Last season, it took several games for the San Jose Sharks to hit rock bottom. One has to wonder if this season, it’s happened quicker. The Sharks fell to the Winnipeg Jets 8-3 last night in a very depressing fashion.
San Jose was never really in the game, allowing four goals in the first period. The Jets seemed to sit back after that and just strike when they felt like it.
Looking at the Corsi differential at even strength, you can see that it doesn’t look hugely different than all of the other games the Sharks have played this season. In fact, in terms of possession and chances, it looks better than Thursday night’s game in Chicago.
And that’s because it wasn’t the even strength that truly killed the Sharks this time around. It was the special teams.
Punished on the power play
Picking up where the team left off on Thursday night, the Sharks handed the Jets several power play opportunities and the Jets capitalized.
Once again, a parade of players went to the box in this game. In fact, the Sharks gave up another five-on-three in the first period, and this time, it bit them. In all, the Sharks took seven power plays and allowed four power play goals.
Sharks broadcaster Drew Remenda said postgame that many of the penalties could have been avoided, calling the Sharks “lazy, loose or unfocused with their stick[s].”
Winnipeg was flying
While discipline was a huge issue for the Sharks, you can’t discount how Winnipeg’s players showed up to play. Even though it was goaltender Connor Hellebuyck celebrating his 500th game, it was the other players who seemed to steal the show.
There were four players who had four points each – Neal Pionk, Cole Perfetti and Vladislav Namestnikov. Ten players in total had at least one point.
Winnipeg was so consistent with its scoring that Mackenzie Blackwood was chased from the net after the fifth goal, just a few minutes into the second period. Blackwood stopped 13 of the 18 shots that he faced for a .722 save percentage.
While Vitek Vanecek came in for relief, things didn’t go much better for him. He stopped 15 of 18 shots and had a .833 save percentage.
There are still positives
Just because the team as a whole isn’t … well … good, it doesn’t mean that there aren’t positives to take away from this game.
For example, Tyler Toffoli is not the problem. He scored his fourth goal of the season on the power play.
Toffoli continues his strong start to the season with a goal to put the Sharks on the board 💪 pic.twitter.com/J7q6cyzxFF
— Sharks on NBCS (@NBCSSharks) October 19, 2024
Toffoli is as advertised and it seems like no matter who he’s playing with, he can make things happen. We can’t wait to see what he does when Macklin Celebrini is consistently back in the lineup.
Also, Fabian Zetterlund continues to do his thing. Just 19 seconds after Cole Perfetti put the Jets up 6-2 in the third period, Zetterlund responded with a goal of his own.
ZETTERLUND SHELFS ONE JUST 19 SECONDS LATER#NHL pic.twitter.com/IXnxzRXU5K
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) October 19, 2024
Even though the Sharks look bad, we feel a bit more confident that this team will be able to consistently put up goals through the season.
Scoring summary for Sharks at Jets Oct. 18, 2024
First Period
1:59 WPG Josh Morrissey from Colin Miller and Nikolaj Ehlers
9:25 WPG Nikolaj Ehlers (Power Play) from Gabe Vilardi and Mark Scheifele
11:43 SJS Tyler Toffoli (Power Play) from Jake Walman and Mikael Granlund
13:31 WPG Nikolaj Ehlers from Cole Perfetti
18:48 WPG Neal Pionk (Power Play) from Alex Iafallo and Vladislav Namestnikov
Second Period
1:46 WPG Kyle Connor from Neal Pionk and Gabe Vilardi
10:28 SJS Luke Kunin from Carl Grundstrom and Cody Ceci
Third Period
9:50 WPG Cole Perfetti (Power Play) from Alex Iafallo and Vladislav Namestnikov
10:08 SJS Fabian Zetterlund from Tyler Toffoli and Mikael Granlund
12:55 WPG Cole Perfetti (Power Play) from Neal Pionk and Vladislav Namestnikov
19:27 WPG Vladislav Namestnikov from Neal Pionk