Sharks' Struggles Continue, Fall to Last-Place Canucks in Shootout
The San Jose Sharks hosted their final regular season home game on Saturday night against the Vancouver Canucks. The Sharks looked competitive right out of the gate, with some big hits and some quality scoring chances in the opening minutes. Macklin Celebrini had a breakaway attempt denied by Kevin Lankinen roughly seven minutes into the game.
After Lankinen made the save, Vancouver launched an attack of their own and forced Yaroslav Askarov to make a save at the other end of the ice. Askarov had a bit of an issue with one of his pads as it came completely off his leg following the save, causing a short delay in action. Igor Chernyshov opened the scoring with 3:41 remaining in the first period after he beat Lankinen from close range to make it a 1-0 game.
The Sharks carried that lead into the first intermission. As time expired though, Chernyshov showed his value to the Sharks in another form. Celebrini was hit hard by Victor Mancini as the period came to an end.
Zack Ostapchuk drew the first penalty of the game just over three minutes into the second period, as Zeev Buium sat for hooking. Shortly after the penalty expired, the Canucks evened things up with a strange goal. Askarov attempted to play the puck, and as he rushed back to his crease, he pulled the net along with him.
Although he pulled the net to the ice, the puck crossed the goal line before he did so, making it a 1-1 game with the goal credited to Marco Rossi, his 11th of the season. Chernyshov nearly restored the Sharks’ lead eight minutes into the middle frame, but his shot from point-blank range went wide of the goal. Tyler Toffoli would be the one to give the Sharks their next lead, breaking an 11-game goal drought in the process to make it 2-1.