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Quick bites: Coming back is hard to do

On Tuesday night, the San Jose Sharks watched the Nashville Predators come back from a 5-1 deficit to win the game 7-5. It’s possible, then, that the Sharks thought a three-goal deficit early in the game on Thursday night would be nothing to sneer at; of course, they would be wrong.

The Sharks got in trouble early, allowing Nashville to score three goals in quick succession. For the rest of the game, the Sharks played catchup and spent so much time trying to even the score that the team never managed to take a lead in the game. As a result, that third period goal by the Predators was one too many, and the Sharks lost once again, this time by the score of 6-5.

Looking at Natural Stat Trick’s game flow chart in all situations, you can see that while the Sharks had moments where the momentum was tilting their way, there was no real stretch of the game where the team dominated puck possession.

Any time the Sharks tried to swing momentum in the team’s favor, the Predators swung it back in the other direction.

And while it would be easy to blame a loss in which the other team scored six goals on the goaltender, that wasn’t the case in this game. Yaroslav Askarov faced 38 shots and made 32 saves. His expected goals against was 4.25. But in all honesty, on most of the goals that Askarov allowed, he made the initial save and then became the victim of too much puck-watching on the Sharks’ part.

This goal by Tommy Novak that made it 2-0, for example, was a perfect example.

Yes, Askarov has stood on his head for the Sharks at times, but sometimes, you need your teammates to do their jobs as well.

Luke Kunin might be the heart of the lockerroom

I know that Luke Kunin’s game isn’t the ideal one for most Sharks fans. He’s not the high-end skill guy that fans want, and there are times when his play can be entirely too frustrating to watch. That said, he is the guy who jumps in body and soul to get his team going.

Kunin played on Tuesday. He knew that going down 3-0 in the first seven minutes of this game was not going to do the Sharks any favors. He’s not the guy who is going to will the puck into the net, so he did the next best thing. He dropped the gloves.

Kunin took on a player who had a few inches on him, Cole Smith, just to get his team and the crowd at SAP Center going.

Yes, Barclay Goodrow and Ty Dellandrea dropped the gloves in the subsequent faceoffs after that, but Kunin was the first player to go to work directly following Nashville’s third goal.

Time and again, we’ve watched Kunin understand game situations better than most and understand what needs to be done to swing the game back in the proper direction for his team. This is what he brings to the Sharks, and if he is traded or allowed to walk in the offseason, it could be the loss that hurts the Sharks the most overall.

The comeback, sort of

Following the Kunin, Goodrow and Dellandrea scraps, the Sharks seemed to get their heads in the game. Newest addition, Walker Duehr, got the comeback started with a goal less than 90 seconds later. It was a tip play in front of the net.

Then, Mario Ferraro added a goal of his own to make it 3-2 heading into the second period. While Nashville came out firing in the second and added two more goals to make it 5-2, there was some resilience in San Jose’s play.

Instead of backing down, the Sharks put two more on the board. Then the team got a big chance to tie the game.

Cole Smith match penalty

At the 14:13 mark of the second period, Nashville’s Cole Smith took a match penalty. If you listen to Randy Hahn and Drew Remenda with the Sharks, it’s a clearcut hit to the head.

That said, if you listen to Chris Mason and Willy Daunic on the Nashville television broadcast, it’s less certain.

Either way, the Sharks received a five-minute power play and Macklin Celebrini made no mistake, scoring the 15th goal of his rookie campaign.

Scoring summary Nashville Predators at San Jose Sharks Jan. 23, 2025

First Period
3:58 NSH Gustav Nyquist from Tommy Novak and Brady Skjei on the power play
4:52 NSH Tommy Novak from Zachary L’Heureux and Fedor Svechkov
6:53 NSH Filip Forsberg from Justin Barron
8:12 SJS Walker Duehr from Nikolai Kovalenko and Mario Ferraro
16:34 SJS Mario Ferraro from Mikael Granlund and Timothy Liljegren

Second Period
1:38 NSH Filip Forsberg from Colton Sissons and Brady Skjei
7:07 NSH Steven Stamkos from Jonathan Marchessault and Roman Josi on the power play
12:39 SJS Henry Thrun from Alex Wennberg and Nikolai Kovalenko
13:54 SJS Fabian Zetterlund from Will Smith and Mikael Granlund
15:21 SJS Macklin Celebrini from Mikael Granlund and William Eklund

Third Period
8:16 NSH Fedor Svechkov from Brady Skjei and Zachary L’Heureux

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