Brodie’s Breakdown vs CAR (12/7)

Brodie’s Breakdown vs CAR (12/7)

Brody Brazil here to recap game 30 on the season, which by the way has all taken place within the last 59 days since opening night. Yeah, you know what? Before we break down the Sharks and Canes, let’s make this point clear. Olympic seasons are no joke with this condensed schedule. Spent a lot of going and growing and learning on the fly with the Sharks without much time in between games to actually process anything. Such as the case with San Jose losing 4-1 on Friday night in Dallas and now turning around and taking on another tough Sunday opponent in North Carolina. Colin Graph was the Lone Sharks goalcorer in the Lone Star State. Had a great game even beyond the score sheet versus the Stars and because of it was promoted to the top line with Celabbrini and Smith. Meanwhile, San Jose also trying to snap a road skid. Their last away win came in OT against Minnesota back on November 11th. And what a good start here. 33 ticks in. Smitty Mack graph goal. Collins fifth on the year. Primary assist goes to Celibbrini in his 100th NHL game. In some context, the Sharks are 93 and two in games where they score first this season. And how about instant reward for the coaching staff, right? You put the college kids back together based on instinct and instantly they’re able to convert. That’s got to feel pretty good, right Colin? You know, it’s always nice to get one early. I think it just it gives you confidence the rest of the game. Even if you even if you don’t want to admit it, but it’s it’s always it always does. It’s sort of the way it is. So, it’s nice to uh get one early. Great pass by Mac. Yeah. Everybody comes to the ring trying to score, right? Yeah. So, do you have to change anything in your game playing with Mlin Will? Um I mean, they’re obviously really skilled players. I think for me the biggest thing that sort of paid off there was just uh going to the net with my stick on the ice cuz you know that they’re uh they’re really good with their puck. They’re really good with the puck and they’ll find me. So, for me, it’s just uh making sure I’m getting to the net. The first period would end all modded up at one because of this Kane’s power play. Right off the very first draw, the Shane Gostas spare shot is redirected by Jordan Stall. The touch was high, but obviously not high enough. And so, a good but even first road period in the books. This season, the Sharks are actually a plus one goal differential in first periods. However, entering today also a minus 6 in middle frames. Good time for me to mention that now, right? Because in this second period, they would earn a critical two-goal advantage that helped them through the rest of the night thanks to two Swedes. And sometimes the Sharks can just make it look so simple. Celebr’s [Applause] first goal since November 22nd. That’s Mac’s 28th assist on the season. This was 754 into the second period. San Jose would eventually outshoot the Canes 96 in the middle 20. And despite the difficult task of the evening, they were really starting to look up to the challenge. We’re now about 7 minutes later. Here’s San Jose on the power play. And some of those very same names involved in this scoring play. Clingberg fed it to Eklan for the one-time. And that long rebound sat perfectly for Alex Wenberg. That’s Wenberg’s sixth goal on the season. And things lined up historically well because the Sharks were 9 and1 entering third periods with a lead this season going into this game. And this wasn’t exactly a firewagon hockey game in terms of chances both ways, but it is that time of the breakdown to give lots of credit to Alex Nadulkovich. Certainly, we’ve seen the coaches lean towards Ascarov lately with a little bit more of the playing time, but when it’s Ned’s turn in Nets, you absolutely feel that very same opportunity for the Sharks to go out and win a hockey game. And honestly, that’s probably the biggest compliment you can give a tendee in his situation. And for historical context, the Canes had won eight in a row over San Jose, sweeping the series in each of the last four seasons. And they put on a hard push in the third period, as you’d expect. I mean, after all, they’ve got the fourth best record in all of the National Hockey League. And even with the Sharks on their heels and outshooting San Jose 16-6 in the final period, Ned stood tall from start to finish in this one. 29 saves in total on the evening. He’s had a few signature nights with the Sharks in this his first season, and tonight’s game definitely goes up there right along with it. Oh, yeah. All of this against the Carolina team that drafted him. And you know what? Since it was his 100th NHL game and what turned into a three-point night against Carolina, we’ll show you the Mlin celebrating empty netter. That’s how this game ends. 4-1 Sharks over the Hurricanes. It’s 100 games for you now. Did it go by fast? Was that my hundth? Yes. Oh. Um yeah. I mean that went by real fast. I know somebody had his the other day and um yeah, it’s uh it’s something special. I think it was a really good team effort today. Uh Ned kept playing really good all night and I think we uh we played good in front of him. Uh but like I said before, we know this is a it’s a hard team to play against and they’re shooting a lot of pucks uh uh and have a lot of zone time. So we did a good job. I I just felt, you know, happy that I put us put us in a position to win. Honestly, like I just say it’s it’s way more fun winning and and whether it’s you give up zero, you give up one, or you give up five, like you know, you don’t want to give up five, but at the end of the day, if the guys can pull through and and we can get two points, it’s huge. Um, and they played awesome tonight. I mean, we we limited them in the first two periods there and we know they’re a good team. They’re going to push. They’re at home. Uh, it’s two goal game going into the third, so they’re very much in it. They can, you know, score two pretty quick. Um, so I thought we did a good job of of just hunkering down, staying with it in our own end in the third and uh just keeping it simple. Bigger picture for San Jose. And beyond even winning the game, just good to get some of that scoring touch back. Each of their last two outings and respective losses, the Sharks were held to single goals. And how about the power play? That’s now goals in five of their last six games on the man advantage. The next opponent are the Flyers. That’s in Philly on Tuesday night.

Brodie Brazil breaks down the Sharks 4-1 win against the Carolina Hurricanes on December 7, 2025.