Notes #39: Sharks Play Winning Hockey, But Lose in OT 2-1

The San Jose Sharks welcome the Pittsburgh Penguins to the Tank. It was a close affair, but the Sharks held an impressive territorial advantage in the first two periods, racing out to a 28-12 shots edge. Rudolfs Balcers scored the lone goal in regulation for the Sharks, who dropped a 2-1 OT decision.

Period One

Three times in the DZ, Gregor got it out. Small stuff, but part of why he’s lasted despite lack of production.

Balcers goal: What a pass by Karlsson. He knew where Balcers was before he wheeled around.

Eight in: Good example of Megna jumping stretch pass (aggressive Sharks NZ defense up ice) and  then good help on backcheck, hard tracking by the Sharks forward.

Letang goal: San Jose Sharks playing fantastic, but Letang just smokes Ferraro, looks like Ferraro got caught flatfooted.

Six left: Last seconds of Pittsburgh PP, Karlsson with good anticipation for steal along wall.

Four left: Merkley accepts rush decently there, gets a stick on oncoming Matheson shot. Ensuing shift: Karlsson NZ turnover, brilliant stick lift by Bonino to prevent Malkin breakaway.

Two left: Another good Gregor shift.  A lot of small plays I liked, he’s on the puck tonight. Nobody I want to see score more than him, he’s doing pretty much everything else right.

One left: Bad read by Merkley almost left Vlasic on two-on-one. Balcers’s backcheck down center lane allowed Vlasic to be aggressive on the puck carrier along the wall though, pass never got through.

Sharks doing a nice job defensively up ice on Penguins, SJS d-men stepping up in neutral zone, forwards backchecking hard.

Pens had just an 8.3% Controlled Entry Success Rate in the 1st. Coming into tonight, per SPORTLOGiQ, they were 8th in NHL with 56.4% at even strength

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) January 16, 2022

Period Two

Gregor just bursts past Letang for easy forecheck, loose puck win. Then Couture finds him all alone in slot. Domingue save.

One in: Good forecheck from third line. Leads to Bonino deflection chance. That’s what you want to see out of them, they’ve been on it tonight too.

Two in: Fantastic area pass to slot from Karlsson, but Weatherby can’t baseball swing it in. Great idea though.

Four in: Good check-in by Cogliano, covering his guy, but still gets a stick on centering pass to another Pen nearby. Alert.

Six in: San Jose Sharks up-ice D, great NZ stick by Burns, leads to Hertl chance.

I've loved Gregor's game tonight

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) January 16, 2022

Seven left: Another Penguins stretch pass, another step-up by Ferraro. Pens aren’t getting clean possession.

Six left: Pens try to exit, Gregor doesn’t allow it.

Three left: Merkley almost walked, Viel makes a weird dump-in, but only to half-wall, not full dump-in.

Two left: Gregor pops out of corner with puck, beats his man. Again, the little stuff, puck possession. Leads to power play, high stick on Dahlen.

Burns on top for most of that Burns/Karlsson redux power play, Karlsson more along right wall. Quick, crisp puck movement. I do prefer that to Burns waiting for one-timer at left dot, which became too predictable and wasn't very dangerous to begin with

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) January 16, 2022

Period Three

PP better, but still no dice. Hertl, in particular, lacked a little crispness, execution there.

Three in: Ferraro step-up to center ice to bother Pens’ breakout.

Eight left: Big save by Hill, Megna cheated defensively, no help.

Great effort by third line with six left: Another chance for redemption for San Jose Sharks’ power play.

Four left: Merkley too casual on this PP. And it’s over.

Two left: Good hold-up by Burns not to pinch. Not the time.

OT

Couture-Gregor-Karlsson to start, which I take as a reward to Gregor. But right down the ice, after opening shift Pens score.