Sharks beat Kraken, set new season-high for goals in a game
SAN JOSE – The San Jose Sharks took advantage of some shaky goaltending and scored four second period goals on their way to a wild 8-5 win over the Seattle Kraken on Friday in a rare matinee game at SAP Center.
Jake Walman had two goals was among the seven players who had two points for the Sharks, who set a new season-high for goals in a game and finished their homestand with a 2-2-0 record. The Sharks scored seven goals earlier this week in a win over the Los Angeles Kings.
After a back-and-forth first half of the game, Mikael Granlund and Macklin Celebrini scored goals 53 seconds apart in the second period to give the Sharks a 6-4 lead.
But after Kraken forward Yanni Gourde scored late in the second period to cut the lead to one, Ethan Cardwell helped seal the win for San Jose as his shot on a partial breakaway went off goalie Philipp Grubauer’s glove and into the net for a 7-5 advantage.
Walman added an empty-netter with 4:47 left in regulation time.
The Sharks gave Grubauer fits, as six of their first 19 shots went into the net. Timothy Liljegren, Klim Kostin, and Will Smith also scored for San Jose. Grubauer finished with 19 saves.
Kostin also assisted on Granlund’s goal at the 13:10 mark of the second period, and fought Kraken defenseman Will Borgen in the third for his first career Gordie Howe hat-trick, with a goal, an assist and a fight.
The Sharks and Kraken will play each other again Saturday night at Climate Pledge Arena. This will be the first of six straight road games for San Jose, stopping next week in Washington, Tampa Bay, Florida, Carolina, and St. Louis.
The goal by Granlund, in his first game back after missing the last two games with an upper-body injury, gave the Sharks a 5-4 lead. Celebrini then added some insurance as he scored his eighth goal of the season less than a later.
Granlund, the Sharks’ leading scorer before Friday with 24 points in 23 games, participated fully in Thursday’s practice and started Friday’s game on a line with Smith and Kostin.
Cardwell, recalled from the San Jose Barracuda on Thursday after Barclay Goodrow was placed on injured reserve with an upper-body ailment, started Friday’s game on a line with Nico Sturm and Ty Dellandrea.
The Sharks had won just two of their last nine games before Friday as they entered the game in 14th place in the Western Conference standings, just one point ahead of Chicago and Anaheim.
Despite that, there have been some positive recent developments with the Sharks’ younger players. William Eklund has a team-leading eight points in the last seven games, and Celebrini has seven. Smith had also also finding a rhythm, with five points in six games, including two points each against the Kings and Senators.