Sharks 2023-24 Game 73 Recap: Sharks 4, Blues 0 (3/30/24)

 Team Teal’s fourth skid of at least nine games this season has finally come to an end, shutting out the St. Louis Blues on the road 4-0. 

The Sharks got going in the second period, scoring the first three goals of the game via Filip Zadina, Mikael Granlund, and Luke Kunin. The only assists on these three goals went to Fabian Zetterlund and William Eklund on the second of these three goals by Granlund. San Jose was able to add one more late in the third period on an empty-netter from Jan Rutta to guarantee the shutout victory in St. Louis, with the lone assist going to Nico Sturm on the Rutta empty-netter. 

Mackenzie Blackwood recorded his second shutout of the season and tenth shutout of his career, stopping all 37 shots he faced against the Blues Saturday night. This Sharks victory over the Blues also allowed the Vancouver Canucks to clinch their first Stanley Cup playoff berth since 2020. 

Although this season has been a lost cause for this Sharks team, ending their fourth lengthy losing streak this season injected more confidence into the players and coaches for the remainder of this season and heading into next season. Team Teal will head home on a high note for their last stretch of home games this season, starting on Monday against the Seattle Kraken at 7:30 pm PT. 

Sources: NBC Sports Bay Area/California, Sharks Audio Network, NHL App 

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Sharks 2023-24 Game 72 Recap: Wild 3, Sharks 1 (3/28/24)

 The Sharks open their quick two-game road trip with a 3-1 loss to the Minnesota Wild, their ninth straight defeat. 

The Wild struck first late in the opening period via Joel Eriksson Ek, which occurred during a period where the Sharks were only able to register a measly one shot on goal. However, Team Teal was able to outshoot Minnesota in the final two periods to make the shot totals more even than lopsided. The only goal scored by the Sharks came in the second period via Mikael Granlund from Jan Rutta and Marc-Eduoard Vlasic. Things were decided in the third period, with the Wild scoring twice via Matt Boldy and Ryan Hartman to win fair and square. 

Mackenzie Blackwood stopped a total of 29 shots to open the Sharks’ current road trip. In addition, Alexander Barabanov suffered a lower-body injury during Tuesday’s game against the Stars and is considered week-to-week, with the remainder of his season in jeopardy. 

San Jose made this game competitive to an extent, but with the way everything has gone and is going for this Sharks team this season, they may not win another game during the 2023-24 season, and that wouldn’t surprise me one bit. Next up, Team Teal travels to St. Louis to face the Blues on Saturday at 5 pm PT. 

Source: NHL App, San Jose Mercury News 

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Sharks 2023-24 Game 71 Recap: Stars 6, Sharks 3 (3/26/24)

 The Sharks are still unable to buy a win, as they close out their current three-game homestand with a 6-3 loss to the Dallas Stars. 

The Stars jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period on a shorthanded breakaway goal by Wyatt Johnston and one at even strength by Mason Marchment. Dallas made it 3-0 just 14 seconds into the second period via Jason Robertson, while the Sharks got on the board soon after via Alexander Barabanov from William Eklund and Jan Rutta. William Eklund scored his 12th goal of the season about a minute later to get the Sharks within one, with assists going to Thomas Bordeleau and Mikael Granlund. The Sharks and Stars continued to trade goals in the second period, with Jamie Benn scoring to make it 4-2 Stars, followed by Klim Kostin’s sixth goal of the season and seventh point in nine games with the Sharks from Mikael Granlund to make it 4-3 and Wyatt Johnston’s second goal of the game to make it 5-3. In addition, earlier in the second period, Luke Kunin recorded fights in consecutive games, challenging Ty Dellandrea in another tilt to get this Sharks team going. Later in the third period, Jason Robertson scored his second goal of the game to give the Stars their biggest lead of the night, putting this one away for good. 

Mackenzie Blackwood was back in net for Team Teal, recording 35 saves on 41 shots against in the Sharks’ 17th defeat in their last 18 games. 

San Jose hits the road for their next two games, with the first stop in Minnesota against the Wild on Thursday at 5 pm PT. 

Sources: NBC Sports Bay Area/California, NHL App 

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My 5th NHL Game: Blackhawks 5, Sharks 4 (OT) (3/23/24)

 I have officially attended my fifth NHL game, third game at the Shark Tank, and my first game during the 2023-24 NHL season. Despite the less-than-ideal final outcome of this game, it was an amazing game that was absolutely worth attending and a lot better than if I had stayed home and watched it on TV. I plan to cover both a recap of the Tank-4-Celebrini Cup and aspects of my personal experience from attending my most recent Sharks game on Saturday, so let's begin: 

This game featured the same match-up as my first-ever NHL game between the Sharks and Blackhawks, except this time both teams are the bottom two in the entire NHL instead of being playoff contenders. My buddy and I arrived at SAP Center just over two hours before the start of the game, and since the doors hadn't opened yet, we walked into Downtown San Jose for a bit, all the way to and through San Pedro Square filled with a lively atmosphere filled with vendors and several restaurant and bar options, along with many others who appeared to be attending the game as well. Once we finished walking through San Pedro Square, my buddy and I headed back to the Shark Tank to enter the arena. Since it was South Asian Heritage Night at the Tank, the Sharks gave away cricket shirseys to everyone in attendance Saturday night, and although I didn't wear mine at the game, it looks incredible and I plan to wear mine at some point. However, my buddy and I first went to the team store inside the arena, and I decided to purchase one of the new Sharks Cali Fin alternate jerseys that they debuted this season with William Eklund's name and no. 72 on the back and threw it on for the night. 

After purchasing my newest jersey from the team store, my buddy and I were hungry, so we had to buy dinner at the game, and each of us got western bacon cheeseburgers. They were good but not worth the cost the burger went for at SAP Center. We then went to find our seats in the second deck so we could eat our dinner, which explains why we couldn't head to the lower bowl to get a better view of pregame warmups, unlike other games my buddy and I have attended in years past. Still, it's always fun to catch pregame warmups whenever I'm at NHL games. 

Prior to the singing of the national anthem, the Sharks held a moment of silence for 8-year-old Michael Huang, who tragically passed away earlier this month on a trip for the San Francisco Sabercats, his hockey team. After the moment of silence and the singing of the national anthem, the anticipation building up to first puck drop is always a great feeling when in attendance at live hockey games. Team Teal got off to a phenomenal start to this game, jumping out to a 4-0 lead through early in the second period. Thomas Bordeleau scored the first two goals of this game in the first period, with the first one on the power play near the four-minute mark and the second one at even strength near the ten-minute mark. Fabian Zetterlund and Calen Addison assisted on the first Bordeleau goal, while Justin Bailey and Nico Sturm assisted on the second Bordeleau goal. The first minute-and-a-half of the second period saw Fabian Zetterlund score twice to extend the Sharks' lead to four and get to 20 goals on the season, with the first of these two at even strength and the second of these two on the power play. Klim Kostin and Mario Ferraro assisted on the first Zetterlund goal, while William Eklund and Mikael Granlund assisted on the second Zetterlund goal. Late in the first period, a nice, solid tilt occurred between Luke Kunin and Andreas Athanasiou, who both dropped the gloves near the team benches and exchanged blow after blow, with Athanasiou getting the win after pinning Kunin down to the ice and both players heading straight to their respective dressing rooms with just over two minutes remaining in the first period and starting the second period in the penalty box. This marked my second-ever fight I've witnessed in an NHL game, and hockey fights are the best type of fights.

During the first intermission, I headed down to the lower bowl to attempt to take better photos of not just the ice, but the players entering back onto the ice ahead of the start of the second period, which I was able to do along with hurrying back to my assigned seat in enough time before the first puck drop of the middle frame. In addition, before the game and during the intermissions, groups of dancers performed traditional Indian dances, and it's great to see the Sharks get that community more involved in the sport of hockey. Near the seven-minute mark of the second period was when the Blackhawks scored their first goal of the game via Ryan Donato. Didn't make much of it at the time, but this was just the beginning of the tides turning the other way. Later in the second period, Chicago cut the Sharks' lead in half via Tyler Johnson. Things were still looking okay through two periods of play, but I have seen this downward spiral trend occur with this Sharks team several times throughout this season. I still had some hope left in me that Team Teal could still pull this off, but that hope dwindled in the third period, as Seth Jones scored early in the third period to get Chicago within one and Phillipp Kurashev potted the game-tying goal in the final minute of regulation to force overtime. It only took 18 seconds into the OT period for Seth Jones to score his second goal of the game to complete the comeback for the Blackhawks and another epic collapse from the Sharks. 

Devin Cooley made his first start in his hometown Saturday night, recording 26 saves on 31 shots against. Despite this epic collapse by the Sharks, I am so thankful that I got to attend this game, and I am happy for my friend who went with me to this game, who got to see Connor Bedard's first game in San Jose and his Blackhawks rally from down four goals to win in OT. On the other hand, the Sharks are now 2-0-2 when I am at their games, and they further placed themselves in a prime position to win the draft lottery and land Macklin Celebrini. Between these two teams, the Sharks definitely need and deserve Macklin Celebrini more. Regardless of the end result, this game was a ton of fun, and I hope to attend more of these games in the future, especially when some of the Sharks' top prospects make the big-league roster in the next few seasons. 

Regularly scheduled game reviews will resume on Tuesday, when the Sharks host the Dallas Stars in their next game and final game of their current homestand at 7:30 pm PT. 

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Sharks 2023-24 Game 69 Recap: Lightning 4, Sharks 1 (3/21/24)

 The Sharks extend their losing streak to six, as they drop their last game this season against an Eastern Conference opponent 4-1 to the Tampa Bay Lightning. 

The Lightning scored first on two unlucky deflections that first went off the referee and then off the back of Mackenzie Blackwood into the back of the net, with the goal being credited to Nick Paul. The Sharks evened things up at one later in the first period on William Eklund’s 11th goal of the season, with the lone assist going to Jacob McDonald. Great response from Eklund after being demoted to the fourth line tonight. 

The wheels fell off for Team Teal in the final frame as the Lightning scored three unanswered goals: two from Brayden Point and one from Anthony Duclair in his return to San Jose since he was acquired by the Bolts ahead of the trade deadline. Nikita Kucherov assisted on each of the four goals scored by Tampa tonight in San Jose, continuing his efforts to remain one of the top scorers in the NHL this season. 

Mackenzie Blackwood made his return to the Sharks net since being activated from the IR earlier today, recording 17 saves on 21 shots against. In a corresponding move, the Sharks reassigned Magnus Chrona to the Barracuda. 

Next up, the Sharks host the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday in Connor Bedard’s first game in San Jose and the second rendition of the Tank-4-Celebrini Cup this week. This next post will be a special personal experience post, as my buddy and I will be traveling to San Jose to attend this next game, and we can’t wait to witness it live. 

Sources: Sharks Audio Network, NHL App 

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Sharks 2023-24 Game 68 Recap: Predators 8, Sharks 2 (3/19/24)

 The Sharks conclude their last lengthy road trip of the season with an 8-2 blowout loss to the Nashville Predators. 

Both of these teams were trending in complete opposite directions, and this current trend continued tonight in the most unsurprising way possible. Despite the final result, this game actually seemed manageable for the Sharks until the middle of the second period. The Predators scored first via Roman Josi in the opening period, while the Sharks evened things up at one via Mikael Granlund late in the opening period, with assists going to Klim Kostin and Mario Ferraro. 

The Sharks went ahead 2-1 on Mario Ferraro’s second goal of the season, with assists from Thomas Bordeleau and Justin Bailey. This lead didn’t last for long, as the Preds followed that up with seven unanswered goals: three in the second period from Jason Zucker, Michael McCarron, and Luke Evangelista, and four in the third period from McCarron, Mark Jankowski, Filip Forsberg, and Tommy Novak to win 8-2 and tie their franchise-record point streak at 15 games. 

Magnus Chrona finished his night with 32 saves on 40 shots against. 

The Sharks return home for their next three games, starting on Thursday against the Tampa Bay Lightning at 7:30 pm PT. 

Source: NHL App 

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Sharks 2023-24 Game 67 Recap: Blackhawks 5, Sharks 2 (3/17/24)

 Team Teal had a great first period, but they imploded in the third period as they lose to the Blackhawks 5-2 in the first of two Tank-4-Celebrini Cups this week. 

The Sharks got off to a fantastic start in the Windy City, jumping out to a 2-0 lead in the first period on goals from Ryan Carpenter and Klim Kostin. This is Ryan Carpenter’s fifth goal of the season and Klim Kostin’s fourth point in five games played as a Shark. Alexander Barabanov and Kevin Labanc registered assists on the first goal by Carpenter, while Mario Ferraro and Mikael Granlund registered assists on the second goal by Kostin. Late in the second period, the Sharks let their game falter a bit, allowing Philip Kurashev score to put the Blackhawks on the board. 

The Sharks collapsed in the third period, allowing the Bedards to score four unanswered, the first three of of these four scored in the span of under a minute via Ryan Donato, Kevin Korchinski, and Joey Anderson. The last of these four third period goals by Chicago was scored in the final seconds of this game by Connor Bedard into the empty net to conclude this one. 

Devin Cooley made his NHL debut in net for the Sharks in Chicago on Sunday. He had a decent first NHL start but was let down significantly by his defense in the third period, recording a total of 26 saves on 30 shots against. 

Speaking of the next time these two teams face each other this week, that will take place in San Jose on Saturday, and my buddy and I will be in attendance for that second game between these teams this week. It would be great if the Sharks can step up their game and play better on Saturday when I will be in attendance at the Shark Tank, but at the same time, the Sharks are one step closer to winning the Macklin Celebrini sweepstakes with their glorified tanking efforts this year. As for their next game, the Sharks round out their last lengthy road trip of the season on Tuesday in Nashville against the Predators at 5 pm PT. 

Sources: NBC Sports Bay Area/California, NHL App 

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Sharks 2023-24 Game 66 Recap: Blue Jackets 4, Sharks 2 (3/16/24)

 The Sharks were unable to fully recover from their slow start in Columbus, falling 4-2 to the Blue Jackets. 

The Blue Jackets struck first late in the opening period via Boone Jenner to begin this one. Early in the second period, Alex Nylander scored to extend the Jackets’ lead to two. The Sharks got on the board later in the middle frame on Fabian Zetterlund’s 18th goal of the season, with assists going to Mario Ferraro and Mikael Granlund, while the Blue Jackets followed that up with one from Johnny Gaudreau to go back up by two. Fast forward to the third period, when Henry Thrun scored his second NHL goal to put the Sharks within one, with Kevin Labanc registering the lone assist on the Thrun goal. Unfortunately this wasn’t enough, as the Blue Jackets would seal the deal with just over a minute remaining in this game on an empty-netter from Alex Nylander for his second goal of the game. 

Magnus Chrona recorded a total of 16 saves on 19 shots against in the Sharks’ third straight defeat. 

Despite the Sharks outshooting the Blue Jackets 41-20 and some other areas of their game on point, they just couldn’t buy a goal when they needed one. Team Teal is back in action tomorrow, when they travel to Chicago to face the Blackhawks at 3 pm PT. 

Source: NHL App 

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