Sharks Game 17 Recap: Wild 6, Sharks 2 (2/22/21)

 I may be a day late with this recap, but the Sharks dropped their homestand opener to the Minnesota Wild 6-2. 

Despite the end result, San Jose got the start they wanted on a highlight-reel goal by Brent Burns on a breakaway chance, deke, and backhand shot. It was in similar fashion to the game-winner he scored the last time the Sharks faced the Wild before last night on January 24, which was absolutely incredible. In addition, this was Brent Burns' fourth goal of the year, while the rest of the Sharks' defense corps haven't scored any goals yet this year. 

After the first goal, it all fell apart for the Sharks, starting with a game-tying goal by Mats Zuccarello for the Wild and the go-ahead goal by Kirill Kaprizov immediately following the game-tying goal. Towards the end of the first period was the Sharks' first fighting major of the season between Nikolai Knyzhov and Marcus Foligno. Once Knyzhov was bleeding from his face, Foligno signaled the refs to come in and separate the two, ending their tilt. This was a classy move by Marcus Foligno and respect him greatly for this; it's not that often when a player signals to the officials to separate them from the other challenger after dropping the gloves. 

The second period saw two more goals from the Wild by Ian Cole and Marcus Foligno before Martin Jones was pulled from the game after giving up four goals before the end of the second period. In addition, this game featured the first Gordie Howe hat trick given up by the Sharks in eight years after Marcus Foligno recorded a goal, assist, and fight in last night's game. Devan Dubnyk was inserted into the game soon after the score became 4-1 in favor of Minnesota. Fortunately, Logan Couture scored the Sharks' second goal of the game off the feed from Evander Kane behind the net to lessen Team Teal's deficit to two goals. Timo Meier, Rudolfs Balcers, and Kevin Labanc each recorded one assist in last night's contest along with Evander Kane. Logan Couture now leads the Sharks with ten goals on the season. Devan Dubnyk then proceeded to give up one more goal by Jonas Brodin late in the second period. 

The Wild topped off their scoring late in the third period on an empty-netter by Victor Rask. Last night's game was arguably the most winnable for the Sharks out of their current eight-game homestand, but that certainly wasn't the case based on how they performed for most of it. 

Injury update: Erik Karlsson's status has now changed to week-to-week with his ongoing groin injury, and the Sharks are in no hurry to get him back in the lineup. 

Overall, it was another disappointing loss for the Sharks, and their current homestand isn't going to get any easier from here. San Jose's next game on their current homestand, which is the longest of the season, is Thursday at 7:30 pm PT against the Golden Knights. 

Sources: NBC Sports Bay Area, NHL app