The Sharks honored their long time general
manager, Doug Wilson, on Saturday night. They elected to hold the festivities
while Wilson's former team, the Chicago Blackhawks, were in town. Ironically,
the Sharks and Blackhawks entered play a combined 0-5 on the season, so one of
the two teams would earn their first win of the season. IT wasn't San Jose. The
Sharks paid homage to Wilson by showcasing the discombobulated roster that was
partly his handy work.
Chicago overcame a 2-0 deficit to embarrass the
Sharks 5-2 in a game that turned upside down in a catastrophic 2nd period that
included a pair of short-handed goals by the Blackhawks.
All signs
pointed to Sharks win early in the game after a sluggish start. San Jose would
not record their fist shot on goal until 11:12 of the opening. When they did
show up, things looked promising.
Nico Sturm bagged his 1st goal as a
member of the sharks at 13: 58 of the period. The German winger took a
cross-ice pass from Erik Karlsson then snapped a shot past Blackhawks
goaltender Petr Mrazek from the left side. It appeared to flutter on Mrazek and
may have knuckled on him, as it caught the upper left corner of the net for the
1-0 Sharks lead.
Karlsson doubled the Sharks lead right before the 1st
intermission bouncing a shot off Blackhawks centerman Colin Blackwell's skate
as he was blanketing Sharks captain Logan Couture just out in front of the left
post. The puck redirected perfectly past Mrazek for Karlsson's 1st goal of the
season. Karlsson was parked on the right point and saw Couture cutting off the
left wing boards towards the slot. He was trying to hit Couture with a pass,
but Couture couldn't get a stick blade on the pass. San Jose gladly took the
trade, establishing their first multi-goal lead of the season. The goal was
originally credited to Couture, but a review correctly switched it to Karlsson.
The Sharks enjoyed their first power play of the game after Chicago
was whistled for too many men 5:05 into the 2nd period, but they could not
capitalize on the man advantage. That would play a bigger role in the drama
that is Sharks hockey than anyone realized at the time.
Chicago scored
at 7:21 of the frame when Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews took a pass
parallel to the Sharks blueline from Tyler Johnson, then raced past a
flat-footed Karlsson before skating in on net uncontested and slipping a shot
past Kappo Khakonen.
Andreas Anthansiou was whistled for holding at 7:56,
but rather than leveraging the power play, the Sharks allowed Chicago to tie
the game with a short-handed goal. Sam Lafferty converted at 8:27 after he
skated the puck out of the right corner and dropping a pass to Jason Dickinson.
Dickinson put a shot on net, but the puck deflected out in front where Lafferty
flipped it into a wide open net for the 2-2 tie.
Connor Murphy was
sent off for cross checking 90 seconds later, but the Sharks failed to learn
from their misguided play on the previous goal. Lafferty and Dickinson teamed
up again, adding a second short-handed goal 2:12 after the first one. Once
again, San Jose got sloppy protecting the puck, then did not get back to
defend.
Taylor Raddysh pushed the Blackhawks lead to 4-2 at 5:08 of
the 3rd period, when he got past the Sharks backliners, and skated in on
Khakonen for an easy 1-on-nobody breakaway goal.
Dickinson sccored his
1st goal of the season 4:29 later on a 2-on-1 break. The Blackhawks forward
elected to shoot rather than dish the puck with Karlsson splitting him and
Philipp Kurashev on the right side. Dickinson's shot found the upper left
corner of the net for the 5-2 Chicago lead.
In the end, the Sharks
contract mistakes were on full display. They would buckle to a team that was
equal footing, but once again they found a way to fall short.
Game
Notes: * Doug Wilson finished his career in San Jose, but he
played the majority of it in Chicago. The Blackhawks players wore red jerseys
with Wilson's #24 during warm-ups in his honor.
* Several former
Sharks were in attendance for Wilson's ceremony, including Joe Thornton, Mike
Ricci, and Devin Setoguchi. Patrick Marleau, Joe Pavelski and Ray Whitney all
paid tribute via video messages.
* Goaltender Kappo Khakonen was hung
out to drive most of the night, but his stat line would bare the brunt of that
Sharks implosion. Khakonen surrendered 5 goals on only 25 shots.
*
Erik Karlsson held the distinction of being on the ice for all 7 goals scored
in the game. The three biggest contracts on the Sharks (Karlsson, Meier and
Hertl) were all a -3 on the evening.
* The Blackhawks blocked 17 shots
in the game. San Jose countered with 3 blocks.
