Timo Meier scored his 4th career hat trick, but the Sharks lose to the Seattle Kraken 8-5 in only the 5th all-time meeting between these two clubs. This also marked the first time the Kraken scored eight goals in a game in franchise history.
There are at least a few positives from this game for Team Teal, but this was still a terrible, subpar, and unacceptable result, especially since they gave up eight goals to the NHL's newest team. The Sharks scored first early in the first period on Logan Couture's 11th goal of the season, which he tipped in on a shot from Nick Cicek, who earned his second NHL point on this play. Matt Nieto earned the other assist on the Sharks' first goal of the game. Towards the middle of the first period, the Kraken tied it at one on a power play goal via Andre Burakovsky. Late in the first period, Timo Meier scored his first goal of the game on a 4-on-3 opportunity to go ahead 2-1 through one period of play. Erik Karlsson collected his 30th point of the season with an assist on the Sharks' second goal, while Logan Couture was credited with the other assist on that goal.
The second period featured a string of three unanswered goals from the Kraken, starting near the six-minute mark with goals from Vince Dunn, Ryan Donato, and Jamie Oleksiak. Later on, Timo Meier scored his second goal of the game to get within one, making it 4-3 Kraken through two periods of play. Tomas Hertl was credited with the only assist on Timo's second goal of the game.
Early in the third period, the Sharks tied the game at four on a redirection from Alexander Barabanov on the initial shot from Matt Benning. Marc-Eduoard Vlasic picked up the other helper on the equalizer. It wasn't long before the Kraken went back ahead in a matter of minutes on goals from Oliver Bjorkstrand and Jaden Schwartz. Near the halfway point of the third period, Timo Meier completed the hat trick with his third goal of the contest, with assists from Kevin Labanc and Tomas Hertl. This got the Sharks back within one and back in this game, only for any chance to complete any kind of comeback to slip away soon after. Matty Beniers scored to put Seattle back up by two, and Jaden Schwartz sealed the deal with an empty-netter for his second goal of the game.
Kaapo Kahkonen was given the start in net in Seattle against the Kraken, recording 19 saves and giving up seven goals. Aaron Dell was the backup goalie for Kajkonen, as James Reimer is currently out with a lower-body injury. In addition, Radim Simek was activated off the IR but was inactive in this game, while Nico Sturm was moved to the IR in place of Simek.
What this game came down to was the Sharks' defense completely falling apart, resulting in them allowing the Kraken to put an eight-spot on the scoreboard. It has happened plenty of times for the Sharks during this season when a player or two has a phenomenal performance, only for another aspect of the team to waste it and lose the game. I have gotten used to things being this way for this team, and I've had enough. The Sharks return home to face the LA Kings for the first time this season on Friday at 7:30 pm PT, when they will debut their new Reverse Retro jerseys for this season.
Sources: NBC Sports Bay Area/California, NHL App, Bay Area News Group
Give the gift of CPF apparel this holiday season (sample pictured below): CPF Store
No comments:
Post a Comment