San Jose Sharks beaten by the Minnesota Wild by a Kirill Kaprizov hat trick
By Conor Power
As the San Jose Sharks struggle to keep up with the offensive firepower of opponents, they fall again to the Minnesota Wild as a Kirill Kaprizov hat trick sees the Sharks drop another game. Losing is becomes all too frequent for the team in teal, and as we approach the deadline, it's not a good display for a team looking to draw interest into the few bright parts of the roster for future assets.
San Jose would take the lead early in the second period when the powerplay clicked. Mikael Granlund took the puck on the left of Filip Gustavsson with Anthony Duclair taking away the eyes of the netminder. Granlund picks a corner for his first powerplay goal of the year and gives the Sharks a 1-0 lead on their fifth shot of the game, compared to the twelve the Wild had to that point. A good start, but the Sharks need to sustain it.
When the Wild had a powerplay, the Sharks would score again with the special teams. Nico Sturm was able to force the puck up the ice to create a two-on-one with Ryan Carpenter with Brock Faber blocking the passing lane. Continuing to look for a lane to get the puck to Carpenter, Sturm eventually decides that shooting is just the best course of action, and he fires one past Gustavsson to double the Sharks lead.
On the same powerplay, the Wild would cut the Sharks lead back to one. Freddie Gaudreau was able to take the puck in the high slot and fire it at the net from up high and it finds a hole by Kaapo Kahkonen who had a screen in front of him. Without seeing it, it slides into the Sharks net and gets the Wild on the board. Now, the Sharks have to control the Wild's momentum and don't give the Wild anything easy.
75 seconds later, Kirill Kaprizov would be left alone behind the Sharks defense. A long stretch pass would leave the best Wild player alone with Kaapo Kahkonen and the Finn cannot spare the blushes of the Sharks as the Russian winger fires one into the corner and the game is tied up at two. A difficult few minutes after bursting out to a lead early in this one, but heads cannot drop yet. Need to keep at it before this one gets out of hand.
27 seconds into the third period, the Wild turned the puck over on a defenseman to defenseman pass at the offensive blueline that was tipped by Anthony Duclair. With his speed, he was able to get back to it and fire it over the right shoulder of Gustavsson for the lead back. Duclair did well to knock the Brock Faber pass away and create a chance for himself. He's going to be a good player for whoever picks him up before the deadline.
Minnesota would come back again with 17 minutes to go in the third. San Jose cannot clear the zone, and Matt Boldy is able to find Kirill Kaprizov whose loose at the top of the slot. He receives the puck up high and rips it home to tie the game up at three. This back-and-forth game continues to show its twists and turns as the Sharks second lead of the night was wiped out by Kaprizov again.
With 4 minutes to go, Kirill Kaprizov would bring the hats to the ice when he gave the Wild their first lead of the night. Mario Ferraro couldn't get rid of a loose puck in front of the net and Boldy is able to win the battle for it before getting it back to Kaprizov. He rips the puck upstairs on Kahkonen and the Wild were now in control. San Jose had not played well but took what they had been given. Now, they needed to generate in a game they hadn't generated anything so far.
That would be the dagger as the Sharks couldn't keep up with the firepower of Kaprizov. Not a bad game from the Sharks, but again, nothing in the results column for the performance tonight. San Jose couldn't contend with the fire power of the Wild tonight and fall again, meaning they have three points since the all-star break.