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San Jose Sharks

Sharks Are Hard To Play Against, But Get Shut Out by Ducks 2-0

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Credit: Dean Tait/Sport Shots

The San Jose Sharks welcome the Anaheim Ducks into SAP Center.



The Sharks are without Macklin Celebrini, who has a week-to-week hip injury.

They were shut out by the Ducks 2-0.

Period 1

Luneau penalty: Clear as day interference/pick on Wennberg. PP1 is Walman-Zetterlund-Granlund-Eklund-Toffoli and PP2 is…

Zetterlund waved-off goal: Really heady play by Granlund, hard dump-in from far blueline, Zetterlund catches his checker sleeping, goal. They’re reviewing, but what a play. Guess it’s offsides? Too bad. In all the Celebrini hype, people forget how good Granlund was last year.

Strong power play by San Jose Sharks, regardless. Walman looks decent out there as a point man, in my early watch. Functional, skates well, shoots hard.

7 in: Good cover from Ceci after hard Granlund pass bounces off Walman and out.

Goodrow penalty: Goodrow couldn’t get the exit going, Ducks forecheck on top of him, leads to Ducks power play.

9 in: Good steal by Wennberg on PK, then he kills time, attacks then circles back. Good hockey. These are plays that a lot of Sharks forwards weren’t capable of last year.

10 in: Benning has a step on Lundestrom for loose puck. I was critical of him last game, but he’s looked better tonight, a little more pop in his movement.

Thrun penalty: But same shift, Thrun gets defending one-on-one penalty. Against McTavish. My first look, I thought Thrun did OK defending, showed improved strength, but they called it. As Remenda noted though, McTavish did get inside on Thrun. First-step quickness.

7 left: Gotta say, I know I’m a Kunin apologist, but he was F1 on that PK, and he does look a little quicker.

6 left: Hard accurate exit pass from Benning to Toffoli. Simple and routine, but like.

4 left: Good grind shift from Goodrow and Kunin.

Just on the forecheck, the Sharks are a clearly better team.

2 left: Nice read by Ceci to jump up, maybe Sharks’ best chance, off Granlund rebound.

Smith feels lost in tonight’s game so far. Sharks have played better, but I think Granlund may have helped him more than people noticed.

Kostin did throw a punch, but Vatrano sold it and he did initiate the pushing. I thought it could just been Kostin going, but it’s coincidental. Do prefer a mean Klim.

After Thrun penalty, I thought Sharks put together some of their best shifts of honestly the last year or so. Proof of concept.

Period 2

Opening 4-on-4 shift, Walman…on the forecheck?

4 minutes in, San Jose Sharks continuing their disruptive forecheck. A better forecheck, as it always does, is making life better in the NZ and DZ for the team.

Ceci penalty: Ah that ends my rhapsodizing about the Sharks forecheck. As good as team has looked, still 0-0. Big kill.

6 in: Good PK recovery by Granlund. Beaut one-on-one play. PK can never be perfect, but Sharks doing a good job through the first two games of consistently stifling chances, actually creating momentum for themselves on the kill.

I am, dare I say, actually enjoying watching the San Jose Sharks tonight. Couldn’t say that a lot last year. I like in-your-face, hard to play against disruptive hockey.

9 in: Outstanding shift by Sturm line, started with one stick by Dellandrea on forecheck. Just bothered clean exit just enough, made all the difference. This was not commonplace last year.

Smith penalty: Does prevent a Gauthier Grade-A. I’m sure the BC teammates will get a laugh about that one day. Cutter looking for his first career goal.

Big Ferraro block at the end of that PK. He was exhausted.

6 left: Good disruptive backcheck and track by Goodrow through middle on Ducks’ attack. One of the reasons why you reacquired him.

3 left: Eklund pretty shedding Dumoulin behind Dostal. That’s the Eklund craftiness, edge work.

If the San Jose Sharks play like this the rest of the year, they’re going to be just fine. Won’t make the playoffs…remember this is the Ducks they’re playing…but this is a significant upgrade on last year. Last season, bottom-feeders like the Ducks were dominating Sharks in all three zones. Not so tonight. My only major critique is there have been too many penalties, but I think preference is for Sharks to be aggressive, and they’ve been that.

Period 3

In the slot, maybe you want Eklund to just pull that trigger instead of looking for the too fine pass on the power play.

2 in: Beaut lead pass by Goodrow for Dellandrea’s center-splitting speed. Good chance, skill pass.

What a chance for Smith. Loose puck just bounces into slot for him. That might be an example of, he had more time, be Will Smith there, don’t just tag a shot.

4 in: Second effort by Wennberg gets it out of the zone. AGAIN. Sharks have more forwards this year who can make a meaningful second and third effort to force pucks out of the zone.

6 in: Kostin a force in the OZ on this shift. I’ve liked him tonight.

7 in: Great Walman shift, OZ finds Granlund for a good chance, cross slot, then after Ceci OZ turnover, desperation defense, not Walman’s fault, he prevents a lead pass on his knees. Walman was flat-footed because of the unexpected turnover, just not a good puck touch.

Lundestrom goal: That hurts because the San Jose Sharks have been playing great. A too-easy goal in a game where they’ve been hard to play against. Have to re-watch, but not sure if that’s when Smith should flood a side on backcheck, no support. Zetterlund looks bad on Lundestrom but tough spot.

 

 

 

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