mercurynews.com photo: San Jose Sharks goaltender Aaron Dell (30) who saved 30 shots but allowed three in the Sharks third consecutive loss in Anaheim to the Mighty Ducks

~ By Pearl Allison Lo

~ ANAHEIM– It was roughly more of the same all around, including another injury, as the Ducks (2-0-0) handed San Jose (0-3-0) zero points Saturday. 

There were giveaways, the first coming from Sharks’ goalie Aaron Dell, the same number one in the goal column and Marcus Sorensen left in the second after 7:27 of ice time. 

San Jose Coach Peter DeBoer replied regarding tonight’s effort, “…I thought for three in four nights and being on the road, I thought especially our big guys played really hard…The first goal is a tough one…changes the mindset early. Especially against a guy like (John) Gibson at the other end.”

Anaheim has averaged two goals in their last four games, going back to the preseason and in contrast, the Sharks have only had a goal in each of their last four games. 

Special teams followed suit with the way its been with the Ducks killing their last 24 penalties and San Jose 0-for-33 on their power plays. Players postgame had some positives compared to the last two games, “some good shifts,” and the “power play.” The Sharks had four opportunities on the night offensively with five shots during their third power play.

A day after San Jose recalled Jacob Middleton from the San Jose Barracuda, they had to call up Trevor Carrick pregame after Middleton was hurt Friday. 

The Sharks gave up their first goal by way of another defensive lapse. The puck went from Dell to Ondrej Kase and Michael Del Zotto. Dell was recovering the puck from the boards. 

The fight of the game came at 11:28 between San Jose’s Brenden Dillon and the Ducks’ Nicolas Deslauriers. 

Anaheim had a two-man advantage for one second when after Lean Bergmann was called for slashing, Kevin Labanc was whistled for hooking with one second left. San Jose was able to fend off six shots and two missed ones. 

The Sharks evened the shot total at 22 in the second period with a 15-10 advantage but found themselves down 3-1.

San Jose had three straight shots to start off the second, one at 33 seconds and two 42 seconds onto the ice.  

They then got a power play at 2:22. Dell ended up giving the puck away again, this time to Adam Henrique, but Dell was able to get back in place to block his shot. 

The Sharks tied it up when Dillon, who looked to take a shot from the point, instead passed it off to Erik Karlsson who fed Logan Couture. The captain took aim from the right faceoff circle and found a friendly place for the puck at 5:44. 

San Jose’s lead lasted just under a minute when Ryan Getzlaf was found without a defender. He skated right up to Dell and made it 2-1 with the puck around Dell’s left side. 

Dell ended up making a quality save versus Carter Rowney, but it came as as result of a Mario Ferraro giveaway. 

Another injury occurred when Sorensen ended up in the end boards after taking a shot at Gibson. 

Henrique ended up having success against Dell when he gave the Ducks their final two-goal lead at 18:48. Featuring tired Sharks, a neutral zone giveaway by Tomas Hertl started the play and then it looked like Labanc gave up midway while defending Henrique, giving him time and space.  

Up Next: Karlsson had the most shift ice time with an average of 1:09. San Jose will now have their most rest of the regular season and Evander Kane back as they head to Nashville for the second of their three-game road trip to take on the Predators Tuesday at 5pm.