Postgame Notes #44: Patty Ties Gordie, But Sharks Fall Apart in 5-2 Loss

Period 1

It's official: Patrick Marleau has played his 1,767th career game, tying Gordie Howe for the most in NHL history pic.twitter.com/tNb4ONhEuM

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) April 18, 2021

9 left: Fantastic save by Jones, after 4 Wild go along wall to deny a Sharks exit there. Then Hartman slips a pass through Karlsson to Fiala back door. Good goaltending means so much, San Jose turns right around and scores.

Burns goal: Full credit to Tomas Hertl, who chips it to himself, then holds off two Wild before Balcers comes to support.

LOL I had just finished clipping the #SJSharks goal when #MNWild scored 3 in 1:12.

Wanted to give credit to Hertl, who chips it to himself, then holds off 2 Wild players (Dumba, Fiala) before Balcers comes to help: pic.twitter.com/IRM961AjHQ

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) April 18, 2021

Zuccarello goal: Maybe Simek can use a game off, get a reset. He looked gutted in his media availability after the last loss. Not a good decision there, still short-handed, to chase one Wild there just as Zuccarello filling in net front. Overzealous.

Eriksson Ek goal: Karlsson gets beat up the ice, but as he’s up digging for the 50-50 puck, Meier turns to offense right when the Wild win the puck. It’ll be popular to kill EK65 on this, but if he, Gambrell, and Sorensen are battling along the wall, Meier has to be thinking more defense and covering his teammate.

Parise goal:

That's Parise's fourth goal in five games against #SJSharks. He has 3 goals in 30 games against the rest of the West

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) April 18, 2021

Interesting SPORTLOGiQ stat: Minnesota 20-6 Controlled Entries, All Situations. Granted, Wild had the PPs, but also a statement on how little offense the San Jose Sharks created in the opening frame.

Period 2

Vlasic can’t get it out; Kaprizov gets a stick on it. Nice play from a rookie, at the end of what was about to be a perhaps momentum-changing San Jose Sharks PK (they killed off a long 3v5). Wild come right back, Kaprizov one-times it. Vlasic doesn’t get a stick on Kaprizov’s blade. Fiala also slips behind Sharks’ team defense in what can be characterized as a team falling apart.

Ah, this explains why Vlasic couldn’t handle the Burns pass there for what should’ve been an easy clear:

Vlasic blocks a Suter shot with his hand, which explains why he couldn't handle the Burns's pass that led to Kaprizov goal…but Vlasic is out here to start 3rd period pic.twitter.com/NtsMacEN6z

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) April 18, 2021

Gregor has moved up with Couture-Kane; second line remains intact, the line that most deserves that; Donato is up with Gambrell-Sorensen; and Labanc and Meier are flanking Kellman. That’s a message being sent to Labanc and Meier.

He might be hurt? I counted 12 on the bench at the end (4 on the ice for PK + 1 in box). Not in Minnesota, we'll check later https://t.co/ThjjAfpR2q

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) April 18, 2021

Sturm goal: It looks like a lack of trust. Jones has to trust that Karlsson can cut off the near side from Sturm (which he does) and be prepared to cover the far side. Instead, Jones bites hard for some reason, and yes, Sturm contacts him, but Jones is well out when he doesn’t need to be. It’s not Karlsson’s job to cover both sides of the net there. And I understand Jones’s doubt there – Karlsson has been beat wide a lot this year – but Jones has to be better there.

Period 3

Jones pulled for the 7th time in 30 starts this year. Matches his career-high in pulls, set in 2017-18 in 60 starts https://t.co/AV0230KMlp

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) April 18, 2021

Who knows where the San Jose Sharks go from here? Forwards, defense, and goaltending are all disheveled. Not to put it all on Jones – he was terrible tonight, but he wasn’t the only one – but it tells you how much good goaltending means in this league. When he was on top of the world two weeks ago, it felt like Jones was stapling together this entire Sharks squad – and he was. Now he’s come back to earth, everything has fallen apart.