Patrick Marleau Breaks All-Time Record Amidst Longest Losing Steak of the Season

The last time the Sharks matched up against the Minnesota Wild, the Sharks had a two-game sweep against them, and coming into the action Friday night, April 17th, the Sharks were hoping for a similar result. The puck drops, and Tomas Hertl gets the Sharks off to the quick start, only 3 minutes and 30 seconds into the contest when he skates through the Minnesota defense and puts a slap shot on Cam Talbot for the early 1-0 Sharks advantage. The Wild answer back about six minutes later and end up scoring the next three unanswered goals. Evander Kane makes it a game with the 3-2 score with about 7:20 left in regulation with a short-handed goal, but too little too late as the wild hold off a late surge and edge out the Sharks. San Jose loses its fourth in a row.

Coming into the second game of the series,  Patrick Marleau was set to tie Gordie Howe's NHL all-time games played record with 1,767. It's really quite impressive once you think about it, a record that has stood for 59 years longer than any games played record of the other four major sports. After the puck is dropped and with 8 minutes left in the first period, Brent Burns snaps a shot on the net from the blueline that comes out of the net as fast as it goes in for the 1-0 Sharks lead. After that, the Wild seem to find their leggings and rattles off three straight goals in a minute 12 seconds. The Wild add insult to the injury by scoring two more goals in the second period. Joel Kellman adds a garbage-time too-little-too-late goal for San Jose, spoiling the night's festivities. The Sharks are eviscerated, in an embarrassing 5-2 score.

Monday night in Vegas against the Golden Knights was a night of celebration. A celebration of all things that are #12, Patrick Marleau. Come his first shift of the game, Patrick moved into sole possession of the all-time leader in NHL games played record, passing the immortal Gordie Howe. A record we could very well never see broken in our lifetimes. For the majority of the game, the Sharks played over their heads, putting forth a grade-A effort in front of Patrick's accomplishment, scoring the first goal of the game on an unassisted play by Knyzhov, his second of the season. All the whole holding Vegas scoreless through the first period. The second period starts, and more of the same, Noah Gregor with his own unassisted play to make it 2-0 Sharks. Shortly after that, about a minute later, Mark Stone scores the first of his two successive power play goals on the night, 2-1 Sharks. Then again, in the third, Stone ties the game 2-2 to force the eventual overtime in a point well earned by San Jose, but do eventually fall to Vegas on the shootout 3-2, but it was all eyes on Patty Marleau all night. 

If setting the NHL record for all-time games played wasn't enough, Patrick Marleau came into the second game of the series, playing in his 900th consecutive game, a streak dating back to the 2008/2009 season. For the first half of the game, the Sharks got what looked like a stellar goaltending performance from young prospect Josef Korenar. The second half of the game told a completely different story, one where the Sharks looked overmatched by Vegas, Mark Stone in particular. San Jose extended their season-long, six-game losing streak in a 5-2 loss to The Golden Knights. I want to start having positive takeaways from each loss from either club, even when there aren't many. So my positive takeaways from this game was Brent Burns laying a hit and upending Max Pactrociety, such a sight to see!