It wasn't the cavalry riding to save the day,
but the Sharks received some help in the form of Marc-Edouard Vlasic's return
to the lineup after missing the first 40 games of the season. After a rough
start to his 2023-24 season, Vlasic returned to the lineup on a more regular
basis in January of last year only to sustain an injury that made him miss the
first-half the current campaign. Vlasic provided an upgraded on the defensive
side of the puck, which helped San Jose fend off the Tampa Bay Lightning in a
2-1 win at SAP Center on Thursday night.
Limiting the scoring of
opposing teams has been a major hole for the Sharks who, with Vlasic's help,
snapped an 8-game losing streak.
The French-Canadian defenseman also
chipped in on the offensive side of the puck, assisting on a Tyler Toffoli goal
which helped the Sharks take a 1st period lead.
Toffoli gathered a
Vlasic pass at the blueline as San Jose cycled the puck around left side.
Toffoli started down the high slot before side-stepping Anthony Cirelli and
whipping a shot from between the circles. Toffoli used Ryan McDonagh to screen
Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilveskiy.
Toffoli's shot found the
upper right corner of the net for his team leading 15th goal of the season, but
more importantly, it staked the Sharks to a rare lead.
The Sharks
would finish the opening frame with a slight 9-8 edge in shots for the period,
but the defense played arguably their best period in the last 15 games.
Mario Ferraro gave the Sharks a much needed cushion 12:55 into the 2nd
period after an all-around effort on both ends of the rink. The Sharks
defenseman stripped former Sharks forward Mikey Eyssimont in the Sharks zone
before firing a pass up ice to Mikael Granlund. Ferraro then hustled up ice
where Granlund returned the puck to the defenseman with a slide pass toward the
top of the left circle.
Ferraro tried to pass the puck to Fabian
Zetterlund but the puck hit Zemgus Girgensons skate before bouncing back to the
Sharks blueliner. Ferraro then snapped the second opportunity past Vasilevskiy
for his 3rd goal of the season.
His scoring and defense were prefaced
with a fight 1:29 into the game with Mitchell Chaffee. The scrap was an early
indication that the Sharks were likely going to play better than the lackluster
performance that came with their 4-0 loss to Philadelphia on New Year's Eve.
San Jose clearly responded with a pronounced focus on keeping the puck
away from goaltender Yaroslav Askarov, who stopped 24 of 25 shots that Tampa
Bay threw at him.
The only blemish on Askarov's almost perfect line
was a goal by Cirelli that came with 2:16 remaining in the period.
Brandon Hagel carried the puck into the Sharks zone before dropping the puck
back to Erik Cernak at the right point. Cernak fired a shot on net just as
Cirelli was skating past the right dot. Cirelli looked over his left shoulder
and got his stick blade on Cernak's shot, deflecting it past Askarov to make it
a 21 game.
The Lightning would go on the offensive in the 3rd
period, outshooting San Jose 11-4 in the frame, but Askarov did his best work.
San Jose's defensive first focus was able to fend off the 3rd period
push. The Sharks blocked 13 shots in addition to the 25 that the Lightning put
on net. By all appearances, San Jose didn't go into a defensive posture that
was more about circling their own net.
They kept the Lightning from
focusing quality chances at Askarov. Sharks head coach Ryan Warsofsky was
pointed in his comments about the attitude that his players exuded.
"We learned a valuable lesson, that that's what it takes night in and night
out," Warsofsky said. "Don't play cautious," he added with a chuckle.
On Vlasic's return.
"He's a smart player, who pushes guys to the
outside without the puck a couple of time tonight, which is important thing
against this team," the head coach opined. "I thought he did a good job coming
in. He's a heavy body, a big guy. He knows how to play in this league. He knows
how to defend the best players in this league. He's done it such a long time,
so I thought he did stabilize us there a little bit. He gave us some heaviness
on the back side."
Game Notes: * Yaroslav Askarov made 24 of 25
saves to drop his save percentage to .921, which is near the top of the league
when compared to regular netminders. He also lowered his goals against average
to 2.35.
* Luke Kunin played in his 400th career NHL Game.
*
Macklin Celebrini had a rough night. He took a minor penalty for the second
consecutive game in the 3rd period, which is when the Sharks need him on the
ice. He only contributed 3 shots on net and struggled in the faceoff circle
with 1 win in 7 draws 14%).
* The victory pushes the Sharks past
Nashville in the standings. Chicago sits in the NHL basement with 26 points.
Nashville sits a point behind San Jose with 29 points.
* No rest for
the weary as the New Jersey Devils come calling on Saturday afternoon. That
will be followed by a visit from the Vegas Golden Knights next Tuesday before
they head out on the road for a quick trip to Utah.
