Sharks 2022-23 Game 56 Recap: Golden Knights 2, Sharks 1 (2/16/23)

 Most of this game was a goaltending duel, but the Sharks didn’t get enough offense and the Golden Knights won in the final seconds to take this one 2-1. 

The first period was scoreless, but early on, Nico Sturm got hurt after blocking a shot. He was initially listed as questionable to return, but Sturm was back on the ice in the second period in miraculous fashion. The Sharks scored the first goal of the game late in the second period via Alexander Barabanov’s tenth of the season from Marc-Eduoard Vlasic and Logan Couture. This first goal matches Barabanov’s total from last season. 

Early in the third period, the Golden Knights almost evened it at one, but Kaapo Kahkonen motioned that he had the puck under control and the refs whistled the play dead before the puck could cross the line, allowing the Sharks to catch a break there. Vegas soon made up for it, officially knotting it up at one via Paul Cotter. With 16.6 seconds remaining in this contest, the Golden Knights delivered the backbreaker via William Carrier, in which Kahkonen was completely fooled and Carrier had a wide-open net in front of him. What also didn’t help the Sharks was the fact that they found themselves on the penalty kill seven times tonight, a season high. On the other hand, the Golden Knights’ seven power plays in this one were the most they’ve had in one game in their franchise history. 

Kaapo Kahkonen was back in net and had one of his best performances of the season, recording 36 saves, which ended up all for not due to the lack of goal support by the rest of the Sharks. Prior to this game, Nick Cicek was called back up from the Barracuda, while Eetu Makiniemi was sent back down. 

Besides Kaapo Kahkonen being phenomenal and the team holding a slim 1-0 lead, San Jose played mostly sloppy hockey and didn’t have much going for them in Vegas tonight. Their record now falls to 17-28-11 on the campaign, still 7th in the Pacific Division. Team Teal returns home for their next game on Saturday, when they host the Buffalo Sabres at 7:30 pm PT. 

Sources: NBC Sports Bay Area/California, NHL App, Curtis Pashelka via Twitter 

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