Flurry of Shots on Fleury, But Sharks Lose 3-1

The San Jose Sharks welcome the Minnesota Wild into SAP Center on Pride Night.

William Eklund scored, but the Sharks lost 3-1, despite outshooting Minnesota 37-22.

Period 1

I thought Warsofsky might try to set a tone with his opening line, a message of compete: What message does Goodrow-Kunin-Smith-Thrun-Rutta send, if any? Not sure, maybe I was wrong. I thought he might put the Lund Line out, but that line was broken up.

2 in: San Jose Sharks off to a quick start, I think, on their toes. Toffoli mad as I think Fleury sticked away a chance all alone in front. Celebrini has slowed down a little recently, but an underrated reason might have been he was carrying a line of rookies. Gonna help him to be surrounded by Toffoli and Eklund.

Rossi goal: Eklund took one split-second to look at the puck, and Rossi smoked him, despite Eklund’s best dive. Lesson there. What a pass by Zuccarello and finish by Rossi.

Walman-Celebrini-Eklund-Granlund-Toffoli on PP1, Liljegren-Smith-Graf-Zetterlund-Kunin are PP2. Power play built momentum there, I think.

4 left: Celebrini tip, Fleury big save. That 70’s Line II has been dynamite so far. Celebrini looks like he has a step today.

3 left: Smith and Rossi get into it a little, Kunin flies in. Wouldn’t mind seeing Smith give it back to Rossi there more, maybe a sign of diminished confidence there?

2 left: Ferraro on Trenin, Smith doubles up, leaving Gaudreau all alone. Not egregious for Smith to help because Trenin looked vulnerable, but have to be a little more aware of the open man trailing. Should’ve been a 2-on-2, instead Askarov bails him out.

San Jose Sharks up 16-6 shots in opening frame, an unusual sight. I don’t think they’re dominating, they’re testing Fleury but not making him miserable. But a good period, I think.

Period 2

Gorgeous Smith pass to Kunin on opening shift. Perfect mix of velocity, hard and slow, right in the wheelhouse.

Boldy goal: It’s Boldy and a bullet, but maybe Askarov wants that back? Not sure what happened on the stretch pass to Smith, just went the wrong way, instead of forward or to a Shark. Unforced looking error there. Anyway, Askarov is human. Maybe one of those games for him.

6 in: Pleasure watching Rutta net front against Eriksson Ek. He still does real good work there. That’s a strong dude in JEE.

10 in: Celebrini flying tonight, a one-timer off a Toffoli pass. That was after maybe a stretch Askarov save on Rossi, big save. San Jose Sharks are on their toes tonight, I think.

7 left: Okay that’s a set Wild play…like the Trenin-Gaudreau exchange earlier, Boldy backs into Ceci one-on-one in slot, hands it off to Middleton. Walman actually does a worse job than Smith there, cruises into Boldy, trailer Middleton is all by himself, Walman on the wrong side of it, Smith was at least on the right side of it. That’s a basketball play, post-up, kick it out.

6 left: Wild with their first maybe intense cycle tonight, great reaction saves by Askarov. Smith had an awful backhand turnover on exit that led to it.

Eklund goal: Pure rush. That’s Celebrini’s forte for now, so the Sharks will have to cater to that in their acquisitions moving forward, I think. But love Eklund sucking in four Wild on entry, pass to Mack, then Eklund slips a Chisholm hit, gets open with his resolve.

Celebrini just firing away tonight.

Through two periods, Celebrini the only player to have double-digit shot attempts, 12: Five shots, one blocked, six missed.

The closest Shark is Zetterlund with 6 shot attempts, Boldy leads the Wild with 5

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) January 12, 2025

Per Natural Stat Trick, Sharks 49-27 5-on-5 Corsi, but down 10-5 High-Danger. Argument is, they still can do better getting in Fleury’s kitchen.

Period 3

Smith has been benched.

6 in: Nice forecheck by Grundstrom with his foot, keeps long Sharks’ cycle alive.

9 in: Big Askarov save on Rossi breakaway. Too many Sharks up on the forecheck, it looks like. Ferraro got caught.

Smith had been benched since his second period turnover, about 5 minutes left, that led to a couple in-tight Boldy chances

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) January 12, 2025

9 left: Walman rolls down off the draw, good chance in front, Granlund shot-pass. Granlund high to help cover. He looks up to the rafters.

6 left: Not a good turnover by Granlund in NZ, trying to enter and make a play. His volume of good plays outweighs the bad, unlike the benched Smith though, something for the youngster to learn from.

Zuccarello goal: Celebrini turnover on entry, right when Askarov was skating away from net, and bang empty netter. Gotta verify myself, but that’s San Jose’s 21st true one-goal loss, that’s a one-goal loss or a two-goal loss with an empty netter? Sharks’ play before this, including Celebrini’s, was sloppy though. He had chances to get in deep, and tried for too fine plays on entry, which are great if they work, not so great if they don’t and end up with one-and-done’s. Unfortunate end for a really good game for him.

For #SJSharks, Macklin Celebrini had 17 attempts to the MIN net, incl. 6 on goal and 10 missed shots, most ever recorded since the stat was first tracked. It's the most total attempts by an 18 year old since Connor Bedard had 16 for CHI 3/9/24 at WSH.

— Dan Rusanowsky (@DanRusanowsky) January 12, 2025