Tag: Vegas Golden Knights

NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs 2019: Golden Knights Beat Sharks 5-3; Tie Series 1-1

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Photo credit: @GoldenKnights

By Mary Walsh

SAN JOSE — The Vegas Golden Knights defeated the San Jose Sharks 5-3 Friday, tying their first round NHL Playoff series 1-1. Vegas goals came from Cody Eakin, Colin Miller, Max Pacioretty, Mark Stone and William Karlsson. Sharks goals came from Logan Couture, Tomas Hertl and Joe Thornton. Vegas goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury made 34 saves in the win. Martin Jones made four saves on seven shots for San Jose, then Aaron Dell came in to replace him and made 14 saves on 16 shots.

The Sharks had eight power plays in the game while the Golden Knights had just three. The Sharks scored one power play goal and Vegas scored one power play goal and two short-handed ones.

After the game, Sharks captain Joe Pavelski talked about how the Sharks’ power play failed them: “We would get turned back and try to make the play up top and they would take that away and it would be out of the zone. It can be a little cleaner, a little quicker, a little bit more direct and we’ll go from there.”

The curse of the first five minutes reared its head again for the Sharks. Martin Jones had just saved a Max Pacioretty shot, which wound up behind the net. Following it as it came back around, Jones found himself screened by his own defensemen when Cody Eakin took a shot from the slot. An assist went to Pacioretty.

That was not the end of it. Before five minutes had elapsed, Vegas scored again. 2:10 into overlapping Sharks power plays, Colin Miller emerged from the penalty box to score short handed at 4:37.

Vegas added another at 6:11. Paul Stastny deflected a pass in the neutral zone, and Pacioretty picked it up. He carried the puck in just off the wall and took his shot before passing the face-off dot. The shot went by Jones on the far side and in. Stastny got the assist.

After that goal, Peter DeBoer replaced Martin Jones with Aaron Dell in net.

After the game, DeBoer said: “We were down three-nothing ten minutes in. I didn’t put it on Jonesy. We needed a shot in the arm to kind of change our momentum.”

The Sharks took some time to stem the bleeding. Once they had done that, they engaged their offense.

Logan Couture got the Sharks on the board at 16:59. The Sharks had just finished killing off a two-man advantage for Vegas, and were playing 4-on-4. Erik Karlsson made a pass across the offensive zone to Pavelski, who quickly passed it back across to Couture in front of the net. Couture put it carefully over Fleury and into the net. Assists went to Pavelski and Karlsson.

After the goal, the Sharks had a brief power play and scored again at 17:38. Couture passed the puck from the point along the blue line to Erik Karlsson, who had a long line of traffic between himself and the net. That traffic made an effective screen for Karlsson’s shot, and a deflection by Tomas Hertl made it all the more elusive. It was Hertl’s second of the playoffs. Assists went to Karlsson and Couture.

Joe Thornton completed the comeback at 19:08 of the period. The Sharks had just spent quite a while hemmed in their own zone when Logan Couture flipped the puck out of the zone. Evander Kane took off in hot pursuit though Pacioretty had several steps on him. Kane caught up and pushed Pacioretty off the puck, took it around behind the net and sent it back up to Brenden Dillon on the blue line. Dillon sent it back down to Thornton for a deflection. Dillon and Kane got the assists.

The second period started with another goal against the Sharks in the first five minutes, but only after the Sharks had a goal called back 51 seconds in. The goal did not count as it occurred just after Logan Couture was penalized for goaltender interference. The call was questionable as the contact came well outside the blue paint and appeared to be initiated by the goaltender. Nevertheless, the goal did not count.

On the ensuing power play, Vegas scored at 1:31. Mark Stone deflected a blue line shot from Shea Theodore. Dell stopped the deflection but the puck made its way back out to Stone, who was able to poke it through traffic and in. It was Stone’s third of the playoffs. Assists went to Stastny and Alex Tuch.

Marc-Edouard Vlasic finished his final shift of the game at 1:06, after the face-off for that Vegas power play, so the Sharks finished the game with five defensemen. Vlasic was injured blocking a shot.

Vegas scored a second short-handed goal at 7:35 of the third period. William Karlsson broke away as Reilly Smith was collecting the puck in the defensive zone. The pass got to him on the center line when he was already up to speed. He faked a shot as he approached the net and then put it away with a back-hand over a prone goaltender. Assists went to Smith and Tuch.

That goal came on Vegas’s first shot of the period. They did not have another shot until 13:53 of the period. In total, they only had four shots in the period but that was enough for them.

The Sharks pulled their goaltender with over two minutes to go for an offensive zone draw. The Sharks had a total of 15 shots in the period but could not beat Fleury again.

Through the first two periods, the Sharks won over 60% of the face-offs, but in the third won just 33%. The Golden Knights put Colin Miller in for Nick Holden on their blue line Friday. The Sharks made no roster changes, but may have to for Sunday, if Vlasic is not available.

Game 3 will be in Las Vegas on Sunday at 7:00 PM PT.

NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs 2019: Sharks Take Game One 5-2 Over Knights

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Photo credit: @SanJoseSharks

By Mary Walsh

SAN JOSE — The San Jose Sharks beat the Vegas Golden Knights 5-2 in the first game of the first round of the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs Wednesday. The Sharks goals came from Brent Burns, Tomas Hertl, Evander Kane, Joe Pavelski and Marc-Edouard Vlasic. Martin Jones made 24 saves for the win. Both Vegas goals came from Mark Stone and Marc-Andre Fleury made 28 saves against the Sharks.

The Sharks got the first power play of the game at 13:35. They had a few moments of delayed penalty time with Jones out of the net but that did not last long. The penalty was to Pierre-Edouard Bellemare for tripping Micheal Haley.

The Sharks scored on that power play at 14:42. A Brent Burns blue line special went off John Merrill’s glove or stick, into Joe Pavelski’s face and into the net. For his pains, Pavelski got credit for the goal with the assist going to Burns. Pavelski went directly to the dressing room, did not even stop for the celebration.

In the last two minutes of the first period, Timo Meier had to leave for repairs after being hi-sticked behind the net.

The Sharks outshot the Golden Knights 8-5 in the first, and won 60% of the face-offs. Vegas out-hit the Sharks 25-17.

Pavelski returned for the second period with a lower face shield. Timo Meier, fresh from his facial repairs, also returned and spoke briefly with an official as the period got under way. 20 seconds in, Meier was called for tripping Jonathan Marchessault. The Sharks killed that penalty off.

Evander Kane and Deryk Engelland exchanged blows after a scuffle in front of the net, as did Brenden Dillon and Jonathan Marchessault. Only Dillon and Marchessault were sent to the box, and for just two minutes. While the teams were playing 4 on 4, Tomas Hertl drew a hooking penalty and gave the Sharks a 4 on 3 power play. That turned into a 3 on 3 when Joe Pavelski was knocked down near the crease and Nate Schmidt tripped over him. Pavelski was called for tripping Schmidt.

The Sharks were unfazed by that noise. Erik Karlsson got the puck across the blue line and to Brent Burns, who carried it around a couple of defenders and shot it past Fleury with calm precision. Assists went to Karlsson and Hertl. Time of the goal was 6:59.

The Sharks followed up with good pressure around the net, leading to a sneaky goal-line pass from Joe Thornton to Marc-Edouard Vlasic as he skated down from the blue line. Vegas was not ready for that and the shot went right by Fleury on the blocker side at 7:44. Assists went to Thornton and Evander Kane.

Vegas responded with a goal at 8:32. Pacioretty’s shot hit Paul Stasny’s skate to the left of Jones, and bounced across the goal mouth to Mark Stone, who was camped out to Jones’s right. Thus flanked by opponents, Jones could not stop the puck. Assists went to Stasny and Pacioretty.

The Sharks went back on the power play at 8:55 after William Carrier was called for tripping Logan Couture. Tripping was a popular penalty in Wednesday’s game.

The Sharks scored again with 18 seconds left in the second. Erik Karlsson’s blue line shot went between a defender’s legs and then was neatly deflected by Evander Kane over Fleury’s glove.

The Sharks increased their shot advantage in the second, winning that contest 14-5. Their face-off success flagged, though. Vegas won 58% of the second period face-offs. Paul Stasny and William Karlsson defeated nearly all comers in the second.

Nearly six minutes into the third, Jon Merrill pushed Micheal Haley down in the crease, right on top of Fleury. As the puck went the other way for what may have been a good chance, Fleury spent some time thumping on Haley with the help of a team-mate. The whistle stopped play for roughing calls all around. Haley went to the box and Paul Stasny went in Fleury’s place.

As that four-on-four got started, the Sharks played a little like it was three-on-three, holding onto the puck as if killing time more than trying to score. But it was early for that. Not long after the four-on-four expired, the Sharks had a power play that killed more time without scoring. Vegas had a turn on the scoreless power play at 11:44 after Barclay Goodrow went for slashing Shea Theodore.

Vegas got another power play at 15:11 when Kevin Labanc went for hooking Tomas Nosek. Mark Stone cut the Sharks lead in half with a goal at 15:26. His shot made best use of what little traffic there was in front of Jones to get the puck over the glove and into the net. Assists went to Shea Theodore and Max Pacioretty.

Toms Hertl scored into the empty net at 18:11 to stop the late game push from Vegas. Assists went to Logan Couture and Marc-Edouard Vlasic.

By the end of the game, the Sharks had rebalanced the face-off results to 50-50. The shot count for the game was 33-26 Sharks.

Game 2 will be in San Jose on Friday at 7:30 PM PT.

Sharks Break Bad Streak, Beat Knights 4-3 in OT

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Photo credit: @SanJoseSharks

By Mary Walsh

SAN JOSE — The San Jose Sharks ended their seven game losing streak Saturday, beating the Vegas Golden Knights 4-3 in overtime. It was a good preview of the playoffs, possibly even a playoff matchup if the standings remain as they are. Each team got credit for 40 hits. Between hits, a lot of goals were scored too. For San Jose, goals came from Tomas Hertl, Evander Kane, Marc-Edouard Vlasic, and Brent Burns. Las Vegas goals came from William Karlsson, Cody Eakin and Shea Theodore. Martin Jones made 23 saves in the win while Vegas goaltender Malcolm Subban made 30 saves in the loss.

Vegas scored first at 3:54. The Sharks had just thwarted a nice play by Vegas, turning what could have easily been a goal into a puck behind the net. Unfortunately, Vegas had control of that puck and Jonathan Marchessault made a pass from below the goal line to the slot, where William Karlsson was open with a clear view of Martin Jones. It was Karlsson’s 24th of the season. Assists went to Marchessault and Reilly Smith.

The rest of the period was littered with matching penalties. An interference penalty to Marcus Sorensen was matched by an embellishment penalty to Colin Miller. Joe Thornton’s high-sticking penalty was matched by a roughing penalty to Ryan Reaves. Reaves also got a misconduct on that one.

The Sharks tied the game just under a minute into the second period. Tomas Hertl caught a stray rebound from a Joonas Donskoi shot. Hertl then wove his way around a defender and poked the puck between skaters and shot it past the Malcolm Subban. It was Hertl’s 35th goal of the season. Assists went to Donskoi and Timo Meier.

Just before a fight between Barclay Goodrow and William Carrier (at 3:01), Brenden Dillon was called for cross-checking, so the crowd was presented with the odd sight of a power play coming out of a fight. It did not change the score but took a little explaining.

That power play probably did set the Knights up to score at 5:30, moments after it expired. Cody Eakin was right in front of the blue paint when Deryk Engelland’s shot came in and dropped dead off of Jones’s pads. Eakin was able to gather it up and put it in the net. Assists went to Engelland and Ryan Carpenter.

The Sharks tied it again at 7:22 of the third. Tomas Hertl burst into the Vegas zone trailing one defender and slipping around another on his way to the net. He didn’t get a shot off but drew all the attention his way as he went behind the net and sent the puck forward for one of several Sharks to take a shot. Two couldn’t catch it but Evander Kane was coming in as the trailer and he found the rebound for a quick shot into an empty net. Subban was stuck in traffic to the side of the net, unable to get back for the save.

Marc-Edouard Vlasic gave the Sharks their first lead of the night at 11:26 with a slap shot off an offensive zone faceoff. Logan Couture got the assist. It was Vlasic’s third of the season.

That lead only lasted for 38 seconds. Shea Theodore did almost exactly what Vlasic did, taking a shot off an offensive zone faceoff win by William Karlsson. It was Theodore’s 12th of the season.

The end of the third was spent mostly in penalties. First, matching roughing penalties were assigned to Timo Meier and William Carrier at 16:10. At 10:05, almost a minute after the four-on-four ended, Colin Miller was called for hooking.

That power play carried over into the extra period, right up to Brent Burns’s game winner 22 seconds into overtime. That shot came off of Couture’s pass along the blue line. A secondary assist went to Kevin Labanc.

The Sharks next play on Sunday at 5:00 PM PT against the visiting Calgary Flames.

Golden Knights continue late surge, defeat Sharks 7-3 at SAP

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Photo credit: @SanJoseSharks

By Daniel Dullum
Sports Radio Service
Monday, March 18, 2019

The surging Vegas Golden Knights continued their winning ways on Monday at SAP Center, upending the San Jose Sharks 7-3 in a possible NHL West playoff preview.

It was the Golden Knights’ ninth win in their last 10 games. Vegas (87 points) also moved within seven points of San Jose (94 points) for home-ice advantage in the opening round of the playoffs. The Sharks trail Pacific Division-leading Calgary (95 points) by one point.

San Jose lost its third consecutive home game in regulation for the first time in three seasons, failing in another opportunity to clinch a playoff berth.

Reilly Smith and Jonathan Marchessault each earned four points in the victory for Vegas. Smith had three assists and added a goal in the third period. Marchessault had one goal and two assists in the first period and tacked on an empty-net tally in the third.

While William Karlsson, Mark Stone, Paul Stastny and Cody Eakin also scored for the Knights, goaltender Malcolm Subban stopped 36 San Jose shots while filling in for the injured Marc-Andre Fleury.

Logan Couture scored two goals and Joe Thornton added one tally for the Sharks. Martin Jones surrendered three goals on 11 shots before he was replaced by Aaron Dell in the opening period. Marchessault’s goal from a bad angle ended Jones’ night.

Couture’s first goal gave him 500 career points.

Though Evander Kane was back in the Sharks’ lineup, captain Joe Pavelski missed his first game with an injury since January of 2011. Pavelski took a hard hit in Saturday’s game against Nashville.

The Sharks visit Los Angeles on Thursday to face the Kings at 7:30 pm.

NHL podcast with Matt Harrington: CBJs Bobrovsky gets in front of 22 shots to blank Sens 3-0; Flames win fourth straight; Jets turn up the offense on Knights; plus more

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Photo credit: @BlueJackets

On the NHL podcast with Matt:

#1 The Columbus Blue Jackets shutout the Ottawa Senators 3-0 behind goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky who stopped 22 shots and it was done on Ottawa ice. The Blue Jackets’ Matt Duchene, who was just dealt to the CBJs from the Sens, said he enjoyed his last game in Ottawa, but in a different uniform.

#2  The Calgary Flames did it again with their fourth straight win, thanks to a go-ahead goal by the Flames’ Andrew Mangiapane at 3:29 to give the Flames a 2-1 win over the Anaheim Ducks.

#3 The Winnipeg Jets’ Patrik Laine scored twice and goaltender Connor Hellebuyck stopped 31 shots as the Jets defeated the Vegas Golden Knights 6-3. The Jets lead the Central Division and Jets head coach Paul Maurice picked up his 685th win to pass Pat Quinn for eighth place on the coaches winningest list.

#4 J.T. Compher got two for the Colorado Avalanche. On his second goal, Compher scored on a breakaway to break a tie and get the go-ahead goal to defeat the Chicago Blackhawks 5-3. The Hawks’ Patrick Kane scored his 39th goal of the season and extended his 20-game point streak.

#5 The San Jose Sharks brought back Michael Haley from the Florida Panthers. Some wondered why? Haley proved necessary when things got rough when the Sharks ended up getting into a line brawl towards the end of Thursday’s game in Pittsburgh and expect Haley to pay off in the home stretch of the season when things get physical and rough.

Matt does the Sharks podcasts each Saturday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

NHL podcast with Matt Harrington: Bruins, despite injuries, win 5-2 over Preds; CBJs get a 4-3 OT win against Philly; Habs-Knights games turning into a rivalry; plus more

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@NHLBruins: The Boston Bruins had plenty to celebrate as Patrice Bergeron (37) scored twice once in the first and another in the third period to help the B’s get a two goal 5-3 win over the Nashville Predators on Saturday

On the NHL podcast with Matt:

#1 The Boston Bruins (20-12-4) took care of business with a 5-2 win over the Nashville Predators (22-13-2), First period goal from the Bruins Patrice Bergeron (10) and a third period goal–number 11 for the season.

#2 Columbus Blue Jackets (20-12-3) got a 4-3 win past the Philadelphia Flyers (14-16-4) Zach Werenski gets his sixth goal and Cam Atkinson gets his 21st and 22nd in the one-goal win for the CBJs.

#3 Florida Panthers (14-14-6) get a 2-1 win over the Detroit Red Wings (15-17-5). The Panthers got a first period goal from Mike Hoffman (16) at 3:09 and Evgenii Dadonov (17) at 17:21.

#4 The Montreal Canadiens (19-13-5) got a 4-3 win over the Vegas Golden Knights (20-15-3). For the Habs’ Phillip Danault got goals three, four and five for a hat trick.

#5  The last place Los Angeles Kings (13-20-2) picked up an overtime win over the San Jose Sharks (19-12-6). For the Sharks, it was their second straight loss after winning five straight. The Kings’ IIya Kovalchuk scored his seventh goal for the overtime winner.

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

Golden Knights Sink Sharks 6-0; Game Misconducts for DeBoer, Kane

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Photo credit: @SanJoseSharks

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks lost 6-0 to the Vegas Golden Knights at the T-Mobile Arena on Saturday night. This was a stunning reversal following a good homestand that included two 4-0 wins for Sharks goaltender Aaron Dell. Goals came from William Karlsson, Colin Miller, William Carrier and Max Pacioretty (2). Knights goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury made 33 saves for the win, with Dell making 30 saves in the loss. Sharks’ Evander Kane and Barclay Goodrow were both ejected from the game as well as the team’s head coach Peter DeBoer.

On the Kane expulsion, DeBoer said after the game: “Just absolutely no feel. You’ve got a team down five-nothing, already short on the bench with Couture hurt, you’re going to kick a guy out for arguing a call ’cause emotions are high. Have a little feel for the game.” As for his own eviction, he said: “I just asked… I didn’t even swear, I just asked him ‘did that feel good, kicking Evander out under these circumstances.’ I guess that was enough, I guess he wanted another victim.”

Discussing the game in a more general sense, Sharks captain Joe Pavelski said: “It was a tough night. They were obviously… it was one of the better they’re going to play I think and we weren’t ready, you know, by any means. But we would have liked to have been a little bit better. It happens, it’s a good lesson at this time of year I guess. So, I don’t know, it was just a tough night.”

When pressed on the idea of not being ready, Pavelski said:

It felt like we were ready, we were ready to go and it didn’t happen. It snowballed on us and one thing leads to the other. You know, they get a bounce on that first goal and… You know, I’m not saying guys weren’t ready. Just, you’ve got to understand that’s a heavy team over there and they play hard and they’re really good at home. And this has happened to us a couple times now when we’ve come in here.

The Sharks had an abysmal first period. The Golden Knights took control from puck drop, knocking the puck into the Sharks’ zone. Dell went behind the net to retrieve it, but even with his help there the Sharks could not get control of it. Brayden McNabb took a shot from the blue line that first touched Timo Meier, then William Karlsson before bouncing past Dell. That came 14 seconds in. The goal went to Karlsson, with assists to McNabb and Jonathan Marchessault.

Vegas scored again at 4:40. Colin Miller took three shots on his shift, one of which hit Logan Couture and put him in distress. Couture was still down but trying to move the puck when Miller got it away from him and put it past Dell. An assist went to Reilly Smith.

The third and fourth Vegas goals of the first came from Pacioretty. Near the midpoint of the period, with Karlsson in the penalty box for holding, the Sharks’ penalty killers had just cleared the puck and gotten fresh legs on the ice. Smith was moving down from the blue line, looking like he might shoot. Instead he sent it behind Tomas Hertl to a waiting Pacioretty in the slot. Pacioretty sent it in past Dell’s glove. Assists went to Smith and Miller.

Pacioretty’s second goal came right after Dell had poke checked the puck away from Alex Tuch. Pacioretty was there to clean it up and put the puck past Dell while he was trying to get reset.

The second period started less badly because the Sharks only gave up the one goal. The Sharks started with some good pressure, but that fizzled into a hard-to explain breakaway for Carrier, as there were a number of Sharks around him in the neutral zone. None of them moved quickly enough and his shot slipped by Dell. Ryan Reaves got an assist on that one.

The Sharks got into some unusual penalty trouble at 15:41. Evander Kane had been called for high-sticking at 13:06, which penalty the Sharks killed off. Half a minute after they killed it, Kane was called for tripping Tomas Nosek. Kane expressed his disapproval of the call and received an additional unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.

Kane described the hit after the game as: “The guy has the puck, I step in his lane, hip on hip. It’s a five-nothing hockey game.” That seems like a fair description of the hit, but the officials saw it differently. An abuse of officials penalty was added and a game misconduct.

Less than a minute later, Jonathan Marchessault ended the four-minute Vegas power play by slashing Barclay Goodrow. DeBoer shared his opinion about these events with the officials, which got him a game misconduct as well.

Some frustration came out early in the third period when Hertl hit Cody Eakin and Eakin retaliated. They both went to the box for two minutes of four on four time. A little over a minute into that, Justin Braun’s pass from behind the net went off the boards, out of the reach of Marc-Edouard Vlasic. Shea Theodore was right there to take it and pass it to Alex Tuch in the slot. Pacioretty moved between Tuch and Dell for a fleeting screen and Tuch scored his seventh of the season. Theodore got the assist.

More frustration bubbled up before the half way mark as Carrier and Brenden Dillon got into it by the Sharks net. Some cross-checks from Dillon got a response from Carrier and Dillon’s helmet came off. Carrier went to the box for roughing. A couple of minutes later, Goodrow got an unsportsmanlike conduct for going after Carrier. With less than three minutes left, Braun got into it with Carrier and went for roughing. At the same time, Reaves went to the box with a misconduct, apparently for some words from the bench.

The Sharks next play on Tuesday against the Sabres in Buffalo at 4:00 PM PT.

NHL podcast with Matt Harrington: Kings’ Peterson plays the most fun game of his life; Blues come to SJ after win in Vegas; Leafs too hot to handle, get by Ducks 2-1; plus more

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Chicago 5 Sports photo: The Los Angeles Kings Nate Thompson (44) congratulates Kings goaltender Calvin Peterson (40) following Friday night’s game at the United Center in Chicago against the Blackhawks

On the NHL podcast with Matt Harrington: 

#1 For the Los Angeles Kings goaltender Calvin Peterson, it was a homecoming facing the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday night at the United Center. Peterson was a player with the Chicago Young Americans of the Midwest Elite Hockey League; played at the United Center when he was with Notre Dame during the Frozen Four. Peterson stopped 34 shots in the Kings victory over the Hawks 2-1.

#2 The St Louis Blues who come to SAP Center tonight against the San Jose Sharks picked up a huge victory at T Mobile Center on Friday in a 4-1 victory against the Vegas Golden Knights. Goals from Ryan O’Reilly–two of them help pace the Blues to victory.

#3 The red-hot Toronto Maple Leafs who have won six of their last seven including a win last Thursday over the San Jose Sharks defeated the Anaheim Ducks 2-1. The Leafs Morgan Reilly scored an overtime breakaway goal for the winner. It was Reilly’s ninth goal of the season and 26th point.

#4 The Washington Capitals’ Nicklas Backstrom didn’t waste any time scoring a power play goal 22 second into overtime to help edge the Colorado Alvalanche 3-2. The Caps’ Alex Ovechkin and Devante Smith-Pelly also scored.

#5 The Dallas Stars shutout the Boston Bruins behind Jason Dickinson’s goal a rebound at 1:34 in overtime. The Stars’ Ben Bishop stopped 23 shots. Big win for the Stars and tough loss for the Bruins.

Matt Harrington does the NHL podcast each Saturday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Sharks Preseason 2018: Vegas Beats Sharks 5-2 With 3 SHG

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Photo credit: @SanJoseSharks

By Mary Walsh

With a 5-2 loss Sunday to the Vegas Golden Knights, the San Jose Sharks finished the 2018 preseason with four losses in a row. Vegas goals came from Nick Holden, Reilly Smith, Tomas Nosek (2), and Max Pacioretty. Those last three mentioned goals were short-handed. For San Jose, Erik Karlsson and Kevin Labanc scored, both on the power play.

Both teams had their starting goaltenders in net, with Martin Jones for the Sharks and Marc-Andre Fleury for the Golden Knights. The rest of the lineup for the Sharks looked much as it might for Wednesday’s opening game, including Finnish newcomer Antti Suomela. Jones stopped 22 of 27 shots for the Sharks, while Fleury stopped 33 of 35 for the win.

The first goal came late in the first period. Joakim Ryan tried a pass behind the net to Brent Burns, but Jonathan Marchessault was right behind him to snatch the puck away and get it to Holden, who had just pinched in from the blue line. The shot went over Jones’ glove and in at 18:44.

The Sharks responded early in the second period during a power play. Ryan Reaves was in the box for throwing a broken stick into Joe Pavelski’s path. It was either subtly done or accidental, but the whistle blew nonetheless. The Knights’ penalty killers pushed the Sharks out after a couple of shots and then stopped them at the blue line as they tried to re-enter, twice in quick succession. Finally, the Sharks got their power play set up and Labanc played catch with Karlsson a little before Karlsson was able to score from just above the goal line at 5:41. Labanc and Timo Meier got the assists.

At 12:58 of the second, Marc-Edouard Vlasic went to the Sharks’ room after being called for unsportsmanlike conduct. Kevin Labanc served the minor penalty in Vlasic’s place. Vlasic did not return until the start of the third period.

The Sharks killed off the Vlasic penalty but Vegas pushed back hard in the middle minutes of the period, leaving the Sharks’ special teams in a shambles.

Pacioretty broke Evander Kane’s stick with a slash, cutting their own power play short by some seconds. The Sharks power play was at work in the o-zone when Burns tripped along the blue line. Pierre-Edouard Bellemare picked up the loose puck and got it to a breaking Nosek. Now two-on-none with Bellemare, Nosek carried it in and beat Jones under the blocker at 9:39.

Vegas scored just seven seconds into a power play at 11:25. Joe Pavelski was in the box for hooking. The puck came high out of the corner, William Karlsson’s pass ramping off of Brenden Dillon’s stick. If fell to Reilly Smith in front of the net and he put it by Jones without hesitation. Assists went to William Karlsson and Ryan Miller.

With under five minutes left in the second period, the Sharks started a power play after Marchessault went to the box for slashing Marcus Sorensen. The power play went pretty well for the first minute, with the Sharks entering the zone without too much trouble. They were retrieving the puck after shots and moving around well. In the second minute, the puck got by Erik Karlsson at the blue line and the Sharks had to retrieve it. Vegas was doing an excellent job of keeping them out and the Sharks were on their second try when Pacioretty stripped the puck from Hertl who was already being pressured by Paul Stastny. Pacioretty skated to the Sharks’ net with Meier and Burns closing in on him. He got a shot off close to the blue paint, then tapped his own rebound around Jones’ skate. The short-handed goal was unassisted at 17:10.

The Sharks had another power play 1:25 into the third period. Just 16 seconds into that, Nosek and Bellemare struck again. Bellemare broke up a play and knocked the puck out of the zone and chased it down in the Sharks zone. While Couture and Burns closed in on him, he sent the puck out to the zlot where Nosek was moving in. Nosek put the puck over Jones’ blocker. Karlsson had spotted Nosek, but did not catch him quickly enough to stop the shot.

The Sharks survived two more power plays and a penalty kill in the third, without giving up another goal. At 14:33, Collin Miller was called for tripping and the Sharks started their fifth power play of the game. The second unit was on the ice, with Labanc, Kane, Hertl, Meier and Vlasic. With six seconds to go in the power play, Labanc was just above the goal line, almost at the wall when he drove the puck through the short side. Assists went to Vlasic and Hertl.

The Sharks will play their season opener on Wednesday in San Jose against the Anaheim Ducks at 7:30 PM PT.

Sharks’ Season Ends With 3-0 Loss to Golden Knights

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Photo credit: @TheVegasRealm

By Mary Walsh

SAN JOSE–The San Jose Sharks’ season ended with a 3-0 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights at the SAP Center Sunday. The Game 6 win makes the Golden Knights the third NHL team to win two rounds in the playoffs in their inaugural season. Goals came from Jonathan Marchessault, Nate Schmidt and Cody Eakin. Marc-Andre Fleury made 28 saves for Vegas’ shutout win. Martin Jones made 30 saves in a losing effort for San Jose.

After the game, Sharks captain Joe Pavelski said: “We just didn’t find a way to put any pucks in the net. You know we had some opportunities early, a couple of power plays and some really good looks. And whether a puck spun off or got a skate on it or whatever kind of happened, it was. I think our opportunities early were there to take that lead.”

Sharks head coach Peter DeBoer gave his assessment of the series after the game:

We knew their game was for real and I thought there was some swing moments in the series when you win and when you lose. But the bottom line for me is we were just chasing the game. Every game in the series other than the 4-0 win here at home. I thought we had some good starts, had some quality chances early in a lot of those games, and Fleury I thought was great early in a lot of those games, allowed them to get their feet under them and then we’re chasing five of the six games.

Asked about what he thought of the Pavelski, Kane, Donskoi line, DeBoer said:

I’m not dissecting it. I can tell you this, you got a guy who’s playing center that hasn’t played center in years that steps up and plays as the number one center. So you know if you’re going to negatively dissect their play, you’re talking to the wrong guy. You can do that. These guys…. Our number one center went down, these guys jumped in, filled roles didn’t complain, battled their ass off right to the buzzer in every single game even when we were down.

The Sharks were on the power play in the first minute of the game, thanks to a tripping call drawn by Tomas Hertl. The Sharks got two shots during the power play, but the Golden Knights got one on a breakaway for Willam Karlsson.

Just 5:39 into the period, a flurry of activity in front of the Sharks net ended with Martin Jones being pushed into the net as the whistle blew. Evidently the puck crossed the line with the goalie, but an NHL initiated review determined that the whistle had been blown before the puck went in.

Near the nine-minute mark, Tomas Hertl had a breakaway, but hit the crossbar. He retrieved the puck and got it to Logan Couture for a good chance, but that shot did not go in either. A scramble in front of Fleury followed, but the puck still stayed out.

After the next faceoff in the Vegas zone, Brayden McNabb sent the puck over the glass. After an extensive review to see if it touched a Sharks stick, the penalty was called. The Sharks took a couple of good shots before Vegas cleared the puck. Seconds after that penalty expired, Evander Kane was called for tripping Reilly Smith. The Sharks killed that off without letting the power play spend a lot of time in the zone.

At even strength after the power play, it was a different story. The Golden Knights spent a lot of time in the Sharks zone. Their fourth line in particular was very effective.

Despite not spending much time on offense, the Sharks had another good chance off a blue line shot from Joakim Ryan in the last three minutes. Timo Meier reached to push it in, but did not get there. That sequence seemed to energize the Sharks and they held the zone for quite a spell. Brent Burns had a shot deflected by Evander Kane, but it went off the crossbar. It fell at Joonas Donskoi’s feet by the post, but he couldn’t get it over the line either.

The teams finished the period almost even in shots, 12-11 Vegas.

The teams started the second period a little bit slowly, with more than four minutes of play going by before the first shot was counted. It went to Vegas, and another minute of play went by before the Sharks got a shot on goal.

It was the third shot of the period that went in, at 6:33, a goal from the Golden Knights’ Jonathan Marchessault. A failed clear by Marc-Edouard Vlasic ended up on Reilly Smith’s stick. He found Marchessault with an open net. Assists went to Smith and William Karlsson.

The Golden Knights almost scored again at 8:31 left in the first, when Martin Jones came out to stop a shot from Brayden McNabb and was completely out of the net when Smith got a chance at the rebound. Chris Tierney was in the paint and blocked the shot. The Sharks followed it up with good zone time, but all of their shots seemed to hit bodies and skates.

The second Vegas goal came with as little fanfare as a goal can have: most seemed to miss it and play continued. A horn went a few moments later, alerting all that something was wrong. On review, Nate Schmidt scored with a shot from the blue line that hit the post and went off the goal net camera. David Perron won an offensive zone faceoff against Chris Tierney and slid the puck to Eric Haula on the wall. Haula got the puck to Schmidt. The time of the goal was 15:38.

By the halfway mark of the third period, the shot count was 11-3 in favor of Vegas. The Golden Knights did not let up. DeBoer pulled Martin Jones with 2:15 left in the period. The Sharks got a couple of shots in the 15 seconds before Ryan Carpenter and Cody Eakin broke away to score on the empty net. It was Eakin’s third goal of the playoffs and Carpenter’s third assist. An additional assist went to Nate Schmidt.

That was it, except for the handshake.

The schedule for the Western and Eastern conference final rounds are yet to be determined, as the two series (Jets-Predators, Capitals-Penguins) are still ongoing.