The Sharks welcomed another expansion team to
the NHL by playing like an expansion team, then rolling over and gifting the
Seattle Kraken their 10th win of the season. San Jose tripped over themselves
for three periods before falling to the Kraken 3-1 at the SAP Center. The
Sharks did nothing offensively for 58 minutes, but when they finally got on the
board, it was too late. They would fall to a lineup of castoffs, dropping their
14th game of the season.
San Jose was plagued with lethargic play,
especially from their top end players. Nobody showed up for this one, and it
cost the Sharks 2 points against a division opponent.
The game
officials may have left their whistles in the dressing room, as the opening
period included a span of 15 minutes without a stoppage. Seattle used the end
to end flow to out-shoot San Jose 11-8 in that opening frame. The would win 5
of the 7 faceoffs in the period, which favored the visiting team.
Kraken goaltender Chris Driedger had a relatively light work load in that
period, as the Sharks couldn't get much going around the Seattle goal. James
Reimer on the other hand, had to defend against a handful of scoring chances,
especially at the end of the period.
Matt Nieto should have scored his
2nd goal of the season 3 minutes into the 2nd period when a rebound found his
stick as he sat at the top of the crease. The Sharks forward swept the puck
around Driedger on the left side but defenseman Adam Larsson had his stick
positioned perfectly on the goal line, stopping the would be tally.
Nieto had a pair chances from the doorstep later in the period, but both went
unfulfilled. Marcus Johansson narrowly missed giving the Kraken the lead right
before the end of the period when a puck kicked off the end boards on the right
side, while Reimer was covering the off post. The winger whiffed on a puck that
sat staring at the wide open net.
The Sharks blinked first, and they
were done in by two former Sharks. Ryan Donato was credited with his 6th goal
of the season at 6:23 of the 3rd period when a puck he last touched kicked off
Radim Simek's skate and into the Sharks net. The ex-Shark Joonas Donskoi was
credited with the primary assist as his shot from the right side bounced off
Reimer before Donato got his stick on the puck.
Seattle made it a 2-0
lead with 5:42 to play when Brandon Tanev buried a Morgan Geekie feed. Geekie
fought off Brent Burns then sent a pass from the left wing boards to a cutting
Tanev who separated himself from Mario Ferraro and tapped home his 9th goal of
the season.
The Sharks pulled Reimer with four minutes to play
which allowed them to finally get a puck past Dreidger. Logan Couture snapped a
feed from Burns past Dreidger from the right wing for his 9th goal of the
season.
On a night full of missed opportunities, Tomas Hertl gloved a
deflection in front of a wide open Kraken net on the ensuing faceoff, but the
Sharks forward couldn't get it to the ice before two Seattle defenders
collapsed on him.
Moments later, Jamie Oleksiak intentionally
dislodged the net, but the on-ice officials did not impose a penalty although
they held a lengthy discussion to evaluate the play.
Calle Jarnkrok
set the last nail in San Jose's coffin with an empty net goal with 6 ticks
left.
Game Notes: * The Kraken entered SAP Center,
having won 9 of their first 27 games. The Sharks, by comparison, won 17 games
total in their first season in the league. That Sharks team was built
differently however, which contributed to the terrible inaugural (and second)
season. The Sharks were selected from players on the then Minneapolis Stars
roster, rather than the current expansion format, which allows new teams to
draw from each of the league's teams. Seattle has played to a respectable 5-3-2
record over their last 10 games. The Sharks have a 6-4-0 record over the same
span.
* Former Sharks prospect Alexander True played in only his 2nd
NHL game. True made his NHL debut for Seattle last Saturday.
* The
loss was a complete failure for the Sharks. Ten skaters recorded a -1 in the
game.
* Logan Couture recorded 7 shots in the game. Until he buried
his 3rd period goal, his impact on the game was hardly captainesque.
*
San Jose out-hit the Kraken 43-31, led by Radim Simek who recorded 11 hits.
