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.
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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.
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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.
Dmitry Orlov would take the Sharks’ first penalty of the night with just over four minutes left in the second period after he tripped up Drew O’Connor. Jake DeBrusk would even things up off a rebound right before the penalty expired.
The Sharks challenged the goal for goaltender interference, but the call stood. As a result, Will Smith went to the penalty box, and the Sharks were back on the penalty kill right after giving up a power play goal. San Jose killed off the penalty, and the game went into the third period tied at two goals apiece.
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William Eklund nearly put the Sharks back in front early in the third period, but his shot deflected off the post and went behind Lankinen, then through the crease. Chernyshov had a chance on an open net just over five minutes into the period, but fanned on the shot. He got a follow-up shot off, but it was saved by Lankinen.
Chernyshov scored his third of the night with 7:16 left in regulation, giving the Sharks a 3-2 lead with limited time remaining.
Vincent Desharnais went to the penalty box with just under five minutes remaining for a hook on Nils Hoglander, giving the Canucks a key opportunity to tie things up. Teddy Blueger did just that, as he scored Vancouver’s third goal of the night with just one second remaining on the Desharnais penalty.
60 minutes wouldn’t be enough to decide a winner, as the game went into overtime. Alex Wennberg drew a tripping penalty which saw DeBrusk heading to the penalty box with just 2:17 remaining in overtime.
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Smith had the winner on his stick with just 40 seconds remaining and a wide-open net in front of him, but his shot deflected out of play.
Eklund was called for interference with 28 seconds remaining, as expected, the call was not well-received in the SAP Center. The Sharks were able to kill of the Canucks’ very abbreviated power play though, sending the game to a shootout.
After a lengthy shootout, Linus Karlsson eventually won it for the Canucks.
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