The San Jose Sharks suffered their second straight home loss last night, falling 2-0 to the Anaheim Ducks.
The notable piece of news concerning the Sharks’ lineup between Games 1 and 2 was that Macklin Celebrini had been placed on injured reserve. Per San Jose Hockey Now’s Sheng Peng, Celebrini reportedly played through a hip injury on opening night, and is considered week-to-week.
Obviously, it was a disappointing piece of news, considering the hype around Celebrini’s debut on Thursday (and how impactful he was). As a result, the Sharks ended up shifting around their lines last night. Mikael Granlund moved to center to play with William Eklund and Tyler Toffoli, while Klim Kostin then took an open spot playing alongside Will Smith and Fabian Zetterlund. Meanwhile, Carl Grundstrom took Danil Guschin’s spot on the second line, while Vitek Vanecek got the start.
It looked like the Sharks had struck early against Anaheim in the first period on a power play, with a set play where Mikael Granlund fired the puck down ice, and Fabian Zetterlund won the race to get it, taking the puck off the end boards and going to the backhand in-close to beat Lukas Dostal. However, the play was challenged, and deemed to be offside, so the call was overturned.
Anaheim ended up taking a bit of momentum from there, with two different power play chances. However, the Sharks arguably had the best chance to open the scoring for good in the final two minutes of the frame, where Dostal had to get over to make a big pad save on a rebound for Cody Ceci.
San Jose then had a good opportunity about five minutes into the second period, where Alexander Wennberg was denied in-close, but the team then got into a bit more penalty trouble. They managed to kill off an initial penalty, and then had a great opportunity on a scramble in front of the Ducks' net, but then ended up taking another penalty shortly after. San Jose did still manage to outshoot Anaheim in the frame and were the better team at even strength, but the game remained scoreless through 40 minutes.
The Sharks had a bit of momentum building in the third period from there, but ended up giving up the Ducks their fifth power play of the game midway mark of the frame. While they were able to get through it as well to go 5-for-5 on penalty kills, shorty after, the Sharks got lost in their coverage on a Ducks’ rush chance, leaving Isac Lundestrom to take a pass and beat Vanecek from a great spot, putting Anaheim on the board.
The Ducks did take a penalty right after the goal, leaving San Jose with a good chance to try to tie it, but they couldn’t convert. While the Sharks did pull the goalie in the final minutes to press for a tie, Trevor Zegras buried an empty netter, leaving San Jose with a 2-0 loss.
It’s a disappointing result, but the Sharks put forward a pretty strong effort in the loss. They certainly had more high-danger chances than the Ducks, and if Lukas Dostal hadn’t been as good as he was, it’s a game that San Jose could've taken.
Will Smith was more involved last night as well, and while Fabian Zetterlund’s goal may have been called back, he looks like a candidate for a big season. Defensively, the Sharks continued to look a lot more capable in terms of reducing good chances from mistakes, compared to last season. You'd love to see them be a bit better at staying out of the box, but they were also perfect on the penalty kill last night.
The Jake Walman trade is also continuing to look like a bit of a head-scratcher for Detroit. He’s looked really solid through much of his first two games in San Jose, both being reliable in his own end, but also able to move the puck up ice. He’s played over 24 minutes in each of the games, and while that may not be sustainable, he’s looking like a steal of an offseason addition for the Sharks.
At least through the first two games of the season, the Sharks have been much more competitive. Of course the results would be great, but they arguably played well enough to win last night – Anaheim was just able to convert once, and the Sharks weren’t.
San Jose will be back in action on Tuesday, when they open a road trip against the Dallas Stars.
OTHER ARTICLES FROM OCTOBER
- Sharks poised for a more exciting season despite rebuild
- Sharks set season-opening roster
- Celebrini scores in opener, but Sharks blow big lead for OT loss to Blues
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