PHOENIX – It would be easy to say that the San Jose Sharks had a victory stolen from them.
After all, they had two goals disallowed, one from William Eklund and the other from Mikael Granlund, ultimately getting shut out 1-0 by the Arizona Coyotes. Kaapo Kahkonen made 24-of-25 saves in another solid effort.
But let’s get past the fact that the NHL, by the letter of the law, made the right call in both cases.
Duclair was offsides by a mile before the Granlund goal. Meanwhile, there was more of an argument on Luke Kunin’s unintentional goaltender interference on Connor Ingram, but…
Even if the Sharks had pulled out a victory, head coach David Quinn was not enamored with their overall effort: “It’s one of those nights where you don’t have all your energy and you just feel there wasn’t a lot of energy in the locker room before the game.”
Quinn pointed to that low energy as the No. 1 cause for San Jose’s unimpressive 21 shots.
He did find the silver lining in all this: “I think a month ago if we had this type of energy, we wouldn’t have been in the [close] situation that we were by the end of the game.”
However, the Sharks, 9-8-2 after their 0-10-1 start to the season, are beyond moral victories at this point.
These are the kind of games that a rebuilding team will have to learn to win one day. You’re not going to have your best every night, but the better teams muster enough skill or energy to eke out the two points.
Anthony Duclair talked about the high level that Granlund is playing at now, Kahkonen discussed the highs and lows of the disallowed goals, and Quinn shared his thoughts about the Jack Studnicka trade.
Anthony Duclair
Duclair, on Granlund:
He’s playing unbelievable. I’m really happy playing with him right now. He’s a guy that does everything on the ice, plays a 200-foot game, and just makes it easy on us and Z. All we got to do is get open, he’s gonna find us. He’s such a smart player. I definitely owe him a few goals there after tonight.
Kaapo Kahkonen
Kahkonen, on the highs and lows of the two disallowed goals:
It’s tough. A couple of good plays there. We score goals, and unfortunate that they were just allowed.
I still think we had a great push at the end, like all the way, we never stopped, we didn’t hang our heads.
Just tonight, we couldn’t get a bounce.
David Quinn
Quinn, on the San Jose Sharks’ performance tonight:
We were just talking in the coach’s room. It’s one of those nights where you don’t have all your energy and you just feel there wasn’t a lot of energy in the locker room before the game. We managed to kind of hang around.
I think it was another example of our progress. Because I think a month ago if we had this type of energy, we wouldn’t have been in the situation that we were by the end of the game.
Disappointing we lost. Our PK was good. We didn’t draw a penalty, which is disappointing.
Quinn, on losing Nico Sturm:
Having another center would certainly help. Obviously, two guys playing out of position.
But listen, nobody feels sorry for you. No one wants to hear your story. We’ve got to find a way to win a hockey game.
Quinn, on the San Jose Sharks’ acquisition of Jack Studnicka:
Just a very skilled player. A guy that certainly was highly thought of as a prospect. He’s been in 2 organizations, but they’ve been really forward-heavy. I don’t know if he’s really got the opportunity that he was looking for. To the fault of nobody.
He’s still a young player. He’s got some good size to him. He’s got skills, so we’re really excited to have him.
Quinn, on pulling Kahkonen with 3:41 left in a one-goal game:
Yeah, it was really the circumstances. I usually don’t pull them that early. But I just felt with where we’re at with an O-zone face off, I thought that was our chance.
I just felt like we weren’t getting a lot going offensively 5-on-5. That was our chance to maybe create a scoring chance and score the tying goal a little bit earlier than maybe we normally would in that situation.
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