There were plenty of reasons for the San Jose Sharks to fold last night. They were on the road. It was the second night of back to back games and they weren’t playing especially well. But instead, the team dug deep and managed to steal a point against the Philadelphia Flyers, wrapping up a tidy three of four points to start the road trip.
The Sharks weren’t good by any stretch of the imagination through the first one and a half periods of play, but they stuck with the Flyers in terms of possession. Just the same, less than 30 minutes into the game and the team was already down 3-0. As the tide turned and Philadelphia began to take over the possession of the puck, amazingly, it was the Sharks finding the back of the net.
In the second half of the second period, Mikael Granlund, flanked by William Eklund and Fabian Zetterlund really took control of the game.
Thompson taps it in ⛸ pic.twitter.com/DMnGbGj0db
— Sharks on NBCS (@NBCSSharks) November 12, 2024
Jack Thompson scored the Sharks’ first goal, with assists from Eklund and Granlund. About three minutes later, Granlund got a goal of his own with assists from Eklund and Zetterlund.
Matvei Michkov vs. Will Smith
Most people will see this as a matchup between the Sharks’ fourth overall pick and the guy that could have been the fourth overall pick. Let’s be honest, this is entirely hypothetical because post draft, it was pretty clear that Michkov had teams he wanted to play for and teams he did not and the Sharks were most definitely in the “not” column. But I digress.
Looking at last night’s game, Michkov won on the scoresheet. He had a goal and an assist, while Will Smith didn’t register any points.
Michkov played 12:34 at even strength and finished the night with 15:55 TOI. Will Smith, meanwhile, played 11:03 at even strength and had 12:58 of TOI.
According to Hockey Stat Cards, Michkov was the most impactful player on the ice for the Flyers last night.
#NHL GameScore Impact Card for Philadelphia Flyers on 2024-11-11:#FueledByPhilly #LetsGoFlyers pic.twitter.com/qoctF2V9Pj
— HockeyStatCards (@hockeystatcards) November 12, 2024
By that same token, Will Smith was one of the least impactful players on the ice for the Sharks last night.
#NHL GameScore Impact Card for San Jose Sharks on 2024-11-11:#SJSharks pic.twitter.com/Ir86vWVAqo
— HockeyStatCards (@hockeystatcards) November 12, 2024
Does this mean that Philly got the better player? Right now, yes. However, in a couple of years, it could be a different story entirely.
Too many shots allowed
For the first part of the season, even when the Sharks were losing games, the team tried to be pretty stingy on defense. Shots on goal were cleared out or blocked.
In the past few games, the Sharks have allowed more shots on goal to creep into the game. Even though San Jose won two of the last four games, the team allowed 50 shots on goal on Nov. 5 against the Columbus Blue Jackets. While it lost 5-2 to the Minnesota Wild on Nov. 7, only 31 shots on goal were allowed in that game.
The past two games, however, the Sharks have allowed 44 shots on goal and 43 shots on goal.
It’s something that San Jose will need to clean up if it wants to continue to be competitive in games.
Scoring summary San Jose Sharks at Philadelphia Flyers Nov. 11, 2024
First Period
1:40 PHI Erik Johnson from Anthony Richard
15:56 PHI Travis Konecny from Matvei Michkov and Emil Andrae on the power play
Second Period
5:09 PHI Matvei Michkov from Ryan Poehling and Egor Zamula
15:29 SJS Jack Thompson from William Eklund and Mikael Granlund
18:33 SJS Mikael Granlund from William Eklund and Fabian Zetterlund
Third Period
17:36 SJS Barclay Goodrow from Henry Thrun and Cody Ceci
Overtime
No Scoring
Shootout
Owen Tippet shot saved by Vitek Vanecek
Macklin Celebrini shot saved by Samuel Ersson
Matvei Michkov scores
Will Smith shot wide
Travis Konecny scores
