Quick bites: Upon further review…

Twice, the San Jose Sharks tried to come back from a one-goal deficit in Mullett Arena, and twice, the NHL and the officials said, “Not so fast.” The Sharks had two goals disallowed in the third period to lose to the Arizona Coyotes 1-0. The first call is a bit more of a judgment call than the second one.

On the first goal, Luke Kunin drives the net and as Connor Ingram goes for the poke check, the two make contact. William Eklund picks up the puck and fires it home. However, the league determined that there was enough contact between Kunin and Ingram for the goal to be disallowed, but you be the judge.

William Eklund’s game-tying goal was wiped off after this run of play 🤔 pic.twitter.com/GHp9uhT1iH

— Sharks on NBCS (@NBCSSharks) December 16, 2023

The second goal was a little easier to waive off. Anthony Duclair is clearly offsides after the puck just barely crosses the line out of the zone before hitting a Sharks’ player and going back in.

ANOTHER game-tying goal was wiped off in the third period 😡 pic.twitter.com/PbAtAHtBt7

— Sharks on NBCS (@NBCSSharks) December 16, 2023

You can see Duclair’s helmet in the bottom left corner at the end of the play. Duclair tries to get back on sides, but only the Flash could manage that feat, considering the puck was only out of the zone for a split second. It’s one of those plays that you really can’t do anything about. Which is sad, but it happens.

Mikael Granlund is feeling it

But let’s talk about the goal itself because watching the play, you can tell that Mikael Granlund is playing some of his best hockey in the past few years. I mean, take a look at those hands.

Oh baby, the #SJSharks have a highlight reel of overturned goals tonight!#SJSharks pic.twitter.com/bMWJGTsuS7

— SnipeCity420  (@SnipeCity420) December 16, 2023

Granlund has 19 points (would have been 20 if that goal counted) in 23 games for the Sharks this season. If he plays at this rate for the rest of the season and plays every game, he’s looking at a 66-point season, his best 2017-18 when he played for the Minnesota Wild and had 67 points in 77 games.

Granlund has been hot in December. He has 12 points, good enough to tie for second in the league in scoring. Both Auston Matthews and Nathan MacKinnon have 12 points this month. Bo Horvat leads the league with 13. In other words, Granlund’s December has been pretty good.

Team resiliency

Watching the Sharks now versus what the team was in October is an interesting study of how a team evolves over time. It was clear that San Jose did not have “it” when the game started, at least not in the way the players have in the past five games or so. But they dug deep and hung in there. They didn’t let it get out of hand, which is a huge step forward.

“We were just talking in the coaches’ room. It’s one of those nights where you don’t have all your energy and you can just feel there wasn’t a lot of energy in the lockerroom before the game,” said Head Coach David Quinn after the game. “To manage to just kind of hang around, I think it’s another example of our progress because I think a month ago, if we had this type of energy, we wouldn’t have been in the situation we’re in by the end of the game.”

Six weeks ago, the team would have been down 8-0 entering the third period. It’s a testament to how far the players have come in such a short time.

Good goaltending battle

Finally, credit to both netminders who didn’t have to make a lot of saves but had to make good saves when it counted.

Kaapo Kahkonen stopped 23 of 24 shots for a goals against average of 1.00. It was much better than his expected goals against of 2.68.

Meanwhile, Ingram stopped all 21 of the shots he faced. His expected goals against average was 1.88.