It's been a busy weekend for the San Jose
Sharks. In a 24 hour span they beat the President's Trophy winner, followed by
a victory over the defending Stanley Cup Champion. After dispatching the
Winnipeg Jets on Friday night, San Jose knocked off the 2024-25 Champion
Florida Panthers with a gritty 3-1 performance. Yaroslav Askarov made 38 saves
to notch his 4th win of the season to lead San Jose.
Back to back
games against two teams of the Jets and Panthers caliber was tough enough, but
the suddenly upstart Sharks are finding ways to compete against top tier teams.
Askarov was at the front of the line. The Russian netminder stopped 19
of 20 shots in a tough 2nd period, then turned aside another 13 shots in a wild
3rd period.
San Jose put plenty of rubber on Panthers goaltender Danil
Tarasov early. They held an 8-2 advantage through the first 8 minutes of the
game including a nice chance for Macklin Celebrini from in tight. Jeff Petry
countered with a nice one-time chance at the 9 minute mark.
A high
sticking penalty to former Sharks Noah Gregor setup a power play opportunity
that San Jose didn't do much with. In fact Florida had a pair of looks while
killing the penalty. Jeff Skinner was sent off at 15:19 to give the Panthers
their first opportunity on the man advantage, but like the Sharks earlier, they
would not convert.
The Sharks young dynamic duo of Macklin Celebrini
and Will Smith cracked the score sheet right after Skinner's penalty expired.
Vincent Desharnais dumped the puck into the right corner where Smith stripped
defenseman Aaron Ekblad then turned toward the back of the net before sliding a
pass out front. Celebrini beat Niko Mikkola to the spot and lifted a shot past
Tarasov for the 1-0 lead.
Philipp Kurashev was sent off for tripping
with 1:43 remaining in the period. His teammates would kill the penalty, which
had 17 seconds carry over into the 2nd period.
San Jose grabbed a 2-0
lead 3:06 into the middle period when Adam Gaudette got a stick blade on a
Dmitry Orlov shot, deflecting it downwards and past Tarasov. Florida head coach
Paul Maurice attempted to challenge the goal, but referees Corey Syvret and
Trevor Hanson let him know that the play had already been reviewed and the goal
stood.
The non-challenge became more relevant because it saved the
Panthers a bench minor. Skating with 5 skaters on the ice, they would then
score 28 seconds after the Gaudette goal.
Anton Lundell made a play on
a puck in front of the Sharks net, which tied up Sharks goaltender Yaroslav
Aksarov. Lundell bumped Sharks Orlov into Askarov which dislodged the
goaltender's mask. Askarov tried to pull the mask off to show it was knocked
out of place, but Brad Marchand had already collected the puck and swept it
into the San Jose goal to halve the Sharks lead.
Ryan Reaves took the
Sharks 3rd tripping penalty of the night at 13:28, then Alexander Wennberg was
called for high sticking Samoskevich at 15:18, giving the Panthers a brief
2-man advantage. San Jose took care of both penalties to extend their penalty
kill streak to 16 straight.
San Jose would be better served to stay out of the
penalty box, but if you can't killing them is the next best thing.
Florida would put 20 shots on net in the period to San Jose's 2 shots.
Trailing by a goal, Florida's approach only intensified. The Panthers started
the throw their big bodies around and Askarov was tested at the 9:48 mark when
Sam Reinhart setup Evan Rodrigues with a redirect chance in tight.
The
Sharks were already unhappy with the disparity in calls throughout the contest,
but they were livid with an interference call on Celebrini at 11:39. It was a
5th straight penalty for the Panthers. San Jose answered with a furious penalty
kill to keep the lead in place.
The Panthers pulled Tarasov with 2:40
to play and it almost allowed them to draw even. Florida had several quality
scoring chances in the final 200 seconds of the game. Alexander Wennberg beat
the Panthers defense to a rebound that kicked off the Florida end boards after
Colin Graf missed on a long shot. Wennberg buried it to the delight of the
15,895 or thereabouts in attendance.
In the end it was a 3rd straight
win for San Jose. If not for a shootout loss to Detroit 6 days ago, the Sharks
might have been looking at a 6 game winning streak against tough competition.
Game Notes: * Joe Thornton got his first look at his
Hall of Fame plaque on Saturday night in Toronto. He also received his
inductee's jacket. Jumbo Joe wasn't the first player inducted to don a Sharks
jersey but he may be the most influential in team history. He will officially
be inducted on Monday afternoon 4:30pm Pacific time.
* Florida entered
the game with a 12 game winning streak over the Sharks.
* Macklin
Celebrini has scored goals in 2 straight games, and 4 in his last 5 games. Will
Smith has points in 4 straight games (2 goals, 3 assists).
* Celebrini
and Smith have combined for goals 13 times this season.
* San Jose has
killed 17 straight penalties.
