Follow me on Twitter:
@BenShelley_20
Follow HockeyBuzz Sharks Twitter:
@HB_Sharks
The San Jose Sharks came up short against the Vancouver Canucks last night, falling 6-5 in overtime for their fourth straight loss.
Nico Sturm returned to the Sharks’ lineup, as Scott Harrington and C.J. Suess also suited up for San Jose, in place of Nick Cicek and Steven Lorentz, along with Matt Nieto, who was placed on injured reserve.
The Sharks opened the scoring just as the game began, with Nick Bonino tipping in a point shot from Matt Benning only 18 seconds into the game. Vancouver pulled the game even only a few minutes later though, as a shot was just thrown on net from the wing by Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Kaapo Kahkonen let a bad rebound out front that was buried by Dakota Joshua. We then saw a fight between Joshua and Radim Simek just after that and the Sharks ended up only giving up eight shots in the frame. With only about 25 seconds left in the frame though, Joshua continued to make an impact, burying another rebound (this time on a late power play), to put the Canucks ahead through 20 minutes.
Only about a minute and a half into the second frame, Kevin Labanc couldn’t handle the puck and it was taken off him by Nils Hoglander, who went in towards the net and beat Kahkonen clean, making it 3-1. As the period went along though, San Jose got one back off a power play goal from Timo Meier, who beat a screened Spencer Martin.
It looked like Joshua had completed his hat trick only under a minute after that to put Vancouver back up by two, but it was overturned on a coach’s challenge for goalie interference. It ended up making a difference, as Logan Couture took a stretch pass while shorthanded only a couple minutes later and went down ice on a partial breakaway, somehow managing to squeak the puck through Martin to tie the game. The Sharks went on to outshoot Vancouver 17-11 in the frame and it looked like they’d get to the second intermission tied. However, they allowed another late goal with about 30 seconds left in the period, as pretty much the entire team allowed a pass through to Ilya Mikheyev for a breakaway chance, and Mikheyev beat Kahkonen five-hole, putting Vancouver back ahead.
Eetu Makiniemi then entered the game for Kahkonen in the third period. Jonah Gadjovich did tie the game once again early in the frame, beating Martin with a nice, low shot. Then later in the period, Erik Karlsson quickly turned the puck up ice to catch the Canucks out of position and Tomas Hertl dropped a pass to Kevin Labanc, who put a perfect shot past Martin, giving the Sharks their first lead of the game. Despite giving up only five shots in the period though, Andrei Kuzmenko scored off a great pass from Elias Pettersson on a power play later, tying the game.
Then overtime, the Sharks had a great chance to win it, with Timo Meier being stopped on a breakaway, then Tomas Hertl being denied on the rebound. The Canucks went down the other way on a 2-on-1 after that and Pettersson beat Makiniemi with a nice shot, giving Vancouver the 6-5 win.
It was a pretty solid effort for the Sharks, generating more quality chances throughout the game and outshooting Vancouver 39-27 overall. The penalty kill once again didn’t get the job done though, killing off just one of three penalties.
Kaapo Kahkonen continues to be inconsistent this season and often just not good enough. He gave up four goals on 19 shots, including a couple of weak ones and while he’s had some good games, he’s having a pretty rough season. Through 12 games, Kahkonen has posted an abysmal .877 save percentage and 3.71 goals against average, and hasn’t looked like an NHL-caliber goalie.
On the bright side, the Sharks have proven they can keep up offensively at times. Logan Couture, Tomas Hertl and Timo Meier have all posted close to point-per-game numbers, while Alexander Barabanov is scoring at a pace of 56 points per 82 games.
Meanwhile, Kevin Labanc has also upped his game after a brutal start to the year. In his last 16 games, Labanc has five goals and 14 points.
The game also marked Eetu Makiniemi’s first NHL action, even if he only played for the final frame and overtime. Makiniemi is 23 years old and was acquired from the Carolina Hurricanes as part of the Brent Burns trade. He’s posted strong numbers with the AHL’s San Jose Barracuda this season, holding a .918 save percentage through 12 games.
It’s a disappointing loss for the Sharks, where they put together a pretty alright effort overall. Their next game comes tomorrow, when they face the Anaheim Ducks.
OTHER ARTICLES FROM DECEMBER
Sharks come up short against Maple Leafs, fall 3-1
Sharks give up three power play goals, lose 5-2 to Senators
Sharks fall to Sabres in final game of road trip for third straight loss
Ranking the Sharks’ offseason additions based on their play this season 
San Jose Sharks Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»