The Sharks had many things go their way and put up a good fight throughout this game, but the New Jersey Devils tied it up in the last ten seconds of regulation and ultimately prevailed in the shootout 4-3.
Ryan Graves scored the first goal of the game for the Devils 29 seconds into the first puck drop. After that rough start, the Sharks were able to get going to an extent, outshooting the Devils in the first period. However, the first period ended a few minutes earlier than it would normally due to a broken board, which is the first time I and most everyone can recall a strange instance like this ever happening. The remaining four minutes of the first period were played after the first intermission due to the broken board, but the second period began soon after the conclusion of the first.
Those final four-ish minutes of the first period allowed the Sharks to take the lead. Timo Meier scored his 25th goal of the season from Mikey Eyssimont and Erik Karlsson to tie it at one towards the beginning of that stretch, while Erik Karlsson scored his 14th goal of the season from Timo Meier and Tomas Hertl in the remaining seconds of that stretch to give the Sharks the lead. Erik Karlsson now has 200 points as a Shark.
The scoring picked back up seconds into the third period, as the Devils knotted it at two via Nico Hischier. Near the six-minute mark of the third period, the Sharks retook the lead on Nick Bonino's sixth goal of the year from Mikey Eyssimont and Matt Benning. This marks Mikey Eyssimont's first two points as a Shark and the first multi-point game of his career. We were all led to believe that the Sharks would hold on and get a huge win over one of the top teams in the league in regulation, but the Devils had other ideas, as Jack Hughes tied the game in the last ten seconds to force bonus hockey.
The overtime period had everyone watching it on the edge of their seats. Both teams had great chances to end it and win, and both goalies (James Reimer and Vitek Vanecek) made clutch stops to keep things going. In addition, after Mikey Eyssimont was denied on a great scoring chance, he and Tomas Tatar got into a mini scrap, with both players going to the box for two minutes each for unsportsmanlike conduct.
All it took in the shootout was the first attempt by the Devils via Tomas Tatar, which was the only successful shootout attempt in this game. As for the Sharks, they rolled out Nick Bonino, Logan Couture, and Alexander Barabanov in the skills competition, but each attempt was denied by Vitek Vanecek.
James Reimer performed well and made a total of 38 saves in a loss that is very characteristic of the Sharks this season. After the Sharks first shift of the game, the team paused to honor equipment manager Mike Aldrich, who worked his 2,000th NHL game. Another significant change in the Sharks lineup against the Devils was Kevin Labanc being listed as a healthy scratch, with Noah Gregor taking his place in the lineup.
There were certainly positive aspects and developments of the Sharks' game against the Devils this afternoon, but it's disappointing that Team Teal still found a way to let this one slip away and lose. Next up, San Jose concludes its three-game homestand on Wednesday, hosting the Dallas Stars at 7 pm PT; this game will be nationally televised on TNT.
Sources: NBC Sports Bay Area/California, NHL App
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