SAN JOSE SHARKS NOTES:
LAST GAME
Game 16 – 11/11 – SJS 5 at DAL 4…Timo Meier (1g,1a) pushed his scoring streak to seven games and matched his career-long goal streak with a marker in five straight, and he was joined by Logan Couture (1g, 1a), Tomas Hertl (1g, 1a) and Alexander Barabanov (1g, 1a) with multi-point efforts as the Sharks snapped a five-game skid with a win at Dallas. Hertl notched his 400th NHL point with an assist on San Jose’s first goal of the game, and he now has four multi-point games in the last six contests. With the win, the Sharks snapped a seven-game losing streak at Dallas.
SJ Goals: Barabanov (1), Svechnikov (3), Meier (7), Couture (6), Hertl (4)
SF: 18
SA: 29
SJ PP: 1/2
SJ PK: 1/1
W: Reimer
L: Oettinger
RECENT SHARKS TRANSACTIONS
10/18 Activated F Alexander Barabanov off IR
10/10 Assigned C Thomas Bordeleau, D Nick Cicek, G Aaron Dell, LW William Eklund and F Jeff Viel to the San Jose
Barracuda; Placed F Alexander Barabanov and D Markus Nutivaara on IR; Returned F Ethan Cardwell to his junior team
TONIGHT’S OPPONENT: MINNESOTA WILD
The Minnesota Wild look for their third-straight win as they host the San Jose Sharks on Sunday, game three of San Jose’s four-game road swing. The Wild come into the game on the heels of a 1-0 win over Seattle on Friday, the Kraken becoming the 28th team to be blanked by goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, who surpassed Ed Belfour, Dominik Hasek, Martin Brodeur and Tomas Vokoun for most franchises shut out in NHL history. Mats Zuccarello, who leads Minnesota in assists on the season, scored the lone goal of the contest. Third-year forward Kirill Kaprizov paces the club on the offensive end with 10 goals and 16 points with four goals and five points through five November games.
STORYLINES
KARLSSON KEEPS COOKING…Erik Karlsson saw his six-game point streak come to a close on Friday, finishing with 15 points (7g, 8a) in the six-game stretch. Karlsson, who became the first defensemen in NHL history to reach double-digit goals and assists in his team’s first 15 games, leads NHL blueliners in goals (10) and points (21), set a career best with at least one goal in four consecutive games (10/27/22 – 11/3/22, 7g), just the second-ever Shark defenseman to accomplish the feat. Karlsson, who was named Third Star of the Week by the NHL on November 7, is the third-ever NHL defenseman and first since 1929-30 season to reach double-digit goals in 13 or fewer games, Harry Cameron needing seven games in 1917-18 with the Toronto Arenas and King Clancy needing nine games in 1929-30 with the original Ottawa Senators. Following Friday’s games, Karlsson was tied for fourth in the NHL with 21 points alongside Artemi Panarin, Nikita Kucherov, Jason Robertson and Nathan MacKinnon while trailing only Connor McDavid (15g, 16a), Leon Draisaitl (9g, 18a) and David Pastrnak (9g, 13a) in scoring.
IT’S TIMO TIME… Timo Meier extended his scoring streak to seven games with a goal and an assist on Friday, bringing his total to seven goals and five assists in the seven-game run. Meier took sole possession of 10th on the Sharks all-time ranks in goals scored with his marker Thursday, surpassing Marco Sturm (128). The forward has lit the lamp in five consecutive games, matching his career long (previously 10/20/18 – 10/30/18, 6g) with six goals in that span, and has found the back of the net in six of the past seven contests.
HERTL HEATING UP… Tomas Hertl registered a season-high three points in Saturday’s (11/5) game against the Anaheim Ducks, including a goal and two assists, and extended his recent scoring run to points in five of the past six with a goal and an assist Friday (11/11) at Dallas. The forward has 13 points in the team’s previous 11 games dating back to October 20 at New York Rangers and has four multi-point efforts in San Jose’s last six games. He has goals in three consecutive contests for the first time this season and notched his 400th career NHL point on Friday with an assist.
CRANK THE POWER… The Sharks’ power play has been red-hot of late, cashing in on seven of 20 (35.0%) trips to the man-advantage since the start of a six-game home stand on October 25 for the second-best mark in the NHL in that span. The only game in that stretch the Sharks did not score on the power play was Thursday (11/10) at St. Louis, a contest in which the club did not have any power play opportunities. Most recently, the Sharks went 1-for-2 up a skater at Dallas on Friday (11/11) with Alexander Barabanov netting his first goal of the season.
PRIME PENALTY KILL…San Jose killed off their first 22 penalties of the season before finally allowing a power play goal on Oct. 22 at New Jersey, and has remained near the top of the league at 90.5-percent on the year, second-best in the NHL. San Jose has been operating at a league-best 88.0% shorthanded efficiency since the 2022 NHL All-Star break, and the Sharks have the league’s fourth-best penalty kill percentage since the start of the 2020-21 season (83.7%).
WORKING OVERTIME… San Jose has been logging plenty of ice time of late, going beyond the 60 minutes of regulation in four of the past seven games, including shootouts in three straight (11/1 – 11/5). The recent run was the fourth time in Sharks history that the team has reached a shootout in three straight, including February 5-9, 2021 (2-1), December 21-27, 2013 (3-0), and January 29-February 2, 2013 (2-1). The Sharks have never gone to a shootout in four straight.
STURM WARNING…Nico Sturm netted his fifth goal of the season during Saturday’s (10/29) game against Tampa Bay, the forward breaking a tie with Logan Couture (4) for second-most on the roster. Sturm has three goals and four points in San Jose’s last five games, lighting the lamp against Tampa (10/29), Vegas (10/25) and Philadelphia (10/23), and his five-goals-in-eight-games stretch was the best of his career.
CAPTAIN COUTURE…Logan Couture recorded three points (2g, 1a) in the Sharks 4-3 overtime win over the Toronto Maple Leafs. San Jose’s captain opened the game’s scoring with a strike just 26 seconds in. Per NHL PR, this put him in a tie with Joe Pavelski for the most opening-minute goals in franchise history (eight). With his second goal of the evening – the 300th of his career – Couture became the third player to score 300 goals with the franchise, after Patrick Marleau (522) and Joe Pavelski (355). He is now second on the club in scoring with seven points (4g, 3a) in 10 games.
REIM TIME…Sharks goaltender James Reimer earned his first shutout of the season on Oct. 23 with a 30-save performance at Philadelphia. Reimer’s shutout, his fifth as a Shark, moved him into a tie with Aaron Dell for eighth on the franchise’s all-time shutouts list. Reimer also owns a .937 shorthanded save percentage since joining the Sharks at the start of the 2021-22 season, the best in the NHL in that span (min. 10 games played) and the best two-season stretch by a goaltender since the NHL began tracking the statistic in 1997-98 (min. 30 games played, second best is Cory Schneider from 2010-12 with a .936 SV% in 58 GP).
QUICK START KUNIN…Sharks forward Luke Kunin tallied points in each of his first two regular games with the Sharks, recording the secondary assist on Tomas Hertl’s goal on Oct. 7 and scoring his first goal as a member of the Sharks the next day. Kunin’s 21:23 minutes of ice time on Oct. 7 is the second highest he’s logged in his career and the most he has logged since 2019. His power-play marker on Oct. 8 was the first power-play goal of his career and the first special teams goal scored in the 2022-23 NHL season. Kunin had points on each of the Sharks first two power play strikes (1g, 1a) of the season, matching his career high for power play points in a season. Including exhibition and preseason, Kunin scored one point in each of the first six games he played with the Sharks.
MINNESOTA WILD NOTES:
SERIES NOTES
All-Time Wild Record:36-35-8 (20-15-4 at Xcel Energy Center, 16-20-4 at San Jose) 2021-22: The Wild went 2-1-0 against San Jose… The Wild dropped the first game, 4-1, at Xcel Energy Center (11/16), won the second game, 5-2, at SAP Center at San Jose (12/9), and won the third meeting at San Jose, 5-4 (4/17)… LW Kevin Fiala led the Wild with seven points (2-5=7)…C Joel Eriksson Ek (2-1=3) and C Frederick Gaudreau (0-3=3) had three points each…RW Jordan Greenway (2-0=2) and LW Kirill Kaprizov (1-1=2) had two points apiece…G Cam Talbot went 1-1-0 with a 3.11 GAA and a .893 SV% in the first two contests…G Marc-Andre Fleury made 26 saves in the third meeting…C Tomas Hertl led San Jose with four points (2-2=4)…C Logan Couture had three points (0-3=3) …G James Reimer went 1-0-1 with a 2.97 GAA and .891 SV% in two starts…G Adin Hill made 22 saves in the second contest.
WILD LEADERS: RW Mats Zuccarello leads the Wild with 22 points (7-15=22) in 25 contests against the Sharks…D Alex Goligoski owns 18 points (3-15=18) in 50 games…D Jared Spurgeon has 16 points (7-9=14) in 38 matches.
WILD GOALIES: Fleury is 17-5-4 with a 1.87 GAA, a .939 SV% and three shutouts in 26 starts vs. San Jose…G Filip Gustavsson has not faced San Jose.
SHARKS LEADERS: Couture leads the Sharks with 28 points (13-15=28) in 42 career games against the Wild…D Erik Karlsson has 27 points (8-19=27) in 24 matches…Hertl owns 20 points (8-12=20) in 27 games.
SHARKS GOALIES: Reimer is 6-4-1 with a 2.41 GAA, a .925 SV% and two shutouts in 12 games (11 starts)…G Kaapo Kahkonen has not faced Minnesota.
FAST FACTS: Minnesota has won five of the last six meetings vs. San Jose… The Wild is 20-14-3 in its last 37 games vs. San Jose, including a six-game win streak (1/5/17-4/7/18)…Minnesota is 13-6-1 in its last 20 contests against the Sharks at Xcel Energy Center…The Wild has points in nine of the last 13 games played at SAP Center at San Jose (8-4-1).
INJURIES
Brandon Duhaime: upper body
Jordan Greenway: upper body
Ryan Hartman: upper body
RECENT TRANSACTIONS
November 2 – Nov. 11, 2022
11/6/22 Recalled F Adam Beckman and F Joseph Cramarossa
from Iowa
11/3/22 Reassigned F Steven Fogarty to Iowa
GOALS, GOALS, GOALS
• Minnesota has scored three-plus goals in 32 of its last 38 regular-season contests, including 10 of 14 games this season and 22 of the last 24 games of the 2021-22 campaign.
• Dating dating back to March 16, 2022, the Wild have posted a +29 goal differential in regular-season games, the third-best mark in the NHL during that span behind Vegas (+39) and Boston (+38).
• The Wild ranked fifth in the NHL in goals/game last season (3.72), netting three-plus goals in 66-of-82 games.
• Minnesota scored a franchise record 305 goals last season (not including shootout goals).
ON THE POWER PLAY
• Through 14 games the Wild has converted 12 of its 48 powerplay opportunities (25.0 pct.), tied for the eighth-best rate in the league.
2022-23 NHL Power-Play Pct.
Entering Games Nov. 12, 2022
Rk. Team GP PPG PPO Pct.
- Colorado………………….12 ……….15………. 37…………………40.5
- Edmonton ………………..15 ……….18………. 54…………………33.3
- Arizona…………………….13 ……….13………. 44…………………29.6
- Dallas……………………..14 ……….12………. 43…………………27.9
- Vancouver………………..14 ……….13………. 48…………………27.1
- Buffalo…………………….14 ……….14………. 53…………………26.4
- Toronto…………………….15 ……….13………. 51…………………25.5
8t. Minnesota ……………….14 ……….12………. 48…………………25.0
8t. N.Y. Rangers…………….15 ……….13………. 52…………………25.0
• Minnesota has recorded a power-play goal in eight of 14 games this season.
• The Wild tallied a power-play goal in each of its first five games of the 2022-23 season, the franchise’s longest power-play goal streak to open a season since a franchise-best six-game streak in 2010-11.
WE’RE HEADED TO OVERTIME
• Since the start of the 2021-22 season, Minnesota leads the NHL with 18 overtime victories.
Overtime NHL Wins since 2021-22 Season
Entering Games Nov. 12, 2022
Rk. Team Wins
- Minnesota …………………………………………………………………..18
- Florida ………………………………………………………………………..17
- Dallas…………………………………………………………………………15
4t. Boston ………………………………………………………………………..14
4t. Chicago………………………………………………………………………14
• During the 2021-22 season, the Wild ranked second in the NHL with a franchise record 11 overtime wins and ranked tied for second with five shootout wins.
• Minnesota went 16-7 in 23 extra session games during the 2021-22 season – its most extra session contests since 23 in 2013-14. The 16 extra session wins are the second-most in team history (17 in 2006-07).
TOTAL TEAM EFFORT
• Since Oct. 20, 2022, the Wild is fourth in the NHL with 15 points and tied for fourth with seven wins.
• Minnesota’s 2.00 goals against average since Oct. 20 is the second-best mark in the NHL, trailing Boston (1.70 GAA).
• The Wild is averaging 7.07 giveaways per game this season, tied for the fourth-lowest rate in the NHL.
