The preseason doesn’t mean much in the grand scheme of things. After all, neither team is icing all of its best players at the same time. Coaches are still trying to figure out which line combinations work and which need a little tinkering. It’s all a test run for the regular season.
That said, some takeaways from last night’s game between the San Jose Sharks and the Los Angeles Kings may not sit well with Sharks fans.
The game ended 2-1 in overtime with the Kings winning it. However, San Jose iced a lineup mostly made up of players expected to start the season in teal, while Los Angeles sent out its top prospects. Anthony Duclair, Tomas Hertl, Mike Hoffman, Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Jan Rutta and Mario Ferraro were all there in a teal sweater. On the other side of the faceoff circle, LA’s lineup lacked familiar names like Anze Kopitar, Phillip Danault, Pierre-Luc Dubois, Adrian Kempe, Drew Doughty or Mikey Anderson. In other words, the Sharks’ A squad was playing the Kings’ future A squad and the showing was poor.
Things stayed even through almost two and a half periods of play.
About seven minutes into the third period, the Kings’ Jacob Doty laid a high hit on Jan Rutta that caused Rutta’s head to hit the glass. Rutta went down immediately.
Jan Rutta left the Sharks-Kings preseason game after this Jacob Doty hit pic.twitter.com/ELjysiEToI
— Sharks on NBCS (@NBCSSharks) October 1, 2023
While Rutta was able to get up and leave the ice with assistance, he did not return to the game. So far, there’s no update on his condition. This is the second blueliner to get injured for the Sharks in as many games. Radim Simek left Thursday night’s game and has not skated with the team since.
The Sharks received a power play for Doty’s hit on Rutta, but could not capitalize. It ultimately came back to bite the team because Alex Laferriere got the Kings on the board shortly thereafter with a tip shot that goaltender Magnus Chrona could do nothing about.
San Jose tied things up late in the third on a delayed penalty.
Tomas Hertl ties it up with less than 3 minutes left!
— JD Young (@MyFryHole) October 1, 2023
1-1 #SJSharks pic.twitter.com/eqtBmb8fdy
Hertl simply got the puck through traffic and over the shoulder of goaltender David Rittich. While the Sharks had another man advantage after that, the team, again, could not capitalize. The game went to overtime.
That’s when the Kings received a 4-on-3 power play on a pretty easy penalty call against Duclair. The penalty killing unit was unable to clear the puck for a change and approximately 1:30 into the Kings’ power play, Samuel Fagemo scored the overtime game winner.
Scoring still an issue for the Sharks
A couple of takeaways from this game should give Sharks fans pause. San Jose’s message throughout training camp has been that the team has a deeper forward group than last year. So far, the scoreboard has not supported that message.
While Los Angeles tilted the ice in its favor to start the game, the Sharks rallied back. The tide seemed to turn in the second period according to Natural Stat Trick and the Sharks ended the period with a 66.67% corsi for at even strength.
However, as is often the case with Sharks games lately, no matter what the play on the ice indicates, the Sharks simply can’t seem to get the puck into the net. While San Jose had its chances, shots were limited to the outside, leading Drew Remenda to comment in the third period that it was “too easy” for Rittich because he was seeing most of the shots.
Natural Stat Trick’s heat map shows what Remenda is talking about. On the right, you can see that the Sharks had some shots up close but were mostly limited to outside the dots or down at the goal line. Very few were up close. Even when San Jose did get the puck in close, the second opportunities were limited.
It’s a stark contrast from the left side of the heat map, where you can see that the Kings’ forwards were able to get the puck onto the net from many different angles and spots on the ice. In an ideal world, you want to see the entire offensive zone covered in color with some G’s scattered in for good measure. G’s as in goals, which you’ll notice the Sharks had none at even strength last night.
One would presume that the team’s top line of Duclair, Hertl and Alexander Barabanov would help drive the Sharks’ offense. However, that was not the case last night. In 7:21 of ice time at even strength, the trio’s corsi for was 33.33%. In other words, they were chasing the puck more than they were possessing it.
Admittedly, it was not on just one line. After the game, Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now reported that Head Coach David Quinn said the entire forward group was unremarkable except for maybe William Eklund.
Quinn says Eklund was better tonight than in his first game. Didn’t think forwards in general were good, but singled out Eklund for praise
— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) October 1, 2023
Sharks power play doesn’t look good
One would think that even if the team looked bad at even strength, the power play could help negate some of the problems. Last night, it did not. The Sharks received six power plays (two of which overlapped to create 20 seconds of 5-on-3 play) and did not score.
The one goal on the man advantage came with the goaltender pulled on the delayed penalty and so it did not count as a “power play” tally.
San Jose’s top unit consisted of Shakir Mukhamadullin and Hoffman at the points with Duclair, Hertl and Barabanov as the forwards. In other words, it was very much what the Sharks’ power play could look like to start the season.
The second unit featured Matt Benning, Eklund, Thomas Bordeleau, Justin Bailey and Luke Kunin. While not all of those players will factor into the power play to start the season, it’s very possible that Benning will play the point on the second unit and Eklund will have a spot there as well.
The power play units will need some time together in camp if they’re going to perform better than they did last night.
Magnus Chrona strong in first start
Finally, Eklund was not the only Shark to earn praise from Quinn. Chrona also received praise for his performance in net. The goaltender stopped 28 of the 30 shots he faced. The one goal he allowed in regulation was an extremely difficult shot to handle. Laferriere was parked in front of the net and tipped the puck up so high it hit inside the top of the net. You can see Chrona react at the last second, but with that kind of angle and distance, there wasn’t anything he could do.
Throughout the night, Chrona’s positioning was excellent. He made the saves look easy. Quinn had much the same take, telling San Jose Hockey Now:
Quinn was very pleased with Chrona tonight: "He makes it look easy. The puck hits him, he knows where he's supposed to be, he doesn't overreact…You don't see any net. Standing behind the bench, I don't see any net."
— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) October 1, 2023
“He makes it look easy. The puck hits him, he knows where he’s supposed to be, he doesn’t overreact…You don’t see any net. Standing behind the bench, I don’t see any net.”
The Mercury News’ Curtis Pashelka elaborated:
More Quinn on Chrona: "Standing on the bench, I don't see any net. He gets to spots and there's a calmness to him. He doesn't get rattled. It can get busy out there for a goalie — a lot going on around the net and he just stays in his spot, understands where the net is."
— Curtis Pashelka (@CurtisPashelka) October 1, 2023
“…He gets to spots and there’s a calmness to him. He doesn’t get rattled. It can get busy out there for a goalie — a lot going on around the net and he just stays in his spot, understands where the net is.”
Watching the game, there was little that seemed to phase Chrona.
Other notes
- Kings Head Coach Todd McClelland watched the game from the box while former Shark Marco Sturm, who currently coaches the Ontario Reign, served as bench boss for this game.
- Quinn told San Jose Hockey Now that Logan Couture may be close
- Overtime trios were as follows: Hertl, Duclair and Mukhamadullin; Bordeleau, Eklund and Nikolai Knyzhov; Nico Sturm, Barabanov and Ferraro.
- Eklund led the team in corsi for at even strength with 66.67%. Rutta was second before his injury with 64.71%.
- The longer Mukhamadullin plays in preseason games, the more it seems like he’s making a strong case to stay with the Sharks. Given the injuries to Rutta and Simek with no timeline for return, Mukhamadullin has to be getting a longer look.
- The Sharks added another defensive prospect, Ty Emberson last night, taking him off of waivers from the New York Rangers. Check out what our friends at Blueshirts Banter have to say about him.
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