The Sharks close out their current seven-game road trip with a 7-3 blowout loss to the Colorado Avalanche in their final game before the NHL trade deadline.
The Avalanche jumped out to an early 2-0 lead on a shorthanded goal from Joel Kiviranta and a power play goal from Cale Makar. A few minutes later, the Sharks got on the board on a power play goal via Fabian Zetterlund for his 17th goal of the season, assisted by Collin Graf. With 2.1 seconds left in the first period, a tic-tac-toe sequence set up Jonathan Drouin to score to give Colorado a two-goal advantage.
In the middle frame, the Avalanche scored two more goals via Martin Necas and Nathan MacKinnon to make it 5-1 Colorado. With 0.4 seconds left in the second period, Keynan Middleton nearly scored his first NHL goal for the Avs, but luckily the Sharks caught a break and it was waved off due to goalie interference. More specifically, Ross Colton made contact with Alexandar Georgiev prior to that puck finding the back of the net.
The Avs resumed scoring in the third period, with Nathan MacKinnon netting his second goal of the game to extend their lead to five. Soon after, the Sharks got one back on a great shot by Macklin Celebrini for the 20th goal of his rookie campaign, assisted by Will Smith and William Eklund. The Avs responded just under a minute after on Cale Makar’s second goal of the game to make it 7-2. Lastly, the Sharks were able to squeak in one more goal via William Eklund’s 14th goal of the season and 100th point of his NHL career, assisted by Tyler Toffoli and Alexander Wennberg. It is also worth noting that it was cool seeing Shakir Mukhamadullin lay a nice, clean, hard hit on Casey Mittelstadt in the third period.
Alexandar Georgiev compiled 25 saves on 32 shots against his former team. In addition, Luke Kunin and Jake Walman were held out of tonight’s game due to trade-related reasons, and Nikolai Kovalenko was activated from IR. A trade that will send Jake Walman to the Edmonton Oilers is currently in place but has yet to be confirmed. On a more positive note, it was great to see and find out on social media that Tyler Toffoli, Will Smith, and Macklin Celebrini share a hotel room after their most recent win in Buffalo, indicating how great the vibes and clubhouse culture is in San Jose in spite of how this season has gone so far.
It was great to see Macklin Celebrini score his 20th goal and William Eklund collect his 100th NHL point, but this shorthanded Sharks team didn’t stand much of a chance against a Stanley Cup-contending Avalanche team, led by Nathan MacKinnon with five points and Cale Makar with six points on the night. Since the trade deadline is tomorrow, expect a trade deadline day recap post sometime tomorrow, then the Sharks begin an eight-game homestand on Saturday against the New York Islanders at 7 pm PT. This next game recap will be more of a personal experience post, as I will be attending what will be my second Sharks game at SAP Center this season. Plenty to come in the next few days, so stay locked in.
Sources: ESPN, NHL App, Curtis Pashelka via X
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