San Jose Sharks Drop a Goaltending Duel 2-0 to the Anaheim Ducks at the Shark Tank
A goaltending duel between Vitek Vanacek and Lukas Dostal would see the Sharks come out on the wrong side of a 2-0 scoreline. While there was an empty netter to twist the knife, the Sharks could not generate a goal in their first game of the year without Macklin Celebrini. While they did have the puck in the net, they could not get one that counted, as the Ducks went back to Orange County with the two points.
San Jose would strike first, and it would come on the powerplay. A slap pass into the zone from Mikael Granlund would let Fabian Zetterlund win the race in behind. Zetterlund would pick the puck up, open up Lukas Dostal, and slide the puck home. However, the Ducks challenged for offside and got the goal overturned. It was a beautiful idea, though.
We got the game's first goal late in the third period, and it was a little lucky. As the Ducks enter the Sharks zone, a pass goes past its intended target and ends up on the stick of Isac Lundestrom. Lundestrom beats Vanacek to deny him a shutout on debut. San Jose now needed to score if they would get anything from this game. Poor luck and those defensive issues continue to plague the Sharks.
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Trevor Zegras would hit the empty net from his corner to cement the defeat for the Sharks. Almost 200 feet away with Vanacek on the bench as San Jose tried to get it back, that would be the dagger. San Jose would pull Vitek again, but nothing would come of it offensively. It was just a case of the finishing not being where it needs to be for the organization.
All the good that came this offseason, the issue again was being unable to put the puck in the net. With so much improvement, Lukas Dostal shut out the first game without Celebrini. San Jose is unable to find the scoresheet. While there are positives, like the great efforts of the special teams units, it's another spin of the wheels when we think the club is heading somewhere toward clarifying the scoring issues. Given how good they look, let's just be grateful that we will enjoy the San Jose Barracuda for the remainder of the season.