Sharks Beat Coyotes 8-7 in Shoot-Out

San Jose Sharks center Tomas Hertl scores as teammates congratulate him in the third period with Jayden Halbgewachs (89), Mario Ferraro (38), Noah Gregor (73) and Brent Burns (88) against the Arizona Coyotes on Tue Dec 28, 2021 at SAP Center in San Jose (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

SAN JOSE- The San Jose Sharks won 8-7 in a barn-burner against the Arizona Coyotes on Tuesday. Alexander Barabanov, Nick Bonino, Radim Simek, Jeffrey Viel, Timo Meier, Tomas Hertl and Logan Couture scored for the Sharks. James Reimer made 39 saves for the win. Lawson Crouse (2), Janis Moser(2), Clayton Keller, Shayne Gostisbehere and Andrew Ladd scored for the Coyotes. Scott Wedgewood made 20 saves in the loss.

On Monday, Adin Hill was added to the Sharks COVID-19 protocol list. Jonathan Dahlen and Tomas Hertl were added to the list list on December 21. Brent Burns was put on the list on the 17th, and removed from it on December 26. That made him available to play his 1200th game Tuesday.

Shortly after a fight between Jonah Gadjovich and Jan Jenik, Alexander Barabanov started the scoring at 2:46 of the first period. Logan Couture took a shot from the slot that banked perfectly off of Barabanov and into the net. Couture and Timo Meier got the assists.

Lawson Crouse tied it up at 5:36. Phil Kessel set up the shot with a pass from the corner, to Crouse in the slot.

Nick Bonino made it 2-1 Sharks at 11:22. Bonino started the play by knocking the puck off of Shayne Gostisbehere’s stick. When Andrew Cogliano took a shot, Bonino was on hand to gather the rebound and backhand it in. Assists went to Matt Nieto and Andrew Cogliano.

Janis Moser tied it back up at 17:40, scoring his first NHL goal. Lawson Crouse got the puck away from Brent Burns below the goal line and made a qick pass up to Moser for the shot. An assist went to Crouse.

The Sharks had the only power play of the first period, and had two shots with the man advantage. The Coyotes out-shot the Sharks 14-8 in the first.

Radim Simek gave the Sharks a 3-2 lead at 5:27 of the second period. Tomas Hertl was in front of the net when Simek tooka shot from the blue line. The puck went between Hertl and Janis Moser and over Wedgewood’s glove. Assists went to Jayden Halbgewachs and Marc-Edouard Vlasic.

Jeffrey Viel scored his first NHL goal to give the Sharks a 4-2 lead at 5:34. Viel may have been making a pass to center ice, where Jonah Gadjovich was going to the net. The puck never reached Gadjovich, and instead went off of a Coyote defender and into the net. Assists went to Gadjovich and Lane Pederson.

Clayton Keller got one back for Arizona at 7:48. The Coyotes were having trouble getting through the neutral zone when Phil Kessel found Keller across the ice and in the open. Keller was into the zone and taking the shot before the Sharks could get to him. Assists went to Kessel and Johan Larsson.

Timo Meier restored the Sharks’ two-goal lead at 14:13. With Couture, Barabanov and Meier attacking the net, Meier knocked the puck out of the air and over the goaltender for his 13th of the season. Assists went to Barabanov and Couture.

Janis Moser cut the lead back down to one, with his second NHL goal, on the power play at 19:37. After a failed clear, the Sharks penalty kill was looking weary when Moser took the shot from the blue line. The puck went by five skaters and in. Assists went to Larsson and Loui Eriksson.

The Coyotes had the only second period power play, and had two shots with the man advantage. Arizona out-shot San Jose again, this time 14-11.

Tomas Hertl made it 6-4 at 1:44 of the third. Noah Gregor got the puck to Hertl with a back-hand centering pass from the boards. Hertl put it away with a slap shot, scoring his 15th of the season.

Lawson Crouse scored for Arizona at 7:35. Crouse gathered a loose puck up at the corner of the net, then slipped between Reimer and Erik Karlsson before lifting the puck into the net. Assists went to Dysin Mayo and Phil Kessel.

Logan Couture scored the Sharks’ seventh of the night at 13:00. Still in the neutral zone, Erik Karlsson banked the puck off of the end boards. Barabanov got to it first and the dropped it to Couture for the shot. Assists went to Barabanov and Karlsson.

Shayne Gostisbehere scored for Arizona at 16:51. Gostisbehere took a shot from the blue line that went off of Nick Bonino and in. Assists went to Kessel and Larsson.

Andrew Ladd tied the game at 18:31 on the power play. Ladd was the last Coyote to touch it before it bounced up and over Reimer and into the net. Assists went to Crouse and Gostisbehere.

The Sharks penalty kill gave up 8 shots and a goal in the third period across two penalties. The Sharks power play got no shots on goal in the third. In overtime, the Sharks power play got one shot on goal and gave up two short-handed shots to the Coyotes. The Coyotes won 57% of the face-offs.

The game went to a shootout after a scoreless overtime. Logan Couture and Tomas Hertl scored for San Jose, Nick Schmaltz missed for Arizona and James Reimer stopped Clayton Keller.

The Sharks next play on Thursday at 7:30 PM PT in San Jose against the Philadelphia Flyers.

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On Sunday, Jim Wiley passed away at the age of 71. Wiley was the Sharks’ third Head Coach, coaching the Sharks for most of the 1995-1996 season. He was a professional hockey player for eight years, from 1972-1980. He went on to coach for fourteen years, retiring in 2008.

Sharks Shut Out 4-0 by Coyotes

Arizona Coyotes right winger Phil Kessel scored a hat trick in the third period and goes for the victory skate in front of the Arizona bench on Sat Mar 27, 2021 at Gila River Arena in Glendale (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

The Arizona Coyotes beat the San Jose Sharks 4-0 Saturday, thanks to a hat trick from Phil Kessel, a goal from Clayton Keller and a 34 save shut-out from Adin Hill. Devan Dubnyk made 23 saves for San Jose. The game was Patrick Marleau’s 1,756th, tying him with Mark Messier for second all-time in NHL games played.

Curtis Gabriel took a five minute major at 7:02 of the third period, with an open ice hit that was called for interference. He was also given a game misconduct. That was his third penalty of the game, and the Sharks’ second penalty of the period. In addition to those, the Sharks started the period killing most of a late second-period penalty . They killed off all of those and two more penalties in the third.

After the game, Sharks Head Coach Bob Boughner said that the game really hinged on those third period penalties:

“We held them to 13 shots after two periods, albeit we were down 2-0. I think that, you know, defensively we had a couple breakdowns and they had a bunch as well. We couldn’t capitalize on ours. But then, you spend the whole third period killing, it’s very tough obviously to catch up.”

The first period was scoreless. The Sharks had one power play and managed 6 shots with the man advantage. Overall, the Sharks outshot the Coyotes 17-9.

The Sharks out-shot the Coyotes in the second period as well, 9-5, but gave up two goals. The first came at 5:49 after Clayton Keller jumped on a neutral zone turnover. He skated to the other end and had a clear lane to shoot at Dubnyk.

Phil Kessell scored his first of the game on the power play at 14:16. He caught Oliver Ekman-Larssen’s pass at the point and then skated in, taking a shot from just above the face-off circle. Christian Fischer was right in front of Dubnyk creating an excellent screen. Assists went to Ekman-Larssen and Keller.

The Coyotes had two power plays in the second period, but got credit for just one shot in those power plays.

Phil Kessel’s second goal of the game came just as the third Sharks penalty expired. Kessel caught a rebound and then pushed it past Dubnyk’s leg. Assists went to Christian Dvorak and Alex Goligoski.

The Sharks used a coach’s challenge on the goal, arguing that Kessel pushed Dubnyk’s leg out of the way with his stick before pushing the puck in. The NHL did not see it that way and allowed the goal. That unsuccessful challenge triggered the Sharks’ fourth penalty of the period.

After the game, Dubnyk talked about that call:

“I was told that that was Phil Kessel’s follow-through, continued motion of a follow through. Which, you guys watched the play, I watched the play a bunch on the jumbotron. If you’re going to sit here and honestly tell me that’s the guy’s follow-through, that’s tough. And if he would have shoved my pad into the net with the puck underneath it, would it have counted? If the answer is no then the answer is that shouldn’t have counted either.”

Kessell’s third goal came at 17:28 into an empty net. He got that puck after a failed neutral zone pass from Erik Karlsson. Assists went to Clayton Keller and Nick Schmaltz.

The Coyotes out-shot the Sharks in the third, 13-8. The Sharks won 53% of the face-offs in the game, and took a total of 29 penalty minutes to the Coyotes’ 6.

The Sharks next play Monday against the Minnesota Wild in San Jose at 7:30 PM PT.

Sharks Lose 5-3 to Coyotes Despite 3 Point Game for Meier

The San Jose Sharks Timo Meier (28) stick handling the puck, the Arizona Coyotes Christian Fischer (28), and the Sharks Logan Couture (39) in pursuit at Glendale Arena on Sat Jan 16, 2021 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks lost 5-3 to the Coyotes in Arizona Saturday afternoon. Arizona goals came from Phil Kessel (2), Barrett Hayton, Jakob Chychrun and Clayton Keller scored for Arizona. Timo Meier, Tomas Hertl and Ryan Donato scored for San Jose. Antti Raanta made 31 saves for the win Martin Jones made 19 saves in the loss.

After the game, Sharks Head Coach Bob Boughner said:

We spent a lot more time in their end in the O-zone, we played a little faster I thought. You know, they got a little bit of puck luck tonight. They were the better team in the first game. I thought we played a lot harder and a lot more structured in this game.

The Sharks led the game in many respects but not on the scoresheet. They outshot the Coyotes 34-26, they had four power plays to Arizona’s 3. San Jose scored in two of four power plays and killed two of three penalties. The glaring bad stat was in the faceoff circle. They won just 40% of them. The only Sharks skater to win more than half of his draws was Patrick Marleau, who took five draws and won four. Tomas Hertl won 7 of 18, and Logan Couture won 5 of 11. No one else took more than three or won more than one.

On the subject of faceoffs, Boughner said:

It’s something we gotta get way better at. I think that we struggled in the faceoff circle even in the first game. You know, it’s an important part of the game and I thought our puck movement was better off of won faceoffs. But we lost too many, and you’re chasing the puck all night.

The Sharks scored first at 3:34, with a power play goal from Ryan Donato. Conor Garland was in the box for tripping Marc-Edouard Vlasic. High in the slot, Timo Meier bobbled a shot but got it right back and sent it through traffic and off of Ryan Donato. Assists went to Meier and Mario Ferraro.

Arizona responded with their own power play goal at 12:31. Evander Kane was in the box for tripping Tyler Pitlick. Phil Kessel tried to send the puck in and it went off of Nikolai Knyzhov. It came right back to Kessel and he moved around the Sharks defense to make a backhand shot that went through before slipping past Martin Jones. An assist went to Oliver Ekman-Larsson.

Barrett Hayton gave the Coyotes a lead at 14:41. After a lot of play behind the net, Conor Garland made a quick pass to the Hayton in the slot. Assists went to Garland and Nick Schmaltz.

Timo Meier tied it back up less than a minute later. Meier was moving down the wall with the puck, while Kevin Labanc skated down the slot with Jakob Chychrun defending. Meier made the pass and it hit Chychrun and bounced into the net.

Arizona scored twice in the second period, the first a shot from the blue line from Ekman-Larsson. His shot went right through four skaters before hitting Phil Kessel on its way into the net. It was Kessel’s second of the game, with assists to Ekman-Larsson and Christian Dvorak.

Jakob Chychrun scored at 8:56. A clean face-off win in the offensive zone gave Chychrun a shot with lots of traffic as the face-off broke up. Derick Brassard got the assist.

Clayton Keller added to the Coyotes lead just 2:39 into the third period. After Brassard won another offensive zone faceoff, Ekman-Larsson held the puck at the blue line before trying for a tip from Keller in the slot. Martin Jones stopped that but Keller came right down for the rebound and put that one in. Assists went to Ekman-Larsson and Brassard.

Midway through the third, Boughner pulled Martin Jones and put Devan Dubnyk in. After the game, the coach explained that that was only to give Dubnyk sme ice tine before their next game. Since it did not come right after the fifth goal, it did not look like a reaction to Jones’ play in particular.

The Sharks had a power play start in the final minute of play, and scored their own goal right off of an O-zone faceoff. Just eight seconds into the power play, Tomas Hertl tipped Timo Meier’s shot from the top of the circle. Assists went to Meier and Erik Karlsson.

Roster changes: Jacob Middleton was in for Nick Meloche on the blue line.

The Sharks now travel to St. Louis for their next game at 5:00 PM PT on Monday, against the Blues.

Sharks Start Season with 4-3 Shootout Win Over Coyotes

The San Jose Sharks Tomas Hertl (48) jubilant after scoring against the Arizona Coyotes he is joined by Evander Kane (9), John Leonard (right of Kane), and Nilolai Knyzhov (71) in the first period (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks started the 2021 season with a 4-3 shoot-out win in Arizona against the Coyotes. Tomas Hertl scored twice, John Leonard got two assists in his first NHL game. Evander Kane scored the Sharks’ third goal and Logan Couture scored the game-winner in the shootout. Conor Garland, Clayton Keller and Phil Kessel scored for Arizona. Martin Jones made 34 saves for the win, while Darcy Kuemper made 32 saves in the loss.

After the game, Logan Couture said: “I thought we were sloppy at times but I thought we did a lot of things really well. We had some speed through the neutral zone and that one line, Tommy Hertl’s line, created some nice goals. And Joner made some big-time saves when we had those breakdowns.”

Martin Jones did a lot of work during the long layoff and looked good Thursday. After the game, he said: “I think I took full advantage of the time and I put in a lot of work. So, it was nice to be able to play well in the first game but, you know, it’s one game, we gotta keep working at it here. There’s a lot of things that we can clean up.”

Couture gave a post-game nod to the rookie Sharks, saying: “Some guys played their first NHL game tonight, I thought they were terrific tonight.” Those first-timers were John Leonard and Nicholas Meloche. Leonard had two assists in his 13:14 of ice time. Meloche was a +1 in his 5:43 on the blue line.

Tomas Hertl scored twice in the first period for the Sharks, the first a power play goal at 12:43. Logan Couture took a shot from the boards, which bounced arond in the crease before Hertl put it away. Assists went to Evander Kane and Couture.

The second goal came with just over three minutes left in the period. John Leonard had just thrown the puck to the net, creating a rebound for Hertl to put away. Assists went to Leonard and Kane.

The Coyotes rallied in the second, Conor Garland scored for the Coyotes on a power play at 16:51 of the second period. Joel Kellman was in the box for tripping Derick Brassard. It was the Sharks’ third penalty in a row. The Coyotes were able to move the puck cross-ice several ties before Christian Dvorak’s shot found Garland’s tick for a tip in front of the net. Assists went to Dvorak and Jakob Chychrun.

Going into the third period, Evander Kane had two assists. With an aggressive charge to the net, and a Coyote on one arm, he scored the Sharks’ third goal a little past the midway point of the third period. Assists went to John Leonard and Tomas Hertl.

The 3-1 lead held up well into the third period.

Clayton Keller scored for the Coyotes’ with just 3:30 left in the third. Finding himself alone in the high slot, he caught the puck as it came out of a skirmish in front of the net and put it over Jones’ right shoulder before the goalie could get across. Assists went to Garland and Chychrun.

Phil Kessel tied the game up with just four seconds left in regulation. Under a lot of pressure with the Coyotes net empty, Martin Jones made a couple of good saves before it got by him. The Coyotes had three skaters in front of him and they all got a shot before Kessel’s went in. Assists went to Alex Goligoski and Clayton Keller.

The Sharks got a power play at 3:13 of overtime, when Clayton Keller was called for tripping Kevin Labanc. The Sharks OT power play started with Logan Couture, Brent Burns, Erik Karlsson and Tomas Hertl. After a shot went over the glass, Kane came onto the ice with Timo Meier and Ryan Donato, with Karlsson staying on. Neither unit scored before time ran out, in the power play and the period.

Each team scored on their first shot in the shootout, first Arizona’s Nick Schmaltz and the San Jose’s Ryan Donato. After that, Martin Jones stopped Clayton Keller and Conor Garland missed. Logan Couture scored to close it out.

The modified season has the Sharks playing against the Coyotes again on Saturday before moving on to St. Louis.

Sharks Preseason 2017: Coyotes Shut Out Sharks 4-0

Photo credit: San Jose Sharks

by M. Walsh

SAN JOSE– Arizona Coyotes goaltender Louis Domingue was the star of the show on Saturday, stopping 31 shots from the Sharks for a preseason shutout in San Jose. Derek Stepan, with linemates Clayton Keller and Max Domi impressed with their two goals, and another two came from Brendan Perlini.

That was disappointing for the home crowd, especially since the Sharks had most of their regular lineup in the game. Conversely, this was the first outing for them as a group this preseason. The Sharks lineup included Joe Thornton, Logan Couture, Joel Ward, Tomas Hertl, Chris Tierney, and Melker Karlsson up front. Also playing at forward were Timo Meier, Jannik Hansen, Kevin Labanc, Ryan Carpenter, and Mikkel Boedker. The defense was comprised of Brent Burns, Paul Martin, Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Justin Braun, Brenden Dillon and Tim Heed. The loss follows another in Anaheim last Thursday, when a very different Sharks lineup was also shutout.

The Coyotes started well against the Sharks on Saturday, maintaining a close shot count and scoring midway through the first. In the second, the visitors earned a powerplay goal while Kevin Labanc sat in the box for a hook. Both goals were scored by Derek Stepan from Clayton Keller and Max Domi.

The Sharks had a couple of good chances early in the game, but Louis Domingue was very sharp from the get go. San Jose failed to score despite back to back power plays that overlapped by 11 seconds in the first period.

A noteworthy incident followed the second goal, when Joonas Donskoi was called for boarding Nick Cousins. He received a five minute major and a game misconduct. The call was not popular with the home crowd. Cousins looked shaken up but did return to the ice before the end of the period.

The Coyotes extended the lead at 2:58 of the third when Brendan Perlini got by Brenden Dillon and then Tim Heed to make it 3-0. An assist went to Adam Clendening. After that third goal, the Coyotes shifted down into defensive mode and took very few shots. After staying within two on the shot clock, Arizona only took four shots. Unfortunetely for the Sharks, that fourth shot went into an empty net for Perlini. Assists went to Dylan Strome and Lawson Crouse.

Apart from taking 13 shots to the Coyotes 4, the Sharks did not make much progress in the third. Ryan Carpenter drew a tripping penalty at 5:37, sending Alex Goligoski to the box. At 9:13, the Sharks had another try at the power play when Nick Cousins was called for interference/slashing against Brenden Dillon.

The Sharks will play their final preseason game in Las Vegas on Sunday, October 1 at 5:00 PM PT, against the Golden Knights.