Sharks 2022-23 Game 57 Recap: Sabres 4, Sharks 2 (2/18/23)

 The Sharks have dropped their third game in a row, losing 4-2 to the Buffalo Sabres. 

This still remains glorified tanking at its finest. First off, the Sabres opened the scoring early in the first period via Dylan Cozens. The Sharks evened things up late in the first period on a tip-in by Evgeny Svechnikov from Jacob MacDonald and Steven Lorentz to make it 1-1 through one period of play. 

Early in the second frame, the Sabres went back on top 2-1 by Owen Power going with the backhand through the five-hole of Kaapo Kahkonen. Later on, the Sharks would answer back on Alexander Barabanov's 11th goal of the year from Logan Couture and Erik Karlsson to tie it at two through two periods of play. This sets a career-high in goals for Barabanov, who now has points in six of his last seven games. 

About a minute-and-a-half into the final frame, Kaapo Kahkonen faced the first penalty shot of his career and the first penalty shot of the season for the Sharks, which resulted in a save by Kahkonen on Peyton Krebs. The Sabres then added two more goals to complete their victory: one by Jeff Skinner and an empty-netter by Alex Tuch. 

Kahkonen recorded a total of 27 saves in the defeat. In addition, the major theme surrounding this game besides the on-ice product was African American Heritage/Black History Night at the Shark Tank. The logo design created for this yearly theme by a local artist looked amazing. 

Overall, the entirety and result of this game was expected and not one bit surprising. Next up, the Sharks host the Seattle Kraken on Monday in an afternoon matinee at 1 pm PT. This next game recap will be more in-depth and personal than most other game recaps that I have written, as I will be attending the Sharks' next game at SAP Center and have been looking forward to attending at least one NHL game all season long this season. The Kraken have been playing well throughout their second season and are favored in this next game, but I hope the Sharks can make things interesting when I'm at their next game on Monday. 

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

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