Sharks 2022-23 Game 30 Recap: Sharks 6, Ducks 1 (12/9/22)

 The Sharks get a huge and much-needed win in Anaheim, taking advantage of a terrible Ducks team 6-1. 

Team Teal was in full control from the get-go and came in firing on all cylinders. They struck first around the halfway mark of the first period via Timo Meier tipping in a shot from Erik Karlsson for his 14th goal of the season, tying Logan Couture for the team lead in goals. Tomas Hertl picked up the other assist on this first goal.

 Early in the second period, Scott Harrington scored his first goal of the year and his first as a Shark from Kevin Labanc and Timo Meier to make it 2-0. In addition, Kevin Labanc earned his 200th NHL point on this play. A few minutes later, Erik Karlsson scores his 12th goal of the season on the power play from Alexander Barabanov and Tomas Hertl to extend the Sharks' lead to three. Nico Sturm followed that up eight seconds later with his seventh goal of the year from Matt Benning to make it 4-0, catching John Gibson mostly outside the crease in a vulnerable position. The Ducks potted their only goal of the game about a minute-and-a-half after they found themselves in a four-goal deficit via Trevor Zegras, who has been one of Anaheim's only bright spots this season thus far. 

Team Teal added two more late in the third via an empty-netter from Nick Bonino for his third of the year and Steven Lorentz's third of the year. Marc-Eduoard Vlasic and Matt Benning assisted on the Bonino empty-netter, while Evgeny Svechnikov and Alexander Barabanov assisted on the latter of these two by Lorentz. Soon after, frustrations boiled over for the Ducks, ultimately resulting in a fight between Jonah Gadjovich and Sam Carrick. 

Eetu Makiniemi received his first NHL start, recording 23 saves in the huge win over the Ducks and becoming the youngest goalie in Sharks history to earn his first win in his first start at 23 years of age. The Sharks should consider keeping Makiniemi around and starting him in more games, but that may make for difficult decisions ahead once James Reimer is ready to return from injury. 

The Sharks took advantage of a team that is doing worse than them and that they should be able to beat, and man that felt great. This team needs more games and confidence boosters like this one this season. San Jose doesn't play again until Tuesday, when they host the Arizona Coyotes for the first time this season at 7:30 pm PT.

Sources: Sharks Audio Network, NHL App, Bay Area News Group 

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