Sharks Lose 5-4 in OT to Canucks, 5th Loss in a Row

Vancouver Canucks right wing Brock Boeser (6), Matthew Highmore (15), center J.T. Miller (9) and Conor Garland (8) celebrate Miller’s goal in overtime at the SAP Center in San Jose on Thu Feb 17, 2022 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

SAN JOSE– The San Jose Sharks lost 5-4 in OT to the Vancouver Canucks Thursday. Juho Lammikko, Brock Boeser, Quinn Hughes, Connor Garland, and J.T. Miller scored for Vancouver. Thatcher Demko made 24 saves for the win. Logan Couture, Timo Meier ad Alexander Barabanov scored for San Jose, with two goals from Meier. James Reimer, making his sixth start in a row, made 22 saves in the loss.

In the first period, the Sharks were badly outshot, 15-4. In the second, the Sharks pushed back and had 15 shots to the Canucks’ 5, and in the third the Sharks had 9 shots to the Canucks’ 5. The Sharks had no shots in overtime. After the game, Sharks Head Coach Bob Boughner said:

“I think the shots were something like 24,25-10 in the last two periods. I thought we had a lot of good looks. So, yeah, that’s our identity, that’s how we gotta play. I think if we could play the way we played in the last two periods, we’re going to get our fair share of points down the stretch but we’ve got to start on time.”

Sharks forward Tomas Hertl summed it up as: “We need effort for 60 minutes otherwise we will not win games here.”

Brock Boeser scored the first goal for Vancouver at 14:54 of the first. Skating to the net, with traffic in front of Reimer, Boeser shifted around the traffic and found an opening. He put the puck in the to top corner on Reimer’s glove side. Assists went to J.T. Miller and Oliver Ekman-Larsson.

Quinn Hughes scored at 17:40 to make it 2-0. Hughes took a shot from the point that bounced under Michael Highmore, back into the air and past Reimer.

Logan Couture got the Sharks on the board 3:35 into the second period. Couture seemed to be making a pass to Gregor but the puck hit the stick of Tyler Meyers and went into the Vancouver net. Assists went to Matt Nieto and Noah Gregor.

Juho Lammikko restored the Canucks’ two-goal lead at 10:49. Kyle Burroughs took a shot from high in the slot and the puck went off of Lammikko and into the net. An assist went to Burroughs.

Timo Meier scored on the power play to cut the lead back down to one at 14:03. Tomas Hertl passed it to him from below the goal line. Meier found a small gap to put the puck between Demko and the post. Assists went to Hertl and Alexander Barabanov.

Meier scored a second power play goal to tie it just 45 seconds into the third. This time he took the shot from above the right face-off circle. Demko had lost track of the puck and Meier had an open net to shoot at. Assists again went to Hertl and Barabanov.

Vancouver grabbed the lead back at 14:23 with a goal from Connor Garland. During a scramble in front of the net, Garland found the puck and put it in.

In the final second of the third, with the Sharks net empty, Alexander Barabanov tied the game with a shot from just above the goal line. Assists went to Meier and Brent Burns.

J.T. Miller scored the game winner during a delayed penalty with a shot into the top corner over Reimer’s stick. Assists went to Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes.

The Sharks were dominant in the face-off circle through all three periods, winning 33 of 55 draws. The Sharks power play had seven shots, and their penalty kill gave up 3.

The Sharks next play on Sunday at 5:00 PM PT against the Vegas Golden Knights in San Jose.

Canucks Sink Sharks 5-2, Meier Scores 100th

Timo Meier (28) is congratulated by San Jose Sharks teammate Erik Karlsson (65) after scoring his 100th career goal in the first period at SAP Center in San Jose on Thu Dec 16, 2021 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

SAN JOSE– The San Jose Sharks fell 5-2 to the Vancouver Canucks Thursday. Bo Horvat, J.T. Miller, Jason Dickinson scored for Vancouver, and Brock Boeser scored twice. Thatcher Demko made 34 saves for the win. Timo Meier and Andrew Cogliano scored for San Jose and Adin Hill made 25 saves in the loss,

The win lifted the Canucks record to 6-0 since Bruce Boudreau took over as head coach. Meanwhile, the Sharks have just two wins in their last six outings. Tomas Hertl is on a 6 game point streak and Timo Meier’s goal was his 100th in the NHL.

Afte the game, Sharks Head Coach Bob Boughner shared his impression of his team’s performance:

“I thought that, you know, the way we played tonight, I felt good about our team. I felt good about the way we played but we just didn’t execute, like I said, we didn’t capitalize. I thought that, you know, we probably needed a save earlier that we didn’t get. And sometimes that’s demoralizing too, when you’re sitting on the bench thinking you’re carrying the play and you’re chasing the game.”

Sharks forward Andrew Cogliano said: “It seems like, you know, opportunities that they get are going in and we’re not fighting hard enough to score our goals. We just have to be more desperate. I think we’re in a situation now where we’ve given some games back in a race that there’s a lot of teams in. And our will to win needs to increase.”

Brock Boeser scored the first goal of the game at 12:41 of the first period. Tanner Pearson made a pass across the ice to Boeser, who took the shot from just above the hask marks.

Bo Horvat made it 2-0 with a power play goal at 16:23. J.T. Miller made a cross-ice pass to Horvat, who was just below the hash marks that Boeser scored from. Assists went to J.T. Miller and Quinn Hughes.

Timo Meier cut the Canucks lead in half with a goal at 17:22. An Erik Karlsson shot was blocked and bounced out to Meier in the face-off circle. His shot went through traffic and in. Assists went to Erik Karlsson and Tomas Hertl.

Brock Boeser made it 3-1 with his second of the game at 17:17 of the second period. J.T. Miller passed the puck up from below the goal line and found Boeser in the face-off circle. Boeser took the shot and the puck went off of Hill’s glove and before going into the net just under the bar. Assists went to Miller and Tanner Pearson.

Andrew Cogliano made it 3-2 at 8:29 of the third period. Cogliano chased down his own dump-in and took a shot from a bad angle that may have suprised Demko. Assists went to Lane Pederson and Brent Burns.

J.T Miller scored into an empty net at 17:32. Jason Dickinson scored into an empty net at 18:57. Assists went to Elias Petterson and Kyle Burroughs.

The Sharks out-shot the Canucks 34-30 in the game. In the third period, however, while the Sharks trailed, the Canucks out-shot the Sharks 15-11. The Canucks won 57% of the face-offs. The Sharks had one power play and it had two shots on goal. The Sharks penalty kill allowed three shots and one goal in three penalties.

Jayden Halbgewachs made his NHL debut with the Sharks Thursday. He took one penalty and had three shots on goal in 16:44 of ice time with the second line.

The Sharks will host the Vancouver Canucks again on Tuesday, at 7:30 PM PT.

Sharks Beat Canucks 3-2, Erik Karlsson Returns

Photo credit: @SanJoseSharks

By Mary Walsh

SAN JOSE — The San Jose Sharks defeated the Vancouver Canucks 3-2 Saturday. The win matches Calgary’s Saturday win to keep the Sharks tied in points with the Western Conference leaders to the North. Sharks goals came from Timo Meier, Logan Couture and Joe Pavelski, who happened to be playing on the same line. Martin Jones made 32 saves for the win. Vancouver got goals from Antoine Roussel and Brock Boeser, while Jacob Markstrom made 23 saves in the loss. Sharks defenseman Erik Karlsson made his return from injury with an assist and 24:44 time on ice.

Timo Meier put the first goal on the board at 3:45 of the first on a power play. The second power play unit of Meier, Evander Kane, Joe Thornton, Erik Karlsson and Marc-Edouard Vlasic moved the puck well all around the offensive zone for some time before Karlsson found Meier in front of the net. Assists went to Karlsson and Evander Kane.

Antoine Roussel tied it up for Vancouver 57 seconds later, when the Sharks lost track of him in the neutral zone and Alex Biega found him with a good pass. He broke away ahead of the Sharks defense and beat Martin Jones before anyone could catch up with him.

At the end of the first period, the Sharks had scored on one of two power plays, while Vancouver had not scored on either of their power play chances. The shot count was 11-8 for the Sharks and the Sharks had won 52% of the faceoffs.

The score remained 1-1 until Logan Couture scored for the Sharks 11:08 into the second period. the play developed after Erik Karlsson broke up a Canucks rush across the Sharks blue line. After breaking up the pass, he sent the puck the other way for Burns to move it through the neutral zone. He sent it to Pavelski, who got it across the blue line line and handed it off to Couture. Couture carried it to the net, waited for his shot and took it.

That goal was followed up by a fight between Barclay Goodrow and MacEwen at 11:10.

The Canucks out shot the Sharks in the second period 18-6. The Sharks killed almost two penalties, the second being cut short by a high sticking penalty to Vancouver. That 90-second power play for San Jose was the only penalty Vancouver had to kill in the second period. The Sharks faceoff win percentage improved to 58% by the end of the second.

The Canucks tied it up again at 4:31 of the third. Brock Boeser bought the puck out from behind the Sharks net and paused as if to make a pass. This lured Martin Jones into moving forward and away from his post. As no one prevented it, Boeser put the puck between Jones and the post. Assists went to Elias Pettersson and Derrick Pouliot.

The Sharks took the lead back with a goal from Joe Pavelski at 13:06. Timo Meier took a shot as he moved across in front of the net but Markstrom kicked that back out. Pavelski was in Meier’s wake and that rebound came right to him for the shot. Assists went to Meier and Logan Couture.

The Canucks pulled Markstrom for the extra skater with just under two minutes left in regulation. Final score, 3-2 Sharks. The Sharks won the faceoff battle 61% of the time, with Joe Pavelski and Tomas Hertl responsible for most of those.

Marcus Sorensen had to leave the ice for a spell after taking a stick to the face in the final five minutes of the second period. He returned to play for the start of the third period.

The Sharks next play on Monday in San Jose against the visiting Boston Bruins at 7:00 PM PT.

Sharks Fall to Canucks 4-3 in Overtime; Gagner gamer puts Vancouver over the top

Canucks center Sam Gagner (89) scores the winning goal in overtime during the NHL game between the San Jose Sharks and the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, Canada. Dom Gagne/CSM (Cal Sport Media via AP Images)

by M. Walsh

The San Jose Sharks lost in 4-3 overtime to the Vancouver Canucks on Friday. Two Vancouver goals came from Markus Granlund, one from Brock Boeser, and the game winner from Sam Gagner. For the Sharks, Brent Burns scored twice and rookie Marcus Sorensen scored once. Jacob Markstrom made 34 saves on 37 shots for the Canucks, while Martin Jones made 36 saves on 40 shots for San Jose.

The Sharks were coming off a win the night before against Calgary, but they were facing a hungry opponent. Vancouver snapped a four game losing skid with the win, a skid capped off by a 7-1 loss to Nashville on Wednesday.

“This sets up all the things for them to have an A game and they did. They were outstanding early and Jonesy gave us a chance to hang around and we found a way to get an important point on a night we probably didn’t deserve one,” said Sharks head coach Pete DeBoer.

At 4:34 of overtime, Sam Gagner scored on a breakaway to win the game with a quick backhand over Martin Jones’ right shoulder. It was a tough loss after a valiant effort from the goalie to keep his team in the game. The Canucks outshot the Sharks 40-37, with 22 in the first period alone. DeBoer was asked if the three goals that Jones allowed were cause for concern. He said:

You can’t play any better than he played tonight. We didn’t give him a lot of help tonight. In defense of our guys, an emotional win last night in Calgary, the we fly in here on a back to back against a team that’s ready to go. So sometimes that’s what it looks like.

Logan Couture left the game early following a hit from Alexander Burmistrov in the third period. Burmistrov’s shoulder appeared to make contact with Couture’s face. The hit came about five minutes into the period. Couture has had an outstanding season this year, leading the team in scoring with 15 goals and 10 assists through 30 games. After finally getting most of the team healthy again, losing Couture for an extended period would be a big setback for a team that is just getting its game back. There was no update on Couture’s status after the game.

The first goal came on a Vancouver power play just 44 seconds into the game. The zig-zagging play started with Henrik Sedin on the blue line, went to a touch pass by Daniel Sedin and ended as little more than a tap-in for Granlund. Half way into the period, Brent Burns tied the game, again on a power play. His shot went through so many players that it seemed unlikely that it had not touched any of them, but it did not. Assists went to Logan Couture and Joe Pavelski.

The second Vancouver goal came just after a power play expired, while the Sharks penalty killers were trapped and perhaps out of gas in their own zone. A shot came from Daniel Sedin above the faceoff circle. Henrik caught it just above the blue paint and found Granlund. Gralund put the puck between Justin Braun and Marc-Edouard Vlasic and past Jones.

The Canucks scored again at 11:46 of the second period, again on the power play. The Sharks started the penalty kill well with a clear just three seconds in. After retrieving the puck, the Canucks came back fast, with Brock Boeser carrying the puck through the neutral zone and weaving past two Sharks defenders to give himself a short breakaway. That shot did not go in but 12 seconds later Boeser caught a pass in the faceoff circle and with a clear shot at the net he did not miss. Assists went to Daniel and Henrik Sedin.

With under two minutes left in the second, Braun, Jannik Hansen and Sorensen outnumbered the Canucks in a quick rush created when Sorensen intercepted a pass from Troy Stecher. Sorensen scored on a rebound from Braun’s shot after their odd man rush cused a little chaos by the Vancouver net. Assists went to Braun and Hansen.

The tying goal came almost right off of a faceoff in the Canucks zone. Joel Ward won the faceoff back to Burns, whose shot was at least partially screened by Melker Karlsson and Tomas Hertl fighting for position in front of the net. Like his first goal, it made its way through a lot of traffic but did not hit another Shark. The only assist went to Ward.

The overtime point puts the Sharks in third place in the Pacific Division standings with 38 points. The Calgary Flames and the Anaheim Ducks both have 35 points, which is good for fourth and fifth place in the Pacific. Both wild card spots are held by Central Division teams with 37 points.

The Sharks next play on Monday at 6:00 pm PT in Edmonton against the Oilers.