Sharks Trade Dubnyk and Lose Momentum and Playoff Position

After a dud against the Ducks that put a skid to their four-game winning streak, the Sharks were eager to put that in the rearview and get to work against the LA Kings, who they found great success against thus far this season who were in town for another two-game set. The Kings get to quick work when Alex Iafallo puts a feed to the front of the next into the back of the net for the early 1-0 Kings lead. The sharks can quickly rectify that, putting in the next three goals before the end of the first period. With strikes by LeBanc, Marleau, and Balcers, the Sharks found themselves the beneficiaries of a 3-1 advantage heading into the second period. In the second period, there's not much happening for either side, except for maybe Jeffery Viel answering a bell in a mismatched fight against Curtis MacDermid, when it should have been Brendan Lemieux in there for his play along the boards. The Kings finally solve the Martin Jones puzzle again to start the third, in a bad angle shot, that's tipped in from in front of the net, 3-2 Sharks. The Sharks tie a ribbon on it with a short-handed goal by Dylan Gambrell and then an empty-netter by Hertl to seal the 5-2 victory. Marcus Sorensen features a new skill set to his game with two separate fights with Andreas Athanasiou

The trade deadline isn't until Monday afternoon, but it didn't stop the Sharks from trading goaltender Devan Dubnyk to the Colorado Avalanche for defenseman Greg Pateryn and 2021 fifth-round pick. A good move for San Jose, in my opinion, since Dubnyk hadn't been playing much with the Sharks riding Martin Jones' hot hand. Come game time, and the Sharks looked to sweep the Kings for the third time this season in the second game of the series Saturday night, April 10th. The two teams go back and forth defensively for the first half of the period before Jeff Carter puts one in from behind Martin Jones for the 1-0 Kings score. Five minutes later, the Sharks strike back when Dylan Gambrel cleans up a John Leonard deflected shot to tie the game 1-1. Kings dominate the second period scoring the next three unanswered goals, including a Dustin Brown powerplay goal as time expires in the period. To start the third, Sharks trying to ignite a spark, replace goaltender Martin Jones with Josef Korenar, who is making his NHL debut. Sharks munster up a powerplay goal of their halfway through the third by Timo Meier, but the Kings' lead proves to be too costly to overcome, and the Sharks fall 4-2.

Hot to get back to their winning ways they've become accustomed to as of late, the Sharks welcome the pacific basement-dwelling Anaheim Ducks into the Shark Tank for two games. Right off the bat, San Jose looks sluggish, with no legs under them, failing to clear pucks, defensive inadequacies. The Sharks put forth a real lackluster effort, giving up three goals in the first period, and are ultimately shutout 4-0 by a Ducks rookie netminder, Anthony Stolarz, who has 46 saves.

While I am sure the Sharks came into the second game against Anaheim in the series to put forth a much better effort than what we saw in the previous game, the Sharks again have no answer to solve the puzzle knows as rookie goaltender Anthony Stolarz. While Stolarz did not have the 46 save effort in this game as he did previously, he still shut out the Sharks until 2:20 left in regulation when the Sharks finally managed to get a puck past Stolarz on an Erik Karlsson slapshot, but too little too late, sharks cough up another one to the lowly Anaheim Ducks, 4-1. My positive takeaways from the game are  Dylan Gambrel hanging in there in a tilt with heavyweight Josh Manson. Something I would like to see more out of players up and down the line up beside the usual suspects.

Kings Sweep and Winners of Four in a Row but Fall to the Ducks

The San Jose Sharks traveled down to the Staple Center for a two-game tilt against the LA Kings. An affair in which the Sharks' second line came alive and dictated the pace of play for a vast majority, scoring a goal in every period for the eventually 3-0 Shutout, where Matin Jones had 30 saves against his former team. In the first, at 3 minutes in, we saw a Balcers feed to the front of the net, Where Tomas Hertl tips the pass in for the 1-0 score. At 11 minutes into the second period, Hertl again, this time sending a pass from behind the net way out to Timo Mierer, who roofs it home, making it 2-0. After a Dylan Gambrel goal is called back five minutes into the third, Sharks find the empty-net goal with 37 seconds left in regulation when Brent Burns breaks his stick. Balcers immediately recognizes this and hands Burns his left-handed stick and immediately skips to the bench to reclaim a new one. Burns them passes Balcers a pass from to the boards into the empty, an incredible scene to see be played out. Sharks win 3-0.

In game two, the Sharks went right back to Jones, hot the heels of his stellar shutout performance. Sharks get to quick work on Jonathan Quick; four and a half minutes into the first, Kevin LeBanc dumps a puck in deep, only to be fed it by Couture, slapping in like a pinball, bouncing and hitting off everything on sight before finally finding the back of the net for the early 1-0 advantage. 2 minutes later, Kings come roaring back, tipping a puck past Jones to tie the tilt 1-1. Five minutes into the second period, Couture goes in deep behind the net to retrieve a puck that he swings out front to the tape of Evander Kane's stick, which puts it past the pads of a sprawled out Jonathan Quick to go ahead 2-1. Later on in the period, with four seconds left, while on a San Jose power play with, the Kings tie it at two pieces with a short-handed goal. There was a lot of speculation on how the Sharks would respond after giving up such a deflating goal going into intermission. Dylan Gambrel answers the skeptics when goaltender Jonathan Quick turns the puck over behind the net, which John Leonard instantly sends Gambrell's way for the easy score. The eventual game-winner, Sharks win 3-2 for the series sweep and, for the first time all season, win four games in a row!

Riding high on their longest win streak of the season, the Sharks welcomed the Anaheim Ducks into the SAP Center Tuesday, April 6th, in a game that the Sharks really couldn't muster up much of anything outside of Patty Marleau's powerplay goal in the second. A game in which Boughner tried implemented unconventional tactics to spark his team, such as pulling goaltender Martin Jones with 7:13 left in the third, which immediately backfired. Despite matching Anaheim for the most part with 34 to 35 shots on goal, the Sharks fall 5-1, ending their four-game win streak.

Sharks Surge but Fall to a Familiar Foe

Fresh off the heels of their 3-2 overtime victory over the St Louis Blues, the Sharks look to make it two in a row for the first time this season when they travel down to Orange County to take on the Ducks at the Honda Center. Tomas Hertl, returning to the ice after a stink on the covid-list, gets the party started making it 1-0. After a spirited, bloody bout featuring combatants Kurtis Gabriel and Nicolas Deslauriers, that really seems to breathe life into this team. Burns feeds Kane for a goal in the 2nd, Karlsson adds a tally of his own in the 3rd, along with Meier, LeBanc, and Handemark, scoring his 1st career NHL goal. Dubnyk is the star of the night with the shut-out on 35 saves. Mission accomplished: the Sharks indeed win two in a row for the first time all season with a 6-0 bludgeoning of the Ducks

In the second game of the series, we saw the Sharks continue their winning ways against the Ducks with a 3-1 victory. In the 1st, Evander Kane kicks off the scoring when he beat Ryan Miller off the rush for the early 1-0 score. Ducks come back early in the 2nd and tie it. Shortly afterward, Ferraro and Hertl combine to feed Lebanc for the 2-1 tally. In the 3rd, there's a scramble for the puck in front of the net when Dylan Gambrell tips it home for his first goal of the season and sends the Sharks off to their first bonafide win streak of the season at 3 games.

The Sharks next traveled to the desert to take on the familiar foe with the Vegas Golden Knights. Behind a rock-solid performance by Marc-Andre Fleury and enabled by a stingy officiating crew, the Knights get off to a 2-0 lead. That was before Timo Meier lights the lamp with 5 minutes left, and the Sharks finally received their first power play of the night with 20 seconds left in the game but unfortunately still come up short in the effort 2-1.

In the second game of the series, we see the Sharks do something that they have not been able to accomplish yet, and that's take a lead a game against Vegas when they went up 3-1. Only to see it quickly evaporate in a 3rd period meltdown with undisciplined and untimely penalties taken by their two top centers on the team, who decided it was time in the game for them to drop their gloves, something they are not accustomed to doing, both were assessed 5-minute fighting majors 3 minutes apart. This is a duty that should have been left to Kurtis Gabriel who was nowhere to be found. Sharks lose 5-4

Sharks Struggle to Win in Regulation

The San Jose Sharks continue to struggle to find consistency and almost exclusively rely on shootouts to find victories in the young season. 

On February 5th, the Sharks strolled into Orange County for a 2-game tilt against the Ducks. In the first game, Nitro sets off the scoring at 6:50 of the 1st, but the Ducks dominated the middle frame, scoring three times. In the 3rd, San Jose came back with three of their own before allowing the Ducks the game-tying goal to force OT. Ultimately Donato and Lebanc score in the shootout to seal the victory. In the second game, Couture scores at 19:48 in the first shift of the game. While Dubnyk is the story all night coming up huge for San Jose, the Sharks ultimately fall 2-1 in the shootout. 

February 9th, we saw the Sharks taxi up to the Staple Center in LA for a 2-game set against the Kings. In game 1, San Jose storms out to take a 2-0 lead with tallies by Meier and Couture. Only to see it evaporate by the Kings scoring the next 3 goals. Kane ties the affair 3-3 with 44 seconds left to force the overtime. With Couture scoring in the shootout to seal the Sharks victory. In game 2, we saw the Kings score early and often. Tomas Hertl added two goals, but the Kings pulled away in the 3rd, scoring the next 3 for a 6-2 lopsided victory. 

It has been 342 days since the Sharks could last call the friendly confines of the SAP Center home. February 13th, the Sharks ended a 12-game road trip to open the season by welcoming the Vegas Golden Knights to the SAP Center for their 2021 home opener! Vegas spoiled the festivities with 3 powerplay goals, all scored with Evander Kane in the box for the Sharks, and came away with the 3-1 win. Erik Karlsson left in the 3rd and did not return with an apparent injury.

On the 15th of February, the Ducks arrived at the Tank and opened up the scoring with a deflection off Mario Ferraro's skate, a tough break for the young defenseman. The Sharks would score the next 3 goals, including the 1st of John Leonard's young career, and hold off the Ducks for the 3-2 regulation win. Something they have struggled mightily to find so far this season.