The Sharks showed hope during parts of this game, but they ultimately got off to a slow start and collapsed in the third period as they drop their first meeting with the Vegas Golden Knights 4-2.
The biggest highlight from this game that overshadows every other aspect of this game is the Golden Knights’ Phil Kessel breaking the NHL’s all-time Ironman Streak record, skating in his 990th consecutive game. In addition, Phil Kessel scored the first goal of the game in the first period, marking his 400th career NHL goal. Luckily things didn’t get completely out of hand for the Sharks in the first period, but they were outshot and created quite a few turnovers.
The Sharks haven't played well during most second periods this season but have certainly showed up during the second period more recently. They tied the game early in the middle frame on a redirect by Nico Sturm for his team-leading fourth goal of the season, with assists from Kevin Labanc and Evgeny Svechnikov. Towards the end of the second period, Matt Nieto scored his first goal of the season on a breakaway chance to give the Sharks their first lead of the night, with Tomas Hertl sending a great pass to Nieto to set up this incredible goal.
Things were looking great through two periods until they let this one slip away in the third, allowing the Knights to score three unanswered goals via Shea Theodore early in the final frame and William Karlsson and Mark Stone late in the period. This was a winnable game for the Sharks, but they didn't show up for a full 60 minutes and allowed a worn-out Golden Knights team that was skating in the second game of a back-to-back set to take advantage of them.
James Reimer was decent in net, recording 27 saves, but his offense and defense left him out to dry at times during this game.
This wasn't a great game from the Sharks perspective but an important and significant one from a historical perspective, mainly for Phil Kessel, the Golden Knights, and the NHL as a whole. At least one other team is doing worse than the Sharks right now, and that would be the Vancouver Canucks, who are still looking for their first win of the season. Team Teal will try to regroup and get their act together in their next game on Thursday against the Toronto Maple Leafs at 7:30 pm PT.
Sources: ESPN, Sharks Audio Network, NHL App
P.S. Become one of the first to own a piece of my hockey apparel (pictured below) (Baseball merch now available as well): CPF Store
No comments:
Post a Comment