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Quick bites: Sharks rally for first win of the season

The San Jose Sharks have snapped the team’s losing streak before it could hit double digits. In the tenth game of the season, the Sharks earned the team’s first win and the first win of Head Coach Ryan Warsofsky’s career. It took overtime to do it, but the Sharks defeated the Utah Hockey Club 5-4, rallying with four unanswered goals in the waning minutes of the third period and the game winner less than two minutes into overtime.

While the Sharks didn’t dominate the game by any means, the team did not allow things to get out of hand.

Looking at Natural Stat Trick’s Corsi differential at even strength, you can see that although Utah maintained control of the puck for longer stretches of the game, the Sharks never allowed its opponents to take over the game.

Wennberg with the game winner

San Jose finally received balanced scoring, somewhat, with Alex Wennberg notching the overtime winner. Wennberg finished the night with two points (1 G, 1 A), but he was a plus-4, helping out on almost all of the goals by winning the faceoff that led directly to the goal. Wennberg had more than 21 minutes of ice time last night and went 14-12 in the faceoff circle, winning 53.85% of his faceoffs.

Here’s a look at Wennberg’s game winning goal.

Sticking to the script

While the game flow chart shows that it was Utah in control of possession for most of the game, it was the Sharks that controlled the shot clock. San Jose was outshot 9-11 in the first period and outscored 2-0. Despite, once again, being on the losing end of the score sheet, the Sharks continued to press for the game tying goals.

In the second period, the team turned it on. The Sharks put 17 shots on net, according to Natural Stat Trick, and limited Utah to just 8 shots. Even with that shot disparity, San Jose returned to the lockerroom after two periods trailing 4-1.

Last season, an outcome like that might have led to a complete meltdown on the ice with players deciding to do their own thing in order to “will” a win. That is not the case this season. Instead, the Sharks stuck with the game plan and continued to press, this time outshooting Utah 17-3 in the third period.

The Sharks were finally rewarded with three goals in less than two minutes, enough to tie the game and send things to overtime.

Highlights

The Sharks are back tonight with a second game, so let’s take a look at the four other goals the Sharks scored.

Things started off with Fabian Zetterlund, who put the Sharks on the board with a power move.

While the goal put the Sharks back in the game, two goals to finish the period by Utah left the Sharks trailing 4-1 after 40 minutes.

Zetterlund followed it up with a second goal by parking himself in front of the net and using his quick hands. Credit to Mikael Granlund, who is quietly (at least in the NHL) putting up a very good season.

Granlund got on the board himself less than 30 seconds later.

It was the same play (almost) but this time it was Granlund’s shot that snuck through.

Then to tie the game, Tyler Toffoli was in the right place in the right time.

Scoring summary for San Jose Sharks at Utah Hockey Club Oct. 28, 2024

First Period
11:00 UHC Dylan Guenther assisted by Clayton Keller
16:24 UHC Matias Maccelli assisted by Ian Cole and Nic Schmaltz

Second Period
9:12 SJS Fabian Zetterlund assisted by Danil Gushchin and Henry Thrun
10:38 UHC Matias Maccelli assisted by Ian Cole and Vladislav Kolyachonok
19:36 UHC Mikhail Sergachev assisted by Vladislav Kolyachonok and Logan Cooley

Third Period
15:25 SJS Fabian Zetterlund assisted by Mikael Granlund and Jake Walman
15:53 SJS Mikael Granlund assisted by Jake Walman and William Eklund
17:18 SJS Tyler Toffoli assisted by Jake Walman and Alex Wennberg

Overtime
1:26 SJS Alex Wennberg assisted by Mikael Granlund and Tyler Toffoli on the power play

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