The San Jose Sharks are still looking for the team’s first win of the season, while the Dallas Stars avoided marring the team’s perfect season start with a loss. Despite pushing the Stars to overtime and then a shootout, the Sharks could not put the final goal in to win the game. The team lost 3-2 in the shootout.
Goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood faltered in the shootout. While all three Stars — Jason Robertson, Matt Duchene and Wyatt Johnston — scored for Dallas, only Mikael Granlund managed to score for the Sharks. It was a lackluster ending to an otherwise competitive game for San Jose.
As you can see from Natural Stat Tricks’ Corsi chart, at even strength the Sharks held their own for large portions of the game. Shots on goal were 10-9 in favor of the Stars after the first period. In the third, the shots were 12-11 in favor of the Stars.
Blackwood up to his old tricks
Despite the poor showing in the shootout, Blackwood pulled out some of his old tricks. You know, the ones that he used to make up for some of the Sharks’ blunders last season. Blackwood made some stellar stops during the game, keeping his team in the game and allowing them the opportunity to win on several occasions.
There was this save on Roope Hintz, who was trying to finish off a 2-on-1.
Blackwood with a beautiful save here. pic.twitter.com/5iAgigbtLw
— JD Young (@MyFryHole) October 16, 2024
And then, in the third period, as Dallas tried to close things out in regulation, Blackwood made this slick glove save on Evgenii Dadonov.
Thank you, Mackenzie Blackwood 😤 pic.twitter.com/kjdhbww5IG
— San Jose Sharks (@SanJoseSharks) October 16, 2024
So, while Blackwood did not bail the Sharks out in the end, he did plenty to give his team an opportunity to win, and sometimes, that’s all you can ask for from your goaltender.
Warsofsky continues to shelter Smith
One of the things to keep an eye on is how much Will Smith plays and when. In this game, Smith’s ice time was 10:10 in all situations despite centering the “second” line. Of that time, Smith had 1:19 on the power play and did not play any time on the penalty kill.
It was the forward’s lowest amount of ice time in this short season. He had 13:04 of ice time against the Anaheim Ducks and 13:40 of ice time against the St. Louis Blues.
What’s more, when he is on the ice, Smith is only slightly noticeable. There are flashes of the skill that he possesses, but those flashes are few and far between.
If this continues to go on, Smith might be better served with a few games in the AHL before he gets another shot at the NHL level.
The San Jose Sharks are winning!
Is it early in the season? Absolutely. However, let’s celebrate the little wins while we can. Today’s little win is the fact that the Sharks are sixth in the Pacific Division as of this writing and 27th in the NHL. That’s not bad for a team that was projected to finish dead last this season.
What’s more, the teams that the Sharks are ahead of in the Pacific Division standings are the Edmonton Oilers and the Vancouver Canucks. That’s right, all three teams have played the same number of games (3), but the Sharks have at least managed two points out of those three games while the Oilers have managed none. San Jose wins the tiebreaker with the Canucks by virtue of a better goal differential.
Go figure.
Scoring Summary for Sharks at Stars – Oct. 15, 2024
First Period
None
Second Period
6:24 SJS Tyler Toffoli unassisted
12:03 DAL Matt Duchene from Mason Marchment and Logan Stankoven
15:12 SJS Ty Dellandrea from Nico Sturm
17:12 DAL Roope Hintz from Jason Robertson and Wyatt Johnston
Third Period
None
Overtime
None
