The San Jose Sharks finished their season on the road against the Edmonton Oilers on Monday and the Calgary Flames on Thursday.
Monday’s matchup saw the Sharks fall 9-2, with goals from Danil Gushchin and Fabian Zetterlund.
Thursday’s final score was 5-1, Calgary with the lone goal again from Zetterlund.
Less than a minute into the opening period, Edmonton’s Connor McDavid scored on Sharks’ goaltender Devin Cooley. McDavid’s wrist shot was assisted by Darnell Nurse.
Minutes later, Edmonton scored again when Adam Henrique’s wrister assisted by Brett Kulak got through.
While Team Teal won 56 percent of the faceoffs, the 19-53-9 Sharks against the 49-26-6 Oilers struggled to get a look.
Midway through the first Edmonton’s Warren Foegele put his team ahead 3-0 with an assist from Leon Draisaitl.
The final goal of the first twenty came from Dylan Holloway with Henrique and Nurse logging assists.
In the second, the Sharks managed to get one back when Danil Gushchin’s backhander made it in. Gushchin’s goal was assisted by Thomas Bordeleau.
One of the top scorers for the Barracuda, Gushchin was recalled from the AHL last week. Along with Gushchin, the Sharks recalled goaltender Georgi Romanov and defenseman Jack Thompson.
Gushchin’s goal was the only Sharks’ one of the period. The rest of the second saw five more goals from Edmonton.
Foegele scored again with assists from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Draisaitl.
38-year-old forward Corey Perry got his 12th goal of the season with Evan Bouchard and Holloway assisting.
Cody Ceci got his fifth of the season with another assist from Henrique and Zach Hyman.
Just 31 seconds later, Evan Bouchard made the score 8-1 with assists from Perry and Holloway. Sharks’ goalie Cooley was pulled and AHL recall Romanov made his NHL debut with six minutes left of the second.
The final Oilers’ goal came from Zach Hyman’s snap shot. McDavid earned his 100th assist and Nurse his 22nd of the season.
After forty minutes the Sharks were outshot more than doubly, 27-11. Oilers also took control on the draw, winning 59 percent of the faceoffs.
San Jose scored once more with Zetterlund’s backhander assisted by William Eklund and Mikael Granlund. With four and a half minutes left in the third, the team could not overcome the deficit. Eklund and Granlund both extended their point streaks, Eklund with four games and Granlund with 12.
Romanov stopped 15 of 16 shots in his debut with the Sharks.
Final score, 9-2, Oilers.
For the first time in NHL history, two goalies from Santa Clara County started in the same game. Sharks’ goalie Devin Cooley from Los Gatos was opposite Calgary’s Dustin Wolf, a Gilroy native.
Calgary’s first two goals came from Adam Klapka and Blake Coleman. Connor Zary and Rasmus Andersson grabbed the assists.
Before the midway point of the period, the second saw three more goals from the Flames.
Oliver Kylington logged the third goal with Andrei Kuzmenko and Andrew Mangiapane assisting.
Just two minutes later, the Flames’ Kevin Rooney made it 4-0 with the help of Martin Pospisil and Matt Coronato.
At 6:56 in the second, MacKenzie Weegar scored his 20th of the season, assisted by Daniil Miromanov and Blake Coleman.
Cooley was pulled after Weegar’s goal and Georgi Romanov in to relieve.
With seconds to go in the third, Zetterlund was able to get one back for the Sharks on the power play. Granlund and Colin Graf picked up assists, with Graf logging his second since joining the Sharks. Granlund was able to extend his point streak to 13 games to cap off the season.
Sharks ended their season 19-54-9. While Team Teal faced adversity through a tough campaign, hopes for the future remain optimistic for the franchise. Per Tankathon, San Jose has the highest odds for the 2024 NHL Draft Lottery at 25.5 percent.
The lottery is set to take place in early May, and the draft in late June at the Vegas Sphere.
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Featured image courtesy of San Jose Sharks on NHL.com “From Our Haus to Yours”
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