After getting their tails kicked in during a
Florida swing over the weekend, the Sharks headed north to take on the Carolina
Hurricanes on Tuesday night. Following the trade of goaltender Mackenzie
Blackwood and forward Givani Smith on Monday it would have been easy for the
Sharks to feel sorry for themselves, but head coach Ryan Warsofsky emphasized
that trades are part of the business and the campaign marches on. With a focus
on defense, the Sharks turned in a better effort against a Hurricanes team that
has struggled their last 5 games, but the result was still the same. Carolina
overcame a 3rd period deficit to beat San Jose 3-2 at Lenovo Center.
Not surprisingly, the Sharks surrendered the first goal of the game when Shayne
Gostisbehere snapped a shot past Vitek Vanecek at 4:26. The Hurricanes cycled
the puck around the right corner when William Carrier saw Gostisbehere cutting
down the left wing. Carrier threw the puck through the slot to the off wing
where Gostibeher collected it and put a shot in the upper left corner of the
net for the 1-0 lead.
San Jose played a controlled opening 20 minutes,
not the disheveled play that became a backbreaker for them in both Florida
games. That allowed them to keep the Hurricanes close.
Luke Kunin
scored the first of his 2 goals with 69 seconds remaining in the period when he
sent a put-back chance past goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov from between the
circles. Macklin Celebrini evaded a pair of defenders before skating the puck
into the Hurricanes zone before dishing to Kunin on his right. Kunin then
skated toward the net and tried to flick a shot on net, which was blocked, but
it bounced right back to this stick.
Kunin would give the Sharks the
lead at 11:44 of the 2nd period after William Eklund stripped the puck from
Gostisbehere in the left corner then skated it along the end boards. Eklund
then spotted Kunin trailing him, so he dropped the puck out to the area outside
the left post. Kunin once again took two cracks at a shot, burying the second
chance for his 8th of the season and a 2-1 Sharks lead.
Klim Kostin
took a holding penalty with 13 seconds left in the period allowing the
Hurricanes to carry a lengthy power play into the 3rd period.
San Jose
killed Kostin's penalty, their third kill of the night, evading any trouble.
Former Shark defenseman Brent Burns would score the conventional way,
during a 5-on-5 situation 4:11 into the 3rd period. Burns was the benefactor of
a nice setup by Sebastian Aho as he skated toward the left post. The Hurricanes
moved the puck diagonally with a series of passes that ended with Aho hitting
Burns for the slam dunk deposit past Vanecek.
Mario Ferraro made a poor decision to try and
out-muscle Jesperi Kotkaniemi in front of his net at 13:39 of the period and
was whistled for interference. San Jose would kill the penalty, denying the
Hurricanes potent special teams from moving into the lead.
The penalty
didn't cost San Jose, but attention to detail did.
Carelessness cost
the Sharks an icing call that should not have happened. That allowed the
Hurricanes to win a faceoff in the San Jose zone, then pot the go ahead goal
with 2:39 left in regulation when Jalen Chatfield sent a long shot that got
past Vanecek after being deflected by Sharks defender out in front.
An
extra attacker on the ice late could not help San Jose pot the equalizer,
allowing Carolina to hang on for the win.
Game Notes: *
Will Smith was placed on the injured reserve, retroactive to Saturday, December
7th. He will not be eligible to return until the 17th when the Sharks face
Winnipeg. In a related move, Barclay Goodrow returned from the injured reserve.
* The Sharks optioned defenseman Jack Thompson to the Barracuda and
recalled Shakir Mukhamadullin.
* Nikolai Kovalenko made his Sharks
debut after being acquired in the Mackenzie Blackwood trade along with
Alexandar Georgiev. Kovalenko skated 11 shifts for 9:23 of ice time, recording
3 hits and a blocked shot. He had not shots on goal.
* William Eklund
recorded his 19th assist of the season, which is only second to Mikael
Granlund's 20 helpers.
* Macklin Celebrini earned the primary assist
on Luke Kunin's first goal, giving him his first points in the last 3 games.
