Sharks Wrap Rough Season With One Last Loss to Oilers 5-2

San Jose Sharks’ goalie James Reimer (47) is scored against by the Edmonton Oilers during second-period in Edmonton on Thu Apr 13, 2023 (Canadian Press via AP News photo)

By Matthew Harrington

The San Jose Sharks season mercifully ended Thursday night in Edmonton, with the Sharks dropping a 5-2 loss to the Edmonton Oilers in the finale. San Jose can now finish as low as 29th in the overall standings pending the Columbus Blue Jackets result Friday night.

Erik Karlsson assisted to finish the year with an eye-popping 101 points on 76 assists and 25 goals. It would take some extreme mental gymnastics and talks about +/- and standings for him to not earn the Norris Trophy as the league’s best defenseman. Noah Gregor scored for a second night in a row and Steven Lorentz also lit the lamp for the Sharks (22-44-26).

The Oilers received goals from Evan Bouchard, Leon Draisaitl and Evander Kane and Mattias Janmark, last year’s money laundering trade target for the Sharks vis-a-vis a move to Vegas, scored two goals for the Oilers (50-23-9). Draisaitl also had a pair of assists and Connor McDavid was held to as many points (1) as goaltender Stuart Skinner.

Janmark scored his 9th of the year on a deflection 4:16 into the first period after Skinner played the puck from behind his own net to Mattias Ekholm. Ekholm, still in the Oilers end, fed the puck to Janmark going down the middle. While Janmark was originally turned away by a defensive poke check on a gritty net front swoop, he found his own rebound to beat James Reimer.

Leon Draistail scored an Oilers club record 89th power play goal on a backdoor tap-in, his 52nd goal of the year, at the 6:56 mark of the first for a 2-0 Edmonton lead. The goal was a combination from Draisaitl (128 points) and two other Century Club members Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (104 points) and not so much presumptive but guaranteed Hart favorite Connor McDavid (153).

Noah Gregor pulled the Sharks within one at 2-1 by driving the net on a Thomas Bordeleau’s rebound at the 9:44 mark, lighting the lamp for the 10th time this year in his hometown. Lorentz picked up the secondary assist for the first of two points on the night.

Bouchard put the Oilers up 3-1 after taking a Draisaitl no-look backhander in the home plate area for an easy slot chance at the 5:02 mark of the second period. Mattias Janmark scored a shorthanded goal against a tired Sharks power play unit with 4:56 left in the period to put the lead at 4-1.

The Sharks would get a power play goal back with 1:12 left in the period thanks to Lorentz’s 10th of the year assisted by Tomas Hertl and Karlsson, but that would be the last of their scoring for the 2022-23 season. Kane scored the dagger with just under 5 minutes left in regulation for the 5-2 final, adding insult to injury after getting away with a high stick that stunned Henry Thrun long enough for the Oilers forward to get into place for an easy goal.

The Sharks wrap up one of their worst seasons since the expansion days with the opportunity to possibly score a top-three (maybe even first overall) pick in the NHL Entry Draft this summer. First-year general manager Mike Grier will have his hands full this offseason with some decisions on players in long-term but cumbersome deals and limited cap space while hoping to supplement the young talent still learning the game like Thrun, Bordeleau and William Eklund with veterans who can contribute and fill key roles.

Also of question will be the netminding, with Kaapo Kahkonen being the only NHL goaltender under contract next season. Whether Erik Karlsson gets traded and whether the Sharks can land the top overall pick or another generational talent will dictate the competitive level of this team next season and in the years to come.

Kähkönen has Career Night But Sharks Burned By Wolf, Flames 3-1

San Jose Sharks forward Jacob Peterson (24) is checked by Calgary Flames defenseman Nikita Zadorov during the first period in Calgary on Wed Apr 12, 2023 (Canadian Press via AP News photo)

by Matthew Harrington

Kaapo Kähkönen made 46 saves, Radim Simek picked up his second assist of the season and Noah Gregor scored his 9th goal of the season, but the San Jose Sharks fell to the Calgary Flames 3-1 Wednesday night in Calgary. Nikita Zadorov potted the hattrick for Calgary (38-27-17) in their first game since being eliminated from playoff contention and Gilroy native Dustin Wolf turned aside 23 Sharks shots to win his first NHL game.

Kähkönen set a career high in saves and shots against for the losing Sharks (22-43-16). He matched his high of 46 shots against once besides his second start of his career, the same game in which he made 44 saves to beat the Florida Panthers 4-2 as a member of the Minnesota Wild.

On Wednesday he saw 48 and stopped 46. Baffling, he was omitted in the Three Stars of the game in favor of a deserving Zadorov and Wolf and not so a debuting Matt Coronato who made his debut for Calgary and registered no points and four shots on goal and was +1.

Simek started the Sharks goal-scoring play by breaking up a play in the Sharks end then feeding a streaking Gregor with a pass through center ice. Gregor followed up his first attempt and got the rebound to Wolf’s right for his ninth goal of the year 10:26 into the first period.

Nine goals sets a new career high for Gregor who scored eight last year in 63 games. It was also Simek’s first assist since December 13th against Arizona and his third point overall in 43 games.

Zadorov tied the game after sneaking through the Sharks defense undetected. He took a pass from Andrew Mangiapane and buried it at the 13:36 mark of the second.

He added a wrist shot score 4:01 into the third for a Flames 2-1 lead, this time working through traffic. MacKenzie Weegar and Nazem Kadri assisted on the game-winning goal.

While Zadorov netted the third goal on an empty netter, credit is due for the degree of difficulty. He hit the empty net from his own defensive end with a minute left in regulation for his 14th goal of what has been a career year.

The Sharks season wraps up Thursday night against the Edmonton Oilers. The Sharks currently sit in 29th place with 60 points. The Blackhawks and Ducks have one game remaining and sit at 58 points while Columbus is clear three points of San Jose with two games left.

Karlsson reaches 100, Sharks lose to Jets 6-2

San Jose Sharks’ Erik Karlsson (65) celebrates after his goal against the Winnipeg Jets with Jacob Peterson (24) and Logan Couture (39) during third-period in Winnipeg on Mon Apr 10, 2023 (AP news photo)

by Matthew Harrington

The San Jose Sharks fell to the Winnipeg Jets 6-2 Monday night in Manitoba, but the game will still go down in history. Erik Karlsson scored twice, eclipsing 100 points, the first 100 point season by a defenseman since Brian Leetch during the 1991-92 season.

When Karlsson’s point shot on the power play beat Connor Hellebuyck 3:42 into the 3rd period (as he has many other goalies this year) the Swede became the first European defenseman to pass the century mark. He has 25 goals and 75 assists, both career highs.

It goes without saying he’s the first Shark to have a 100 point season. His first goal also set a bit of Franchise history. Point 99 on a backdoor goal just 20 seconds into play was also the 2,000 franchise goal by a d-man. Logan Couture assisted for his 700th career point, all with San Jose, and Jacob Peterson had his seventh point in as many games.

While Karlsson has the 15th 100-point season by a defenseman, he’s the sixth defenseman to accomplish the feat. Bobby Orr and Paul Coffey combined to complete the feat 11 times while Al MacInnis, Dennis Potvin and Leetch accomplished the feat just once. All are hall of gamers, though MacInnis and Coffey did not win the Norris Trophy for best defenseman in at least one of their 100 point seasons.

The question will be whether Karlsson takes home his third Norris this year or if results like Monday’s push him down the line for a player like Adam Fox, Josh Morrissey or Charlie McAvoy (read: playoff bound and not 29th overall). Karlsson gave the Sharks a 1-0 lead but Pierre-Luc Dubois, Adam Lowry, Kyle Connor and Mason Appleton all scored to put San Jose down 4-1.

Karlsson scored again for the 100 milestone the aforementioned Morrissey scored his 16th of the year and Mark Schieffle scored his 44th on the power play. The Jets desperately needed the win to hold on to the last Wild Card spot with Calgary (90 points) and Nashville (88 points with games in hand) on their trail. Hellebuyck made 19 saves while the Jets fired 33 shots on James Reimer.

Two games remain on the Sharks schedule, one against playoff hopeful Calgary Wednesday night and the other against the lock Edmonton Oilers Thursday night. Should Karlsson score at a two-point-per-game clip he’d move into sole possession of the tenth best season by a defenseman, though Paul Coffey at nine (113 points) is out of reach. But perhaps a piece of hardware is in reach for EK65.

Final Home Game Shows An Example Of Whole Season As Sharks Lose To Oilers 6-1

The San Jose Sharks right wing Adam Raska (57) poke checking Edmonton Oilers defenceman Phillip Broberg (86) at SAP Center in San Jose on Sat Apr 8, 2023 Photo From San Jose Sharks Instagram

By Troy Ewers

It was the final game here at SAP for the 2022-2023 season and it was an example of what the whole year was for the San Jose Sharks (22-41-16). In the beginning of the game it seemed like the Sharks could keep up with their opponent, but by the end, the Edmonton Oilers (48-23-9) the better team would prevail 6-1 and the San Jose supporters would leave not as happy.

This game was just a final example of this pattern and if you don’t believe it was a pattern, the Sharks home record would beg to differ. 8-22-11 at the tank this season, the worst home record in franchise history. The SAP Center used to be a nightmare for opponents, because for years it was a true home ice advantage, between the energy of the fans and the players, teams would say “If you can’t shut them up in San Jose in the first ten minutes they won’t stop.”

The game itself today was exciting in the beginning with a sell out crowd filled with fans of both squads. The first period was back and forth display as the Oilers got on the board first from a goal by Nugent-Hopkins (Assisted by Hyman and McDavid, but two minutes later, the Sharks fired right back off a goal courtesy of Tomas Hertl with an assist from Jacob Petersen, who in pre game was the topic of discussion as one of the rising stars in San Jose.

The first period would end 2-1 when two minutes before the end of the period, Connor McDavid got his 63rd goal of the year and from this point on the game would only spiral out of the teal team’s control goal after goal. McDavid would get a second goal on the night, three points total, which means he leaves San Jose with a wild 151 points, even Coach Quinn says in his post game interview he’s “never seen a season like this.”

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins would leave with 3 points as well (1 goal, 2 assists) and the rest of the points would come from Evan Bouchard (2 assists), Derek Ryan (1 goal,1 assist), Mattias Ekholm(1 assist), Zach Hyman (1 assist, 1 goal), Leon Draisaitl (1 assist), Warren Foegele (1 assist), and Phillip Broberg (1 goal).

The better question would be who didn’t get a point for Edmonton in this game and that’s Evander Kane , who every time when he touched the puck he received boos that could be heard through noise cancellation headphones, but he would walk away with last laugh as the final seconds ticked down and the game was over, Edmonton.

Both Hertl and Couture said in their post game interviews that they wish they could send the fans home happy, but in the end the result is the result. Next season everyone on this team is under evaluation and the future of this roster might have some big changes coming, but one thing remains the same for the San Jose Sharks, this team is even in its rebuilding stage is going to give you great moments and this season was no different.

Erik Karlsson putting on a historic season, Mike Greir’s inaugural season, Doug Wilson night, William Eklund’s first goal, and Patrick Marleau’s number being retired all were silver linings in a stormy San Jose season and as the off season approaches, the front office has a lot of questions to be answered.

The Sharks have three more games left all on the road in Canada in Winnipeg Sunday, in Calgary on Wednesday, and Thursday in Edmonton to conclude the 2022-23 season.

San Jose Sharks podcast with Troy Ewers: Sharks host Oilers in final home game of 2022-23 today at SAP

San Jose Sharks broadcaster Drew Remenda (right) interviews on NBC Bay Area Sharks defenseman Henry Thrun (left) who had two assists in his first NHL period of his career on Sat Apr 1, 2023. The Sharks are expecting big things from Thrun for next season. (NBC Bay Area Sports file)

On the SJ Sharks podcast with Troy:

#1 Troy final game of the home schedule for the Sharks they bring a 8-21-11 home record into today’s game at SAP Center. How much improvement will be needed over the off season to improve their home record for next season.

#2 Back on Mar 18th critics were surprised that William Eklund was sent down to the Sharks minor league affiliate the San Jose Barracuda. Later on Mar 31st it was announced Eklund would need shoulder surgery. The timing of his demotion turned out to be something the Sharks didn’t foretell with the shoulder injury.

#3 A week ago all the excitement was Henry Thrun who came on the scene with two assists in his first NHL period. The Sharks are expecting a lot of offensive production from Thrun who comes to the Sharks from the Anaheim Ducks that was quite a way to start out with San Jose.

#4 Sharks center Jacob Peterson hopes to put his stamp on the Sharks offense while he’s not the status of a Logan Couture or a Erik Karlsson so far he has two goals, three assists, in six games and the Sharks to get some good production out of him for next season.

#5 The Sharks host the Edmonton Oilers (47-23-9) today in this last home game of the season. The Oilers are one of the top teams in the Western Conference who could go deep in the post season with such top players with Connor McDavid 62 goals, Leon Drisaitl 51 goals, and Ryan Nugent Hopkins 36 goals.

Troy did the San Jose Sharks podcasts during the season at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Colorado dominates San Jose in second of back to backs 6-2

Photo courtesy of San Jose Sharks. Noah Gregor gets warmed up.

By Titus Wilkinson (@TitusWisme)

SAN JOSE- The second of backs to backs against Colorado was none to kind to San Jose as the Sharks lost 6-2.

In between the pipes for the Sharks was Kaapo Kahkonen and for Colorado it was Alexander Georgiev.

Offense took awhile to get going but unsurprisingly Erik Karlsson was the one to get things going as he scored at the 15:43 mark getting the Sharks on the board.

Before the end of the first Colorado was able to respond as Mikko Rantanen scored a big goal his 50th of the season tying the game back up.

At the end of the first the shots favored Colorado 7-6.

Rantanen continued his momentum in the second by scoring another goal just 2:32 into the second period breaking the tie.

A little later in the period Nathan MacKinnon scored his 37th goal of the season with Samuel Girard and Rantanen getting the assists.

Completing the hat trick Rantanen got his third of the game bringing his goal total up to 52 this time MacKinnon and Devon Toews got the assists on the goal. After the goal Kahkonen was pulled and Reimer was subbed in.

After the Avalanche went on their four goal run Karlsson dished a beautiful pass to Steven Lorentz who tapped it home to make the score 4-2.

Colorado did respond before the buzzer went off as on a breakaway Ben Myers scored his second goal of the season.

At the end of the second the shots favored Colorado 22-14.

The third period began with more Avalanche offense as Ben Myers scored just 3:12 into the final period of play getting his second goal of the game.

That goal ended up being the last goal of the game as Colorado won 6-2.

The three stars of the game were: 1st: Mikko Rantanen 2nd: Nathan MacKinnon 3rd: Matt Nieto

The Sharks next game is Saturday against the Oilers at 1 p.m. at home.

Av’s use overtime goal to tip Sharks 4-3

Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon (29) celebrates with Valeri Nichushkin (13) after scoring in overtime against the San Jose Sharks at the SAP Center in San Jose Tue, April 4, 2023, (AP News photo)

By Daniel Dullum
Tuesday, April 4, 2023

Nathan MacKinnon’s overtime goal, his second of the game, lifted Colorado to a 4-3 win over the San Jose Sharks Tuesday at SAP Center in the first of two back-to-back home games against the Avalanche.

MacKinnon scored the game-winner for the Avalanche (45-24-6, 96 points) at 3:13 of the overtime period, assisted by Devon Toews. It was MacKinnon’s 36th tally of the season and Toews’ 36th helper.

The Avalanche took a 2-0 lead into the first intermission on first period goals by Jack Johnson at 4:29 and Evan Rodriguez at 6:24. San Jose cut its deficit to 2-1 at 12:55 of the second period on Kevin Labanc’s 14th gpal of the season from Logan Couture and Erik Karlsson.

Colorado extended its lead to 3-1 when MacKinnon scored his first goal of the game at 17:54 of the second period.

The Sharks (22-39-15, 59 points) forced overtime with a pair of goals in the third period – Jacob Peterson’s second goal of the season at 5:50 came on the power play while the Avs’ Kurtis MacDermid was serving a 2-minute minor for hooking. Labanc scored the equalizer at 7:11 from Noah Gregor and MacDonald. It was Labanc’s 15th goal of the season.

Alexander Georgiev stopped 28 of the 31 San Jose shots he faced in the Colorado nets. Sharks goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen faced 42 shots and made 38 saves.

The Sharks next two games are at home against Colorado on Thursday and Saturday against Edmonton,

Gregor Hat Trick Paces Sharks to 7-2 Rout of Coyotes

The San Jose Sharks right winger Danil Gushchin (75) and defenseman Jacob MacDonald (9) are thrilled with the results against the Arizona Coyotes at the Mullet Arena in Tempe AZ on Sat Apr 1, 2023 (@SanJoseSharks photo)

By Matthew Harrington

The San Jose Sharks (22-39-15) seem to have missed the memo on tanking for the best lottery odds, routing the Arizona Coyotes (27-37-13) Saturday night 7-2 from Mullett Arena.

Noah Gregor scored his first career NHL hat trick, Kyle Criscuolo and Danil Gushchin picked up their first NHL goals and Erik Karlsson had four assists to sit five points shy of 100 points on the season with six games to play for the Sharks season (22-39-15). J.J. Moser and Milos Kelemen scored for Arizona (27-37-13)

Gregor opened the scoring 1:30 into the game after Nico Sturm forced a turnover at the Coyotes blue line. Gregor took the puck and scored easily for his 6th goal of the year.

Jacob Peterson stayed hot after joining the Sharks. He scored his first goal of the year on the power play at the 8:38 mark on the power play. He now has four points over his first five games with the Sharks.

Kyle Criscuolo broke through for his first goal of his career at the 13:02 mark when Clayton Keller turned the puck over, leaving Criscuolo alone on a breakaway. Moser pulled the Coyotes within two by scoring on the power play with 2:53 left in the first. Criscuolo had previously played 16 games in the NHL after parts of two seasons.

Gushchin picked up where he left off in the USHL and AHL, sniping a top corner power play goal 1:41 into the second. He was making his NHL debut, lighting the lamp for a 4-1 edge.

Gregor potted goal number two at the eight minute mark of the third. Logan Couture picked up his 27th goal at the 10:10 mark on the power play. Gregor converted the hat trick with 5:13 left to play. Kelemen scored his first career goal for the Coyotes to close the scoring ledge, advantage Sharks 7-2. Kaapo Kähkönen made 29 of a possible 31 saves in net for San Jose.

By virtue of winning their last three contests, the Sharks now sit in 29th place, out of the top spot in the Connor Bedard sweepstakes. They may move further down the standings after two games versus the Avalanche this week.

Henry Thrun has NHL debut to remember propelling Sharks to victory in overtime 4-3

Photo courtesy of San Jose Sharks. Kevin Labanc and Noah Gregor celebrate a goal together against the Winnipeg Jets.

By Titus Wilkinson (@TitusWisme)

SAN JOSE- On home ice the Sharks played a solid game against the Golden Knights winning in overtime by a final of 4-3. 

In goal tonight for the Sharks was James Reimer while Laurent Brossoit got the start for the Golden Knights.

Making his NHL debut tonight was prospect Henry Thrun for the Sharks while Thomas Bordeleau made his season debut for San Jose.

The game got off to a quick start as just 4:16 into the first Mario Ferraro scored on a slap shot breaking the ice early. On the goal Henry Thrun was also awarded an assist getting his first NHL point in his first game.

A little later in the period Oskar Lindblom tapped home a beautiful feed from Mario Ferraro making it a 2-0 game. Once again Thrun got an assist on the goal along with Ferraro showing exactly why San Jose acquired him.

It was not all good news in the first for the Sharks though as on a misplay with the puck behind the net by Reimer Vegas capitalized. Nicolas Hague was the one to tap it into the wide open net scoring his third goal of the season.

After the first the shots favored San Jose 6-5.

Early on in the second the Sharks found themselves in penalty trouble as Erik Karlsson headed to the box for tripping.

On the power play Vegas scored as Ivan Barbashev potted his 15th goal of the season tying the game up at two.

Later in the period the Sharks found a response as Martin Kaut fead a nice pass to Thomas Hertl who tapped in his 21st goal of the season. Jacob Peterson also got an assist on the goal. 

At the end of the second the shots still favored San Jose at 11-9. 

In the third Vegas did not go away without a fight as on a bouncing puck out front Michael Amadio banged it home to tie the game back up at three. 

The Sharks were hit with a late scare in the third as with less than five minutes left Jacob MacDonald took a tripping penalty putting the Golden Knights on the power play. 

San Jose was able to kill off the penalty and pushed the game to overtime. 

In overtime on a terrible turnover by Alex Pietrangelo the Sharks rushed back the other way with Logan Couture leading the pack. All alone Couture was able to capitalize and send Sharks fans home happy with an overtime win. 

“I was just trying to keep it simple and enjoy the first couple of shifts,” Henry Thrun said postgame. 

The Sharks next game will be on Saturday against Arizona on the road at 7 p.m. 

San Jose Sharks game wrap: Reimer and Gregor Show Their Worth in 3-0 shutout

San Jose Sharks right winger Kevin Lebanc (62), center Noah Gregor (73), and defenceman Erik Karlsson (65) celebrate defeating the Winnipeg Jets at SAP Center in San Jose on Tue Mar 28, 2023 (@SanJoseSharks photo)

By Troy Ewers

SAN JOSE–The San Jose Sharks (20-39-15) hosted the Winnipeg Jets (41-31-3) as we close this final stretch of the regular season. Going into the game all eyes were on Erik Karlsson, who was ten points away from 100 points on the season, but they were facing off against a Jets team who was hungry for their playoff spot. The Sharks upset the wild card contender Jets shutting them out behind a great goaltending performance by James Reimer in the 3-0 win at SAP Center.

In the first period, Sharks attacked that tough Jets defense by dominating possession in the first five minutes and even drawing a penalty by minute eight. The San Jose offensive attack had a big burst of energy when Noah Gregor scored on a five hole goal making the game 1-0 early in the first.

Gregor left this game with two points (one goal and one assist) and said tonight was a “solid win” and considering the night he had and his pending free agency, he also looked at this game as a “ chance to prove to the organization he should stay around”, but Gregor wasn’t the only one who had something to prove this game.

Reimer, who a week ago was under public scrutiny over the pride night situation, not only wanted to silence the critics, but also show the front office that he “still has a fire in him” as he also could be a free agent at the end of this season. Reimer had a phenomenal game and on three occasions made saves that led to big ovations from the arena and on top of that he had a shutout in net. Reimer and Gregor showed off in front of this crowd and sparked the team’s energy.

Second period was a defensive battle with no scoring, but the third period is where Gregor got his second point of the night with an assist to Labanc and Karlsson would get point #91 with an assist to Kaut which would also be the last goal of the game.

Coach David Quinn called this game San Jose’s “most solid win in a while” and he grinned at the idea that his squad might be playing spoiler to opponents who have their sights on the postseason, especially since Vegas is coming into town on Thursday.

This game was a morale boost and the first time in a while in the Sharks locker room they had music playing to celebrate a win. Next game will be the debut of the Sharks’ latest signing from Harvard, Henry Thurn and this final stretch of games may not seem important, but ending this season on a high note is a huge reward.

With a new coach, new GM, and roster changes all season, ending this season with moments like Tuesday night make a fanbase breathe easier, but the Sharks are getting closer to the end of the trial run, because next season is the real test.