It was almost everything you wanted after a rough two games. The defense was good, the offensive potent, but they still lost. Vanecek played the game of this life, and Wennberg topped it off. Here’s how it went down.
1st Period
Monahan drew a tripping penalty early, giving the Jackets a man advantage. They cycled the puck well but couldn’t capitalize.
Not long after, Celebrini and Jiricek both went off for offsetting minors. The Jackets dominated the 4v4, but again, no goals.
The middle of the period didn’t provide much action. The Jackets seemed to dominate possession but couldn’t produce much in terms of actual chances.
Olivier committed interference to give the Sharks their first power play. Fortunately, the Jackets kill did a great job killing off the penalty.
The Sharks continued their parade to the box when they sent the puck sailing over the glass for a delay of game. The Jackets managed good pressure around the net, but the game remained goose eggs. One important note: Shoot the puck, Chinny!
After 20, at 5v5, the game was pretty even, but at all strengths, the Jackets were favored in xGF 1.21-0.46.
2nd Period
Yawn.
The Sharks broke through first when Grundstrom tucked the puck around Elvis on a breakaway. BUT WAIT. Evason challenged the goal for offsides, and it was overturned. Back to zeros!
Provorov went off for interference. Can you guess what happened? Yep! Still no score after the San Jose power play.
A beautiful pass from Will Smith to Jack Thompson finally broke the tie. Mark down another goal against in the last two minutes of a period.
SJS Goal 1-0: Thompson (W. Smith, Zetterlund) 18:49
The Jackets were the victims of poor finishing and a hot goalie thus far. They led the xGF battle 2.43-1.75 after 40 minutes.
3rd Period
It took over 50 minutes and more than 40 shots, but the Jackets finally broke through when he collected a rebound off a hard Severson shot. The goal happened shortly after a Wennberg holding penalty expired.
CBJ Goal 1-1: Marchenko (Severson, Chinakhov) 9:17
The Sharks were heavily on their heels for the entire period. They were lucky to make it to OT. In the third, the Jackets registered 12 high-danger chances at 5v5 versus the Sharks’ 2.
OT
Of course, Wennberg ended the game. A nasty deke and a top cheese wrist shot sealed it.
SJS Goal 2-1: Wennberg (Zetterlund, Vanecek) 3:11
Final Thoughts
It was a good effort on both sides of the ice. Vanecek deserves a ton of credit for his 50-save effort, where he saved 4.37 goals above expected.
Christiansen’s 5v5 xGF was 2.76 versus an xGA of 0.39. Christiansen-Severson was elite tonight.
The Danforth line was very good, with specific credit to Voronkov.
It happens. Move on and beat the Kings.