Sharks Fall 5-2 to Wild, Wild Win Streak at Eight

Minnesota Wild center Victor Rask (49) tries to get control of the puck against San Jose Sharks center Noah Gregor (73) in the first period at the SAP Center in San Jose on Thu Dec 9, 2021 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

SAN JOSE– The Sharks fell 5-2 to the Minnesota Wild Thursday. It was the Wild’s eight win in a row. Wild goals were scored by Kevin Fiala, Joel Eriksson Ek, Jordan Greenway (2) and Kirill Kaprizov. Cam Talbot made 33 saves for the win. Sharks goals were scored by Jonathan Dahlen and Tomas Hertl. Adin Hill made 22 saves in the loss.

To start the third period, Sharks Head Coach Bob Boughner juggled his lines a bit. The result was positive but not enough, as he explained after the game:

“We switched up the lines a little bit, sometimes it’s good to put them in the blender when things aren’t going your way. We did that and the team reacted but, it’s just, you know, it’s a good team and in order to beat those good teams you have to be good for sixty minutes, especially our team and it I think that it took too long to find our game tonight.”

Minnesota’s Kevin Fiala scored the lone goal of the first period, 6:22 in. Jon Merrill’s shot was blocked by Mario Ferraro right in front of the net. The puck dropped in front of an open net for Fiala’s shot. Assists went to Merrill and Brandon Duhaime.

Joel Eriksson Ek scored the the Wild’s first power play goal at 7:04 of the second period. Jacob Middleton was in the box for tripping Mats Zuccarello. Zuccarello sent the puck into a crowd in front of the net and it went off of Eriksson Ek’s stick for a perfect deflection past Hill. Assists went to Zuccarello and Kirill Kaprizov.

Jordan Greenway scored Minnesota’s second power play goal at 15:20. Jacob Middleton was in the box for holding Nick Bjugstad. Kevin Fiala brought the puck into the slot, then made a pass out to Greenway in the face-off circle. Greenway took a quick shot and beat Hill on the far side. Assists went to Fiala and Alex Goligoski.

Jonathan Dahlen scored for San Jose 3:29 into the third period. Tomas Hertl won an offensive zone face-off and sent the puck up to Erik Karlsson at the point. Karlsson brought the puck down the boards a bit before taking a shot that went off of Dahlen in front of the net. Assists went to Karlsson and Hertl.

Tomas Hertl cut the Wild lead to one with a power play goal at 13:26. Jonathan Dahlen took a shot that created a rebound. The puck fell to Hertl at the side of the net and he lifted it in behind Talbot. Jonathan Dahlen and Logan Couture got the assists.

The Sharks pulled Adin Hill for the extra skater with more than to minutes left. The Wild got the puck out and Jordan Greenway raced Brent Burns for the puck. As they reached the net, Greenway was able to nudge the puck in to make it 4-2. Moments later, with the net still empty, Kirill Kaprizov broke away to make it 5-2.

The Sharks had a good night in the face-off circle, winning 57% of them. The shots were close in the first to periods, but in the third, the Sharks outshot the Wild 19-9. the Sharks penalty kill gave up four shots along with the two goals, and the Wild penalty kill gave up four shots and one goal. Jacob Middleton took three penalties in the game.

The Sharks next play on Saturday at 7:30 PM PT, against the visiting Dallas Stars.

Sharks Beat Wild 4-1; Reimer keeps pucks out of the nets with 26 saves

The Minnesota Wild’s Marco Sturm (7) takes a shot on net as San Jose Sharks goaltender James Reimer (47) gets a pad save on Tue Nov 16, 2021 in Minneapolis (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks won 4-1 on the road, against the Minnesota Wild Tuesday. The win was a nice follow-up to Monday’s induction of Sharks GM, Doug Wilson, into the Hockey Hall of Fame. Mario Ferraro, Timo Meier, Erik Karlsson and Tomas Hertl scored for San Jose. James Reimer made 26 saves for the win. Joel Eriksson Ek scored for the Wild and Cam Talbot made 17 saves in the loss.

Sharks Captain Logan Couture, said, of the win: “Great effort. We played more of our style of hockey. Kind of frustrated them at times.” He also mentioned the upcoming game as a chance to show that the team is back on track: “St. Louis is a big game for us too, to finish off this trip on a good note. A three and two trip, with what we’ve gone through, would be pretty good.”

Mario Ferraro opened the scoring at 5:55 of the first. Timo Meier made a neat pass off the boards to Logan Couture, who was on his way to the net. Instead of taking the shot, Couture made a pass across to Ferraro by the opposite goal post. The puck landed right on Ferraro’s stick for the shot. It was his second goal of the season.

Timo Meier scored the next one. Coming out of the corner, he slipped between the Wild defenders to get the rebound from Marc-Edouard Vlasic’s shot. He had one knee on the ice as he took the shot for his sixth goal of the season. Assists went to Vlasic and Couture.

At the end of the first period, the Sharks led in shots 9-7. The Sharks power play got only one shot on goal, a power play that bled into the start of the second period.

Joel Eriksson Ek scored for the Wild at 5:25 of the second. Though two Sharks were right with him as he entered the zone, his shot went by them and over James Reimer’s glove. It was Eriksson Ek’s sixth of the season. Assists went to Kevin Fiala and Jonas Brodin.

At 8:42 of the second, Matt Dumba threw a hit on Alexander Barabanov that looked ugly. Tomas Hertl took issue with it and went after Dumba. Hertl went to the box for roughing. Soon after, Jonah Gadjovich tried to revisit the matter with Dumba, but Marcus Foligno wound up being his fight partner.

After the game, Boughner described these events as turning points in the game and said:

“Tommy Jumping in for Barabanov and then later on [Gadjovich] going out and, you know, looking to get physical. I think our team feeds off of that, we need that element and I think it’s very very important.”

At 9:32, Erik Karlsson scored his third of the season to make it 3-1. With the teams playing four-on-four between abbreviated power plays, Karlsson let loose a blast from the top of the circle. The shot went off of the bar and in. Assists went to Jacob Middleton and Rudolfs Balcers.

The Wild took the shot lead in the second, 13-8. Four different players spent time in the penalty box during the second, but neither team had a full power play out of it because penalties overlapped. The Sharks got two shots during their abbreviated power play and the Sharks penalty kill allowed no shots to the Wild.

Tomas Hertl scored the only goal of the third period at 9:25. The Sharks moved the puck from the goal line to above the circle and back down to Hertl who was just above the goal line. Assists went to Barabanov and Balcers. It was Hertl’s seventh goal of the season.

Late in the period, Mario Ferraro blocked a shot and seemed to sustain an upper body injury. He went down the tunnel but returned and was on the ice when the final buzzer sounded.

The Sharks made a good showing in the face-off circle, winning 59% of the draws. The Sharks penalty kill allowed just one shot in the game.

The Sharks next play on Thursday, in St. Louis against the Blues at 5:00 PM PT.