Quick Bites: Spoiled Opener

The San Jose Sharks hosted the defending Stanley Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights at SAP Center for the anticipated home opener and had some mixed results. Falling 4-1 to the Golden Knights, the Sharks looked like the team that many expected it to be this 2023-24 season, while Vegas seemed to have picked up right where it left off after surging to the Cup just a few months ago. Vegas came into this game just after handily beating the Seattle Kraken on Wednesday night on the Stanley Cup banner night at T-Mobile Arena. The Sharks had not played a game since the final preseason game last week in Salt Lake City.

Notably, the opening night roster featured William Eklund, Thomas Bordeleau and Henry Thrun. The three represent a new wave of Sharks whose development will be heavily relied upon to exit this rebuild. Kevin Labanc was a healthy scratch and Logan Couture remains injured. Goaltender Kaapo Kähkönen, after a strong preseason and training camp, got the first start of the season for San Jose.

Early on, the game looked within reach for both teams. The pace was steady and neutral until Kyle Burroughs, one of the team’s new defensemen, sparked the arena with a big hit on Michael Amadio and subsequent fight against Keegan Kolesar. The two teams began to play with more of an edge afterward.

Vegas took little time to regain its confident form from its dismantling of Seattle. The Jack Eichel line looked particularly strong from the get-go. Together with Jonathan Marchessault and Ivan Barbashev, the trio of Vegas forwards skated laps around the Sharks’ defense in the offensive zone and fired good shots toward Kähkönen. The 27-year-old Finnish netminder looked sharp early on and continued to make several strong saves when tested. The Eichel line hemmed the Sharks’ Mikael Granlund line in the defensive zone seemingly every shift in the first period, and it did not look like a good matchup for San Jose. Head Coach David Quinn would pair the Hertl line against Vegas’ powerful first line starting in the second period, but it did not fare much better.

However, several new Sharks made impacts big and small throughout the night. Midway through the first period, newcomer Anthony Duclair drew a penalty using his speed, giving the Sharks the first power play. Givani Smith looked physically engaged and brought a reliable, responsible effort every shift. And the brightest part of all, Filip Zadina scored the lone Shark goal of the night with a beautiful turnaround shot past Logan Thompson.

Welcome to San Jose Filip Zadina! 🦈 pic.twitter.com/psyAL0tzc9

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) October 13, 2023

Powerless power play

This power play will certainly need some work. The Sharks’ first unit, featuring only forwards, struggled mightily to set up any sustained pressure or to even enter the Vegas zone most of the time. The team would go on to be 0-for-2 on the power play in this game.

On the second power play of the night, when Pavel Dorofeyev was in the box for holding, the Sharks did not manage a shot for the whole two minutes. In fact, Vegas had three shots on goal during the first minute of the two minute span. Once the Sharks managed to get the puck back, neither power play unit could get it through to Golden Knights’ goaltender Logan Thompson.

It is worth noting that the second power play unit, featuring Eklund, Bordeleau and Thrun, looked slightly better at times.

Energy line did its job

One of the more consistent lines for the Sharks tonight was their fourth, featuring Givani Smith, Nico Sturm and Fabian Zetterlund. Throughout the night, the trio provided high energy, got the puck into the offensive zone and took direct lines to the net. Zetterlund and Smith threw their bodies around a few times to disrupt Vegas’ puck flow.

Aside from flashes of brilliance from skilled forwards like Hertl, Eklund, and Bordelau, a consistent energy was missing from each of the team’s top three lines.

Karlsson was sorely missed

It might take some time for the team to gel and find a rhythm, especially with this much roster turnover. Erik Karlsson’s absence was palpable when watching the Sharks try to enter the Vegas zone and set up control on the power play, or counter with any 5-on-5 rushes. Like it or not, they will have to find ways to generate offense without the reigning Norris trophy winner. They have several tough matchups coming up, and the season could start to look ugly really fast if the team doesn’t start connecting soon.

Zadina’s goal a highlight of the night

Zadina’s first goal as a Shark was quite smooth. After giving up the first goal, the Sharks needed an answer and got one from the young Czech forward who wagered on himself this offseason. San Jose was struggling to get any good offensive rushes up to this point but found success in simplicity.

Zadina chipped the puck into the opposite corner and Mike Hoffman helped recover it for San Jose. After Hertl used his strength and good anticipation to stick check the Vegas defenseman off the puck in the corner, he worked it to Thrun, who wasted no time firing the puck towards the net.

There, the puck took a fortuitous bounce off of Hertl’s skate as he was driving the net from the corner. The puck found Zadina, who managed to recover it, spin, and take a shot, beating Thompson.

From the celebration after the play, it was clear that Zadina felt a weight lifted off of his shoulders after that play.

It was good to see Thrun continue his good offensive play from training camp as well.