NHL - Sharks - Round Up November 03-10, 2016

Calgary Flames @ Sharks 3-2 - Thursday, November 03, 2016


Rookie forward Matthew Tkachuk scored two goals, including the game-winner with 4:21 remaining, to help the Calgary Flames defeat the San Jose Sharks 3-2 at SAP Center. Tkachuk took a pass from forward Michael Frolik in the low slot and beat goaltender Martin Jones with a backhand from close range for his third goal of the season. Tkachuk, the sixth pick in the 2016 NHL Draft, played his 10th game of the season, activating the first of his three-year entry-level contract. The 18-year-old didn't know until Thursday morning whether he would be sent back to his junior team, London of the Ontario Hockey League, or remain in the NHL. Troy Brouwer also scored for the Flames (5-6-1), who ended a two-game skid, and backup goaltender Chad Johnson made 26 saves in his fourth start of the season.

Defenseman Brent Burns and forward Melker Karlsson scored for the Sharks (6-5-0), who lost at home for the first time this season after a 4-0-0 start. Jones made 19 saves. Brouwer gave Calgary a 1-0 lead with 3:28 left in the second period with his fourth goal of the season, beating Jones with a slap shot from the right faceoff circle. Forwards Micheal Ferland and Sam Bennett had the assists. The Flames increased their lead to 2-0 with 1:55 left in the second on Tkachuk's first goal of the night. He sent a wrist shot from the right circle between Jones' pads. Defenseman Deryk Engelland and Frolik had the assists.

Burns cut Calgary's lead to 2-1 with a power-play goal 35 seconds into the third period. His slap shot from just inside the blue line got past Johnson with 20 seconds left on a power play that began at 18:55 of the second period when Bennett was sent to the penalty box for tripping. The Sharks pulled even at 2-2 on Karlsson's second goal of the season. He tipped Marc-Edouard Vlasic's point shot, got the rebound to the left of the crease, and tucked the puck behind Johnson's right pad.
* Brouwer opened the scoring thanks to Ferland's slick pass from below the goal line. Jones moved to his right, expecting Ferland to continue carrying the puck behind the net. But Ferland made a no-look backhand pass to Brouwer in the right faceoff circle, and he beat Jones with a one-timer inside the right post.

* At 11:16 of the second period with the score tied 0-0, Johnson stopped Burns' sharp-angled backhand shot from just to the left of the crease, and then made a save on Mikkel Boedker's attempt on the rebound.

* DeBoer shuffled his lines after the second period, moving Karlsson to the top line with Joe Thornton and Joe Pavelski, and dropping Boedker to the third line. The move paid off when Karlsson got to the front of the net and deflected Vlasic's point shot and scored on the rebound to tie it 2-2.
* Sharks center Logan Couture has 27 points in 26 career games against the Flames but was kept off the score sheet Thursday. ... Calgary defenseman Brett Kulak replaced Dennis Wideman in the lineup after being scratched six straight games. He had four hits and one shot. ... The Flames outhit the Sharks 10-1 in the first period. ... San Jose went 1-for-5 on the power play; Calgary was 0-for-2.

* Tkachuk showed off his offensive skill when he scored the first game-winner of his NHL career. He took a pass from Frolik in the slot, switched from his forehand to his backhand, and put the puck inside the right post before Jones could recover.

"An unbelievable pass from [Frolik]. Made my job pretty easy tonight." Tkachuk said.

"The desperation level of the teams we're playing is very high, and ours is high for stages of the game, but not for 60 minutes. This is a league where if you don't play desperate for 60 minutes, you're really limiting your opportunities to win, and I think that's where we're at right now." Peter DeBoer
"First two periods, those are on us as players. We weren't clean enough, weren't ready to play. Disengaged. It takes a lot of work from everybody, and there's no shortcuts to get where you want to go." Joe Pavelski

Sharks @ Washington Capitals 3-0 - Tuesday, November 08, 2016


Martin Jones made 24 saves for the San Jose Sharks in a 3-0 win against the Washington Capitals at Verizon Center. Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Brent Burns and Joe Thornton scored for the Sharks (7-6-0), who had lost three in a row. It was Jones' first shutout of the season. Braden Holtby made 20 saves for the Capitals (8-3-1), who had won five in a row. Vlasic scored at 12:23 of the second period to give San Jose a 1-0 lead. His shot from the point was his second goal of the season, first in five games dating to Oct. 25. Burns gave the Sharks a 2-0 lead at 17:26 of the second. His fifth goal of the season was a wrist shot from the right circle that beat Holtby on his glove side. The Sharks held the Capitals to four shots on goal in the first period. Thornton scored an empty-net goal with 1:32 remaining. The goal was his second of the season.

* Burns capitalized on a pass from Logan Couture from the corner and released a quick wrist shot that gave the Sharks a 2-0 lead.

* Jones denied Capitals forward Justin Williams with a right-pad save in the crease at 17:11 of the second period, during Washington's early flurry in that period.

* Vlasic scored the first goal of the game thanks to a fortunate bounce. His shot from the point deflected off Capitals defenseman Karl Alzner, who was shadowing Sharks forward Joel Ward on the play.

* San Jose has won 21 of its past 24 games against Washington. … Sharks forward Kevin Labanc played 13:23 in his NHL debut. He was recalled from the San Jose Barracudas of the American Hockey League on Monday.        

"That was a big win for us just to kind of right the ship a little bit. We thought we've had moments where we've been good and today everything kind of came our way." Martin Jones said.

"[Jones] was outstanding at key times for us. There were some flurries at the beginning of the second after we got out of the first period, and the third period when we were getting out of some penalties, he was our best penalty killer. Obviously, a big part of the win."
"Good road win. Good commitment to defend by everybody, great goaltending when we needed it and some timely goals. That's our formula; we haven't had it for the last few games. It was nice to get it back." Peter DeBoer

Sharks @ Florida Panthers 4-2 - Thursday, November 10, 2016


Tommy Wingels got the game-winner and the San Jose Sharks scored four unanswered goals in a 4-2 win against the Florida Panthers at BB&T Center.
The Sharks (8-6-0) won their second consecutive game after losing three straight. After the first period, it didn't look like the Sharks would be in position to win. They had gone down 2-0 in the first period after defenseman Jason Demers scored twice before rallying, starting with a goal by Brent Burns.

Burns made it 2-1 at 16:18 of the first period with an unassisted goal that he created by stepping in front of a shot on the other end of the ice. That turned the game around, stopping the momentum of the Panthers and cutting their lead in half. Martin Jones made 22 saves for San Jose. James Reimer, who finished last season with the Sharks, had 25 saves for the Panthers (6-7-1).

Demers scored twice against his former team, with the first goal at 5:09 of the first period, and the second at 7:26, after Jones allowed a rebound to the left side of the crease off a shot by Jaromir Jagr that bounced off Aleksander Barkov. Because the Panthers couldn't hold onto the lead. The Sharks tied it 2-2 at 1:53 of the second on a goal from Joe Pavelski. Wingels gave San Jose a 3-2 lead at 8:53 on a backhand shot after a faceoff win by Chris Tierney. Logan Couture scored an empty-net goal with 57 seconds remaining.

* Burns started the play in the Sharks defensive zone by getting in the way of a shot by Panthers forward Jussi Jokinen. He jumped on the puck, which had been deflected back through the neutral zone, and corralled it just outside the offensive blue line. He finished by scoring a goal against Reimer as he plowed into the goaltender at 16:18 of the first period.

* With 2:16 remaining in the game and the Sharks up 3-2, it looked like Colton Sceviour had a chance for the game-tying goal. But Jones went down to the ice and forced Sceviour into a weak miss by the side of the net, keeping the Sharks in the lead.

* Demers sent a shot from the right faceoff circle that bounced up and off Wingels, beating Jones at 5:09 of the first period. It was his first goal since he signed a five-year contract with the Panthers on July 2, and it came against his former team. Demers had played for the Sharks the past six seasons and was originally drafted by San Jose in the seventh round of the 2008 NHL Draft.

* Ward did some good work along the wall early in the second period, taking possession of a puck that Alex Petrovic had tried to chip from inside the defensive zone. Ward fed the puck to Pavelski for the goal that tied the game.

* The empty-net goal for Couture was his first goal in 11 games and third of the season. … Jokinen returned for the Panthers after missing nine games with a lower-body injury. … Burns had two shots on goal and leads the League with 73.

"It's good [getting wins in the first two games of a six-game road trip.]. Long road trip here. You want to pile as many wins as you can in a row. Certainly it's a good start for us. This League's all about getting streaks, winning three, four, five in a row, and not going on losing streaks of that capacity. Good start for us, hopefully we can build a couple more on it." Wingels said
"Once we got one - big effort by [Burns] there - I thought we gained some confidence in there. Just started to roll from there." Joel Ward said.

"[Burns is] a game-changing type player. That's what he does. We needed that at that point, from somebody." Peter DeBoer said.