SAN JOSE SHARKS NOTES:
LAST GAME
Game 51 – 1/28 – SJS 6 at PIT 4…San Jose ended their four-game winless skid with a six-goal effort, which matches the most goals the team has scored in a game this season. Logan Couture (2g, 3a) led the way with a career-best five points, with Alexander Barabanov (1g, 2a), Marc-Edouard Vlasic (0g, 2a) and Erik Karlsson (1g, 1a) also recording multi-point efforts. Mikey Eyssimont (1g) opened the scoring 1:25 into the game to mark his first NHL career goal-scoring streak. Kaapo Kahkonen stopped 34 of 35 shots at even strength and 37 of 41 shots to earn the win.
SJ Goals: Eyssimont (3), Karlsson (16), Gregor (3), Couture (18), Couture (19 en)
SF: 32
SA: 41
SJ PP: 0/2
SJ PK: 2/4
W: Kahkonen
L: DeSmith
RECENT TRANSACTIONS
2/5 Acquired a conditional 2023 fourth-round selection (Seattle’s choice) from the Seattle Kraken in exchange for D Jaycob Megna
2/5 D Nikolai Knyzhov returned from his long-term injury conditioning loan with the San Jose Barracuda; assigned Knyzhov to the Barracuda
1/25 Assigned D Nick Cicek to the San Jose Barracuda
1/25 Acquired D Jacob MacDonald and F Martin Kaut from the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for F Matt Nieto and D Ryan Merkley; assigned Kaut to the San Jose Barracuda
1/23 Activated D Nikolai Knyzhov from IR; loaned Knyzhov to the San Jose Barracuda on a long-term injury conditioning assignment
1/18 Acquired F Kyle Criscuolo from the Detroit Red Wings in exchange for F Jasper Weatherby; assigned Criscuolo to the San Jose Barracuda
TONIGHT’S OPPONENT – TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING
San Jose looks to begin post All-Star break play with a win when they face Tampa Bay on Feb. 7 at Amalie Arena. The Sharks fell in game one of the season series, 3-4, on Oct. 29 at SAP Center at San Jose. Tomas Hertl (0g, 2a) and Erik Karlsson (2g, 0a) led San Jose in scoring as the Sharks outshot the Lightning, 27-26. Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov has been red-hot this season, with an NHL-best 53 assists this campaign and an active seven-game point streak. The Lightning are on the second leg of a back-to-back, with the team falling to their intrastate rivals, the Florida Panthers, by a 1-7 final score at FLA Live Arena on Feb. 6.
TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING NOTES:
LAST GAME
Lightning 1 at Florida 7
The Tampa Bay Lightning saw its three-game winning streak come to an end with a 7-1 loss to the Florida Panthers Monday night at FLA Live Arena…The Bolts fell to 32-16-1 this season with a road record of 12-12-0…Carter Verhaeghe opened the scoring for FLA at the 8:04 mark of the first period before Sam Bennett made it 2-0 1:42 into the middle frame…Nikita Kucherov fired home his 20th goal of the season off assists from Mikhail Sergachev and Brayden Point to make it a 2-1 game just 1:20 after Bennett gave FLA a two-goal lead…Following the Kucherov goal, FLA rattled off five consecutive goals to close out the contest…Andrei Vasilevskiy got the start in goal and made 42 saves…Tampa Bay fell to 2-1-0 against FLA with one meeting remaining this season…Vladislav Namestnikov skated in his 600th career game.
PP: TBL – 0-2 FLA – 1-2
SOG: TBL – 33 FLA – 49
Attendance: 15,882
TONIGHT’S MATCHUP
The Lightning and the Sharks are playing the second of two matchups this season and the only meeting at AMALIE Arena…The Bolts skated to a 4-3 win over SJS in the first matchup of the season Oct. 29 at SAP Center…Victor Hedman opened the scoring for Tampa Bay 32 seconds into the first period when he took a pass from Brayden Point and fired a quick one-timer past James Reimer for his first goal of the season…Erik Karlsson answered quickly for SJS and tied the game at one just 50 seconds after Hedman’s game-opening goal…Ross Colton gave the Lightning a 2-1 lead at the 13:44 mark of the first period when he fired home a rebound after Alex Killorn rang a shot off the post…Nico Sturm got the game tied at two with a goal for SJS at the 5:36 mark of the second period…Killorn got a goal of his own with 1:19 left in the middle frame when he took a bank pass from Nick Paul and fired a quick wrister past Reimer to put the Bolts up 3-2…SJS earned a power play early in the third period before Karlsson buried his second goal of the contest to tie the game at three with 15:26 remaining in regulation…With less than a minute to play in the third period, Point used his speed to gain entry into the SJS zone and fed a pass to Brandon Hagel, who quickly found Nikita Kucherov alone on the back door before Kucherov beat Reimer with 56.2 seconds remaining to secure the 4-3 win for Tampa Bay…Andrei Vasilevskiy got the start in goal for the Bolts and made 24 saves on 27 shots against…The Lightning have won six consecutive games vs. SJS and four straight at AMALIE Arena…During the four-game home winning streak vs. SJS, the Bolts have outscored the Sharks by a combined total of 21-8…Tampa Bay has scored three or more goals in six consecutive games vs. SJS and seven of the last nine meetings…The Lightning are 6-4-0 in the last 10 home games vs. SJS and 8-2-0 in the last 10 meetings overall…Kucherov has points in three straight games vs. SJS (2-2—4) and seven of the last nine meetings (5-7—12)…Point has recorded points in four consecutive games vs. SJS (1-4—5)…Steven Stamkos has picked up points in seven of his last nine games vs. SJS (6-9—15)…Stamkos has recorded seven points over his last three contests vs. SJS (4-3—7)…Hedman has points in three consecutive games vs. SJS (2-2—4) and six of the last seven meetings (5-5—10)…Hedman has recorded a multi-point game in three straight home contests vs. SJS with a goal in all three games (3-4—7)…Killorn has scored a goal and picked up points in three consecutive contests vs. SJS (3-2—5) and has points in five of the last six meetings (5-5—10)…Colton has scored three goals in three career games vs. SJS (3-0— 3)…Brian Elliott has faced SJS one time since signing with the Bolts and made 27 saves on 28 shots against in a 7-1 win Jan. 22, 2022 at SAP Center…Stamkos (14-14—28) holds the Tampa Bay franchise records for career goals, assists and points vs. SJS.
TBL ALL-TIME POINT LEADERS VS. SJS
- Steven Stamkos – 28 pts. (14-14—28, 20 GP)
T2. Martin St. Louis – 14 pts. (11-3—14, 15 GP)
T2. Nikita Kucherov – 14 pts. (7-7—14, 15 GP)
T2. Victor Hedman – 14 pts. (5-9—14, 19 GP) - Alex Killorn – 13 pts. (6-7—13, 17 GP)
TONIGHT’S STORYLINES
Tampa Bay is playing the first game of a brief two-game homestand tonight…The Bolts will play just five of their 12 games in February on home ice…The Lightning are 8-4-0 against Pacific Division opponents and 16-6-0 against the Western Conference this season…Tampa Bay is 3-5-0 in the second half of back-to-back games this season…The Bolts have won a franchise record 12 consecutive games at AMALIE Arena…The Lightning are 20-4-1 on home ice this season.
INJURIES
2022-23 Regular Season Man Games Lost: 91
Current Injuries:
None
TRANSACTIONS
Jan. 30 – Recalled D Nick Perbix from AHL Syracuse
Jan. 30 – Re-assigned F Rudolfs Balcers to AHL Syracuse
Jan. 29 – Assigned D Nick Perbix to AHL Syracuse
Jan. 29 – Recalled F Rudolfs Balcers from AHL Syracuse
Jan. 15 – Assigned F Rudolfs Balcers to AHL Syracuse for conditioning
Jan. 2 – Signed D Nick Perbix to a two-year contract extension
HOME COOKING The Bolts collected a franchise record 12th-straight win at AMALIE Arena with a 5-2 victory Jan. 28 vs. LAK…The Lightning are 20-4-1 at home this season with an .820 points percentage, trailing only Boston (.904) for the NHL lead…Tampa Bay has scored three or more goals in six straight games at AMALIE Arena and 21 of 25 home games overall…The Lightning have surrendered two or less goals in nine of their last 12 home contests…The Bolts are averaging over four goals per game on home ice for the second time in franchise history at 4.08 GF/GP (also: 4.02 GF/GP, 2018-19) and are the only team in the NHL averaging more than four goals per game at home…No NHL team has scored more goals on home ice than the Lightning’s 102…Tampa Bay’s power play is clicking at a 31% conversion rate on home ice, the second-best among all NHL teams, trailing only Edmonton (32.3%)…Since Dec. 1, the Lightning have given up just three power-play goals on 37 attempts, good for a 91.9 PK%, the best home penalty kill percentage in the NHL during that span.
