San Jose Sharks
Sharks Drop Eight on Seattle, Cardwell Scores 1st NHL Goal, Win 8-5
The San Jose Sharks hosted the Seattle Kraken at SAP Center.
Timothy Liljegren and Will Smith and Klim Kostin and Jake Walman (twice) and Mikael Granlund and Macklin Celebrini and Ethan Cardwell scored, and the Sharks won 8-5.
Period 1
Liljegren goal: Nice work by Wennberg to shed his check along wall, then Toffoli behind net spots Liljegren.
Bjorkstrand goal: Smith has to be better, simply loses puck along wall on exit. Looks like puck skips on him a bit, there’s some bad luck involved. But regardless, too routine a play, too critical an area, don’t blame the Sharks’ defense, because the team had 100 percent possession, that appears to be a clear and easy exit.
Warsofsky said the next day: “The two defensemen on that play should be underneath that too. So should Will make a better play on the wall? You could say that. But there’s a reason why we have our defensemen in certain situations to cover for those mistakes, and we just got a little bit above the puck. I wouldn’t say it’s completely on Will.”
7 in: Love that PK shift from Sturm, gets down low to eliminate the desired centering pass, throws his body around at the right time for the shot block, just active and engaged. Only thing he doesn’t do is the hard clear out, but he gets puck out too.
9 left: Big glove save by Vanecek there on the penalty kill, Kraken in front, no rebound.
Granlund back on PP1 with Celebrini-Toffoli-Wennberg-Walman. Liljegren-W. Smith-Eklund-Zetterlund-Kostin follow.
Kostin goal: He’s so happy and his teammates are happy for him too. Basically a power play goal. Love Zetterlund’s approach here. Top of attack triangle, shoot, blocked, get another shot, looks like he’s shooting for the rebound, Kostin right there.
Stephenson goal: Puck battle off draw, it looks like, Stephenson comes away with it all alone. Ceci had the puck for a second but it got sticked away, then Stephenson emerged. Tough luck there.
San Jose Sharks playing with a lot of 5-on-5 offensive confidence right now, which makes sense when you can throw out your leading scorer Granlund as your third-line center.
Wright goal: Off the backboard, Wright all alone, nothing you can do if you’re the San Jose Sharks…except stop taking penalties. Was Seattle’s third power play of the first period.
Period 2
2 in: Like that Kunin on entry, doesn’t have speed, turned around, but has the puck, no teammates around, doesn’t force a play, just gets it deep. Win territory, help your team change.
Smith goal: That’s got to feel good to make up the mistake on the first Kraken goal.
Walman penalty: San Jose Sharks just can’t enjoy prosperity tonight. Do something good, take a penalty has been the formula tonight.
Wright goal: Sharks’ PK was actually going well, but got picked apart with a side to side one-timer. Not sure why that pass got across. I don’t think the team has done Vanecek any favors tonight.
Walman goal: Celebrini just mugs Tanev. Forces the turnover along the NZ wall, then simply gets in front of Tanev, takes the space for the loose puck. That’s so impressive. That was speed and power from an 18-year-old to son a 32-year-old veteran. Running out of superlatives to describe Celebrini.
Jake Walman ties it up for #TheFutureIsTeal!
4-4 pic.twitter.com/udR6YMUWbi— JD Young (@MyFryHole) November 29, 2024
9 in: Not sure what happened there but the San Jose Sharks escaped embarrassment, that was almost a Kraken 2-on-0.
Granlund goal: Love the speed and power shown there by Kostin on entry, almost a partial breakaway. But it sets the table for Sharks’ OZ possession.
Celebrini goal: Should be noted, Grubauer has been awful tonight, clearly worse than Vanecek too, I’d say.
Macklin Celebrini, in just his 14th game this season, is now tied with Matvei Michkov (22 games) for the NHL rookie scoring lead with 8 goals
— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) November 29, 2024
Gourde goal: Ferraro and Liljegren were exhausted, three minute-plus shifts. Okay, that kind of game. One period to not blow it.
Period 3
2 in: Good Walman stretch to Kostin, then nice work from him, Smith to distribute to Granlund. Kostin having a game.
Cardwell goal: Cardwell’s first NHL goal! Gotta love Sturm on the bench, patting the rook on the helmet, big smile.
Kostin 10-9 over Borgen. Love it. Mean Klim. Kostin with the Gordie Howe hat trick. Don’t prefer the extra 2, but I’ll take it if that’s the Kostin attitude you get every game. Looks like he was standing up for Granlund, so again, take it with the two-goal lead.
10 in: Cardwell gets in front of Tanev, that allows a clean exit. Good work.
9 left: Good job by Thrun, I don’t think Liljegren did him favors there D-to-D to exit.
Walman goal: Empty netter from 200 feet.
First time that #SJSharks have scored 8 goals since 10/9/18, a 8-2 victory at Philadelphia
— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) November 29, 2024
The Sharks and Kraken put on a 1980’s game. Is it a Black Friday thing?
We’ll that checked about every box. What a fun game to watch. Kostin with another strong game hoping it continues. Cardwell with his first, the D scoring and the kids shining bright again. It’s so good to see the boys getting rewarded and playing well.
Kostin got Gordie Howe hat trick today
Took the family to this and damn did we get our money’s worth. This game was drunker than the 20-somethings who tried to sit in our seats. Felt like every time a play looked like it was coming together, it was a goal. The Sharks were damned lucky the Kraken flubbed that 2-on-0, the tide could easily have turned the other way there. A lot of overconfident passes early on, and Ceci and Ferraro had a rough one – neither of them seems to be great at reading the pressure and the managing the outlet. I know this isn’t groundbreaking… Read more »
“Deranged, but fun. Time for tacos.” That should be a t-shirt!
Maybe the most impressive Kostin stat tonight is that he registered six hits in under ten minutes of ice time. He made sure that 9:48 sucked for Seattle. Awesome game.
Mack is somehow better than advertised and is ppg as a rookie. Smith is getting going and is putting up pts lately too. I am thankful we got paid to take Walman and Liljegren for Benning took place. Everything seems to be clicking in shark land and I can sleep well tonight. You can literally see the future and the people who just aren’t in it out there. The sharks are gonna be a force in a few years.
What a game!
When people where ragging on me about propping up Kostin early in the season, this is the potential I saw in his abilities. Didn’t know if he would put it together this soon and don’t know if’ he’ll be able to keep it going, but for the moment, this is the player I envisioned.
He has the tools for it, not sure if there is a doubt about that, but the problem with him seems between the ears.
Numerous people said he wasn’t trying, that there was no effort on his part. That’s what I was pushing back on the most. I think it’s obvious from his interviews that he cares and wants to be part of the solution for the Sharks. This will be a lot of speculation on my part but… from the interviews it’s strikes me that he might stutter. If so, a lot of times that leads to confidence issues and learning difficulties. As I’ve said in previous comments, it may just take him longer to learn and be comfortable in the structured, more… Read more »
A game I didn’t dare take eyes off the screen. Lots of good fundamentals (er, xcpt those penalties, oh my). Grubauer didn’t look sharp (witness dropping the Cardwell shot) but a couple high scoring games lately can only build confidence on 5-5 ice.