The San Jose Sharks responded to a bad loss with a chaotic 3-2 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Friday.
Brock Boeser opened the scoring for the Canucks in the first period, but Will Smith responded 5:57 later with a power play goal.
The Sharks would go two for six on the power play on Friday. William Eklund scored the other power play goal for the Sharks on a five-on-three in the second period. The two power play goals were the first time the Sharks had multiple in a game since Oct. 24 against the Minnesota Wild.
“It’s always nice scoring,” Eklund said. “Good power plays, they shoot a lot of pucks and get a lot of chances out of that. We’ve been better at retrieving pucks after we shoot and helping each other.”
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San Jose Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky was pleased with the power play, but knows there is more that it can provide.
“Definitely a step in the right direction. It is a good result. Two goals are important,” Warsofsky said postgame. “We’re going to keep working on it, because there’s still areas we can improve.”
Special teams were the name of the game on Friday. Chaos ensued throughout, with only a few extended stretches of natural five-on-five play. Warsofsky said the officiating was good early, but he claimed the referees incorrectly placed a face-off with 1.9 seconds remaining.
After a scuffle to the left of Yaroslav Askarov, who made 32 saves in the win, a lengthy discussion occurred about what penalties were called and where the face-off should be.
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The result of that discussion was a Canucks five-on-three power play and a face-off inside the San Jose Sharks’ defensive zone. Alexander Wennberg would tie up Canucks forward David Kampf and win the game.
“The calls early in the game had no issues with them, both sides of it,” Warsofsky explained. “I think the end, I was more upset that the face-off should not be inside. They can go back and watch the video, and I’ll argue until I’m blue in the face. That is a wrong call. It is what it is. Didn’t hurt us, but frustrating.”
Ryan Reaves was on the ice when the face-off appeared to be outside the blue line. He was replaced when it became a defensive zone draw.
The Sharks’ head coach said the plan was to have Reaves on the ice for that final face-off as protection.
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Sharks’ penalty kill goes 9-for-9
After all the struggles early in the season, the San Jose Sharks’ penalty kill has become a weapon. Over the last 14 games, the Sharks own a PK percentage of 94.2.
They’ve given up just three power play goals out of the 53 penalty kills they’ve taken over that stretch.
“Special teams was really the difference in the game. Power play came through. The penalty kill was outstanding,” Warsofsky said.
Collin Graf and Ty Dellandrea were often the first two forwards over the boards for the Sharks’ PK. Graf has had to face top NHL defensemen in Cale Makar and Quinn Hughes for the past two games.
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“We had a good game plan going in. Obviously, Hughes up top is a super dynamic guy, so we’ve got to defend him in layers,” Graf said. “Delly and I, as a team, are trying to defend him [and] honestly just trying to get the puck out of his stick.”
“I felt like I was out there against Hughes every time, skating around,” Graf laughed. “He’s obviously a super-skilled player, really shifty. Just want to be as patient as you can.”
In hockey, the phrase, “your goaltender needs to be your best penalty killer,” was very true for the San Jose Sharks. Askarov made another 32 saves for his 9th win of the season. 11 of the Canucks 34 shots were on the power play, and Askarov stopped them all.
He showcased elite rebound control. Many of the shots that hit him were either caught or pushed to a non-dangerous area.
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“You saw it last year with [Macklin Celebrini]. The game slows down for you, and you can kind of get to your skill set a little bit easier. I think the game slowed down for him,” Warsofsky said of Askarov’s stellar play.
The Sharks’ netminder rebounded from a tough loss to the Avalanche and raised his save percentage back to .910.
The team will fly to Las Vegas Friday night and face their biggest rivals for the second time this season, the Vegas Golden Knights.
“We don’t forget the first game, so we’ll be ready to go for sure,” Graf said.
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