Quick bites: Sharks win third in a row

For the first time all season, the San Jose Sharks have won three games in a row. San Jose beat the New York Rangers 3-2 in overtime last night, making it the third straight game in which the Sharks scored three or more goals.

The Sharks hung with the Rangers through most of the game despite, at times, looking overmatched in the skills department. When you look at Natural Stat Trick’s gameflow chart in all situations, you see that neither team dominated puck possession for long periods of play.

Tomas Hertl’s overtime goal

Perhaps the trick the Sharks played on the league to start the season was to lure everyone into the false sense that San Jose’s players were a bit inept. After all, Jan Rutta played that pick to end the game perfectly.

HERTL CALLS GAME ‼️ pic.twitter.com/5uA1JwZTyQ

— Sharks on NBCS (@NBCSSharks) January 24, 2024

The defenseman looked like he was slow to follow the puck as Alexander Barabanov circled the zone with the puck on his stick. It was no wonder that Rutta ran into Mika Zibanejad, after all, he was simply a step behind the play. Of course, Rutta regained his composure and while Zibanejad was busy picking his stick up off the ice. Rutta got back into the play and put himself in a perfect position to receive the pass from Barabanov. He then fed it to Hertl who made no mistake ending the game.

I know that picks happen all the time in this game. I also know that refs sometimes don’t want to be the ones to decide a game in overtime. I understand all that. But the moment I saw that play in realtime and the play just a few seconds before that, I couldn’t help thinking that the Sharks were being pretty blatant with their picks. Maybe Zibanejad sold it by dropping his stick, but if I were a Rangers fan watching my playoff-bound team lose to the Sharks on a play like that, I’d be pretty mad.

Power play is still an issue

San Jose’s power play has been underwhelming of late. Last night, the team had three power play opportunities and could not score on any of them.

The Sharks have not scored a power play goal since that one goal scored in the 7-1 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Jan. 9. Since then, the Sharks have had 7 games and 16 power play opportunities and failed to score on any of them.

While it’s not a huge issue on a losing team, it’s something to keep an eye on.

Role players come through for the Sharks

San Jose’s “big guns” were tasked with going head-to-head with the top players on the Rangers, leaving the bottom six to make up the difference. Last night, they did. San Jose received two goals from its role players to start the third period putting the Sharks back in the game.

On the first goal, Nico Sturm intercepted a simple pass behind the Rangers net. Instead of playing with the puck to find the perfect pass, he shot it out front and scored.

STURM WARNING ⛈️ pic.twitter.com/27ZGIJ1kRf

— Sharks on NBCS (@NBCSSharks) January 24, 2024

Then, just a few minutes later, Ryan Carpenter parked himself in the slot and deflected the game-tying goal past Igor Shesterkin.

Carpenter finds the back of the net to tie the game ‼️ pic.twitter.com/wxmtjG9ZyK

— Sharks on NBCS (@NBCSSharks) January 24, 2024

When the Sharks are healthy, the team has good depth. The team proved that last night. Sadly, while that’s good for morale, it’s not great for the tank.

Our points percentage is now tied with Chicago’s for 31st in the league. The Sharks only have the advantage because the team has played one more game than the Blackhawks. No one in the league would ever forgive San Jose if we allowed Chicago to win the draft lottery again.