NHL - Sharks Round Up - November 01-11, 2017

Trashville Predators @ Sharks 1-4 - Wednesday, November 01




Joe Thornton got his 1,400th NHL point, and Martin Jones made 19 saves to help the San Jose Sharks defeat the Nashville Predators 4-1 at SAP Center.Joonas Donskoi, Joe Pavelski, Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Mikkel Boedker scored for the Sharks (7-5-0), who got their season-high third straight win.

"It was just a good, hard-fought win," Pavelski said. "I think you understand that guys in here care. We weren't happy with our start, and the last five, six, seven games, it's been much better. It's just a continuous process of working towards that and keeping our game at a certain level we want to keep it at."

Roman Josi scored for the Predators (5-5-2), who lost for the fourth time in their past five games (1-3-1).

"We're not getting the [offensive] zone time we want," Josi said. "We're not [creating turnovers]. We're forechecking hard, but we're just not working as a five-man unit. It's the same in the D zone. I think it starts in the D zone."

Thornton got point No. 1,400 in the second period with an assist on Pavelski's goal. He passed Jari Kurri for 20th in NHL history in a 3-2 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Monday and is nine points from tying Dale Hawerchuk for 19th.

"I think the perspective is you look at the 20 guys on that list with him," Sharks coach Peter DeBoer said. "That's pretty eye-opening and pretty amazing. There's not many words for it. For the people out there that wonder what type of accomplishment that is, I think just take a look at that list. That's rare air."

San Jose went 1-for-8 on the power play. Nashville was 0-for-4. The Predators have been called for 81 penalties, most in the NHL.

Donskoi gave the Sharks a 1-0 lead at 15:49 of the first period when he took a pass from defenseman Tim Heed and beat Rinne from close range. Pavelski tipped in defenseman Brenden Dillon's shot from above the left face-off circle at 10:04 of the second period for his 299th NHL goal to make it 2-0.

Josi skated through traffic and beat Jones with a backhand to the far side from the left circle to cut the lead to 2-1 at 10:04 of the second. It was the defenseman's third goal.

Vlasic scored a power-play goal at 13:50 of the second to give San Jose a 3-1 lead. His slap shot from the right point deflected off Nashville defenseman P.K. Subban's skate and past Rinne. Boedker scored at 13:43 of the third period to make it 4-1.

Vlasic left the game with an apparent head injury at 1:02 of the third. He had the puck in the right corner behind the Sharks net when Predators center Ryan Johansen checked him from behind. Johansen, who received a minor penalty for boarding, appeared to make contact with his right shoulder to Vlasic's head, which hit the glass. DeBoer didn't have an update on Vlasic's condition after the game.

"I haven't had a chance to see him or talk to him yet, but anytime you're going back for pucks you try not to get hit in the head like that," Dillon said. "We have a couple days before our next game on Saturday, so hopefully he's OK."

"A lot of emotions on the ice. That's the kind of effort we have to put in to win in this league. A lot of 1-on-1 battles. I think we were pretty strong all over the ice in 1-on-1 battles." -- Sharks forward Joonas Donskoi

Sharks rookie defenseman Joakim Ryan, who got his first NHL point with an assist on Boedker's goal, set a Sharks record with nine blocked shots. ... Josi led the Predators with four shots on goal and had another six attempts blocked.

Anaheim Sucks @ Sharks 1-2 SO - Saturday, November 04

Joonas Donskoi scored in the sixth round of a shootout to lift the San Jose Sharks to a 2-1 victory against the Anaheim Ducks at SAP Center. Joe Pavelski also scored in the shootout for San Jose, and Martin Jones stopped five of six shots. Rickard Rakell scored in the shootout for Anaheim. Donskoi faked left, brought the puck back to his right and beat Ryan Miller with a wrist shot from close range.

"That was great," Sharks coach Peter DeBoer said. "He's playing with confidence. He looks like the player we had here two years ago, which is a good sign because we need that."


Joel Ward scored, and Jones made 25 saves for the Sharks (8-5-0), who won their season-high fourth straight game. Corey Perry scored, and Ryan Miller made 44 saves in his second start of the season for the Ducks (6-6-2), who lost their third in a row. The Ducks were coming off a 5-3 loss to the Nashville Predators at Honda Center. Ward tied it 1-1 with 8:03 remaining in the third period with his second goal of the season, putting forward Barclay Goodrow's rebound into a wide-open net to cap a 2-on-1 rush. Goodrow played his second game of the season and centered a line for the first time since he was in minor hockey.

"I'll do whatever it takes to get in the lineup," Goodrow said. "We're pretty interchangeable once we're in our own zone."
Ward, a fourth-line forward, has two goals in his past three games.
"I felt like me and [Goodrow] spent some time together so we gained some chemistry a little bit in practices," Ward said. "It's always good to contribute and help your team in a positive way. It was a good feeling to get one, and get the boys going a little bit and give ourselves a chance."

The Sharks outshot Anaheim 41-26 in regulation and 4-0 in overtime. Ducks forward Andrew Cogliano played his 800th consecutive game, the fourth-longest streak in NHL history, behind Doug Jarvis (964), Garry Unger (914) and Steve Larmer (884). Cogliano's streak began on Oct. 4, 2007, in his NHL debut with the Edmonton Oilers against San Jose. Perry, who played his 900th NHL game, scored on a breakaway at 6:23 of the first period to give Anaheim a 1-0 lead. He took a stretch pass from Derek Grant and beat Jones through the 5-hole for his third goal of the season and first since scoring twice in Anaheim's season opener.

Miller stopped 12 shots in the first period and 17 in the second. In one flurry just over eight minutes into the second, he stopped Justin Braun's slap shot from the high slot, Chris Tierney's attempt from close range on the rebound and another Braun slap shot.

Tampa Bay Lightning @ Sharks 5-1 - Wednesday, November 08

Nikita Kucherov, Vladislav Namestnikov and Steven Stamkos each had three points to help the Tampa Bay Lightning to a 5-1 win against the San Jose Sharks at SAP Center. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 32 saves for Tampa Bay (12-2-2), which leads the NHL in points (26) and is tied with the St. Louis Blues for the lead in wins. Namestnikov had two goals and an assist, Kucherov had a goal and two assists and Stamkos had three assists. Jake Dotchin and Slater Koekkoek also scored for Tampa Bay. Stamkos leads the NHL with 28 points. Kucherov ranks first with 15 goals and is second in the League with 26 points.

The Sharks (8-6-0) took a 1-0 lead 25 seconds into the game when Joonas Donskoi scored from the slot. After that the Lightning scored five straight goals, including three in the second period when they took control of the game. Martin Jones allowed four goals on 21 shots for the Sharks, whose four-game winning streak ended. Jones was replaced by Aaron Dell after the second period.

"As the game went on, we just didn't reset ourselves," Sharks captain Joe Pavelski said. "We kept missing passes and just fed their rush. They're good players, for sure. They made some plays, played with the puck a lot. And partly that's on us. Any time we had it we seemed to give it back to them."

Kucherov buried a wrist shot into the upper left corner of the net 44 seconds into the second to give Tampa Bay a 2-1 lead. Koekkoek made it 3-1 at 9:21 when he scored on a backhand between Jones' pads from close range. The Lightning extended their lead to 4-1 at 12:00 on Namestnikov's wrist shot. Stamkos took a cross-ice pass in the left circle from Kucherov and quickly sent the puck to Namestnikov on the other side. Namestnikov scored a power play goal at 6:14 of the third period to make it 5-1. After Donskoi scored, the Lightning tied it 1-1 on Dotchin's first NHL career goal at 7:17 of the first period on a slap shot.

"Our game tailed off," Sharks center Logan Couture said. "We turned pucks over, didn't forecheck. They felt comfortable. They had the puck all night. They're so talented. All four lines are fast. They outskated us all over the ice. It seemed like they had five more skaters than we did."

 

"When you play an elite team, you have to bring your 'A' game and we didn't do that across the board. When you bring your 'B' game, you see what happens. We didn't do anything well. " -- Sharks coach Peter DeBoer

Lightning forward Chris Kunitz played his 900th NHL game. ... Sharks defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic returned to the lineup after missing one game with a concussion. ... Sharks defenseman Paul Marin (ankle) missed his 12th straight game. ... Lightning forward Yanni Gourde, a former Sharks prospect, had two assists. ... Lightning forward Cedric Paquette (upper body) missed his ninth straight game.

Vancouver Canucks @ Sharks 0-5 - Saturday, November 11
Aaron Dell made an NHL career-high 41 saves to help the San Jose Sharks to a 5-0 win against the Vancouver Canucks at SAP Center. Logan Couture and Chris Tierney each scored two goals, and Tomas Hertl had a goal for San Jose (9-6-0), which won for the fifth time in its past six games and defeated Vancouver for a sixth straight time. Dell got his second NHL career shutout in his fourth start of the season. His first shutout came against the Philadelphia Flyers on Dec. 30, 2016.

"I feel like I get better every game and I've tried to get better in practice every day too," Dell said.

Jacob Markstrom made 26 saves for Vancouver (8-7-2), which has lost three of its past four games.

The Sharks rebounded from a 5-1 home loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Wednesday. Dell replaced Martin Jones in that game after the second period.

"I think it was a big bounce-back for the team after the last game," Dell said. "I think the one period I got in for that helped prepare [me for] this one."

Hertl gave the Sharks a 1-0 lead 48 seconds into the game with his third goal of the season and first since Oct. 17. Markstrom made a save on Ryan Braun's shot from above the right circle, but the rebound deflected off Hertl's skate and over the goal line.

"We need scoring by committee," Sharks coach Peter DeBoer said. "He's one of those guys. Tierney got a couple tonight, and Couture's been consistent all year. That's how we're going to win. I thought Tomas Hertl's been playing some really good hockey."

Couture made it 2-0 with a shorthanded goal, San Jose's first of the season, at 15:59 of the second period. Hertl chipped the puck out of the defensive zone, springing Couture on a breakaway. Couture faked left, went right and beat Markstrom between the legs with a backhand shot. It was Couture's first goal since Oct. 28. He leads the Sharks with 10 goals.

"He's a big strong guy, "Couture said of Hertl. "He had three guys on him, and he made a great chip. Fortunately it didn't go too far, so I was able to track it down and still have an angle to get to the net. Made a move I like to make and was able to find the back of the net."

Vancouver outshot San Jose 14-6 in the second period but couldn't get the puck past Dell, who made two stellar saves on 2-on-1 rushes. He stopped Sven Baertschi at 3:18 of the second on a power play and Derek Dorsett at 11:15 on a shorthanded try.

"Dell was our best player, which is why we have him," DeBoer said. "He was great. ... He had an exceptional season last year and followed it up with a great training camp and every time we've put him in there, he's given us good games. He's a big part of our team."

Couture scored an empty-net goal with 1:41 left in the third period. Tierney scored a shorthanded, empty net goal with 38.8 seconds remaining and on a penalty shot with 12.2 seconds left.

Dell against Bo Horvat's wrist shot from close range at 7:18 of the third period.

"It's always nice to contribute and score. It was a goal that I set for myself was to contribute offensively for this team and score goals. It's a nice start." -- Sharks center Logan Couture

Canucks forward Loui Eriksson returned after missing 12 straight games because of a sprained left knee. He had five shots in 18:16 of ice time. … Sharks forward Melker Karlsson played his 200th NHL game. ... Sharks defenseman Paul Martin (ankle) missed his 13th straight game.