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Quick bites: Ducks fly away with OT win

Posted on by Erika Towne
The San Jose Sharks entered the All-Star break on a let down, losing to the Anaheim Ducks 3-2 in overtime. Shakir Mukhamadullin registered his first NHL point.

For a few minutes there, it looked like the San Jose Sharks might head into the All-Star break with two wins in a row. But that 6-on-5 can really cause you problems, especially if you’re a team that didn’t come to the game with a ton of energy. Troy Terry scored with 1:01 left in the game and then Frank Vatrano scored the game-winner in overtime to lead the Anaheim Ducks to a 3-2 win over the Sharks.

Some times the eye test doesn’t compare to the stats or feel of a game. This time, it does. Natural Stat Trick’s Corsi differential in all situations is a pretty good reflection of how the Sharks played in those latter two periods.

San Jose lacked energy and made a lot of terrible passes as it slogged through the final periods before vacation. Like kids who know Winter Break is about to start, the players didn’t have 100% of their attention on the game.

That is…except for Marc-Edouard Vlasic.

Vlasic having a career moment offensively

It would be unfair of us to spend all that time maligning Vlasic without also spending time celebrating his successes. Last night, Vlasic scored again, giving him a three-game goal streak.

Vlasic has played 1,268 NHL games in his career. This is his 18th season in the league. Never in the past 18 years has he scored at the rate that he has recently. The 36-year-old has five goals in his last nine games.

As San Jose Hockey Now’s Sheng Peng pointed out, it’s the best pace of his career.

Vlasic’s previous best was in 2017-18 when he scored 5 goals in 11 games. And as Sharks’ stats guru Darin Stephens reports, Vlasic now joins Dan Boyle and Brent Burns as Sharks defensemen to have three-game goal streaks at the age of 36-plus.

Congrats Pickles!

Injuries heading into the break

The break could not come soon enough for the Sharks, who almost lost several players to injury during the game. Something happened to Alexander Barabanov during a collision with Radko Gudas and the forward left the game and did not return.

Nikita Okhotiuk and Fabian Zetterlund both had to spend extra time off the ice as they recovered from blocking shots. Okhotiuk actually had to be helped off the ice when he blocked a shot off his knee. Luckily, he was healthy enough to return a few shifts later.

With Tomas Hertl missing the past two games with a minor injury, the Sharks’ games lost to injuries stat continues to climb. The next two weeks off will give the team time to heal up, which is good for team morale but will be horrible for the tank.

As a fan, it can be hard to root against your favorite team. However, a healthy team might be the difference between a quick rebuild and a longer, much more painful one.

Highlight Sharks at Ducks: Mukhamadullin gets his first NHL point

The highlight of the night was San Jose’s top defensive prospect, Shakir Mukhamadullin, getting his first NHL point. It happened on the power play. Mukhamadullin snapped a bullet of a shot from the point and you could hear it bounce off of Gibson’s pads. There was a scramble in front of the net, and Anthony Duclair was the first player to locate the puck and put it past John Gibson for the goal. Congrats, Mukhamadullin, and here’s to many more!

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