The San Jose Sharks faced off against the St. Louis Blues during their Hockey Fights Cancer game on Thursday (Nov. 16). They entered the night in the midst of a three-game losing streak while the Blues came in with a three-game winning streak. The Sharks came out on top with a final score of 5-1.
The Sharks got off to a hot start with former Blue Mike Hoffman finding the back of the net roughly two minutes into the game. The team came out with an energy we’ve not seen much of this season, however, like always, the question was whether or not they could sustain it for a full 60 minutes. They were certainly able to do just that, as they jumped out to a 5-0 lead by the end of the second period.
It actually took the Blues nearly half of the first period to even register a shot on goal, and it wasn’t from a lack of effort. The Sharks were doing a great job getting into shooting lanes and blocking shots, even the early goal scorer Hoffman got in front of a couple early on. They held the 1-0 lead through the first period and added one to it 16 seconds into the second on a William Eklund deflection off of a Nikita Okhotiuk shot from the point. Just a few minutes later, Givani Smith joined the fun with his first goal of the season. On the same shift, Luke Kunin found the back of the net and made it 4-0 less than a minute later. Considering Kunin is a former member of the St. Louis Jr Blues, it must be a sweet feeling for him to score against his hometown team.
Sharks Playing With Confidence
The Sharks came out looking like a confident team, which is something we don’t see often these days. The first line of Tomas Hertl, William Eklund and Fabian Zetterlund continued to impress early on. Hertl was making plays you typically don’t see from a team at the bottom of the standings, between the legs dekes to split the defense for example. Meanwhile, the new-look third line with Mike Hoffman taking Kevin Labanc’s spot alongside Filip Zadina and Nico Sturm started strong as well.
When players like Kunin, Smith and Hoffman are chipping in, that’s a good sign for the Sharks who have struggled with secondary scoring this season. Now Kunin is riding a three-game goal-scoring streak while Hoffman has found the back of the net three times in two games. The important thing though is not only are the Sharks playing with confidence, but they’ve finally started playing as a team rather than a group of individuals.
Kahkonen Finding His Rhythm
Mackenzie Blackwood has emerged as the Sharks’ starting goaltender so far this season; I think there’s very little doubt about that at this point. With that being said, Kaapo Kahkonen also seems to be finding his stride again. He had allowed five goals in his last start against the Vegas Golden Knights last Friday (Nov. 10) and six in his start before that, the infamous game against the Vancouver Canucks in which he got injured on Nov. 2. Kahkonen finding his confidence and being on top of the game is a must if the Sharks want to win games when Blackwood has to take a night off. If he regains the form we’ve seen in past seasons, the Sharks could have a very dangerous goaltending tandem this season and potentially beyond.
Kahkonen made several key saves late in the first period when the Blues started applying heavy offensive pressure. He did make a couple of mistakes, such as at one point he dove to try to cover the puck and missed giving the Blues an opportunity at an open net which they missed, but overall he played a solid period of hockey. He then followed up that strong period with a second and finally a third. The Blues brought consistent pressure after their slow start, but weren’t able to get the puck past the Finnish goaltender very often as he only allowed a single goal on 46 shots.
No More Stupid Penalties
The beginning of the Sharks’ season was tainted by pointless penalties that typically resulted in the opposition scoring with the man advantage. The Sharks played pretty responsibly last night. Of course, a few penalties will always happen throughout a game, but when it’s to save a goal like when Nico Sturm prevented a goal by tripping a Blue, it’s understandable. The fact that the penalty kill was able to stand strong and prevent St. Louis from capitalizing on their opportunities was just as important as well. Not only were the Sharks staying out of the box more than they have in recent memory, even though they still took quite a few penalties, they were killing off those that they did take. They still need to calm down with the amount of power plays they hand the opposition, but things are heading in the right direction.
Related: Sharks Getting a Boost From Hertl & Eklund Pairing
The Sharks had a strong outing against the Blues and walked away with a 5-1 win. They played undoubtedly their best game this season and although it doesn’t make up for their lackluster performances earlier in the season, it shows that things are on the right track. They need to come out with this level of intensity more often if they want to get in the win column consistently.