The Sharks’ current losing streak is now at nine, as they get thumped 7-2 by the New York Islanders.
The Islanders got on the board almost immediately to get this one started, with Noah Dobson scoring the first goal of the game 19 seconds in. Late in the opening period, the Islanders extended their lead to two via Alexander Romanov. Early in the second period, the Sharks got on the board to cut their deficit in half when Thomas Bordeleau scored his second goal of the season and second NHL goal, with assists going to William Eklund and Fabian Zetterlund. Later in the middle frame, the Sharks and Islanders traded goals, with Bo Horvat scoring to put the Islanders back up by two and Mike Hoffman scoring his tenth goal of the season seconds after to put the Sharks back within one, with Givani Smith recording the lone assist on the Sharks' second goal of the game. Moments later, the Islanders would then run away with this game, scoring four unanswered via Kyle MacLean, Mat Barzal, and Sebastian Aho in the second period and Anders Lee in the third period.
Magnus Chrona recorded 26 saves on 33 shots against in his third NHL start. In addition, the Sharks called up Thomas Bordeleau from the Barracuda and placed Ty Emberson on the IR on Wednesday, and Alexander Barabanov and Anthony Duclair were held out of this game for trade-related reasons.
Speaking of Duclair, prior to this game, the Sharks traded him and a 2025 seventh-round pick to the Tampa Bay Lightning in exchange for defenseman prospect Jack Thompson and a 2024 third-round pick. Duclair is in the final year of a three-year deal he signed with the Panthers in July of 2021 and is set to become an unrestricted free agent this offseason. Although he has now been dealt, Duclair had recently hired a new agent and has left the door open on a potential return to San Jose in free agency. He has been one of the Sharks' best-performing players this season after he was acquired in a trade with the Panthers on July 1, recording 16 goals and 11 assists for 27 points in 56 games so far and has been on a bit of a hot scoring streak as of late. Duclair now goes to a Lightning team that currently sits in the second Wild Card spot in the East and will help Tampa gear up for another playoff run. As for the latest addition to the Sharks organization, Jack Thompson was selected by the Lightning in the third round at no. 93 overall in the 2020 draft and has five goals and 27 assists for 32 points in 46 AHL games with the Syracuse Crunch this season, along with one career NHL game under his belt. He will report to the Barracuda to start, and at the time of this trade is leading Syracuse Crunch defensemen in points and assists and is second in goals this season. In total, Thompson has 13 goals and 43 assists for 56 points in 118 career AHL games.
Overall, this was a solid trade for the Sharks, getting a future asset and draft pick in return for Anthony Duclair. I will miss Anthony Duclair in a Sharks uniform, as this Sharks team now becomes even more offensively challenged with his departure and Tomas Hertl and Logan Couture unlikely to return from injury this season. On the flip side, Duclair will now be joining my second favorite team in the Lightning and should fit in well with them on their quest for the playoffs, and Thomas Bordeleau should be a mainstay on this Sharks roster for the remainder of this season and the foreseeable future. We will have to wait and see on Trade Deadline Day Friday morning where Alexander Barabanov gets traded to and what his return will be, along with any additional trades the Sharks may pull the trigger on, which will all be covered in the next post here on CPF Hockey. Once the NHL Trade Deadline passes at 12 pm PT on Friday, the Sharks conclude their current three-game homestand on Saturday against the Ottawa Senators at 4 pm PT.
Sources: NHL App, San Jose Sharks PR, Curtis Pashelka via X
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