Karlsson, Meier Deliver in Sharks’ 4-3 OT Upset Over Lightning

The San Jose Sharks break from the break with a visit to the Tampa Bay Lightning at Amalie Arena. Erik Karlsson got the Sharks on the board, then Timo Meier, Scott Harrington, and Meier added another in OT for a 4-3 Sharks’ victory.

Period 1

Colton goal: Fantastic goal by Colton. His initial forecheck forces a hurried Ferraro pass. Remenda thinks Ferraro could’ve taken a couple more steps, but Colton was getting on top of Ferraro. Not a great pass, tough one too with distance between Ferraro and Lindblom. Bogosian not at all fooled by Lindblom’s chip attempt out, looked like the San Jose Sharks winger was trying to chip toward the middle. Dangerous, puts it in place where Bogosian can make play, which he does. Other mistake is Ferraro gets puck-focused, loses Colton. That might be the biggest mistake there.

Barabanov penalty: Looks like a team that’s been off for more than a week. Bad penalty.

Karlsson goal: Hertl has benefited tremendously from the secondary assist, a lot off Karlsson plays, I believe? He’s one of the few Sharks with more secondary assists than primary at 5-on-5. Also a high rate of secondaries on the PP, like there.

6 in: Sturm gets to puck first on forecheck (well-placed Ferraro dump), then slides it to Bonino, who does a great job of a quick pass to Lindblom who finds a soft spot on top of the blue paint. Great all-around work, napping Lightning, just couldn’t finish.

Eyssimont penalty: Another unnecessary Sharks penalty. A penalty of enthusiasm, but he’s had too many of those so far in his short Sharks career.

Point goal: Feels like Sharks PK giving up more goals and chances off the rush recently. Probably a mark of a PK in disarray, a lot of key personnel losses and whatnot.

7 left: Good speed by Ferraro to recover on Hagel counterattack. Ferraro pressures Hagel into waiting Vlasic.

5 left: Remenda with an insightful spotlight on Karlsson’s edges and how he creates space against Nick Paul.

"Erik Karlsson is just amazing here. The intricacy of his footwork is incredible."

Love this breakdown of Karlsson's skating by Drew Remenda. pic.twitter.com/p1eOz3Fpzt

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) February 8, 2023

Point goal: Great example of how much Lightning movement there is in OZ. Benning switches on the wall to take Sergachev, I think Barabanov falls asleep on the blocked pass that goes to Point. Since Benning has the pointman, I think Barabanov has to stay with Point. AB coming out of the break ZZZ. The details missed by a losing team.

Sharks worked 7-2 Slot Shots by Tampa in the first. San Jose looks a step slow, physically and mentally. TBL 15-3 5v5 Scoring Chances per NST lol.

Period 2

Opening shift, Eyssimont does nice job beating Sergachev to puck on wall, turning and hitting Barabanov on breakout, starts Sharks’ 2-on-1. Good hustle. But then he heels a Grade-A one-timer, Meier pass. He’s got to get that shot off on a consistent basis to stay in the NHL, I think. You don’t get chances like that often.

6 in: Good patience by Barabanov to wheel around net with San Jose Sharks covered in front, find Karlsson walking down slot. Sharks at least have shown up in this period, unlike the opening frame.

MacDonald post: Like Meier hard pass to weakside Karlsson for breakout, a Karlsson staple. Then MacDonald read to jump up and cruise in for the post. Promising offensive instincts.

Tough power play shift for Hertl, Cole steps up on him, forces it out, then Hertl tries to deke it in himself, but turnover. Said it before, feels like Hertl OZ turnovers have increased this year.

Meier goal: Hard work by Couture to keep it alive, good patience by Barabanov to wait for Meier to get in prime scoring posititon.

Stamkos goal: Good video challenge, but San Jose Sharks fortunate insofar is who’s taking Stamkos? That’s awful coverage, is he Barabanov’s?

Karlsson vs. Bogosian faceoff lol?

Hey San Jose Sharks 4-2 Slot Shots.

Period 3

Kahkonen bails out Karlsson to start. Karlsson loses it with two Lightning on him in corner. No help for him. Kaapo has made a lot of big stops tonight.

Harrington goal: Nice work by Gregor to bother Hedman on breakout. Don’t know if he gets an assist, but he deserves one.

Good for Kahkonen if he’s figuring it out. Another strong performance, I have an interesting interview with Mike McKenna about Kahkonen soon.

Meier post: Whoa, nice job by Hertl and Gregor to advance the puck up.

OT

Hertl-Meier-Karlsson to start.

Not a lot of times that you could say this in this season, but #SJSharks goalie stole a win

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) February 8, 2023