Sharks 2021-22 Game 32 Recap: Sharks 3, Flyers 2 (OT) (12/30/21)

 The Sharks get their first win in the Stealth jerseys this season as they take down the Philadelphia Flyers 3-2 in overtime in their last game of the calendar year. It was also Martin Jones' return to SAP Center since joining the Flyers this past offseason.

San Jose didn't get the start it wanted, as the Flyers scored the first goal of the game via Morgan Frost late in the first period. However, the Sharks made up for it, scoring the next two in the second period from Logan Couture on the breakaway shorthanded and Brent Burns with a wicked wrister. The Flyers answered back late in the third on one from Joel Farabee to force overtime. Tomas Hertl pokes one past Felix Sandstrom to give Team Teal the extra point in overtime. 

Andrew Cogliano, Jake Middleton, Tomas Hertl, Erik Karlsson, and Noah Gregor each recorded assists in the Sharks' second-straight win. The Sharks also generated 46 shots on goal against the Flyers. 

Before the game, Mario Ferraro was placed in COVID protocol, while Jonathan Dahlen left COVID protocol and rejoined the Sharks. 

James Reimer had another decent start, recording 23 saves and continuing to fly under the radar among goalies across the NHL in terms of his overall performance this season. 

It feels great for the Sharks to close out the calendar year with a win and finally break the curse of the Stealth jerseys. San Jose kicks off the 2022 calendar year with a four-game road trip beginning on Sunday in Pittsburgh against the Penguins at 10 am PT. 

Source: NHL App

Sharks 2021-22 Game 31 Recap: Sharks 8, Coyotes 7 (SO) (12/28/21)

 The Sharks and Coyotes slug it out in a high-scoring thriller, and the Sharks come out of this one in the shootout 8-7 in what was easily the highest-scoring game in the NHL this season. 

It was an ugly win with poor puck management from both teams, but I’m incredibly thankful that San Jose won because it would’ve been downright embarrassing if they lost in any way, shape, or form to the worst team in the league this season. 

There’s a lot to cover in this one, so let’s begin: The first few minutes of this game featured Jonah Gadjovich and Jan Jenik dropping the gloves. Moments after the tilt, the Sharks scored the first of several goals in this contest, which first appeared to be scored by Logan Couture but was given to Alexander Barabanov after Barabanov tipped it into the net. Timo Meier was credited with the secondary assist on the first goal. The Coyotes tied it a few minutes later from Lawson Crouse. The Sharks regained their lead on Nick Bonino's fifth goal of the season from Matt Nieto and Andrew Cogliano. Before the end of the first period, the Coyotes re-tied the game on Janis Moser's first NHL goal. 

The madness continued in the second period with the Sharks going ahead 3-2 on Radim Simek's first goal of the season. Jayden Halbgewachs recorded his first NHL point on the Simek goal, and Marc-Eduoard Vlasic recorded the secondary assist. The Sharks went ahead by two seven seconds later on Jeff Viel's first NHL goal, with assists from Jonah Gadjovich and Lane Pederson. This ties a Sharks franchise record for shortest time span between two goals. Arizona gets one back a few minutes later via Clayton Keller. It wasn't long before Timo Meier added to the scoresheet by batting one out of midair for his 13th goal of the season. The Coyotes get back within one on Janis Moser's second goal of the game and second NHL goal moments before the end of the second period.

The third period was just as wild as the first two, if not more wild. Tomas Hertl returned from COVID protocol before this game and scored his 15th goal of the season to start the third period, getting an assist from Noah Gregor. The Coyotes continue to keep pace with the Sharks, with Lawson Crouse scoring his second goal of the game to make it 6-5 Sharks. Logan Couture gets the Sharks' two-goal lead back with his tenth goal of the season from Alexander Barabanov and Erik Karlsson. Late in the third period, the Coyotes proceeded to score two goals from Shayne Gostisbehere and Andrew Ladd to tie the game at seven and force overtime and eventually a shootout. Two successful attempts from Logan Couture and Tomas Hertl in the shootout ensured the Sharks' victory over the Coyotes. 

This game also marked Brent Burns' 1200th NHL game, becoming the 36th defenseman in NHL history to reach that plateau. 

In a nutshell, defense and goaltending were optional from both teams in this crazy game. James Reimer and the Sharks defense shouldn't have allowed seven goals to the Coyotes, but I understand the Sharks may have been rusty from having the past week off, and these aspects sure made this game quite entertaining. In other words, this Sharks-Coyotes contest was on steroids, and very few, if any, expected these teams to score a combined 15 goals. 

The Sharks' next game is Thursday against the Philadelphia Flyers at 7:30 pm PT, as the Flyers make a visit to SAP Center as part of their California road trip. 

Sources: Sharks Audio Network, NHL App

Sharks News & Notes (12/27/21)

 More updates have been released ahead of the NHL's return from its Christmas break tomorrow. Here they are: 

Brent Burns has exited COVID protocol, while Adin Hill has joined Tomas Hertl and Jonathan Dahlen in COVID protocol. Jasper Weatherby is currently in AHL COVID protocol. In addition, Zach Sawchenko has been recalled from the Barracuda.

The NHL has reintroduced taxi squads in light of rising cases across the league due to the Omicron variant. Taxi squads consist of roughly five or six players who are readily available if a team is shorthanded due to positive cases on the team. This should help reduce the number of future games that have to be postponed due to pandemic-related reasons. 

William Eklund is the only Sharks prospect participating in the World Juniors this year. He has recorded two assists in the tournament so far in Sweden's 6-3 victory over Russia last night. 

The Sharks announced the passing of former head coach Jim Wiley at the age of 71. He previously coached the Sharks during the 1995-96 season. 

Stay tuned to CPF Hockey for more updates. 

Multiple sources contributed to this post. 

NHL Delays Resumption of 2021-22 Season by One Day

 The NHL announced that they will postpone all games scheduled for Monday, December 27 and resume league play the following day. This is to ensure that teams are ready to play once they return to regular team activities after the extended Christmas break and to give the league enough time to analyze COVID test results across the league. 

As for the Sharks, their next game in Anaheim against the Ducks on Monday has officially been postponed and will be rescheduled to a later date. San Jose's next game is now Tuesday against the Arizona Coyotes at the Tank. 

What makes matters worse is that I had plans to attend Monday's Sharks game in Anaheim and already secured tickets to that game before it was ultimately postponed. I have no idea what will happen next with that particular game or when it will be rescheduled. As a result, I don't know if I will be able to attend that game when it gets rescheduled because school and/or work may get in the way. In addition, if school and/or work get in the way of me attending the Sharks-Ducks game at Honda Center, I should be able to get either a refund for the tickets I purchased and/or be able to get replacement tickets for a different game, but I don't know for sure until the Ducks make an announcement and we know for sure when this game will be rescheduled. On a more positive note, if I can still attend this game, the NHL should be in a better state with the pandemic when it gets rescheduled, which will probably be sometime in February. We'll have to wait and see, keep our fingers crossed, and stay optimistic.

Stay tuned for more updates on this developing story. 

Sources: NBC Sports Bay Area/California, NHL

Sharks News & Notes (12/22/21)

 Here are the latest headlines affecting the Sharks despite not playing any games this week: 

• Brent Burns, Jonathan Dahlen, and Tomas Hertl have been recetly placed in COVID protocol. Hopefully they can return to the team in time before their next game in Anaheim on Monday, especially so I can see them play in person. However, there are no guarantees on this, and I also hope this doesn’t spiral into something worse for the Sharks. 
  
• In the meantime, Jasper Weatherby and Jayden Halbgewachs were sent down to the Barracuda in the AHL on conditioning assignments so they can get more playing time to further their development. 
• The NHL officially begins its Christmas break today, as it has paused the season and league operations through the Christmas weekend due to multiple teams struggling with multiple positive cases among players, coaches, and team personnel. In addition, this move was also made to ensure there is a competitive balance throughout the entire NHL. 
• It should come as no surprise at this point that the NHL has opted out of participating in the upcoming Winter Olympics in Beijing. It isn't worth all of the hassle when many teams are currently struggling to contain COVID outbreaks and the Beijing Winter Olympics' extended quarantine if a player tests positive will prevent players from returning to regular team activities in a timely fashion. Like I have mentioned previously, the few-week period that was initially set aside for players to participate in the Olympics should be used to make up all of the games that have been postponed this season due to the pandemic, and that's what the league plans on doing.
  

Stay tuned to CPF Hockey for more updates. 

Sources: NHL App, Twitter 

NHL Postpones Sharks’ Next Two Games Due to COVID-19

 The NHL has announced drastic new measures to curb the spread of COVID-19, as multiple teams have had to postpone their games due to outbreaks among several players on those teams. 

The biggest change announced was that the league has postponed all cross-border games through the Christmas break. This directly affects the Sharks as they were initially set to host the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday and the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday before the Christmas break. Make-up dates for these games have yet to be determined. 

The Sharks’ next game is now scheduled for December 27 against the Ducks in Anaheim. As of now, the recap post for that game will be different from every other game recap I write, as I plan to attend that game. 

In addition it is now very unlikely that the NHL will participate in the Winter Olympics in Beijing. This is especially considering that participants are subject to a three-to-five-week quarantine if they test positive for COVID at the Winter Olympics in Beijing. 

The landscape of the pandemic is rapidly changing due to the emergence of the highly contagious omicron variant. Some teams have had issues with COVID earlier in the season, but it has never been as bad as it has been recently. I’m really hoping that things don’t get any worse to where the league has to shut down entirely for an extended period of time. That would be a huge slap to the face for the fans and everyone involved in the NHL. I have my fingers crossed and truly believe that it won’t get to that point, but we never know until further developments occur. 

As for the games around the league that have had to be postponed due to the pandemic, the NHL should forget about participating in the Olympics this coming year. It needs to use the few weeks in February that were originally mandated to be the Olympic break to make up these postponed games without extending the season any further than necessary. 

I plan to keep close tabs on any further developments from the NHL regarding their COVID situation. The NFL and NBA have had COVID issues of their own and both plan to play through them without any significant disruptions. There is no reason why the NHL can’t do the same. We’ll have to wait and see.

 In the meantime, we must stay optimistic. At least the NHL is still continuing the 2021-22 season as it should. 

Source: NHL App 

Sharks 2021-22 Game 30 Recap: Canucks 5, Sharks 2 (12/16/21)

 The Sharks’ inconsistencies continue as they lose to the Vancouver Canucks 5-2. The Canucks have now extended their win streak to six games. 

Despite the loss, the Sharks had some aspects of their game that went well for them. But first, the Canucks scored the first two goals of the game in the first period via Brock Boeser and Bo Horvat. Late in the first, Timo Meier put the Sharks on the board with his 12th goal of the season and the 100th goal of his NHL career, with Erik Karlsson and Tomas Hertl assisting on the play. The second period saw Brock Boeser score his second goal of the game to give the Canucks a two-goal lead through two periods. 

The Sharks got another one back in the third period on Andrew Cogliano's third goal of the year. Also, Lane Pederson registered his first point with the Sharks with an assist on the play, while  recorded the secondary assist. It was only a matter of time before the Canucks sealed the deal with one from J.T. Miller and an empty-netter from Jason Dickinson.

Jayden Halbgewachs made his NHL debut against the Canucks Thursday night and had a great breakaway chance in the second period that was stopped by Thatcher Demko. 

Adin Hill wasn't his best in net, making 25 saves and giving up four goals, a few of those goals being soft ones. The Sharks' offense showed more effort in this game, but Thatcher Demko stood in the way for the most part.

In addition, Kevin Labanc recently had surgery done to repair a dislocated shoulder and will be out for two to three months.  

The Sharks still can't seem to win in their Stealth jerseys this season, and they're beginning to lose ground in the standings. They need to play with more desperation and have more of the will and desire to win. In addition, it isn't entirely the Sharks' fault as some of their key forwards are dealing with injuries right now. San Jose faces these same Canucks again in its next game on Tuesday at 7:30 pm PT, in which the Sharks need to win and get revenge or it won't look good at all. 

Sources: NBC Sports Bay Area/California, NHL App