The Sharks were in it the entire game, but some careless mistakes cost them as they fall to the St. Louis Blues 5-3 to snap their two-game win streak.
Much of this game was a back-and-forth scoring affair, especially in the first half of this game. It first began with Brent Burns scoring his first goal of the season on a 5-on-3 opportunity, getting assists from Tomas Hertl and Alexander Barabanov. The Blues followed that up on Brandon Saad's first goal of the game to tie it at one. The Sharks then retook the lead via Logan Couture while shorthanded to make it 2-1 Sharks, with the only helper on that play coming from Rudolfs Balcers. Couture also had to briefly exit the game at one point after going hard into the boards and taking a stick to the face.
Early in the second, the Blues tied it again, this time from Pavel Buchnevich. In a matter of seconds, the Sharks retook the lead 3-2 on Nick Merkley's first goal as a Shark, which was deflected off a shot from Mario Ferraro at the point. Brent Burns was also credited with an apple on Nick Merkley's first goal as a Shark. Later on in the second, the Blues scored both the game-tying and go-ahead goals via Brandon Saad's second of the game and James Neal's second of the season. A few of the goals that the Blues scored in this game were soft, and Adin Hill admitted that he wanted those soft goals back.
Lastly, Robert Thomas scored on the empty net in the final minute of regulation to seal the deal for St. Louis.
Besides the few softies he allowed, Adin Hill could've performed better in net, making a total of 23 saves on the night. There were also times in this game when the Sharks' defense was lackluster and the young players' inexperience was exposed. Also keep in mind that the Sharks still had seven regular roster players, their head coach, and a few other team personnel in COVID protocol, which certainly didn't help the team's chances. This loss isn't entirely the Sharks' fault either, as the Blues are off to a hot start this season and are playing very well lately.
A few noteworthy storylines I want to discuss here as well: the Sharks haven't yet confirmed what they plan to do with William Eklund as he has no goals and a few assists through ten games in his rookie campaign. Eklund's fellow teammates have praised him so far and stated that he belongs in the NHL and with the Sharks, and I totally agree with them. There has also been some speculation that the Sharks could potentially send Eklund back to Sweden so he can further develop as a player, and that would be a big mistake as that would set him back rather than improve his game. I believe in Eklund as much as anyone around the Sharks does, and that it will be a matter of time before he scores his first NHL goal.
The next storyline involves the Jack Eichel sweepstakes. There have been rumors of the possibility that the Sharks could land the superstar center from the Sabres, but those rumors were never that serious and San Jose was never a finalist in the sweepstakes either. The Sabres ultimately dealt Jack Eichel and a 2023 third-rounder to the rival Vegas Golden Knights for Alex Tuch, Peyton Krebs, a 2022 first-rounder, and a 2023 third-rounder. I'm glad that Jack Eichel is out of Buffalo as his relationship with the Sabres is severed to the point of no return. In addition, Eichel is able to have the type of surgery that he wanted done, but his recovery is expected to take roughly four months. However, as a Sharks fan, I don't think too highly of this trade as they will now be facing him more in the near future. Most importantly, once everyone on the Golden Knights is back in the lineup and healthy, they are expected to be a scary good team and will make life more difficult for Team Teal.
In general, I wasn't too pleased with how this game went for the Sharks. They have an opportunity to rebound tomorrow when they host the New Jersey Devils to close out their current homestand at 7:30 pm PT.
Sources: NBC Sports Bay Area/California, NHL App
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