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Quick Bites: Ducks drop four more goals on Sharks

Posted on by Erika Towne
The San Jose Sharks lost to the Anaheim Ducks again on Sept. 27 by an identical 4-2 score. However, this time, the Sharks showed up for the fight.

The San Jose Sharks started its second preseason game against the Anaheim Ducks with a lot more jump than the night before. Despite that, the result was much the same, a 4-2 loss.

The Sharks were the first on the board, thanks to the first of a litany of penalties by the Ducks. On the power play, the night’s first unit of Thomas Bordeleau, Filip Zadina, Danil Gushchin, Justin Bailey and Henry Thrun gained some sustained pressure. Bailey, who spent a lot of time parked in front of the net on the man advantage, was there for the rebound after the initial shot and just tapped it in Happy Gilmore style.

San Jose continued to control the play following the initial strike, but it was Anaheim that got on the board next.

Defenseman Pavel Mintyukov scored off the faceoff to make it 1-1. Drew Remenda said on the radio broadcast that it looked like the shot surprised Sharks’ goaltender Georgi Romanov.

Anaheim scored a second goal on the next shift to take the lead. A wrist shot from Chase De Leo.

While the Sharks settled down and continued to push for the game-tying goal, it was the Ducks again with the tally midway through the second period. Brett Leason pickup the puck all alone in front of Romanov. While Romanov made the initial save, the second effort got by him. 3-1 Ducks.

Brock McGinn capped things off with a goal less than a minute into the third period.

Give him a year and Romanov may stop that shot. He’s getting used to North American ice and all the angles that come with it. Head Coach David Quinn said as much in his postgame.

If there’s a positive to take away from all of this, it’s that the Sharks did not give up even down by three. The team tried to rally back. Nathan Todd added his name on the scoresheet about six minutes later.

But, despite several chances after the goal, that would be the end of things.

Injuries could have lasting effects

One of the big storylines of the game was the injuries that seemed to pile up by the end of the game.

In the first period, Adam Raska took a puck up high. He was helped off the ice and missed the rest of the first. He returned later in the game and had an impactful night alongside Givani Smith and Cole Cassels. The trio had an 89.79% corsi for percentage when score and venue adjusted. It was by far, the best corsi of any of the Sharks’ forward lines.

Later in the first, Radim Simek went down and had to be helped off the ice. Simek did not return to the game.

It’s sad to think that Simek could be out for an extended period of time for another season. In his last five seasons with the Sharks, he’s never played the full 82 games, maxing out at 48 games in 2019-20. Simek has dealt with a torn ACL and MCL and several concussions.

Things got worse for San Jose in the third period. With time winding down, Alex Killorn landed an unnecessary hit to the back to Filip Zadina. You can watch it for yourself.

A couple of personal opinions. One, Killorn’s not some young prospect fighting for a roster spot so why make that hit in the preseason? Two, it’s 1:39 left in a game that the Ducks are winning by two goals, is it the right time to make a hit like that?

Zadina was helped off the ice and obviously did not return. After the game, Quinn told San Jose Hockey Now’s Sheng Peng that Zadina’s injury might not be too serious. Simek will need more evaluation.

Sharks performed better than scoreboard suggests

While the final score is all that matters in the end, Sharks fans looking for a silver lining can look no further than the play on the ice.

San Jose controlled the pace of the play through all three periods. Looking at the corsi progression through the game courtesy of Natural Stat Trick, you can see that at even strength, San Jose pushed hard in the second period. That’s when the team’s corsi was 75% at 5v5 play. Even as the score changed and swung in Anaheim’s favor, the effort from the Sharks players on the ice did not.

San Jose was disciplined. The team did not take a penalty until the tail end of the second period. By that time, the Sharks had drawn five power plays and scored on one of them.

The Sharks peppered Anaheim’s Lukas Dostal with shots, outshooting the Ducks 49-26.

At even strength, San Joe shot from all over the ice, while doing their best to keep Anaheim’s shots to the outside. You’ll notice while one of Anaheim’s goals came from right in front of the net, the rest came from almost above the dots.

As explained above, this was Romanov’s first full game on North American ice. Given a year to mature and develop, those three goals may not have gone in.

Other notes

  • I listened to the game instead of watching, but Remenda was complimentary of goal scorer Bailey. “It’s not just the scoring, it’s everything else he’s done that’s been impressive,” said Remenda.
  • In the third, Remenda and Dan Rusanowsky both noticed that Bordeleau had “quieted down” after two strong periods. Bordeleau immediately got some jump, almost as if he heard them.
  • The Ducks’ Radko Gudas was stirring things up as usual. Hate him if you’re an opponent. Love him if he’s on your team.
  • While Leo Carlsson (the number 2 pick in the 2023 NHL Draft) was in the lineup, he wasn’t as impactful in the game as you would have thought. I rarely heard Rusanowsky call his name.
  • The line of Bordeleau, Zadina and Jacob Peterson had good pressure in the first period but it died off soon after.
  • Thrun led defensemen with 25:19 of ice time. Considering the Sharks had five power plays and Thrun played point on the first unit, it’s not a surprise that he was a team leader. Nikita Okhotiuk was second among defensemen with 22:01.
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