SAN JOSE – The San Jose Sharks wanted an evening to be ok with themselves once more after every thing they skilled final week.
It didn’t fairly occur Tuesday night time.
On the facility play with an opportunity to take the lead, the Sharks as an alternative gave up a shorthanded objective to Joel Armia with 4:04 left in regulation time in a 4-3 loss to the Montreal Canadiens.
Andrew Poturalski couldn’t management a free puck close to the Montreal blue line, leading to a 2-on-1 the opposite method. Armia then beat Sharks goalie Alexandar Georgiev for his tenth objective of the season.
San Jose Sharks’ Collin Graf (51) high-fives the bench after scoring his first NHL objective towards the Montreal Canadiens within the second interval on the SAP Middle in San Jose, Calif., on Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Space Information Group)
Collin Graf scored his first profession NHL objective, and Macklin Celebrini and Tyler Toffoli every had a objective and an help for the Sharks, who misplaced for the eighth time within the final 9 video games.
Celebrini scored his seventeenth objective of the season on an influence play to present the Sharks a 1-0 lead on the 5:52 mark of the primary interval, however the Canadiens responded with objectives by Cole Caufield and Alex Newhook to take a 2-1 lead with 15:17 left within the second interval.
Graf tied the sport 2-2 with 5:09 left within the second interval.
After taking a cross from Barclay Goodrow, Graf streaked down the left facet of the ice and fired a wrist shot that beat Canadiens goalie Sam Montembeault to the glove facet, giving him his first objective after 17 profession NHL video games.
Graf’s objective got here lower than two minutes after Poturalski thought he had his first NHL objective.
Making his Sharks debut after spending the primary three-plus months of the common season within the AHL with the San Jose Barracuda, Poturalski attacked what he thought was a free puck subsequent to the put up in entrance of Canadiens’ goalie Sam Montembeault.
On-ice officers initially dominated that Poturalski pushed the puck and Montembeault’s pad throughout the objective line after Fabian Zetterlund’s shot on objective. A prolonged NHL State of affairs Room-initiated video overview then couldn’t decide whether or not Zetterlund’s preliminary shot entered the Montreal internet, with the league saying there “was no conclusive evidence to show that the puck completely crossed the Montreal goal line.”
The Sharks’ recreation on Tuesday got here after a tumultuous few days.
In one in every of their weakest efforts of the season, the Sharks had been blasted by the Seattle Kraken 6-2 final Thursday. They allowed 4 straight objectives within the second interval. As a response, what was initially going to be a break day on Friday was a half-hour bag skate on the Sharks’ apply facility.
On Saturday, the Sharks traded ahead and main scorer Mikael Granlund and top-pair defenseman Cody Ceci to the Dallas Stars for 2 2025 draft picks, together with a first-rounder.
Initially Revealed: February 4, 2025 at 10:14 PM PST
