San Jose Sharks’ Ryan Dzingel (14) celebrates his goal with teammates against the Seattle Kraken in the first period at the SAP Center in San Jose on Sun Feb 27, 2022 (photo by Bay Area News Group)
By Mary Walsh
SAN JOSE– The San Jose Sharks defeated the Seattle Kraken 3-1 Sunday, handing Seattle their seventh loss in a row. Ryan Dzingel, Scott Reedy and Jonah Gadjovich scored for the Sharks. James Reimer made 39 saves for the win. Morgan Geekie scored for Seattle and Phillipp Grubauer made 21 saves in the loss.
The game was Reimer’s eleventh start in a row. After the game, he was asked about his fatigue level. He said:
“When you’re winning you feel a lot better than when you’re losing. So, yeah, I mean, obviously, you know, we’ve had a couple games here in a row. Like I said, I enjoy playing, I enjoy coming to the rink and working and so, it’s fun to play so I’ll never say I’m too tired to play.”
The Sharks got the first goal of the game, for a the first time in a long time. Ryan Dzingel scored it, his first as a Shark, at 17:19 of the first period. Noah Gregor carried the puck in deep then made a backwards pass to Logan Couture above the circle. Couture passed it across the slot to Dzingle for the shot.
Morgan Geekie tied the game just ten seconds later. As Geekie skated to the net, he fanned on a shot but gathered the puck up for a last-second backhand as he passed the post. Assists went to Ryan Donato and Austin Czarnik.
The Kraken out-shot the Sharks 19-4 in the first period.
Early in the second, Calle Jarnkrok put the puck in the net but the goal was called back after the Sharks challenged for goaltender interference. Marcus Johansson got a leg tangled up with Reimer after trying to get around Vlasic in front of the blue paint.
Scott Reedy made it 2-1 Sharks with his first NHL goal at 7:15 of the second period. He had just missed scoring when he took too long to take the shot. After the next face-off, the puck came to him and he took the shot even before the face-off scrum had cleared. Jasper Weatherby got the assist.
The second period was busy for defenseman Jacob Middleton. He fought Jeremy Lauzon a couple of minutes into the period. The he went back to the box with Ryan Donato for matching roughing minors. The Sharks recovered in the shot department, winning 11-9. Their power play had no shots but their penalty kill had one had gave up just one shot to the Kraken.
Jonah Gadjovich scored his first NHL goal at 14:37 to make it 3-1. A shot from Brent Burns went off of the goaltender and then off of Gadjovich’s skate. Seattle challenged it for goaltender interference but the goal was upheld. Assists went to Weatherby and Burns.
The total shot count was 40-24 Kraken. In the third period, the Kraken took three penalties and the Sharks power play got four shots in the period. San Jose had a slight edge in the face-off circle at 54% for the game.
Jonathan Dahlen was out due to illness and so Reedy was called up from the AHL. Defenseman Mario Ferraro, injured in Saturday’s game, had surgery to repair a broken leg. He will be out for six to eight weeks. Defenseman Nicolas Meloche, however, was back on the ice for Sunday’s game. Andrew Cogliano missed a second game attending to a personal matter.
The Sharks next play on Tuesday at 7:00 PM PT in Las Vegas against the Golden Knights.
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