The San Jose Sharks scored eight goals and beat the Seattle Kraken 8-5 on Friday afternoon, leading the team to its second big victory in three games. Macklin Celebrini now has a three-game goal streak, while Will Smith has six points in his last three games.
The Sharks are also getting balanced scoring. 13 of the 18 players on the ice registered at least a point in yesterday’s game. Jake Walman led the way for the defense with two goals.
While the team didn’t dominate the play at even-strength as it did against the Ottawa Senators, the players kept things under control and didn’t let the game get away from them.
All in all, it was a good game for team teal.
Tough game for Grubaur
It was not a good game for Seattle netminder Philipp Gurbaur however. It was Grubaur’s poor performance that helped the Sharks score eight goals yesterday.
Looking at Natural Stat Trick’s heat map in all situations, you can see that there was nothing particularly dangerous about the Sharks’ offensive attack on Friday.
In fact, Natural Stat Trick shows that the Sharks put just 26 shots on Grubaur in the three periods of play, and just four of them were considered high-danger shots. Grubaur, for his part, stopped all four of the high-danger attempts. What’s more, the Sharks only had 20 scoring chances to the Kraken’s 27.
Grubaur allowed goals on three mid-danger shots and four low-danger shots, leading to an all-around bad day game for the goaltender.
Klim Kostin’s Gordie Howe Hat Trick
Of course the game after I call Klim Kostin out for his play, he has an impactful game against the Kraken. Kostin finished the night with two points, a goal and an assist. Then, he tacked on a fight with Seattle’s Will Borgen for the Gordie Howe Hat Trick.
FISTICUFFS! 🥊
— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) November 29, 2024
Honestly, not sure what made Klim Kostin jump Will Borgen here, but he put his team down a man with a two-goal lead. #SeaKraken pic.twitter.com/NuNMySjN9P
After the game, San Jose Hockey Now’s Sheng Peng offered some more clarity on what would cause Kostin to “jump” Borgen as Sound of Hockey seems to think happened.
Kostin, on his fight with Will Borgen & standing up for Mikael Granlund: "I'm not a big fan of fights for no reason…that guy [Will Borgen was] asking Granny for a fight. Players like Granny, they never fight, they play hockey. So just decided to step up."
— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) November 29, 2024
No reason for Kostin to lie, so if Borgen was trying to fight Mikael Granlund, then good on you Kostin.
According to Hockey Stat Cards, Kostin was one of the better performers on the ice for the Sharks yesterday.
Not only did the line of Kostin, Granlund and Smith drive offensive play during yesterday’s game, but the grouping was defensively sound as well. Notice that just about every stat for the trio was on the positive side of the zero line.
Highlight
Give it to the kid. Ethan Cardwell gets rewarded with his first NHL goal.
First NHL goal for Ethan Cardwell 🥹 pic.twitter.com/e4SSkSDQeE
— Sharks on NBCS (@NBCSSharks) November 29, 2024
With Cardwell, Collin Graf, Thomas Bordeleau and Danil Gushchin down in the AHL, the Sharks are going to have some serious decisions to make about the team’s prospects soon.
Scoring Summary Seattle Kraken at San Jose Sharks Nov. 29, 2024
First Period
2:07 SJS Timothy Liljegren from Tyler Toffoli and Alex Wennberg
3:03 SEA Oliver Bjorkstrand from Eeli Tolvanen
16:25 SJS Klim Kostin from Fabian Zetterlund and William Eklund
16:58 SEA Chandler Stephenson from Jayden Schwartz
19:16 SEA Shane Wright from Oliver Bjorkstrand and Chandler Stephenson on the power play
Second Period
2:45 SJS Will Smith from Mikael Granlund
7:20 SEA Shane Wright from Chandler Stephenson and Ryker Evans on the power play
8:24 SJS Jake Walman from William Eklund and Macklin Celebrini
13:10 SJS Mikael Granlund from Klim Kostin and Will Smith
14:03 SJS Macklin Celebrini from Fabian Zetterlund
19:43 SEA Yanni Gourde from Ryker Evans and Brandon Tanev
Third Period
7:37 SJS Ethan Cardwell from Nico Sturm and Henry Thrun
15:13 SJS Jake Walman unassisted empty net goal
