It’s a crazy stat, but hockey games last 60 minutes. The San Jose Sharks can’t seem to figure out how to play all 60 of those minutes this season and once again, it’s bit them in the ass. The Sharks came out like trash on Monday night against the Seattle Kraken, allowing Seattle to score the first goal 29 seconds after the puck drop. A disallowed goal was the only reason the game was mercifully within reach when the horn sounded 20 minutes of play later.
Postgame, forward Klim Kostin posited that it was the worst start to a game he’d seen since he came to San Jose. Woof.
Down 3-1 after one, it was like the Sharks realized they needed to play better. They came out in the second period and dominated play. Players created what was perhaps the longest sustained zone time fans had seen in more than a dozen games and that includes the 4-0 win over the St. Louis Blues on Saturday. But, as has been the case for the Sharks most of this season, they could not find the back of the net. All the puck possession in the world and the team only managed to get one goal.
San Jose tried to find the equalizer in the third, but again, couldn’t light the lamp. What resulted was a 4–2 loss (Jared McCann topped things off with an empty netter).
Missed connections
The Sharks were not executing well, especially at the start of the game. Many of the passes in the first period were just out of the stick’s reach from the receiving player. Other times, the pass was either too weak or too hard. Weak passes were easily intercepted and hard passes bounced off sticks and allowed for turnovers.
While the Sharks cleaned things up as the game wore on, there was still an issue of poor passing that stalled out many of the offensive attacks. The Sharks often tried to execute passes that handcuffed the receiving player, leaving them no option other than to tip the puck forward or spend too much time trying to settle the puck. It made for easy takeaway opportunities for the Kraken throughout the game.
In one instance in the second period, Klim Kostin had a prime scoring chance, but the pass to him wasn’t good enough. Instead of one-timing it, he whiffed, and the scoring opportunity evaporated. In another instance, Ryan Carpenter took the puck away on a hard check in the Kraken offensive zone. He tried to pass it to Mike Hoffman, but it was slightly off the mark and Hoffman had to take the extra time to kick it up to his stick. The fractions of a second were all it took for Philipp Grubauer to find his way into position to make the stop.
Defense fell apart
Once again, Mackenzie Blackwood was often the only Sharks player actively trying to keep the puck out of the net. Blackwood 34 shots last night and stopped 31 of them. He made several impressive saves, including one on a breakaway that never would have happened if the Sharks were taking care of the puck and executing better.
Seattle’s third goal is possibly the best example of just how poor the defense was in front of Blackwood.
THE KID IS AL-WRIGHT 🫡 pic.twitter.com/J6v8VwNf1F
— Seattle Kraken (@SeattleKraken) April 2, 2024
Not only did Seattle work its way through the entire Sharks’ defense with simple passing plays, but Shane Wright capped things off by completing a give-and-go that made two of the Sharks’ defensemen look downright outclassed. Notice how Mario Ferraro has his back to the shooter, Wright.
If you need another look, JD Young showed the exact play on Twitter.
— JD Young (@MyFryHole) April 2, 2024
It’s not like Wright came out of nowhere. Ferraro knew Wright was there. After all, he had just seen him pass the puck across the ice to Jordan Eberle. Yet somehow, Ferraro completely lost sight of Wright and allowed the rookie to cap off the entire play with a goal. However, we can’t be too hard on Ferraro since he was just the player who got the worst of it. The goals should really be hung on the entire team since not one of the five players on the ice seemed to be capable of preventing it from happening.
Sharks’ top line continues to produce
The one thing the team does have going for it is the work of the top line. Klim Kostin and Fabian Zetterlund scored the two goals for the Sharks. Mikael Granlund was a difference-maker in the game. He received the primary assist on the Zetterlund goal by setting up #20 for the one-timer.
Granlund’s patience behind the net helped create scoring opportunities for the Sharks throughout the night. There was a point where he set up behind the net and controlled the puck for at least ten seconds, forcing both Kraken to converge on him. It left Granlund plenty of outlets in front of the net and set up a great scoring chance.
Zetterlund didn’t have the best game, but he battled through it.
There are a lot of things going wrong with the Sharks, but the top line isn’t one of them.
Highlight of the game Kraken at Sharks April 1, 2024
We’re choosing Kostin’s goal for the highlight of the night.
I like how Kostin set himself up to make the tip play and how Marc-Eduardo Vlasic pointed right at Kostin following the goal. Most of all, I like how in the postgame when asked what he saw on that goal, Kostin’s response was simply: “Puck.”
Matt Beniers, Oliver Bjorkstrand, Wright and McCann all scored for the Kraken.
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