Sharks Shutout 3-0 by Kraken in Game 82

Seattle Kraken center Morgan Geekie (67) looks to pass the puck against San Jose Sharks defenseman Brent Burns (88) at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle on Fri Apr 29, 2022 (AP News photo)

By Mary Lisa Walsh

The San Jose Sharks were shutout 3-0 by the Seattle Kraken in the Sharks final game of the 2021-22 season. Yanni Gourde, Adam Larsson and Viktor Rask scored for the Kraken. Chris Driedger made 24 saves for the shut-out win. Kaapo Kahkonen made 28 saves in the loss.

After that game, Sharks Head Coach Bob Boughner said of the game: “We just couldn’t get it done tonight. I think you could probably see, it’s no secret, there wasn’t a lot of guys who were sharp.”

Boughner also talked about the season as a whole and what comes next:

“For us, it’s just trying to relish the good times that we’ve had this year and I think there has been plenty of them. I think we know we’re not in the spot that we want to be and we know there’s a ton of improvement and that’s on everybody. That’s not on the players, it’s not just on the players and the coaches it’s everybody. We’ll address that but I think everybody needs a little time away to decompress first.”

Yanni Gourde scored his 21^st goal of the season to give the Kraken the lead at 6:17. Dennis Cholowski led the play into the zone up the middle, then passed the puck to Karson Kuhlman on the right wing. Kulman passed it back to Gourde who was trailing Cholowski. As Cholowski screened Kahkonen, Gourde took the shot.

Adam Larsson made it 2-0 at 18:31. Jamie Oleksiak had the puck deep along the right wall and passed it up to Matty Beniers at the point. Beniers made a quick pass to Larsson on the left wing and he scored with a one-timer.

Victor Rask scored into an empty net to make it 3-0 at 19:08 of the third period. Assists went to Riley Sheahan and Will Borgen.

Timo Meier finished the season by blocking a shot to stop an empty net goal at the end of the game.

The Sharks took just one penalty and gave up three shots to the Kraken power play. The Kraken took two penalties close together in the second period, giving the Sharks a five-on-three for a little over a minute. The Sharks got three shots during that power play. In the first period, the Sharks were out-shot 12-4, but bounced back in the second with 11 shots, allowing just six. They lagged again in the third, being out-shot 13-9. The Kraken prevailed in the face-off circle at 58%.

Lane Pedersen was back in the lineup for a last look of the season. He had one shot, one hit and was 40% in the face-off circle in 9:53 of ice time. Jonathan Dahlen was also in the game Friday. He had one blocked shot in 7:32 of ice time.

The Sharks will start next season in Prague, Czech Republic. They will face the Nashville Predators in a pair of games October 7 and 8 as part of the 2022 NHL Global Series.

Sharks Fall 3-1 to Kraken; Seattle strikes with 3 goals in third period

Seattle Kraken center Jared McCann (16) puts one on goal against San Jose Sharks goaltender James Reimer (47) in the second period at SAP Center in San Jose on Tue Dec 14, 2021 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

SAN JOSE– In their first ever matchup, the San Jose Sharks fell 3-1 to the Seattle Kraken. Ryan Donato, Brandon Tanev and Calle Jarnkrok scored for Seattle and Chris Driedger made 33 saves for the win. Logan Couture scored for San Jose and James Reimer made 27 saves in the loss.

After the game, Sharks Head Coach Bob Boughner said:

“Any time you’re not scoring a goal until you pull the goalie it’s going to be a tough way to win a hockey game and you almost gotta play perfect on the other side of the puck. And, you know, I didn’t think we played bad defensively but I think we opened it up, down 1-0, gave them a few chances.”

Sharks forward Timo Meier, who had five shots in the game, said: “Obviously, frustrating to lose this game. You know, we were right there the whole game. Had a tough time to score some goals. Their goalie made some big saves. I thought we didn’t do enough in the offensive zone, we didn’t work hard enough to get that bounce and score that goal earlier.”

The first two periods were scoreless. Seattle outshot San Jose 11-8 in the first, while San Jose outshot Seattle 12-7 in the second. There was a single penalty in the game, to Seattle in the second period. The Sharks power play got two shots on goal.

Ryan Donato scored the first goal of the game at 6:23 of the third. Joonas Donskoi took a shot that Reimer stopped but Donato was on the doorstep to gather up the rebound. The puck went off of Radim Simek’s skate and into the net. Assists went to Donskoi and Carson Soucy.

Brandon Tanev made it 2-0 at 14:18. Morgan Geekie caught a pass from Calle Jarnkrok in the neautral zone and carried it to the Sharks net. He got a pass around Brent Burns, setting Tanev up for the shot. Assists went to Geekie and Calle Jarnkrok.

Logan Couture scored with the Sharks net empty at 17:53. Brent Burns took a shot through traffic and the puck went off of a defenseman. It bounced right to Couture in the face-off circle. Couture put the puck into an open net. Assists went to Burns and Tomas Hertl.

Calle Jarnkrok scored into the empty net with six seconds left. Mason Appleton and Alex Wennberg got the assists.

The final shot count was 34-30 Sharks. In the face-off circle, the Sharks edged the Kraken, winning 51% of the draws,

The Sharks next play on Thursday, against the Vancouver Canucks in San Jose at 7:30 PM PT.