First off, credit to the Sharks on NBCS social media for coming up with this headline. It’s perfect and I stole it.
Mayhem in the Motor City as the Sharks score 4 goals in less than 6 minutes ⏱️ pic.twitter.com/99dXHjeMvv
— Sharks on NBCS (@NBCSSharks) December 8, 2023
Mayhem. Chaos. Insanity. Whatever you want to call it, that second period in Detroit was one of the craziest you will ever witness. If you haven’t seen it, I hope you DVRed it. In the span of 10 minutes and 32 seconds, the San Jose Sharks and the Detroit Red Wings combined to score eight goals. First, it was the Red Wings scoring four quick goals. 4 minutes and 35 seconds was all it took for Detroit to jump out to the 4-0 lead. It looked like the Sharks were cooked, especially after playing so well in the first 20-30 minutes of the game.
In fact, looking at Natural Stat Trick’s Corsi differential in all situations, you see that the Sharks really swung the momentum in the team’s favor two-thirds of the way through the first period and then kept the foot on the gas at the start of the second.
It truly looked like it was just a matter of time before the Sharks started scoring.
That, of course, didn’t happen. The Red Wings scored midway through the second period. The Sharks weathered the goal and seemed to be in the process of settling things down. Then, the Red Wings unloaded. In the span of 49 seconds, Detroit scored three goals. I mean, the announcer was mid-announcement of the first goal when the second one happened. It was that quick.
The penalty that changed it all
On that fourth goal, Marc-Edouard Vlasic was livid. Lucas Raymond fell and then, like a bowling ball, knocked Vlasic over and out of the play.
The #LGRW offense is a wagon. What great passing sequence for this goal by Lucas Raymond
— Drop the Mitts Hockey (@DropMittsHockey) December 8, 2023
pic.twitter.com/VloDVarlRR
Vlasic voiced his displeasure vociferously and the ref had had enough. He gave Vlasic two minutes for unsportsmanlike conduct and the game turned.
The Sharks scored back-to-back short-handed goals 38 seconds apart and suddenly the lead was cut in half. Tomas Hertl scored the first goal with assists by William Eklund and Jan Rutta. Then Fabian Zetterlund added a tally of his own with helpers from Rutta and Mikael Granlund.
Vlasic’s two minutes expired and he jumped onto the ice only to catch a feed from Kyle Burroughs. Vlasic and Nico Sturm entered the zone on a two-on-one and Sturm finished the play to make it 4-3.
It led to the quote of the night from Drew Remenda: “Marc-Edouard Vlasic just took the best penalty he’s ever taken in his entire life.”
The Sharks weren’t done. Sturm scored a few minutes later to complete the comeback and even up the score at four.
Granlund’s 500th point is a doozy
A lot of the players played well, but we’re going to pay extra attention to Granlund, who registered his 500th career point on a beauty of an overtime goal.
GRANLUND CALLED GAME 🤯 pic.twitter.com/mzHIZxDqow
— Sharks on NBCS (@NBCSSharks) December 8, 2023
That’s the kind of 500th career point you write home about. Granlund had a goal and two assists in the game against the Red Wings and is now on a four-game point streak. He’s scored nine points in the last four games.
Another interesting stat, he appears to have found some chemistry with the Sharks. In 21 games with the Pittsburgh Penguins last season, he had 5 points. In 20 games with the Sharks this season, he has 16 points. Not bad for the team’s second/third line center.
Holy cow, the Sharks have figured out how to score
The Sharks have 22 goals in the past 4 games. That’s an average of 5.5 goals per game. Somewhere between Boston and Newark, the Sharks found their scoring touch.
Hertl has five goals in the last two games. It’s expected that he’ll score. But it’s not just him. Against the Red Wings, it was Sturm coming up big with two goals. Kevin Labanc scored his first goal of the season on Tuesday night. Ryan Carpenter contributed a goal in the game against the New York Rangers. Jacob MacDonald had two goals in the game against the New Jersey Devils.
The Sharks are getting scoring from up and down the lineup. What’s more, the defense is contributing as well. Defensemen assisted on three of the team’s goals against the Red Wings and none of them were named Calen Addison or Ty Emberson.
The Sharks are playing a complete game and while I like the fire, that’s a scary thing to consider when everyone was hoping we’d be tanking for Macklin Celibrini this season.
