Quick bites: San Jose’s golden goose egg

The San Jose Sharks knew it would be a tough task. The team flew into Las Vegas to finish up a set of back-to-back games against a team with almost the same roster as it had when it won the Stanley Cup. To make matters worse, Vegas had lost two in a row and was looking to get back to its winning ways. It was a recipe for a loss and the Vegas Golden Knights cooked things up to perfection. Vegas dished out two goals in the first period to get a comfortable lead over a team that has only scored three goals (no more than that) twice this season. Then in third, the Golden Knights put the finishing touches on the defeat, helping former Sharks netminder Adin Hill to his second shutout of the season. Vegas triumphed 5-0.

Eklund gets salty, Zetterlund is peppered

A few efforts of note last night.

Fabian Zetterlund’s play continues to trend in the right direction. At one point, he put his body in front of a Shea Theodore shot that hobbled him. Zetterlund had to walk it off down the tunnel but returned to the game.

Meanwhile, Eklund got salty. The 21-year-old didn’t like the way Jonathan Marchessault hit Zetterlund in the numbers and into the boards, so he came in to do something about it.

Spicy Eklund. pic.twitter.com/y2CEIctfyV

— JD Young (@MyFryHole) November 11, 2023

Marchessault got two for cross-checking and two for roughing, while Eklund received two for roughing. By then, the game was out of reach for the Sharks, so it was a perfectly fine penalty to take on Eklund’s part.

Faceoffs may be the secret ingredient

The Sharks have a difficult time gaining the puck when the other team has it and a tough time maintaining control of the puck, but if there’s a positive, it’s that the team doesn’t have a problem getting the puck initially.

San Jose is dominant in the faceoff circle to start the season. Hertl has the second-highest faceoff differential in the league behind only Toronto’s John Tavares. Fourth in the league is Nico Sturm. Sturm has won 65.1% of his faceoffs, while Hertl has won 61.6%.

Head Coach David Quinn can rest assured that he has someone he can put into the offensive zone when he needs a faceoff win (Hertl) and in the defensive zone when he needs a win (Sturm).

Oskar Lindblom returns

Lindblom’s return to the lineup wasn’t exciting, but it wasn’t the worst on the team either.

In fact, when you look at Evolving-Hockey’s skater chart for the game, you see that Lindblom was among the better forwards in terms of puck possession. In fact, it was Lindblom and Sturm who were the only two players trending towards good.

Lindblom was called up earlier this week and ended up playing because Anthony Duclair was a late scratch due to illness. This short road trip for the Sharks finishes up on Sunday in Anaheim.

Even if Duclair is healthy, Lindblom may still get the opportunity to play. Mike Hoffman still isn’t producing for the Sharks and the only reason he received more ice time than Lindblom last night was because the Sharks had several power plays. At even-strength play, Hoffman had the least amount of ice time of any Sharks skater.