Building off their overtime win over Utah on
Tuesday, the Sharks had to play extra hockey on Thursday night, but the outcome
was the same. San Jose overcame a late tying goal by the Los Angeles Kings to
win the game in the shootout. Philipp Kurashev scored a goal in regulation and
the only goal in the shootout to help pace San Jose who have won 7 games in 10
tries in the month of November.
San Jose had to dig deep on the night
they would honor Joe Thornton for his induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame,
but they got the job done. It was another growth step. Rather than buckling to
the disappointment of allowing a late goal, they pinned back their ears and
went to work in the overtime. They didn't success there, so they took care of
business in the shootout.
Adam Gaudette staked the Sharks to the early
1-0 lead with a shot from the high slot at 2:33 that got past Kings goaltender
Anton Forsberg. Los Angeles turned the puck over at their own blueline by
Collin Graf who moved the puck to Ty Dellandrea on the right side. Dellandrea
moved it back to Gaudette for the long shot that put San Jose on top.
After killing off two consecutive penalties, the Sharks went on the power play
at 15:08 when Adrian Kempe was called for holding Mario Ferraro. Things turned
on the Sharks when Macklin Celebrini didn't protect the puck at the Kings
blueline, allowing Joel Armia to strip him and race up ice before depositing
the Kings 2nd short-handed goal of the season to tie things up at 1-1.
The Sharks 3rd line made things happen again late in the period when Collin
Graf threw a puck to the front of the net from the left circle after circling
the puck around the back of the net. The puck hit Dellandrea in the left skate
before making a 90 degree turn to split Forsberg's skates for his 2nd goal of
the season. The tally came with 9.9 seconds remaining in the period and setup 2
point nights for both players.
Playing in likely his last game at SAP
Center, Anze Kopitar gathered a Trevor Moore pass right at the Sharks blueline
as he breezed past Ty Dellandrea early in the 2nd period. Kopitar skated in on
net unimpeded and slipped the puck between Yaroslav Askarov's pad to knot the
game up at 2-2.
Armia appeared to have the Kings 3rd goal of the night
at 8:25 after he swatted an elevated puck over Askarov, but the Sharks
successfully challenged that Los Angeles was offside on their entry.
San Jose reclaimed the lead with just under 3 minutes left in the period when
Kurashev gathered a Will Smith pass and waited out Forsberg. The Sharks forward
was standing in the spot between the circles and the goal with no defenders
close enough to defend him. Forsberg had to inch out of his net to make
Kurashev's angle, but he waited out the goaltender before snapping a shot home
for his 6th goal of the season.
Alex Wennberg was called for a meaningless holding
penalty at 12:19. The Kings worked the puck in the Sharks zone for the majority
of the penalty but Dellandrea had a glorious short-handed chance that he
squandered with a lackluster attempt on Forsberg.
Askarov made a save
with 2 minutes to play as a shot rang of his mask. He had to pull his mask off
to get a repair. LA pulled Forsberg at the TV timeout for the extra attacker.
The hockey gods were unkind to the Sharks. With the clock ticking
down, Kevin Fiala put a shot on net that Askarov stopped, but the rebound
kicked right to Adrian Kempe for the easy put back and a 303 tie.
San
Jose had 3 quality chances in the overtime period with Wennberg, Celebrini and
Tyler Toffoli all missing.
In the shootout, Kurashev led off the
skills contest with a goal, followed by misses from Celebrini and Smith. The
Kings sent Trevor Moore, Kempe and Perry, who all missed.
Game
Notes: * Joe Thornton was honored for his induction into the Hall
of fame in a pre-game ceremony. Thornton was accompanied by his wife Tabea,
daughter Ayla and son River. The entire famil took the ceremonial puck drop
after a video tribute to Thornton.
* Anze Kopitar received a nice
ovation from the SAP Center crowd in the first period after he was recognized
for his impending retirement at the end of the season.
* Philipp
Kurashev had 7 goals and 7 assists in 51 games for the Blackhawks last season.
He has 6 goals and 6 assists in 19 games for San Jose so far this
season.
* Yaroslav Askarov made 31 saves for the win, his 7th of the
season. Askarov surrendered more than 2 goals for the first time in his last 8
starts.
* San Jose recorded their 10th win of the season on Thursday,
in their 21st game of the season. It took them 28 games to achieve that feat
last season, and 42 games in the 2023-24 season.
