SAN JOSE – San Jose Sharks defenseman Jake Walman on Saturday didn’t fairly keep in mind all the small print about why his first NHL purpose was allowed to face. He does keep in mind, although, that the purpose got here in opposition to future Hockey Corridor of Fame goalie Marc-Andre Fleury.
Taking part in with the St. Louis Blues in his first full NHL season, Walman, in an April 7, 2021 sport in opposition to the Vegas Golden Knights, trailed the play as ahead Jordan Kyrou led a rush up the ice. Kyrou put a shot on internet that Fleury saved, however Walman pounced on the rebound and one-timed a shot via site visitors and previous the legendary netminder.
“I just shot it,” Walman mentioned. “He was way out of position. I think somebody might have interfered with him. I’m not sure how the goal really counted, but I was just celebrating, so I didn’t really see his reaction.”
Fleury, now in his fourth season with the Minnesota Wild, is anticipated to retire on the finish of this season after a 21-year NHL profession, and his begin in opposition to the Sharks on Saturday will possible be his last look at SAP Heart.
The Wild and Sharks solely play yet another time this season, however that’ll be on the XCel Vitality Heart in St. Paul on April 9. Whereas Minnesota (26-12-4) seems headed for a spot within the postseason, the Sharks (13-25-6), with the second-worst document within the NHL earlier than Saturday, are on monitor to overlook the playoffs for a sixth straight 12 months.
Fleury, a famous sensible joker, is a three-time Stanley Cup champion, and the 1,039 NHL video games he’ll have performed after Saturday is third-most all time. He received his one Vezina Trophy because the NHL’s high goalie throughout that 2020-2021 season, wherein Walman scored his first and solely NHL purpose that 12 months.
This season, the 40-year-old Fleury, earlier than Saturday, was 8-3-1 this season with a .903 save share.
“He’s been a phenomenal goalie,” Walman mentioned. “I’ve loved hearing all the stories of his pranks over the years. I was big on YouTube, watching all that stuff while growing up when he was in Pittsburgh … joking around with the guys.
“I haven’t had the opportunity to meet him … but he’s had a phenomenal career, and I’m excited to play against him. I think we’ll get his best tonight.”
The Sharks normally do. In 28 profession video games in opposition to San Jose, Fleury, earlier than Saturday, had a 19-5-4 document with a stellar .939 save share, the very best in opposition to any of the 32 NHL franchises he’s performed in opposition to. In 13 profession playoff video games in opposition to the Sharks, Fleury is 7-6-0.
In fact, Fleury is perpetually linked to what is likely to be essentially the most memorable sport in Sharks historical past on April 23, 2019.
In Sport 7 of the Sharks’ first-round sequence with the Golden Knights in 2019, and with Vegas holding a three-goal lead close to the halfway level of the third interval, Fleury allowed 4 power-play objectives in simply over 4 minutes whereas San Jose was on a five-minute man benefit.
The sport went into additional time, and Barclay Goodrow, after taking a go from Erik Karlsson, scored the series-winning purpose on Fleury on the 18:19 mark to elevate the Sharks to a 5-4 win and into the second spherical of the playoffs.
Fleury completed with 43 saves, tied for the fourth-most he’s had in any of his 169 playoff video games.
“He’s a prankster, but he’s an ultra-competitor, and he competes as hard as anyone in this league in between the pipes each and every night he’s in there,” Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky mentioned. “From talking to (Pittsburgh Penguins coach Mike Sullivan), it’s the same thing in practice.
“He competes. He’s a stand-up guy. When he makes a mistake, he owns up to it. My brother (David) played with him in Pittsburgh for a little bit and if there was a mistake, he usually was the one that said, ‘hey, that’s on me.’ So those are things you hear around the league. But he’s a remarkable competitor, and he’s a winner.”
Indications had been Walman would return to the Sharks lineup Saturday evening, dressing for his first sport since Dec. 21, when he was injured in a sport in opposition to the Edmonton Oilers. Within the final eight video games with out Walman, their top-scoring defenseman, the Sharks had a 2-6-0 document and averaged 1.875 objectives per sport.
“It’s tough to just be on the sideline watching when you feel like you can kind of impact certain situations,” mentioned Walman, who averages a team-leading 22:50 in ice time per sport.
“For the (most) part, we’ve been doing a really good job. There are a couple of games that I’ve watched that we kind of put a full 60 minutes together, and it was a pleasure to watch. I feel like we have the team that can do that every game.
“But there’s been some games, some periods, some shifts, kind of where we’ve been hemmed in, and we’ve got to get that out of our game. And I’m looking forward to contributing to helping (us) get out of that.”
Goalie Yaroslav Askarov will begin for the Sharks on Saturday, in search of his third straight win. Askarov stopped a mixed 52 of 55 pictures within the Sharks’ wins final week over the Tampa Bay Lightning and New Jersey Devils.
WENNBERG OUT: Heart Alexander Wennberg, who’s second on the Sharks with 20 factors in 44 video games this season, is unwell and can miss Saturday’s sport, Warsofsky mentioned. Wennberg had 15:55 in ice time Friday, properly under his season common of 18:30.
INJURY UPDATES: Heart Nico Sturm skated Saturday and may very well be an choice to rejoin the lineup for Saturday’s sport. Sturm was injured within the Sharks’ sport in opposition to the Lightning on Jan. 2 when he blocked a shot from Tampa Bay defenseman Darren Raddysh. Sturm remained on the group’s energetic roster via the damage.
COMING AND GOING: Ahead Klim Kostin, who sustained a lower-body damage within the first interval of the Sharks’ sport in opposition to the Utah Hockey Membership on Friday, will miss Saturday’s sport and is taken into account day-to-day, Warsofsky mentioned. Nikolai Kovalenko skated Saturday morning however stays day-to-day with an upper-body damage.
Initially Revealed: January 11, 2025 at 2:11 PM PST
