By: Joe Lami

The playoff hopes for the San Jose Sharks are getting smaller as they were handed a painful home loss to the Vancouver Canucks 3-2 on Saturday night.  The night started great for San Jose as they went up early, getting two goals in the first 12 minutes of the first period, but Vancouver was able to score three unanswered to bring home the victory, and strengthen their playoff contention.

With frustration of the loss the Sharks handed to the Canucks on Tuesday night, Vancouver started the game extremely aggressive.  Just 2:05 into it, things started to get dicey.  What started with a check from Brendan Dillion on Janek Hansen turned into a blood bath, where nearly every player on the ice got into an altercation.  Vancouver would somehow come out of it with a power play, that were not able to capitalize on, but the energy was definitely turned up.

The Sharks took advantage of the early fight, as Melker Karlsson started the scoring for San Jose, putting his eleventh of the year past Canucks’ goaltender, Eddie Lack.  The goal was set up on a point shot from Marc Edouard Vlassic  that kicked out to the left circle, where Karlsson picked it up and fired far side beating Lack’s glove side to put the Sharks up early.

San Jose would add another less than four minutes later.  This time off the stick of Joe Thornton for his 13th goal of the season.  Once again, a strong rebound was given up by Lack, and Thornton was in the right place at the right time, as he slammed the power play goal into the net from the right side.  However, the bounces would stop going San Jose’s way.

Vancouver would pick up momentum late in the first period, as they were able to get on the board, as Radim Vrbata scored his first goal of the evening with just 29 seconds remaining in the period.  Vrbata used a little bit of trickery to beat Antti Niemi, as he went behind the net, looking like he was looking for a wrap-around, he stopped came back to the same side and was able to slide it past the Sharks’ net-minder.  Sharks’ coach, Todd McLellan commented on the goal “that’s one Niemi probably wants back”.  The Sharks went into intermission with the 2-1 lead.

The Sharks best chance of the game that didn’t find its way home occurred in the second period, when Patrick Marleau had a wide open net at the left side of the goal mouth and he wasn’t able to tap it home.  Marleau commented on the missed opportunity, “I went to stop it, and missed it.  It went off the toe of my blade”.

Vancouver, once again, was able to capitalize on the Sharks’ misfortunes tying things up 16:24 into the second period, when a bad hop went over the stick of defenseman, Brent Burns, and led to the eventual breakaway goal for Bo Horvat.  Hornet skated in on the left side and just chipped it over the should of Niemi.  “It was a bad bounce, and then Burns got beat getting back,” added McLellan. The game was tied at two going into the final frame

The hockey gods were not helping the Sharks on Saturday night, as the puck would just not find its way home in the third period.  The bad luck would start just 1:09 into the period, when a scramble at the goal mouth would find the puck crossing the line, but after the referee blew his whistle.  The goal was taken away from Tommy Wingles, who said “the whistle was blown, and the referee let us know.  He was decisive, which is better than a ref that can’t make up there mind”. 

Vancouver was able to capitalize on the Sharks’ misfortune, when they took the lead 5:21 into the third.  Radim Vrbata put his second home of the game on a 4 on 3 power play goal.  It was set up on an offensive zone draw, that led to a scramble.  Vrbata was able to pick the puck up in the left circle bring it over to the right, and out wait Niemi who went down, as he flipped it over Niemi for the eventual game winner.

The bad puck luck would continue, when it looked like San Jose tied the game, on what would have been Thomas Hertl’s 11th goal of the season, but the puck hit the post and bounced back out.  “We didn’t have puck luck on either side tonight,” added McLellan.

The loss for San Jose puts them in a bind in terms of playoff contention.  Vancouver was four points ahead of them in the standings, good enough for second in the Pacific division, making this game so crucial.  Tommy Wingles commented on the loss “it was painful because they were a team we’ve been chasing”.

With the loss, the Sharks still have 72 points in 66 games played.  They are four points back of the closest playoff spot, third in the pacific division, held by Calgary whose holding 76 points in 65 games played.  The game in hand will occur tomorrow for the Flames, as they travel to Canada’s capital to take on the Senators.

The Sharks have another tough opponent on their docket, as Sidney Crosby, and the Pittsburg Penguins come into town on Tuesday night.  The Pens are currently sitting third right now in the Metro division with 85 points, picking up two on an overtime win over Los Angeles on Saturday.