By Mary Walsh
DALLAS– The San Jose Sharks lost 4-3 to the Dallas Stars Saturday. Roope Hintz, Jamie Benn, Jason Robertson and Thomas Harley scored for the Stars. Harley had three points. Jake Oettinger made 20 saves for the win. Michael Misa, Ivar Stenberg and Will Smith scored for the Sharks. Macklin Celebrini had three assists. Alex Nedeljkovic made 26 saves in the loss. It was the fifth loss in a row for the Sharks.
After the game, Sharks forward Will Smith said: “We worked hard. Special teams came up a little short. I thought we played a great game but like I said we came up a little short again.” He also talked about their power play struggles: “It starts with the break in. I mean you gotta recover pucks, gotta get them back. Won’t be able to get chances if we don’t have the puck. So it’s something we’ll work on. We know we have to be a difference-maker.”
Sharks Head Coach Ryan Warsofsky said: “Probably one of our best five on five games of the year. Obviously the p.k. lets in a couple. Power play could be a little bit more of a weapon for us. I thought we did some good things, again, some positives but unfortunately come up on the losing end.”
Providing more detail about the special teams, he said: “P.K., it feels like we’re just a little… we were pretty aggressive, had pace on it earlier in the year. We’ve kind of lost that a little bit. Power play, teams are pressuring and we can’t make the next play.”
Michael Misa scored the first goal of the game at 7:22. Hovering in front of the net, Misa caught a pass from Macklin Celebrini and snapped it past Oettinger. An assist also went to Will Smith.
Roope Hintz tied the game on the power play at 9:16. He knocked in a rebound from Wyatt Johnston’s shot. An assist also went to Thomas Harley.
Jamie Benn gave the Stars a lead at 15:17. On his way to the net, he caught Hintz’s pass from behind the net. His snap shot went by Nedeljkovic on the stick side.
Jason Robertson padded that lead with a power play goal at 16:51. Mikko Rantanen made a cross ice pass from one faceoff dot to the other for Robertson’s snap shot. The secondary assist went to Harley.
The Stars led in shots for the first period, 14-11. The Sharks took three penalties and the Stars took four. Two of those Stars penalties overlapped, giving the Sharks about 30 seconds of 2-man advantage.
The Sharks had some seconds of power play time carry over into the second period. They did not score then but, at 2:47, Ivar Stenberg trimmed the Stars’ lead with a snap shot. Celebrini carried the puck into the zone, two on one with Stenberg. From the half boards, he passed it to the center for Stenberg’s shot. Eric Pohlkamp got the secondary assist.
Harley restored the two-goal lead for the Stars at 14:30. He scored with a slap shot from the slot on the power play. Johnston and Rantanen got the assists.
The Sharks got that goal back during a five-on-three power play at 17:02. Mason Marchment passed the puck across the goal mouth to Will Smith in the left faceoff circle for the shot. Marchment and Celebrini got the assists.
The period ended in a giant scrum that started with Sam Dickinson, Mikko Rantanen and Alex Nedeljkovic. The result was two matching minors to each team. The Sharks led slightly in shots, 10-8. The teams each took two penalties before the end of the period. In a scoreless third period, the Sharks had two shots and took one penalty. The Stars had seven shots and took one penalty.
The Sharks next play on Monday at 7:00 PM PT at home against the New York Islanders.
