Blackwood earns first shutout as Sharks blank Kraken

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Marc-Edouard Vlasic broke a scoreless tie with 12:33 remaining and Mackenzie Blackwood made 32 saves as the San Jose Sharks beat the Seattle Kraken 2-0 on Tuesday night.

“It feels good to win,” Vlasic said. “Wasn’t a perfect game, but we found a way to win. ... Playing a team that is fighting for the playoffs right now, it feels good.”

Jan Rutta added an empty-net goal for the Sharks, who have won four of their last five games to move two points ahead of the idle Chicago Blackhawks at the bottom of the NHL standings.

Blackwood earned his first shutout since December 2021 with the New Jersey Devils. It was San Jose’s first shutout of the season.

“I think we have confidence now that we can close a game out, whereas at the start of the year we were gripping the sticks a little too tight and making panic plays,” Blackwood said. “But we seem calm and believe we can close a game out, and we did a really good job.”

The Kraken outshot the Sharks 32-22, including 13-3 in the first period, but fell to 6-3 all-time against San Jose. Joey Daccord stopped 20 shots in the loss.

“I thought we played great, generated a lot of offense, carried most of the play,” Daccord said. “Their goalie played unreal. Sometimes a goalie of that caliber can do that. He stole a game for them tonight.”

Vlasic’s goal was his fourth of the season and second in two games. He beat Daccord high blocker side on a wrist shot from the left point.

Ty Emberson and William Eklund picked up assists.

Rutta extended his point streak to five games, scoring his third goal of the season with 21 seconds left.

"I thought we got better as the game went on,” Sharks coach David Quinn said. “You’re hanging around at 0-0 and I thought we had our best period of the game in the third. Obviously, Blackie made some big saves for us, kept us in it. Like I said, I thought we elevated our game in the third period.”

The Kraken have lost six of eight following a nine-game winning streak. They trail the Los Angeles Kings, St. Louis Blues and Nashville Predators by two points for a wild-card spot in the Western Conference.

“We didn’t (look past the Sharks),” Seattle coach Dave Hakstol said. “They played their tails off on the other side tonight. They defended hard. Their goaltender made good saves and they got the first break offensively. Our guys worked hard tonight.”

San Jose leading scorer Tomas Hertl missed the game due to a lower-body injury.

UP NEXT

Kraken: At Philadelphia on Feb. 10 after the All-Star break.

Sharks: At Anaheim on Wednesday night.

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