Quick bites: Sharks double up Devils

Add that one to the win column. Twenty-three games into the season and the San Jose Sharks have finally secured the team’s first road win. San Jose rolled into New Jersey late Thursday night after playing a tough, gritty game against the Boston Bruins and losing 3-0. But the schedule makers were kind to the Sharks and also scheduled a Thursday night game away from Prudential Center for the Devils. The end result was that both teams were on the second night of back-to-back games and had traveled. It was the best the Sharks could hope for and it appeared to help.

While San Jose did not dominate play by any stretch of the imagination, the team did capitalize by scoring that first goal early. The 1-0 lead gave the Sharks enough confidence to help them keep after the puck. Every time Kaapo Kahkonen made a save, that confidence grew. What resulted was a sloppy but decisive, at least looking at the scoreboard, win over the Devils by a final score of 6-3.

Our goalie’s better than yours

At almost every level, the Devils were better than the Sharks. When you look at Natural Stat Trick’s gameflow chart at even strength last night, you see that after that first goal, the Devils put their feet on the gas and never looked back.

The team sent waves of skilled forwards and defensemen at the Sharks. Luke Hughes, Jack Hughes, Timo Meier, Jasper Bratt, Simon Nemec, Nico Hischier…the list kept coming. They overwhelmed the Sharks and maintained possession of the puck, peppering Kahkonen with shots and hitting the post and crossbar more than once.

But Kahkonen stood tall and he was the difference maker in this game. While the scoreboard shows the Sharks won the game 6-3, the team was dreadfully outshot 47-18. Kahkonen stopped several scoring chances and finished the night with a .936 save percentage.

Akira Schmid did not fare well on the other side of the ice. The goaltender stopped just 12 shots and finished the night with a .706 save percentage.

When you compare expected goals against to goals allowed, you find that Kahkonen was +2.39 while Schmid was -3.43.

Resiliency was key

Another great takeaway from the gameflow chart is just how close those red and teal dots are. In two of the three instances, there’s a teal dot very close to the red dot. Better yet, there are teal dots all by themselves. Each of those dots marks a goal. Whenever the Devils tried to find an opening back into the game, the Sharks shut the door.

When Jack Hughes scored to make it 3-2 early in the third period, Anthony Duclair notched his second of the night less than three minutes later. When Ondrej Palat scored with just over seven minutes left in the game to make it 4-3, Mikael Granlund responded with a goal of his own less than a minute later.

Unlike previous games, the Sharks did not allow the other team back into the game. The group held firm when the offensively gifted Devils pulled the goaltender with more than three minutes left in the game and then had a few chances at the empty net before William Eklund finally capitalized to seal the win.

Bask in the six goals scored

Throughout the months of October and November, the San Jose Sharks had…er…trouble scoring on the road. In fact, until last night, the Sharks hadn’t scored more than one goal in a road game all season. Apparently, December changed it all. San Jose scored six goals and not from the usual suspects.

Jacob MacDonald opened up the scoring just over two minutes into the game on a pretty pass from Mario Ferraro. Ty Emberson received the secondary assist on the play. MacDonald would score again in the second period. In the span of about 20 minutes of game time, MacDonald doubled his goals from the previous season.

Meanwhile, Duclair, who had not scored a goal in seven games, found his scoring touch again. He scored the Sharks’ third and fourth goals of the night and helped make the play that set up Granlund for the team’s fifth.

Other players who registered at least a point for the Sharks last night included Matt Benning, Justin Bailey, Ryan Carpenter, Tomas Hertl and Eklund.

Granlund led the night with a goal and two assists. One of those assists was this pretty takeaway and then pass to Duclair for the third goal of the night.

Mikael Granlund pickpockets Hughes and finds Anthony Duclair for a great goal, Sharks up by 2!#SJSharks pic.twitter.com/BCM9945vPE

— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights & News (@HockeyDaily365) December 2, 2023