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Quick bites: Comeback comes up short

There are games where you’re not on your game and you win, like the San Jose Sharks did on Monday night against the Los Angeles Kings. And then, there are games where you’re clearly the better team on the ice and you don’t even get a point. That’s what happened to the Sharks on Wednesday night against the Ottawa Senators.

Looking at Natural Stat Trick’s Corsi differential at even strength, you can see that the Sharks had command of the game, especially in the third period when the team was down 3-1. The Sharks outshot the Senators 39-11 in the game and out-chanced the Sens 37-18.

In the thrid period, Natural Stat Trick reports that the Sharks had 15 shots to the Senators’ 1 shot. The trouble is, the one shot on goal for the Senators was the one that went in.

Mackenzie Blackwood had an off night

It happens sometimes that your goaltender just doesn’t have it. Blackwood only made 7 saves on the 11 shots that he faced, leaving the Sharks in a situation they haven’t seen very often lately. After the game, Head Coach Ryan Warsofsky wasn’t prepared to hang the game on his netminder.

“I thought he was good when he needed to be. Obviously, maybe one he wanted to have back there, but it’s hard when you’re not getting a lot of shots and you’re not getting a lot of action,” said Warsofsky. “For so long, he’s been getting peppered back there, and he stands on his head, and times you don’t get a lot of shots and you don’t get into the rhythm of the game.

“You saw that with [Linus] Ullmark, right? Feeling the puck. You feel good about yourself during the game,” continued Warsofsky. “We weren’t getting in front of him. We weren’t putting … making his job difficult, getting into the middle of the ice … It’s confidence for goalies to feel the puck and get saves. And that’s what we did to Ullmark.

“[Blackwood] just had one of those nights where he just didn’t see a lot,” said Warsofsky. “Those are positive, usually, because you end up winning the hockey games. But where we are right now. We just don’t know how to win those games. We have to be a little bit smarter in situations where it comes down to that.”

If there’s one that Blackwood would like to have back, it’s this one from Tyler Kleven, who (checks notes) scored his first career NHL goal.

Klim Kostin’s up and down game

Klim Kostin’s play last night was a rollercoaster ride. In the first period, the forward had just 1:42 of ice time, in part because he took a careless high-sticking penalty just over 13 minutes into the period. The Senators scored on the ensuing power play, giving the visiting team a 2-0 lead after one.

Kostin seemed to redeem himself in the second period, when he cleaned up his play and even earned a secondary assist on the Sharks’ first goal of the game. But in the third period, with all the momentum in the Sharks’ favor because of Will Smith’s goal, Kostin made a massive error. He tried to do too much as he was bringing the puck out of the Sharks zone and took the puck right in front of his own goal with two players on him. He fell, lost the puck and allowed a grade A scoring chance that went off the post.

The Sharks cleared the zone, but the team was clearly scrambling after having such strong momentum for several minutes. While the play did not directly lead to the Senators’ goal that happened less than 30 seconds later, it certainly helped influence it.

The Senators took a 4-3 lead and that’s where the game stayed.

Doing the little things right and getting rewarded

That said, it’s not all doom and gloom. There were plays last night that let you know that the youth of the team is progressing nicely.

Will Smith took some hits and kept going. He’s starting to deal with the physical adversity of the NHL. He’s also starting to choose his scoring opportunities more wisely, or maybe it’s just the bounces going in. At one point in the game, he and Luke Kunin appeared to have a two-on-one headed to the Ottawa net. Instead of trying to make the flashy pass, Smith shoots the puck knowing that it’s likely going to be saved and hoping that it will rebound to Kunin. It was a good choice.

Later in the game, his pass to Mario Ferraro was excellent.

And then there was the goal to tie it. Smith knew that Fabian Zetterlund was coming into the zone with speed and so he drove the net.

Smith was making good choices and he’s coming on in the points department. The forward now has four points in his last two games.

Highlight

The highlight of the night is the Macklin Celebrini goal, however, the true credit for that marker goes to William Eklund, who made an impressive play to get Celebrini the puck.

Scoring summary Ottawa Senators at San Jose Sharks Nov. 27, 2024

First Period
4:35 OTT Adam Gaudette from Tim Stutzle and Brady Tkachuk
13:56 OTT Josh Norris from Drake Batherson and Tim Stutzle on the power play

Second Period
9:19 SJS Mario Ferraro from Will Smith and Klim Kostin
15:22 OTT Tyler Kleven from Claude Giroux

Third Period
4:48 SJS Macklin Celebrini from William Eklund and Jake Walman
12:32 SJS Will Smith from Fabian Zetterlund and Timothy Liljegren on the power play
15:48 OTT Adam Gaudette from Tim Stutzle and Brady Tkachuk

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