San Jose, CA- Going into the game both teams were winless, but after a scoring frenzy by the Chicago Blackhawks, it was clear who the better team was tonight. Sam Lafferty of Chicago was the big man on campus with 2 shorthanded goals. In the first period San Jose was up 2-0 thanks to goals by Nico Strum and Erik Karlsson, but would be the last for the boys in teal all game.
Chicago captain Jonathan Toews scored the Blackhawks first goal, then Lafferty put them in the lead 3-2 with his back to back goals while trying to kill a penalty. In the 3rd period the bleeding would get worse with 2 breakaway goals by Chicago (one by Raddysh and another by Dickinson) ending the game 5-2. This game was goalie Kaapo Kahkonen’s second game in net and right now, his record is 0-2, allowing a total of 8 goals in both games.
The Sharks will be going on a east coast road trip after this game where they will face Stanley Cup contenders, so the road of rebuilding for this team will only get rougher. As far as for Chicago, they will have 5 days off and time to relish in the win tonight.
A positive for San Jose is that before the game, they recognized the franchise’s first ever team captain and GM for 19 years, Doug Wilson. After a beautiful speech from Wilson himself, the team raised a banner to honor him. In Doug Wilson’s speech he passed the torch to new GM Mike Greir, saying “The city of San Jose will be proud of what this man can do for the franchise.”
Even though the Sharks couldn’t celebrate a victory on this festive evening, this game was a reminder that this new era of the Sharks will take time and there will be some rough games like this one along the way.
The Sharks will travel to face the New York Islanders on Tuesday October 18 at 4:30pm.
