The Sharks returned from the Christmas break
on Saturday night and got back into the win column by defeating the Vancouver
Canucks 6-3 at Rogers Arena. The Sharks had a pesky Canucks team nipping at
their heels all night, but a 3-goal 3rd period helped propel San Jose to their
8th road win of the season, which matches their total for all of the 2024-25
season.
San Jose established 2-goal leads 4 times, but Vancouver kept
pressing. A week after their big trade sending Quinn Hughes to Minnesota, the
Canucks have been trying to dig themselves out of a rut that has them looking
up at all but one other team in the Western Conference standings. They pushed
San Jose all night. but in the end it was San Jose that was able to prevail.
That came from a 6-goal performance that helped them snap their 3-game
losing streak. Not surprisingly, the last time The Sharks won was a 6-3
performance against Calgary.
In the end, San Jose was the better team.
The Sharks opened the game's scoring at 6:11 of the opening period
when Ryan Reaves muscled a puck over the goal line after a mad scramble for the
puck. Vincent Iorio fired a shot from the right point that Canucks goaltender
Thatcher Demko got a piece of after it hit Barclay Goodrow, but it trickled
toward the goal line. On his back and looking at the rafters, Demko reached
over his head to glove the puck, but Reaves crashed the crease and put the puck
home for his 3rd of the season.
John Klingberg made it a 2-0 lead 1:44
later on a long shot from the blueline. Macklin Celebrini drew the puck back to
the defenseman on a faceoff win from the right dot. Klingberg carried the puck
to the spot on the blueline directly in line with the net before firing a shot
that was partially screened by Igor Chernyshov and Filip Kronek as the two
jostled through the mid-slot.
a Vincent Iorio corss checking penalty
aided the Canucks in halving the Sharks lead. While on the power play Connor
Garland dipsy-doodled with the puck on the right side before snapping a pass to
Linus Karlsson for a slam dunk goal. Karlsson was parked on the left post,
evading Dmitry Orlov for the no doubter goal.
William Eklund was
credited with his first goal in 5 games at 12:38 of the 2nd period. Eklund was
the last Shark to touch the puck out in front of the net, before Marco Rossi
tried swatting at as it floated in the slot. Rossi ended up chipping it past
Demko for an own goal to give the Sharks another 2-goal lead.
Rossi
would atone for his mistake 36 seconds into the 3rd period when he swatted
another puck, but this was directed at the Sharks net. Yaroslav Askarov tried
to glove the puck as it slid toward the San Jose goal line, but his momentum
carried his glove hand over the line to cust the Sharks lead to 3-2.
Tyler Myers and Marcus Pettersson took penalties 68
seconds apart providing the Sharks with an abridged 5-on-3 power play.
Vancouver would escape Myers penalty, but they weren't so lucky with the
Pettersson infraction.
Dmitry Orlov carried the puck to the right
corner before sliding it to Adam Gaudette. With two defenders on him, Gaudette
sent a bullet pass to the front of the net where Igor Chernyshov collected it
then snapped it past Demko for his first NHL goal.
With Zeev Buium in
the penalty box for impeding Collin Graf multiple times on a breakaway chance,
the Sharks shot themselves in the foot with the all-too common turnover in the
offensive zone. Drew O'Connor steamed up the left wing on a 2-on-1 break before
snapping his 9th goal of the season past Askarov.
Alex Wennberg made
things more complicated by taking a holding penalty on Connor Garland at 11:40.
The sharks killed the penalty but it was another reminder that San Jose has
plenty of things to clean up in their game.
Chernyshov added an assist
to his evening tally after the Sharks used a strong forecheck to pin the puck
deep in the Canucks zone. The rookie setup Celebrini for a one-time chance that
Demko had no shot to defend. The goal was the 20th of the season for Celebrini.
Collin Graf scored an empty net goal with 3:05 still to play after
Canucks head coach Adam Foote pulled Demko for a last ditch attempt at catching
the Sharks.
Game Notes: * John Klingberg is now tied
for 6th in the league in goal scoring by defensemen this season. His 8 goals
trail league leader Jakob Chychrun by 7 goals.
* Igor Chernyshov not
only recorded his 1st career NHL goal, but he also bagged his first game
winning goal, and his 1st multi-point night.
* William Eklund finished
the game with a goal and an assist. He was one of 3 Sharks to multi-point
games, joining Macklin Celebrini and Chernyshov.
* Although he scored
on an empty net, Collin Graf extended his goal scoring streak to 4 games. He
has 5 goals in that span.
* The Canucks short-handed goal in the 3rd
period was the 6th allowed by San Jose this season, which is tops in the
league. They are tied with the New York Rangers for that dubious statistic.
