Game Notes #23: Sharks Beat Blues 3-2 in OT, Labanc Benched

Period 1

Opening shift, Balcers does outstanding job of skating through forecheck, getting it out with possession. Beats two Blues forecheckers, then Karlsson beats his man up the ice. Husso save on Karlsson in all alone. That’s special work by Balcers.

First time this year that Dubnyk has drawn two straight starts. With the way that Jones is playing, it’s wide-open for him to take the starting job. Looks like the Mikkola goal was deflected.

10 minutes left, turnabout is fair play, Karlsson makes forechecker Kyrou look bad. Remember it was Kyrou who smoked Karlsson in St. Louis earlier this year. Karlsson has his skating “pop” once again.

6 minutes left, Balcers-Gambrell-Nieto once again doing a nice job creating offense. Gambrell keeps his cool on entry, holding puck as a couple Blues converge. Be nice for him to prove detractors, such as myself, wrong. I don’t mean this as a back-handed compliment: I think he has a Barclay Goodrow-like potential. Think he can be a real asset to a winning team’s bottom-six and PK one day. He is miscast now as a middle-six center, but that’s not his fault.

Beaut of a set-up, Nieto to Balcers. Might be best period I’ve seen Balcers play as a San Jose Sharks player.

Stop me if you’ve heard this: Sharks play well against an on-paper superior opponent, find themselves down. Per Natural Stat Trick, SJS 16-12 Corsi, 6-4 Scoring Chances at 5-on-5. Tied 3-3 High-Danger.

Something to look for: #STLBlues seems to be a team that loves the stretch pass. Per SPORTLOGiQ, they're up 9-3 on #SJSharks in this area after 20. SJS needs to continue, as they have, to be aware of Blues getting behind them

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) March 9, 2021

Period 2

Is that Leonard out with Couture and Kane? Interesting. Followed by Labanc with Marleau and Donato. Trying to spread talent, I guess, Balcers line was team’s best in opening frame. That means Blichfeld to fourth line.

4 minutes in, big save by Dubnuk on Krug tip. San Jose Sharks have puck but Leonard gets stopped on wall, Faulk pokes it up, Couture gets caught behind play.

Good on Vlasic, it was his blocked shot that started rush that would lead to his goal. Thought it would be cool stat to look up, last time Vlasic goal was assisted by Marleau, but nope. Happened in October last season.

10 minutes left, Nieto does nice job on PK closing on Tarasenko.

And there’s a stretch pass: Krug indirect to Sanford on same PP, Dubnyk stops it.

8 minutes, looks like Knyzhov doesn’t tie up Joshua stick. Karlsson switches on man behind net, Knyzhov needs to take Joshua in front with more authority.

Blues knocking on door here. Dubnyk has been good, Sharks need more offensive pushback.

Blais beats Labanc up ice there, then he takes a penalty. Not good. Walker does nice job to pull up, shake Karlsson, you kind of don’t want middle open like that if you’re Karlsson, but Labanc can’t let guy beat him up ice like that. San Jose Sharks will be lucky to come out of period tied.

5 minutes left, Nieto creates another turnover on PK, this time pursuing puck at left point.

4 minutes left, another Nieto takeaway on PK.

Another Labanc penalty. Rough game for him. Burns with a big block, minute left, but then Perron knuckles a one-timer past Dubnyk.

Tough last shift on period there for Leonard. Has to play faster, couldn’t find handle on puck there a couple times.

Sharks outshot 16-5, 12-5 at evens in this period and it felt like it. It’s a team with no answers and not a lot of time.

#SJSharks lucky to be down just one: Per SPORTLOGiQ, #STLBlues had 7-1 Slot Shots on Net advantage in 2nd period. I guess the only positive you can take from that was Dubnyk looked good

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) March 9, 2021

Period 3

I think Labanc's shift just got skipped. Blichfield was back with Marleau, now Balcers getting double-shifted with Kellman

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) March 9, 2021

Sharks power play starts Balcers-Couture-Donato-Kane-Karlsson. Second unit: Leonard-Gambrell-Marleau-Blichfeld-Burns. Absent: Labanc.

Labanc skating around during TV timeout, just stretching? #SJSharks desperately need offense, message has been sent, so might be good to insert him back in

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) March 9, 2021

Underrated has been a healthy Karlsson’s impact on PP: A lot of puck movement and patience, creating space. He draws attention for Balcers to find Donato off to side, Donato crashes, Couture capitalizes.

Good on Balcers to get the assist there, he might be Sharks best forward tonight

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) March 9, 2021

9 minutes left, another good Balcers play, Gambrell gets it out, Balcers’s extra effort gets it deep, Sharks go on forecheck. Little plays like that matter a lot.

3 minutes left, Simek on attack, makes a pass to no one in slot, Blues counterattack, but Simek does nice job to hustle hard back.

2 minutes left, nice job by Gambrell to hustle back, identify open Blue, snuff it out.

OT

Dubnyk helps with Karlsson’s pivoting problem haha. Up the ice, Kane scores.