The Sharks continued their season-long home
stand by hosting the Seattle Kraken at SAP Center in a matinee performance.
Four Shark skaters scored goals, and James Reimer return to the net with a 26
save performance and a 4-0 win. The shutout was the 27th of Reimer's career,
and the 2nd of the season. Reimer had been on the fence with injuries,
returning to the crease for the first time since January 27th.
San
Jose has struggled against the Kraken since Seattle joined the league last
season. The win was only the 2nd against their neighbors to the north and only
their 6th victory on home ice this season.
Both teams used the opening
period to feel out the opposition, but neither challenging with many serious
scoring chances. Mikey Eyssimont opened the game with a decent chance on the
opening shift, but after that it was slim pickings.
The Kraken and
Sharks traded power play opportunities in the 1st frame, but neither could get
any rubber past goaltender Martin Jones and James Reimer. Seattle held a slim
6-5 advantage on the shot counter after 20 minutes.
It took the Sharks
the first 6:46 of the 2nd period before they registered their first shot of the
frame. A Noah Gregor high sticking penalty at 1:16 didn't help matters. When
Gregor exited the penalty box, he too k a centering pass on a breakaway
excursion, only to ring a shot off the crossbar.
The Sharks , or
rather the Kraken, scored the first goal of the game 10:45 into the middle
period. Logan couture and Yanni Gourde squared off in the faceoff circle, but
it was the Kraken forward who would take the draw. He then tried to draw the
puck back to his defense, but in doing so, he whipped it past Jones. Couture
was credited with the goal, his 20th of the season.
Evgen Svechnikov
pushed the Sharks lead to 2-0 less than 6 minutes later. The Sharks forward
grabbed a Kraken turnover near the top of the right circle, before sidestepping
defeseman Justin Schultz and skating toward the Seattle goal. Svechnikov pumped
a shot on net from the slot, but Jones denied him. The Sharks forward gathered
the rebound and slid a follow up chance underneath the former Shark goaltender
for his 7th tally of the season.
Gregor made it a 3-goal period for San Jose with 18
seconds left, pumping a shot past Jones from the inside of the left circle. It
was Gregor's 4th goal of the season. Svechnikov and Erik Karksson credited with
assists on the goal. It was the 75th point of the season for Karlsson, and the
2nd multi-point game of the season for Svechnikov.
Eyssimont capped
the game's scoring with 3:03 left when he tipped a Logan Couture pass from the
doorstep. The Sharks forward was sitting at the top of the crease when Couture
fired a pass from the left wing boards. Karlsson was credited with the
secondary assist on the goal.
Game Notes: * Right wing
Martin Kaut made his debut for the Sharks. Kaut was acquired from Colorado
along with Jacob MacDonald in exchange for Matt Nieto and Ryan Merkley back on
January 25th.
* Fathers of the Kraken were in attendance for their
annual "Father's trip".
* Timo Meier and Tomas Hertl were both
scratched from the game, fueling lots of trade speculation. Hertl was dealing
with a personal matter, but Meier is almost a lock to be traded before the NHL
trade deadline on March 3rd. Meier was listed as an injury scratch.
*
The Sharks faced former defenseman Jaycob Megna for the first time since he was
traded to the Kraken on February 5th. Megna skated 22 shifts and logged 17:55
of ice time. He had one shot on goal and one hit in the contest.
*
With Meier out of the lineup, Mikey Eyssimont grabbed the reigns and led the
team with 6 shots on goal in the contest. Seattle out-shot San Jose 26-23.
