Erik Karlsson and San Jose Sharks lose to Chicago Blackhawks

SAN JOSE – Petr Mrazek made 45 saves and stopped all three penalty shootout attempts to lead the Chicago Blackhawks to their fifth consecutive 4-3 victory over the San Jose Sharks on Saturday night.

Philipp Kurashev scored in the first round of the penalty shootout for the only goal, giving the Blackhawks their longest winning streak since January 2020.

David Gust scored his first career goal, Brett Seney scored his first goal in over four years and Max Domi also scored for Chicago.

Nick Bonino, Evgeny Svechnikov and Erik Karlsson scored for the Sharks, who lost five of their six games. Kaapo Kahkonen made 32 saves.

The Sharks and Blackhawks are the 29th and 30th teams in the NHL, but with less than two months left in the regular season, just six points separate the bottom five teams in the league. Arizona has 49 points, followed by the Sharks (48), Blackhawks (47), Anaheim (45) and Columbus (43).

The team that finishes with the worst record in the league will have the highest chance, 18.5 percent, of winning the NHL Draft Lottery and earning the right to select No. 1 overall in this summer’s draft. The draft’s No. 1 consensus prospect is Western Hockey League center Connor Bedard.

The Sharks and Blackhawks traded goals in the third, with Domi scoring in Chicago’s first inning of the period and Karlsson answering with 2:11 to play after San Jose pulled Kahkonen.

The Blackhawks got goals from unlikely sources in the first period.

Gust, 29, who grew up in the Chicago area, was called up to the NHL earlier this week and made the lineup for the first time against the Sharks.

It didn’t take him long to make an impact, scoring on his first career change when he got in front of the net to deflect Colin Blackwell’s pass past Kahkonen. Gust joined Eddie Olczyk as the only Illinois native to score in his NHL debut with the Blackhawks.

After Bonino equalized for San Jose, Seney scored on the run for his first goal since February 9, 2019, when he played for New Jersey. Seney was called up from the minors last week.
Svechnikov answered for San Jose.

NIGHT OF MARLEAU: The Sharks held a pre-game ceremony to retire Patrick Marleau’s number 12 jersey. San Jose’s first home star broke Gordie Howe’s record for games played with 1,779 for his career. He holds Sharks records for games played (1,607), goals (522) and points (1,111).

Marleau played 21 of his 23 NHL seasons for San Jose after being drafted second overall in 1997. He ended his career in 2021.

“It was surreal,” Marleau said after the ceremony. “It just flashes before your eyes that everything I’ve done has led up to that moment.”

BUSINESS TALK: Kane flew back to Chicago before the game as talks heated up over a potential trade to the New York Rangers. Kane has a no move clause and must approve any deal.

Chicago also kept Lafferty out of the lineup for “roster management” reasons ahead of the Friday trade deadline.