William Eklund, Mikael Granlund, Tyler Toffoli, and Mario Ferraro all scored third-period targets to assist lead the San Jose Sharks to a 6-3 win over the Detroit Pink Wings on Tuesday to open a five-game street journey.
Eklund and linemate Macklin Celebrini additionally had two assists every, and goalie Alexandar Georgiev made 25 saves for simply his second win in a Sharks uniform as San Jose snapped a three-game shedding streak.
The six targets the Sharks scored had been probably the most in anybody recreation since Nov. 29 after they beat the Seattle Kraken 8-5 at SAP Heart.
The Sharks proceed their street journey on Thursday in opposition to the Columbus Blue Jackets,
Georgiev snapped a private six-game shedding streak however has performed higher of late, stopping 62 of 67 photographs in video games final week in opposition to the Vegas Golden Knights and Utah Hockey Membership.
Regardless of being outshot 12-6 within the first interval, the Sharks had a 2-0 lead.
Rutta’s second purpose of the season got here after Alexander Wennberg received a battle behind the Pink Wings’ web and despatched the puck in entrance to Will Smith, whose fast shot was stopped by goalie Ville Husso. The rebound got here to Rutta, whose blast from contained in the blue line beat Husso for his first purpose since Dec. 2.
The Sharks gave up 9 of the following 10 photographs as they’d hassle breaking of their very own zone and in addition needed to kill a holding penalty to Ferraro. However on the finish of that kill, defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic despatched a puck forward to William Eklund, who carried it by way of the impartial zone earlier than he despatched a nifty cross to Sturm, who skated in and put a transfer on Husso earlier than scoring his fifth of the season.
Vladimir Tarasenko acquired a type of targets again for the Pink Wings on the 1:26 mark of the second interval. Contained in the Sharks’ zone, Wings ahead Jonatan Berggren despatched a cross throughout the ice that was retrieved by defenseman Simon Edvinsson. Georgiev stopped his shot from a pointy angle, however Tarasenko was close to the online and fired a shot that beat Georgiev for his fifth purpose of the season and first since Dec. 1.
The sport marked Jake Walman’s return to Detroit, the place he spent two-plus seasons earlier than he and a 2024 second-round draft choose had been surprisingly traded to the Sharks for future issues.
“It’ll be nice to be in a familiar place, and a lot of good memories will probably be flowing,” Walman mentioned Monday. “I’m sure it’ll be a happy time and a lot of smiles for me, seeing guys I know, seeing people from the city that I know.”
The commerce needed to really feel like pennies from heaven for the Sharks, as Walman got here into Tuesday main the crew’s skaters in common time on ice (22:49) and all defensemen with 26 factors in 32 video games.
Walman, 28, spent the primary 57 video games of his NHL profession with the St. Louis Blues earlier than he was traded to Detroit in March 2022. In 145 video games with the Pink Wings, Walman had 43 factors in 145 video games however by no means had a chance in Detroit just like the one he’s obtained in San Jose.
Walman downplayed the emotional side of his return after Pink Wings common supervisor Steve Yzerman principally jettisoned him for nothing. His coach, although, mentioned it was human nature for any athlete to wish to do effectively after being solid apart.
“There’s emotion and feelings that go into playing your former team,” Warsofsky mentioned. “Living here, growing up here, whatever it might be, you have to live through those feelings and mask them as best as you can, but you can’t cover up everything. So I think the biggest thing for him is keeping his game simple, getting his legs into it.”
LINEUP CHANGES: Wennberg returned to the Sharks’ lineup Tuesday after lacking Saturday’s recreation as a result of sickness. Wennberg now has 5 assists in his final 12 video games. With Wennberg returning, Carl Grundstrom got here out of the lineup. Vlasic additionally re-entered the lineup and performed his 1,299th profession NHL recreation after he was a wholesome scratch for the final three video games. He changed Henry Thrun.
WINGS ON FIRE: Since former Sharks head coach Todd McLellan took over as Detroit’s bench boss on Dec. 26, the Pink Wings, earlier than Tuesday, had been 7-1-0 and two factors out of a playoff spot. A significant motive for the Wings’ success has been their energy play, which is 14-for-28 through the crew’s streak.
The Sharks killed each of the penalties they took in opposition to Detroit.
“I just notice how connected they are,” Warsofsky mentioned of Detroit’s energy play. “They read off each other extremely well. They’re dangerous off the rush; they’re dangerous off of faceoffs.”
Initially Printed: January 14, 2025 at 6:34 PM PST
