Quick Bites: Chrona deserved better

For a kid entering the National Hockey League, you obviously want to create great memories. Head Coach David Quinn and the rest of the Sharks organization hoped that the players would take that into account when they announced that Magnus Chrona would receive his first career NHL start. It did not go well. Chrona fell prey to Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and the rest of an Edmonton Oilers, a team that was humiliated the last time it entered SAP Center. What resulted was just 20 minutes of play for the young netminder and a 5-0 final score, with four of those goals coming against him in the first period.

The deck was stacked against Chrona from the start. Yes, he needed to prove that he can play at hockey’s highest level, but there were easier games to ease him into it. Instead, Chrona was asked to take over the net while McDavid, Draisaitl, Zach Hyman, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and more moved the puck with speed and fired on the net at low-chance angles. What’s more, Edmonton was bitter. The last time the team entered SAP Center, the entire league was watching and hoping that San Jose would humiliate the Oilers just a bit more. After all, what’s funnier than a down-on-its-luck playoff contender getting beat by the worst team in the league?

It was a recipe for disaster.

Still, the Sharks could have done better as a team for Chrona.

Sharks fail to do the little things right

Whatever momentum San Jose had gained during that handful of wins in early December seems to have disappeared. The team is making mistakes and turning the puck over in the neutral zone. The players are making high-risk plays and trying to get fancy with behind the back passes and drop plays that land right on the stick of the opposing player.

What’s more, they didn’t do the little things to protect Chrona. On the second goal, the one by Hyman, there’s a turnover at the Oilers’ blueline that immediately ends up on McDavid’s stick.

Zach's 20th of the season 🔥 pic.twitter.com/OjMzNw7PV7

— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) December 29, 2023

The Sharks have the Oilers outnumbered. It should not be a problem for the defense. Yet McDavid is able to get a pass through to Hyman with little effort. The Sharks defense does nothing to break up the play. What’s more, Fabian Zetterlund, who is supposed to be taking Hyman out of the play by tying up his stick, just gets flat out beat. Hyman wants it more and he scores almost too easily.

On the third goal, San Jose simply doesn’t do enough to allow Chrona a clear view of the puck.

Evan Bouchard with an absolute ripper from the blue line gives Edmonton a 3 goal lead!#LetsGoOilers | #NHL | #SJSharks pic.twitter.com/T8tILdzpPO

— HighlightHarbor (@HighlightHarbor) December 29, 2023

Kyle Burroughs is “battling” in front of the net but he’s not trying to clear out the body in the crease. The Edmonton player is clearly in the paint, crowding Chrona and there’s no one trying to clear him out. If Burroughs had given him a shove or two, would the reaction have created a goaltender interference situation? Would it have created more space for Chrona? Probably.

Yes, you want your goaltender to be positioned correctly or figure out how to find the puck in a crowd. Chrona could have given the guy a shove to clear him out. But those are things that goalies learn as they get more accustomed to the high-speed play of the NHL. The Sharks players could have done a lot more to ease Chrona into the game. They didn’t.

That’s loss number seven

The Sharks have now run the loss tally up to seven in a row, a streak that’s not getting as much attention as the losing streak at the start of the season. That said, at 36 games into the season, the 9-24-3 record is…yikes. At this pace, we’re not looking like it will be the worst season in Sharks’ history, but it could be in the top five.