Quick Bites: Ducks do damage in first period, win 4-2

The flight to San Jose certainly didn’t slow down the Ducks. Anaheim came out with a lot more jump than the Sharks in the first period on Tuesday night. Aside from one strong shift by the line of Kasper Halttunen, Nico Sturm and William Eklund early in the first, it was all Ducks. By the 12:30 mark, Anaheim had three goals on the board.

For most of the period, the ice was tilted in the Ducks’ favor. San Jose had little to no zone time in the offensive end and any pressure the team managed was not sustained.

While San Jose tried to turn the tide in the second period, it was a slog. The Sharks got one back on the rare 4-on-3 power play but managed little else on offense. In the third, it was more of the same until Marc-Edoaurd Vlasic had a breakaway, a 2-on-1 with Fabian Zetterlund. Vlasic went it alone and fired the puck past former teammate Alex Stalock to pull the Sharks within one.

After the game, he bluntly told the media he wasn’t thinking about passing it at all.

“No, I was shooting it the whole time,” said Vlasic.

While the goal was nice, he’s not placing much stock in a preseason tally.

“It’s always nice to score, doesn’t matter who it is [against],” said Vlasic. “Hopefully I can now score in regular season because preseason…”

Unfortunately, Vlasic took a double minor penalty with less than three minutes to play making it difficult for San Jose to complete the comeback. Admittedly, it was a weak slashing call, but, and this is just a guess, something he said following the penalty did not sit well with the referee and he received a second minor penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct.

The Sharks worked to kill the penalties, and when Anaheim took a penalty of its own with just under a minute to play, San Jose pulled Blackwood for a 5-on-4. Unfortunately, the Sharks could not establish themselves in the Ducks’ zone and it eventually led to an empty net goal to seal the game.

Ducks win 4-2.

Slow start, lack of chemistry dooms Sharks

Watching the on ice product, it was clear that the Sharks didn’t start the game on time. It was something that Head Coach David Quinn talked about in his postgame media scrum.

“I didn’t think we were ready for their pace and their level of compete. I felt we kind of waited to see how hard we had to compete, what kind of pace we had to play at,” said Quinn. “I thought it got better. I think in the third period, we gave ourselves a chance to come back from the three-nothing deficit…Our goalie made some big saves to kind of keep it at three, and we kind of clawed our way back in it. So, that’s a good sign.”

In addition to that lack of compete, it looked like the Sharks lacked chemistry. Efforts to clear the Ducks players out from in front of Mackenzie Blackwood were scrambly at best. San Jose made it too easy for the Anaheim forwards to get to the front of the net in the first place.

When San Jose finally got the puck back in its own zone, it often took several efforts to clear the puck. Even when the puck crossed the blue line, the Sharks usually lost steam in the neutral zone. Anaheim did a great job getting sticks into passing lanes and interrupting the play.

If an outlet pass did manage to get past the Ducks, it was either out of the reach of the forwards or so hard that the puck bounced off of the receiving stick.

While some of that was cleaned up in the later periods, by then, the damage was done.

After the game, Quinn said the lack of effort, specifically by the guys trying to push for a roster spot was disappointing, but he’s optimistic that some of them will rise to the challenge.

“It’s disappointing. Guys have an opportunity to try to make a name for themselves and create a tough decision,” said Quinn. “It’s only the second game and it’s been a tough camp…people [are] gonna have more of an opportunity to prove themselves.”

A little bit of everything from William Eklund

In his first preseason game, Eklund did a little bit of everything. He was on the ice to start the night getting that applause reserved for the starting lineup. Playing on the top line, he played first line minutes, finishing the game with 19:16 of ice time.

He also played in all three aspects of the game. Eklund was on the penalty kill in the first period, while Jacob Peterson was in the box. While the Ducks scored a power play goal, it had little to do with how Eklund played.

After the game, Quinn did not hesitate to say he would continue to put Eklund in that penalty kill role.

“Yeah, I think it’s an opportunity for him to gain more minutes,” said Quinn.

Eklund was also on the first power play unit, taking part in the 4-on-3 that resulted in the Sharks’ first goal of the game. Eklund won the faceoff that gave the Sharks possession within the Ducks’ zone. Kevin Labanc eventually cycled the puck to the point where Shakir Mukhamadullin passed to Eklund at the faceoff circle. Eklund one-timed the puck past Stalock to get the Sharks on the board and make it 3-1.

🚨 WILLIAM EKLUND 🚨 pic.twitter.com/w1oyOXtUrt

— Sharks on NBCS (@NBCSSharks) September 27, 2023

Eklund’s game continued to get stronger as the game wore on. Quinn says his third period was the best of the game.

“I thought he got better…I thought his third period was the best period. So, I thought his first two periods were just okay. And I thought the third was better for him,” said Quinn.

For Eklund’s part, he thinks the changes he made to his game in the third helped.

“I think I attacked more…the goal a little bit more. Hold the puck a little bit better,” said Eklund. “And we’re trying to score, so I was trying to score too.”

Blackwood recovers

The Sharks went down 3-0 fairly quickly in the game, but the players were not hanging it all on the goaltender. After the game, Vlasic said the defense wasn’t great in front of Blackwood through those first 13 minutes.

“I thought he played well,” said Vlasic. “First period, we just didn’t win our battles and gave them a two-on-one shot from the slot on the powerplay. I forget the other goal, but probably a screen from the point. So overall, I thought he played well, but we didn’t help him out in the first period.”

Quinn isn’t hanging it all on his goaltender either. In fact, he thought Blackwood did a lot of things right.

“You’re just looking for his intentions and where he is,” said Quinn. “A lot of times, I don’t even look at the goal. I look at his positioning, his alertness, his athleticism, his anticipation. If he’s doing all those things, well, then, they’re gonna go in every now and I thought he was pretty good in all those areas tonight.”

For his part, Blackwood isn’t too worried about what happened last night.

“Tough start and just better and better as the game went on,” said Blackwood. “Just preseason. Getting your feet back into playing again. The more time you play, the better you’re gonna feel. It’s part of the process and got better as it went on.”

Other notes

• Mikael Granlund was supposed to center a line with Eklund and Halttunen but was scratched at game time. Head Coach David Quinn said it was “precautionary,” and if it were a regular season game, Granlund would have played.
• For those of you tracking power play units. The Sharks’ first unit was Eklund, Jacob Peterson and Tristen Robins with Mukhamadullin and Kevin Labanc playing the point. The second unit was Halttunen, Zetterlund, Sturm, Ethan Caldwell and Leon Gawanke.
• Zetterlund went to the bench with what appeared to be an injury in the first minute of the third period. He took a minute with the trainers and then sat back down on the bench. He was on the ice when Vlasic scored but left the game midway through the third.
• Mukhamadullin’s passing is very smooth. When he picks up the puck in his end, he is calm and collected. He searches for the right pass and does not force the play He chooses the right outlets and can turn play in the other direction quickly. His cross-ice passes find a seam, even through two or three different defenders.
• Take a quick minute to enjoy the Vlasic with a snipe on a 2-on-1 made it a one goal game.

Marc-Edouard Vlasic, noted sniper.
3-2 Ducks pic.twitter.com/hoQlztMuZU

— JD Young (@MyFryHole) September 27, 2023