The Sharks did not win their first game last
season until their 6th contest of the campaign. They dropped their 4th straight
to open the current season with a 4-2 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks on
Thursday night following a lifeless start that would doom them early. San Jose
gave up the first 3 goals of the season and sputtered the rest of the night in
catch up mode.
It was by far the worst performance of the season. It
was a collective group that was slow to get out of the gate, which set the tone
for the entire evening. The roster doesn't have the firepower to overcome
3-goal deficits, but this loss didn't come at the hands of Stanley Cup
contender. The Blackhawks were just as bad last season and aren't loaded with
much offensive talent, so dropping a game like this one can easily set the
Sharks off the rails.
They have to stick to the plan even after
lackluster performances like this one.
Jake Walman was sent off 3:08
into the contest for lofting a puck over the glass, but Blackhawks captain Nick
Foligno countered with a trip of Mikael Granlund 5 seconds into the Chicago
power play. The Blackhawks used the space to put a puck past Vitek Vanecek at
4:20 when Taylor Hall raced around Jan Rutta on the left side and snapped a
25-foot shot home for his 1st tally of the season.
San Jose's offense
was lethargic in the opening frame, mustering a meek 5 shots on goal. Penalty
issues would cost them late. Barclay Goodrow was sent off for tripping at
18:22, which setup a Tyler Bertuzzi goal 49 seconds later.
Connor
Bedard setup Bertuzzi with a diagonal pass from the right point, hitting his
power play linemate for a nifty redirect from out front. The goal snapped a
streak of 12 penalties killed by San Jose to start the season.
The
Sharks responded with Rutta taking a high sticking penalty 31 seconds later to
put the Blackhawks back on the power play. San Jose killed the 49 seconds that
remained in the period to get to the first intermission down 2-0. They wouldn't
be as successful when play resumed.
Chicago used the same play to
convert their 2nd power play goal of the game, moving it off the right point to
Foligno who was parked near the left post. Teuvo Teravainen and Bedard made the
feed for their 2nd assists of the game.
San Jose made things
immeasurably more complicated for themselves midway through the period by
taking a pair of penalties 36 seconds apart to setup a lengthy Blackhawks
5-on-3 power play.
Tyler Toffoli bagged his 3rd goal of the season
late in the period after William Eklund circled around the back of the Chicago
net before dropping the puck to the front of the net. Toffoli was parked on the
doorstep, tapping home the Sharks 1st goal with 1:43 to play in the period.
That would be enough time for the Sharks to take two more penalties to
put the Blackhawks back on a 5-on-3 power play.
The Sharks would kill
the second 2-man advantage of the contest, but Chicago converted shortly
thereafter when Jason Dickinson scored his 1st goal of the season at 2:19.
Fabian Zetterlund answered 33 seconds later by
redirecting a Granlund feed that slipped between Petr Mrazek's pads to make it
a 4-1 game.
San Jose could never really gain any traction against
Mrazek the remainder of the contest.
Game Notes: *
Macklin Celebrini is eligible to come off the injured reserve on Friday, but
the Sharks announced that he will not travel to Winnipeg where San Jose will
finish the tail end of their back-to-back games to end their current road trip.
* Connor Bedard finished the game with 2 assists, both coming on the
power play. Teuvo Teravainen matched Bedard's offensive output.
* The
Sharks aren't good enough to overcome massive disparities in penalty counts.
They generated 3 power plays, but gave up more than twice that in the loss.
Chicago finished the game 2-for-7 on the man advantage.
* The Sharks
finally finished a game with more wins than losses in the faceoff circle. San
Jose won 33 of 59 draws (56%), led by Jake Walman, who went 11-for-18 from the
faceoff circle. Luke Kunin won 6 of 7 draws. Mikael Granlund only won 8 of 20
faceoffs.
* Granlund led the Sharks with 4 shots on goal. Seth Jones
and Nick Foligno combined for 9 of Chicago's 27 shots in the contest.
