks 4-1

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Photo credit: @SanJoseSharks

By Jerry Feitelberg

The San Jose Sharks knew the top players not amongst the injured would need to perform Thursday night if they’d like to escape with a win over the Vancouver Canucks at the SAP Center on Wednesday night. The big name players all pitched in, but the depth pieces also helped out with San Jose down Joe Thornton and now Tomas Hertl as well.

Martin Jones made a season-high 43 saves and Brent Burns registered a two-point night to lead the Sharks to a 4-1 win over the Canucks at home. Mikkel Boedker scored for the second consecutive game and depth pieces Chris Tierney and recent call-up Marcus Sorensen also lit the lamp for San Jose. Long-time lineup stalwart Daniel Sedin scored for Vancouver.

Mikkel Boedker started the Sharks scoring 8:41 into play, beating netminder Anders Nilsson for his ninth goal of the year in second in as many games. Chris Tierney and former Canuck Jannik Hansen assisted on the strike.

The Sharks second goal came from Brent Burns, who happened to be playing his natural defense at the time. Like in the loss to Arizona, Burns saw some time at wing, starting the game on the opposite side of Timo Meier with Joe Pavelski centering the top line. After a period of ineffectiveness, coach Peter DeBoer moved Burns back to the blue line. Burns responded by ripping one of his patented bombs that beat Nilsson 4:47 into the second period.

The Sharks escaped the second period leading 2-0 after Jones, a North Vancouver native, stood on his head in the middle stanza. The keeper turned aside 22 shots, the highest single period total of the season.

The goalie would be rewarded early in the third after recent San Jose Barracuda call up Marcus Sorensen unleashed a downright filthy wrist shot, beating Nilsson 3:06 into the third. Vancouver would answer back though, finally cracking through Jones 6:43 into the final frame on Daniel Sedin’s 14th goal of the season.

Burns, now firmly locked in as a defenseman, rewarded his coach again for returning him to his natural position with 7:27 left in regulation. Burns snaked a perfect pass to Chris Tierney who was waiting on the far post. Tierney redirected the puck into the neat for his 14th goal of the year. Boedker also picked up an assist for a two-point night for the Dane.

All wasn’t positive for the Sharks though, as the power play struggled again with two key cogs in Thornton and Hertl missing. San Jose went 0-3 Thursday night after going 0-for-4 Tuesday night against Arizona. The penalty killing unit was a perfect 1-for-1.

Next up for San Jose is a visit from Tyler Seguin and the Dallas Stars. After that, Team Teal hits the road for four straight games against Central Division foes. With a win Thursday, San Jose will enter that stretch still two points ahead of the Calgary Flames for second place in the Pacific Division.

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 Fall to Canucks 4-3 in Overtime; Gagner gamer puts Vancouver over the top

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Canucks center Sam Gagner (89) scores the winning goal in overtime during the NHL game between the San Jose Sharks and the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, Canada. Dom Gagne/CSM (Cal Sport Media via AP Images)

by M. Walsh

The San Jose Sharks lost in 4-3 overtime to the Vancouver Canucks on Friday. Two Vancouver goals came from Markus Granlund, one from Brock Boeser, and the game winner from Sam Gagner. For the Sharks, Brent Burns scored twice and rookie Marcus Sorensen scored once. Jacob Markstrom made 34 saves on 37 shots for the Canucks, while Martin Jones made 36 saves on 40 shots for San Jose.

The Sharks were coming off a win the night before against Calgary, but they were facing a hungry opponent. Vancouver snapped a four game losing skid with the win, a skid capped off by a 7-1 loss to Nashville on Wednesday.

“This sets up all the things for them to have an A game and they did. They were outstanding early and Jonesy gave us a chance to hang around and we found a way to get an important point on a night we probably didn’t deserve one,” said Sharks head coach Pete DeBoer.

At 4:34 of overtime, Sam Gagner scored on a breakaway to win the game with a quick backhand over Martin Jones’ right shoulder. It was a tough loss after a valiant effort from the goalie to keep his team in the game. The Canucks outshot the Sharks 40-37, with 22 in the first period alone. DeBoer was asked if the three goals that Jones allowed were cause for concern. He said:

You can’t play any better than he played tonight. We didn’t give him a lot of help tonight. In defense of our guys, an emotional win last night in Calgary, the we fly in here on a back to back against a team that’s ready to go. So sometimes that’s what it looks like.

Logan Couture left the game early following a hit from Alexander Burmistrov in the third period. Burmistrov’s shoulder appeared to make contact with Couture’s face. The hit came about five minutes into the period. Couture has had an outstanding season this year, leading the team in scoring with 15 goals and 10 assists through 30 games. After finally getting most of the team healthy again, losing Couture for an extended period would be a big setback for a team that is just getting its game back. There was no update on Couture’s status after the game.

The first goal came on a Vancouver power play just 44 seconds into the game. The zig-zagging play started with Henrik Sedin on the blue line, went to a touch pass by Daniel Sedin and ended as little more than a tap-in for Granlund. Half way into the period, Brent Burns tied the game, again on a power play. His shot went through so many players that it seemed unlikely that it had not touched any of them, but it did not. Assists went to Logan Couture and Joe Pavelski.

The second Vancouver goal came just after a power play expired, while the Sharks penalty killers were trapped and perhaps out of gas in their own zone. A shot came from Daniel Sedin above the faceoff circle. Henrik caught it just above the blue paint and found Granlund. Gralund put the puck between Justin Braun and Marc-Edouard Vlasic and past Jones.

The Canucks scored again at 11:46 of the second period, again on the power play. The Sharks started the penalty kill well with a clear just three seconds in. After retrieving the puck, the Canucks came back fast, with Brock Boeser carrying the puck through the neutral zone and weaving past two Sharks defenders to give himself a short breakaway. That shot did not go in but 12 seconds later Boeser caught a pass in the faceoff circle and with a clear shot at the net he did not miss. Assists went to Daniel and Henrik Sedin.

With under two minutes left in the second, Braun, Jannik Hansen and Sorensen outnumbered the Canucks in a quick rush created when Sorensen intercepted a pass from Troy Stecher. Sorensen scored on a rebound from Braun’s shot after their odd man rush cused a little chaos by the Vancouver net. Assists went to Braun and Hansen.

The tying goal came almost right off of a faceoff in the Canucks zone. Joel Ward won the faceoff back to Burns, whose shot was at least partially screened by Melker Karlsson and Tomas Hertl fighting for position in front of the net. Like his first goal, it made its way through a lot of traffic but did not hit another Shark. The only assist went to Ward.

The overtime point puts the Sharks in third place in the Pacific Division standings with 38 points. The Calgary Flames and the Anaheim Ducks both have 35 points, which is good for fourth and fifth place in the Pacific. Both wild card spots are held by Central Division teams with 37 points.

The Sharks next play on Monday at 6:00 pm PT in Edmonton against the Oilers.

Sharks Shut Out Canucks 5-0; Dells stops 41 as Couture and Tierney combine for four goals

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San Jose Sharks’ Logan Couture (39) scores past Vancouver Canucks goalie Jacob Markstrom during the second period of an NHL hockey game Saturday, Nov. 11, 2017, in San Jose, Calif. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

by M. Walsh

SAN JOSE– The San Jose Sharks defeated the Vancouver Canucks by a score of 5-0 Saturday. Sharks goaltender Aaron Dell stopped 41 shots in his second NHL shutout. Tomas Hertl scored first, while Logan Couture and Chris Tierney each scored twice. Vancouver netminder Jacob Markstrom made 26 saves on 29 shots.

The win stood in sharp contrast to the Sharks’ previous game, a 5-1 loss. Of the 5-0 win, Sharks head coach Pete DeBoer said: “It’s a huge divisional game. Deller was our best player, which is, you know, why we have him. He was great and we found a way. ” As the Sharks’ backup goaltender, Aaron Dell has only started four games this season. Of his performance Saturday night, Sharks forward Logan Couture said:

We believe in him in this room. And 40 saves or whatever it was tonight is pretty impressive. He was tracking pucks well, he’s been great every time we put him in so we have a lot of confidence in him.

Tomas Hertl finished the game with a goal and two assists. After the game, Couture said of Hertl:

He’s been good, he’s had so many chances over these past six or seven games where you just figured he was going to get an ugly one and, you know, we need goals so we hope that this is the start of something.

In all, the Sharks scored at even strength, short-handed, into an empty net and on a penalty shot. The only thing missing was a power play goal. Couture described that missing piece as an ongoing source of frustration:

Our power play’s really draining the energy from us. I mean it’s just getting frustrating. Us guys on the power play, we can’t let that happen. We need to create some energy instead of deflating our team.

The Canucks came to San Jose after an unexpectedly good start to their season, winning eight of sixteen games and adding a couple of points for overtime losses. Those 18 points are good for third in the Pacific right now. Their scoring leader is Derek Dorsett, who has met his second best season total in just 16 games. He has seven goals in this his tenth NHL season. His career best was 12 in 2011-12. Second in scoring for Vancouver is Bo Horvat, now in his fourth NHL season. He has six goals, putting him on track to easily eclipse last season’s 20.

The Sharks scored just 48 seconds into the game, a point shot from Justin Braun that went off of Tomas Hertl in front of the net. A second assist went to Melker Karlsson.

At 11:07, Timo Meier had a very good chance during a delayed Canucks penalty. His shot went just under Markstrom’s glove but hit the far post and bounced out. During the power play, the Sharks had just two shots. The powerplay units were Brent Burns, Tim Heed, Logan Couture, Joe Thornton and Joe Pavelski, then Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Mikkel Boedker, Joonas Donskoi, Tomas Hertl and Joel Ward.

With 5:06 left in the first, Donskoi drew a hooking penalty to give the Sharks another power play chance. The sharks only mustered one shot during those two minutes, and a few seconds after the power play expired, the Canucks had their own chance with the man advantage. Timo Meier was called for slashing at 17:02. The Canucks bolstered their shot count by four but did not score. Though the Sharks led the Canucks in shots 11-4 in the middle of the period, the Canucks had closed the gap to 14-10 by the end of the period.

The Sharks had a third power play early in the second period, but it was cut short just 37 seconds in by a penalty to Joe Pavelski for hooking. During the four on four, a Brent Burns shot from the blue line hit the top bar and left the defenseman still waiting for his first goal of the year.

The Sharks drew a fourth power play at 9:30 of the second, an interference call against Alex Biega. The Canucks managed to thwart the Sharks on almost every entry, forcing them to mostly dump it in and never get set up. The Sharks did not get a shot on goal in that fourth power play. Brent Burns and Tomas Hertl were able to get in with self-passes off the boards but they were quickly stripped of the puck and sent back out by the penalty killers.

That penalty kill seemed to energize the Canucks and they put pressure on the Sharks for several shifts, racking up shots and wearing out the San Jose defenders. That push took a toll on the Sharks and resulted in a slashing penalty to Joel Ward at 15:30. The power play started with a short-handed chance for Couture and Hertl but Markstrom gloved Couture’s shot away.

That short-handed chance foreshadowed another chance for the same pair just seconds later. Hertl chased the puck down along the boards in the Sharks zone and nudged it in Couture’s direction near the Sharks blue line. Couture had enough speed to evade pursuit and take another shot at Markstrom. This time it went in. Hertl received the only assist.

The Canucks led the Sharks in shots during the second period, 14-6, but the Sharks still had the 2-0 lead where it counts.

The Canucks came out fast and furious in the third, firing five shots on goal in the first two minutes. The shot imbalance evened out as the period went on, until the Sharks scored three times in the final two minutes. Logan Couture scored into an empty net at 18:19. Assists went to Joel Ward and Tomas Hertl.

In the final two minutes, Timo Meier was charged with elbowing and given a five minute major and game misconduct.

With the net still empty, Chris Tierney scored twice in 20 seconds. The first was into an empty net and the second was on a penalty shot. It was his first NHL penalty shot goal.

The Sharks next play on Sunday in Los Angeles against the Kings, at 7:30 PM PT.

Goldobin, Goodrow Stand Out in Sharks Pre-Season Win

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By Mary Walsh

STOCKTON, CA–  No Daniil Tarasov at the Stockton preseason game between the San Jose Sharks and the Vancouver Canucks. For me, that simplified the list of players likely to make the Sharks NHL roster at the end of camp. The game re-complicated it. Nikolay Goldobin and Barclay Goodrow looked good enough to make anyone think twice. The Sharks won 5-2, and outshot the Canucks by an embarrassing margin to boot.

In the first four minutes of the Stockton game, the Sharks got credit for  three shots to none for the Vancouver squad. In goal for San Jose was Troy Grosenick, with Jakob Markstrom at the other end for the Canucks. After nine minutes, the shots were 8 to 1 for the Sharks. By the end of the period, it had stretched even more to 16-5 Sharks. Astonishing, really, that even prospects in the preseason can so accurately follow the Sharks’ classic MO: outshoot the opposition without much to show for it.

That did not last, that part where they had nothing to show for it.

Of the players to watch in Stockton, I had Tarasov near the top of the list for forwards, and his absence was disappointing. The game was a chance to get a better look at Nikolay Goldobin, the Sharks’ first round pick from this summer’s draft. With such a plethora of forwards competing for a spot, some with NHL experience, others with a lot of pro time in the minor leagues, the odds that a rookie drafted just this summer would make it were slim. Still, he played so well with Goodrow that I had to rethink. His skillset could be something the team needs right now. Goodrow and Goldobin stood out even before they started scoring: they found each other with passes, they knew when to help the other out. And then there were the two goals they scored- those were pretty showy too.

The first period ended scoreless, but things really picked up in the second. A too many men penalty from the Canucks put the Sharks on their second power play of the game. It took the top line a heartbeat or two after puck drop to take the lead. Joe Thornton skated across in front of the net, with Hertl trailing behind in case needed. Joe Pavelski got the puck to him without much trouble and Thornton put it in.

Nick Bonino took a slashing penalty at 9:30 of the second period. Goodrow and Goldobin were out there to start the power play and they  made the best of their communication skills. Goodrow scored off a neat pass from Goldobin. He got the puck from Mueller, a nice showing from the Sharks most recent first round picks.

The Sharks got yet another power play on a delay of game (puck over the glass by Vancouver’s Bobby Sanguinetti.)  With so much practice, it seemed inevitable that the Canucks would improve on their penalty kill. They did. They killed that one, but during the power play Marc-Edouard Vlasic demonstrated one of those new rule changes: he dove for a puck and reached it, while a Canuck was close by. The Canuck did not take advantage of the chance to skate into Vlasic’s outstretched stick and trip over it so no penalty was called. Nevertheless, that call is going to be hard to avoid.

Justin Braun took the Sharks’ first penalty of the game, holding at 9:30  of the second. Twenty seconds later, Vlasic joined him in the box for delay of game. That left  51, 67 and 10 to start the five on three. They were quickly replaced, as they cleared the puck a couple of times. 80, 67, 41 had the longest shift. The penalty killers did a very good job to keep the Canucks off the board in such a long five on three.

With under two minutes left in the period, Goldobin added a goal to his tally with a lovely wrap-around, preceded by some misdirection on the other side of the net. He squeezed the puck just between Markstrom and the post, possibly under the goalie’s skate blade. However it got through, it was snug. It was Goodrow, of course, who got the puck to him.

A quick check of the roster stats told me that Goldobin and Goodrow did not play on the same team last season.

The Sharks went up 4-0 with Pavelski’s first of the preseason, from Eriah Hayes & Dylan DeMelo at 4:17 of third.

The Canucks finally scored about nine minutes into the third period. Nick Bonino got the puck past Grosenik, and past DeMelo and Abeltshauser.

The Sharks got that back with a goal from Thornton, assisted by Dylan DeMelo.

Unfortunately, DeMelo and Abeltshauser were there again when the Canucks went the other way and scored a second goal for the Canucks. This one was scored by Niklas Jensen.

Final score, 5-2 Sharks. The final shot count was listed as 34-12.

John Scott acquitted himself well enough when he had a chance to move the puck, but he could be skated around by the quicker Canucks without much difficulty. A hard hit by Scott on Cedarholm drew the ire of Tom Sestito, who took a 10 minute misconduct for instigating a fight with Scott.

Braun and Mueller skated together quite a bit.  The only thing I would fault Mueller on in Tuesday’s game is that he was a little tentative.

With the other Sharks squad falling 4-2 in Vancouver, it seems that the 6,810 fans in the Stockton audience were the winners of the night. While a full-sized NHL arena can be hard to fill for a preseason game, the Stockton arena was just right. It gave the players an enthusiastic audience up close, and the audience got to watch the game in a more cozy setting with the arena mostly full. Stockton Arena is a very pleasant venue, and bringing the Sharks’ preseason squad there was a brilliant idea. It begs the question: will the Sharks renew their old affiliation with the Thunder? As of now, San Jose has no ECHL affiliate. Stockton has an NHL affiliate (NY Islanders) but many ECHL clubs are having to double up since the league contracted recently.

Sharks hot to get mileage on current trip/Bulls look to have close games on homestand

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by Larry Levitt
DALY CITY–The San Jose Sharks are on very long road trip and I don’t mean long as in time although as in multiple days in an eight day, five game road trip but the amount of travel they criss cross the United States and Canada twice. The Sharks are doing rather well, they’re not really executing and playing a very good defensive game right now
To say they got lucky Thursday night and beat the Vancouver Canucks in an overtime goal by Dan Boyle is an understatement, they didn’t really deserve to win but then again they deserve to win a couple others they didn’t get the goals scored, for now it’s payback. The best line I heard was ”the hockey Gods might be even things up.”
When the Sharks had Ryan Clowe and Michal Handzus that was their go to team and when you trade them away and they traded them away for speed but they don’t have that skill. I love that quick shot of the Sharks Joe Pevelski and Logan Courture they really get their shot off their stick quickly. You got to give the goalie some credit too but they didn’t seem like they had much of a game plan going in the last game on Thursday.The Sharks did what they could, they got what they got getting one point even though you lose a game getting one point is better than none.
The scary thing about facing a team like Edmonton in last place, the Oilers have been shut out for the last three games in a row. So you know their going to be aching to get a goal and against a team that’s struggling defensively like the Sharks are. Edmonton has a young team their in transition for quite awhile. They’re suppose to be there now and they’re working at having a good team now. The Oilers are struggling so maybe it’s a good time for them to catch up to them and straighten out your own woes.
Two inured Sharks Raffi Torres and Brett Burns the two injured Sharks, Torres is the team’s spark plug but the Sharks have been doing pretty good without them. Raffi is supposed to be the big heavy hitter but they didn’t really need a big heavy hitter. They’ve really been playing okay without him. Burns is a bigger miss. I don’t understand why he’s been out so long. Burns has been out with a mouth injury and Torres out with a torn ACL.
For sure Burns is really missed and he’s out for more than just a chipped tooth it’s going to be interesting when we finally find out probably at the end of the season to find out how bad this injury is. Burns may have a broken bone that still needs to heal. They miss his speed, they miss his recklessness down on the ice that really plays havoc with other teams.
It was also reported that Burns is suffering from an injury that could be a concussion related so the Sharks are going to have to make due without him. When Torres comes back he can bring some offense he doesn’t have to be a heavy hitter. He’s a big guy, he’s a good skater he can shoot so their out there and the team has been getting along okay and the Sharks look forward to see what comes up.
San Francisco Bulls update: The Bulls are on a two game winning streak they won their home opener on Friday night and then they won in Stockton on Veterans day Monday night, they’re looking pretty good the thing that is most impressive getting the road win in Stockton on Monday night. The thing that’s most impressive is the goaltending and they have hot goaltending with Tyler Boskorowany he’s a big guy at 6’5 210 pounds he moves really well.
Boskorowany moves pretty well, he got caught out of position a few times in Stockton but recovered really well and saved a goal. If the team can learn to play with him he’s a new goalie for the team. If they can get used to his style and used to his defense that’s in front of him they can really be a good team. Boskorowany he talks a lot and they seemed to be thriving on that and a lot of the defenseman are pretty young and are pretty new to the league.
They have been performing quite well, offensively it’s pretty interesting that the Bulls have been had some really lousy luck in terms of losing some players that had been called up or an injury. Center Ryan McDonough and right winger Dale Mitchell with injuries and left winger Riley Brace with the call up to Worcester. Players like Chris Crane have been filling that gap, he was in the top half of the shots taken so he seemed primed to move up a line but offensively they’ve had some difficult loses of players but they seem to be holding it together anyway.
Larry Levitt does Pro Hockey commentary each week for Sportstalk

Boyle’s back bar shot seals comeback OT win

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Photo Credit: Unknown

By Pearl Allison Lo

It was a swift and abrupt end for the Vancouver Canucks, after upon video review, the referee acknowledged San Jose Sharks’ Boyle’s goal had entered the net for a 2-1 win Thursday.

31 seconds after Vancouver’s Henrik Sedin went off for hooking at 2:07 of overtime, Boyle made the Sharks’ fourth time on the power play count. Boyle was aided by Joe Pavelski and Logan Couture for San Jose’s second consecutive overtime win, as they took the season series over the Canucks 3-1 in an early finale.

Couture had a chance with 3:11 left to go in the first period, moving across the ice against traffic, but his shot was muffled up front by goalie Roberto Luongo. The Sharks later controlled the majority of the possession as the first period neared its end. San Jose’s Marc Edouard Vlasic with three shots on goal, was the only one with multiple shots. Ryan Kesler led with almost half of Vancouver’s blocks with four.

The Sharks’ second power play was majorly controlled by the Canucks, and included an offensive blocked of a shot attempt by Luongo with his stick.

Vancouver’s Alexandre Burrows was called for interference to give San Jose their third power play at 11:10 of the second period. The set up for the Canucks’ go-ahead goal then started when Pavelski was called for interference 40 seconds later. After the then even matchup expired, Vancouver was given a 36 second man advantage, with which they capitalized.   After a faceoff win and Burrows’ wide shot, Kevin Bieksa was awarded his first goal of the season, slapping the puck in the net from 56 feet away. Bieksa was helped by Sedin with his 18th assist and Burrows.

The Sharks were outshot 20-9 in the second period.

In the third, it looked like the Canucks would be ending their two game losing streak amidst their momentum since the second period. However, with an extra attacker, San Jose was able to stay alive. Joe Thornton went down, but was able to pass it to Boyle, who eventually got it to Tomas Hertl, on Luongo’s left side, as Hertl scored with just over a minute left. Thornton had his 18th assist and Hertl had his 11th goal.

Re the goal, Boyle responded, “The puck came out and I was going to shoot originally, and then…guys kinda came together and I changed my mind at the last minute…”

Game notes: Vlasic led the team in shots at the end of the game with six and led in ice time, along with Boyle, as both stayed on for 22:34. Vancouver’s Dan Hamhuis led all skaters in ice time with 25:40. Thornton extended his points streak to six games. The Sharks will go for three in a row when they face the Edmonton Oilers at 7pm PST Friday.

Sitting Sharks: SJ Losing Streak Stands at Four

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By Mary Walsh

SAN JOSE- The Sharks are not winning anymore. Fans might be having flashbacks to every season past, when even the most magnificent point streak was marred by some inexplicable, nonsensical streak of poor play, bad luck and predictably disappointing results. It would be reasonable to assume that it is time for the Sharks to break pattern, at least in some subtle way.

One could argue that the Sharks’ recent losses were not all due to poor preparation or unsettled play. One could say that the Coyotes had a bone to pick with the Sharks after the insulting 4-1 loss on October 5. One could say that the Canucks had an even bigger grudge to settle, having been defeated by the Sharks nine times in a row, including a playoff sweep. Then one could argue that it is too much to ask of a team to take this season’s Sabres seriously. So that is three of the four losses summarily dismissed, and the fourth was exactly like a game against the Los Angeles Kings: close and exhausting and down to who gets the last change.

Perhaps the Sharks are not in the middle of their seasonal falling sky routine. Maybe the bounces just caught up to them. Nevertheless, they have not responded well. They have not matched their opponents’ intensity. They shifted gears, but not to the right gear. Their passes were rushed and sloppy, their corrections off the mark. With each successive loss, their panic peaked higher and their ability to recover declined.

The most talked-about gaffe of the Vancouver game was Jason Demers’ bad pass followed by his worse decision to hit instead of defend. Not every Sharks player is combining errors so quickly and disastrously, but that sequence revealed the kind of hasty decisions too many Sharks are making. Did it go wrong because Demers was in the process of making the pass while he realized he should not make it? Was it just dumb luck? It doesn’t matter, he lacked poise at that moment. Demers was not the only Shark showing signs of needless panic. Blind passes, a lack of awareness and ill-conceived plays abounded from the blue paint outwards. It took the team two periods to burn off the panic.

Todd McLellan will probably respond with line changes for Sunday’s game in Winnipeg. He may sit Demers, he may shuffle forward combinations. McLellan was clearly disappointed after the Vancouver game, as was every player interviewed. Of course they were. But the team had already made the right correction. In the third period of that game, they were clearly more composed. Passes started to connect, lines were able to move the puck from here to there without giving it away. Even if Vancouver was sitting back, it still allowed the Sharks to compose themselves, go back to basics, settle down. That is exactly what the Sharks needed to do to prepare for the next game. Will they start slow again? It depends how high their pain of loss threshold is.

History suggests that McLellan will pull the lines apart and sit the most conspicuous offenders. The same history reveals a peculiar Sharks habit of allowing veterans to “play through” bad spells, while young skaters sit after  poor performances. It seems counter-intuitive that a veteran should be less able than a younger player to come in and out of the lineup. Demers has played a lot of NHL games for a defenseman of his age, but he hasn’t played more games than a professional player of his age. It is fair to say that he has yet to reach his potential. The same is even more true of Matt Irwin. To sit a game won’t hurt, but Irwin has been out for three now. His absence doesn’t seem to be helping. James Sheppard, though not a prototypical fourth liner, has shown that he can do the job if it is his to do.

Scott Hannan and Mike Brown should be better able to sit until needed. They have both played well, just not well enough to carry the team to wins recently. They shouldn’t have to do that last. Neither player was brought in to be a game changer. They were both brought in to back up a strong team. If the team is struggling with or without them, wouldn’t the ice time be better spent getting the team back on track?

All of this is true of the team’s goaltenders as well. Even if Niemi plays better when he plays more, he should not play as many games as he has in past seasons with the Sharks. If he needs to play a lot, let him do that closer to playoffs. At this time of the season, all he gains is wear and tear. Alex Stalock has shown that he can do the job and maybe he would be even better if he played more too.

If the Sharks want a different result from this season than seasons past, they should probably make some changes to their lineup, just not the ones they usually make.