Quick bites: Kahkonen stops 39 shots, still loses

The San Jose Sharks fell to the Winnipeg Jets 1-0 on Tuesday night with Kaapo Kahkonen making 39 stops in the loss and Connor Hellebuyck making 18 saves for the shutout win. Morgan Barron scored the Jets’ lone goal. For the Sharks, the big story is a potential new set of injuries.

Nico Sturm left the game approximately nine minutes into the third period. Sturm simply chipped the puck deep into Winnipeg’s zone and followed the play. Logan Stanley, who is a very big man, played the body and upended Sturm. Sturm’s head hit the glass, but worse was when he came down and his head hit the ice.

Nico Sturm went to the locker room after taking this hit along the boards pic.twitter.com/8a837cMmys

— Sharks on NBCS (@NBCSSharks) February 15, 2024

It was a clean hit by Stanley, but Sturm had to be escorted off the ice by Sharks’ trainer Ray Tufts. Sturm did not return to the game.

Later in the third, Kahkonen looked like he tweaked something while making his final save of the night. He was slow skating to the bench for the extra attacker.

Kaapo Kahkonen left the game late in the third period after making this save pic.twitter.com/BmnPQXPBUu

— Sharks on NBCS (@NBCSSharks) February 15, 2024

While Kahkonen was able to stand to talk to the trainer, he was in obvious discomfort. When the final horn sounded and he had to skate across the ice to get to the visitor’s lockerroom, Kahkonen didn’t look like he felt 100%. Kahkonen isn’t slated to start tomorrow against the Calgary Flames, so he’ll at least have a little time to heal if he’s injured. The only question now is how severe is the injury.

Where’s the goal support?

The entire game, Kahkonen played the hero for the Sharks. He made several stellar saves that kept San Jose in the game. The only goal was one where the puck appeared to get lost in Barron’s jersey and then get past Kahkonen.

He's the bear-y best 😍 pic.twitter.com/IcquQGXtE5

— Winnipeg Jets (@NHLJets) February 15, 2024

It was one of those unlucky bounces that you could not fault the goaltender for.

That said, the Sharks really needed to do better by their goaltender. Kahkonen’s 39 stops were rewarded with exactly zero goals. According to Randy Hahn on the broadcast, Kahkonen has received the lowest goal support out of any goaltender in the league with 20 or more starts.

Help a goalie out.

Sharks miss Hertl, Couture

Of course, there wasn’t much offense to help support the netminder what with Logan Couture and Tomas Hertl missing. Even with Sturm in the lineup for most of the game, the Sharks had difficulty maintaining pressure in the Winnipeg zone all night.

When you look at the Corsi differential in all situations during the game, you see that the Sharks were woefully outmatched. Players like Mikael Granlund and William Eklund were simply unable to fill Hertl and Couture’s skates. While Granlund is having a good season, he’s likely playing too high up the lineup. Eklund is still in his first full season and only just started taking on the role of center at the NHL. While he will be good in the next year or two, he’s not going to be perfect now.

Luckily for the Sharks, the team can have a short memory. Team teal hops a flight from Winnipeg to Calgary tonight and will play at the Saddledome tomorrow.