Comments / New

Quick Bites: Worst on worst ends in shootout

Posted on by Erika Towne

What’s the best plan for two tanking teams? Obviously, to let things end in a three-point game. The San Jose Sharks and the Chicago Blackhawks needed overtime and a shootout to determine who was the worst in the league. The Blackhawks lost…er, won…beating the Sharks 2-1 after nine rounds of shoutout. Boris Katchouk and Rem Pitlick scored for the Blackhawks and Kevin Labanc had the lone goal for the Sharks in the shootout that featured a save by Mackenzie Blackwood that looked like it defied science. It hit the post, went off of Blackwood’s back, trickled toward the goal line and then stopped. It was good enough to count as a save.

The loss was an unfortunate outcome for the Sharks, who were the better team at even strength last night.

Looking at Natural Stat Trick’s gameflow chart at even strength, you can see that San Jose controlled the puck a majority of the time. The Sharks outshot the Blackhawks 38-25 through all three periods and overtime. Yet, the inability to get the puck past that pesky goaltender reared its ugly head again. The fact that the Sharks had just one goal to show for those 38 shots was…troubling.

Mrazek stole the game for the Blackhawks

Of course, when you dive a little deeper, you find that the Sharks, predictably, ran into a goaltender who was on his game. According to Hockey Stat Cards, Petr Mrazek had 3.56 goals saved above expected against the Sharks.

Players like Tomas Hertl, Luke Kunin and William Eklund had plenty of good looks that they simply could not convert on. Mrazek had several excellent saves as Fabian Zetterlund can attest to. The young forward should have had a goal or two, after all, he accounted for 8 of the Sharks’ 38 shots.

On the other end of the ice, Blackwood was good but not truly tested. An unlucky bounce off of Mario Ferraro’s knee gave the Blackhawks its only goal of the night.

Injury issues and healthy scratches

In addition to losing, the other story of the night is the potential long-term loss of another center. Nico Sturm and Logan Couture are already on the injured reserve list and Mikael Granlund may soon be joining them. Granlund left the game midway after a big hit along the boards. Here it is.

It was a clean hit, but it got Granlund just right because he left the ice and went to the lockerroom clutching his shoulder. Fingers crossed that it’s not something serious that takes him out of the lineup for a stretch of games.

The good news is the Sharks have a few days off now that they’re back in San Jose. They don’t play until Saturday. That gives Granlund time to get some rest and, hopefully, heal up.

The bad news is that the center cupboards are a bit bare. Kunin is already playing center, not his normal position, to fill in for the missing Sturm. Without Granlund, it might be time to recall Jack Studnicka, Thomas Bordeleau or Jacob Peterson.

As for the healthy scratches, it’s disheartening to know that Anthony Duclair and Calen Addison were healthy scratches. Duclair has three points in his last ten games, a goal and two assists. He had 18:29 of ice time against Buffalo and was on the ice for two of the three goals against.

Meanwhile, Addison’s last point was Dec. 31 and his last goal was Dec. 10. He’s seen his ice time steadily decline since New Year’s Eve and only played 15:47 against the Sabres.

Fourth-line delivers for the Sharks

Finally, let’s take a moment to celebrate the fourth-line, which managed to deliver the Sharks’ only goal in regulation.

Ryan Carpenter wins the faceoff and then Mike Hoffman works to gain control of the puck. Hoffman throws the puck behind the net where Justin Bailey outmuscles the Blackhawks player. Instead of setting up behind the net, Bailey already knows where Carpenter is. He passes the puck out front, where Carpenter can one-time it past Mrazek. It was a strong play from all three forwards.

Carpenter had a rotating cast of linemates throughout the game. He started things with Labanc and Scott Sabourin and then ended the game with Hoffman and Bailey. The latter combination was the Sharks best line of the night.

Credit to Bailey, who played an excellent game and was noticeable on several shifts despite receiving just 10:40 of ice time.

Highlight of the Night Sharks vs. Blackhawks Jan. 16, 2024

The highlight of the game wasn’t a goal. There were only two of them in regulation. For the highlight, we’re going with the heavyweight battle between Sabourin and Chicago’s Jarred Tinordi.

fear the fin logoAs many of you know, Fear the Fin is an independent site run by Sharks fans for Sharks fans. Help keep Fear the Fin independent by contributing to our GoFundMe or buying merchandise. Proceeds help us pay our writers and fund subscriptions to our favorite analytics sites.

Looking for an easy way to support FearTheFin? Use our Affiliate Link when shopping hockey merch this holiday season!

Talking Points