As the Sharks enter the "let's get through
these last few games as quickly as possible" phase of their miserable season,
San Jose continued to trip at home, falling 2-1 to the Seattle Kraken in
overtime at SAP Center on Thursday night. The Sharks held a brief 1-0 lead in
the 3rd period on an uncommon goal, but their opponent was geared up to take 2
points as they jostle for a playoff spot.
Seattle will likely make the
playoffs in this their 2nd year of existence, but after losing their last 3
games, things were starting to get dicey for the newly minted team. The
motivation was there, and that propelled Seattle with a comeback win, and
another home loss for the Sharks.
After playing their 35th game on
home ice, San Jose has won only 6 times this season. With only 7 games left to
play at SAP center, it's unlikely San Jose will reach the 10 win mark. San Jose
only won 8 home games in their 2nd season in the NHL, establishing their
franchise worst performance. They could very well do worse.
Neither
team could get much going on the offensive side of the puck. The Sharks had a
2-on-0 break 4 minutes into the game, but Stephen Lorentz elected to leave a
drop pass that Fabian Zetterlund wasn't expecting. It was a golden opportunity
that should have at least resulted in a shot on goal, but the decision to fool
Kraken goaltender Phillip Grubauer proved fruitless.
The Sharks
struggled to generate any offensive flow in the 2nd period where they were
out-shot 15-8. San Jose played down a forward after Evgeny Svechnikov was
knocked out of the game when Brandon Tanev caught him with a legal check in the
opening period.
Things became interesting early in the 3rd period when
Kevin Labanc sprung William Eklund with a pass between two Kraken defenders.
Former Shark Ryan Donato was forced to hook the Sharks rookie, which resulted
in a penalty shot.
Eklund looked cool as a cucumber on his 1st NHL
penalty shot, converting it with a shot that squeezed between Grubauer and the
left post for his 2nd career goal.
Seattle would tie the game at 7:03
of the period when Yanni Gourde hit Oliver Bjorkstrand with a long lead pass
out of Kraken zone. Bjorkstrand got a step on Erik Karlsson and streaked up the
ice before lifting a shot that sailed over James Reimer's glove hand for his
15th goal of the season.
San Jose out-shot Seattle 14-8 in the 3rd
period but could not get the go-ahead goal after Bjorkstrand's equalizer. That
would bite the Sharks once the game moved to overtime.
The Sharks won the faceoff to start the extra frame
and had the added advantage when Alex Wennberg immediately broke his stick.
Rather than pick a select opportunity as they essentially skated 3-on-2,
Karlsson forced the issue with a pass into the teeth of the Kraken defense
resulting in a clearing chance that allowed Seattle to regroup.
Not
only would they regroup, but they'd take the extra point when Vince Dunn
deposited his 13th goal of the season 1:58 into the extra session. The Kraken
forward carried the puck up the right side on what appeared to be a mundane
play, but he would snap a shot that beat Reimer through the 5-hole
Game
Notes: * The Sharks assigned defenseman Shakir Mukhamadullin to the
San Jose Barracuda. Mukhamadullin was acquired in the Timo Meier trade with New
Jeresy, and was available to join the AHL after his team was eliminated from
the KHL playoffs last week.
* With his goal William Eklund has now
established his first career NHL goal scoring streak (2). He bagged his 1st
career goal on Tuesday vs the Blue Jackets.
* The Sharks last scored
on a penalty shot on March 11, 2019 vs Minnesota, when Logan Couture beat
former Sharks netminder Devin Dubnyk.
* Per Darrin Stephens, Eklund
was the 2nd youngest Sharks to score a penalty shot. Jeff Friesen was more than
a year younger than Eklund.
* Jared McCann led all skaters with 8
shots on goal. Logan Couture, Tomas Hertl and Noah Gregor each had 4 shots each
for San Jose.
