Author: Ivan Makarov

Canucks beat Sharks at home

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by Ivan Makarov

SAN JOSE, CA — Resting since Saturday and preparing for a long seven-game road trip ahead, San Jose Sharks missed out on a chance to get any points at in their last home for a while, losing a close 3-2 contest to Vancouver Canucks.

Sharks lead the game twice, but Canucks tied it and when they took the lead, the home team ran out of time on the clock to tie it, literally.

Pulling their goaltender Antti Niemi out of the net for an extra skater, Sharks had an extra man advantage for the last 90 minutes of the game. They kept the puck away from Canucks and their best chances to score came within the last 10 seconds of the game when they put several shots on the net. The very last shot in the game by Joe Thornton appeared to have went into the net right before the buzzard went off signaling the end of the game. But the video replay showed that the time clock ran out right before the puck crossed the net.

“As far as I knew, the puck went in before the horn,” said Sharks assistant captain Joe Pavelski. “But it is whether the clock and the horn are on the same page, and they weren’t tonight.”

But the final score was not indicative of how the game went and both Sharks players and the coaches felt they deserved more.

“We probably feel like this one got away from us,” said Joe Thornton. “We felt we played good for the 60 minutes tonight and we felt like we deserved the two points.”

Sharks got on board first when Tomas Hertl opened on the left wing and got the pass from Tyler Kennedy. Hertl skated forward and sent a great pass from the wing and just below the face-off circle to James Sheppard who was parked in front of the net. Sheppard didn’t have much room to move around, but the pass was so good that it found his stick and an open net.

With less then a minute left in the first period, Vancouver tied the game at 1-1 when Radim Vrbata picked up a bouncing puck that flew past Joe Thornton along the board and took off on 2-on-1 breakaway. He did have an open pass to make, but decided to shoot it himself and the puck flew into the net.

Logan Couture helped the Sharks take 2-1 lead when he scored half way through the game, just 10 seconds into the Sharks power play. Sharks won the face-off, kept the puck inside the zone, and Pavelski found Couture in front of the net with a quick pass. Couture was at an uncomfortable angle, but managed to turn his stick behind him in such a way as to redirect the puck past Ryan Miller.

The Canucks did not take long to equalize, also on the power play when Tyler Kennedy was sent to the box for high sticking. With Sedins cycling the puck inside the zone, it made its way to Alexander Edler who shot the puck from up top. The heavy shot flew past everyone and Niemi did not react in time to stop it.

Former Shark draftee Nick Bonino scored towards the end of the second half as Canucks punished the Sharks for Tomas Hertl broken stick and the subsequent turnover. Sharks did not get enough time to regroup and Bonino scored his seventh goal of the season, giving his team the first lead in the game – and the one Sharks were never able to overcome.

“When you look at analytics, the possession numbers, the shot attempts and all that type of stuff – they were certainly in our favor, but that doesn’t put points in the bank,” said Sharks head coach Todd McLellan. “At the end of the night, they got three [goals], we got two. … We got to look at our game. Later on in the game we maybe tried to make some cute plays at the blue line that worked into [the Canucks] favor.”

Sharks now have losing 2-3 record at home, but McLellan did not appear to be too concerned with that, saying it is still a small sample.

“We need to be better at home, we know that. Most of the games have been one-goal games. We’ve led in some of them, which is disappointing. But now we have to focus on the road for the next two week and when we get back, we’ll have to get to work and start putting points in the bank.”

GAMES NOTES
– Sharks made changes to their active roster before the game by sending rookie forward Chris Tierney to Worcester Sharks and recalling Tyler Kennedy from Worcester where he was on a conditioning assignment. Kennedy missed the first part of the regular season with injuries and this was his first game with the San Jose Sharks this season. He looked sharp playing alongside James Sheppard and Tomas Hertl and their line was one of the best ones on the ice.

– Sharks defenseman Brent Burns and forward Tommy Wingels both won the honors of “Sharks Player of the Month,” as selected by the Sharks Foundation for their outstanding play during the first month of the season. Burns shared the lead in the league in points among all defensemen in the month of October at 13 (4 goals and 9 assists), while Wingels was tied for the first place in goals among all Sharks players, scoring 5. This was second such recognition for Burns during his career with the Sharks, and the first for Wingels.

Sharks Defense Not Good Enough Against Blue Jackets

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By Ivan Makarov

SAN JOSE, CA — Sharks’ season has been up and down so far, with inconsistency all throughout the lineup. The offense is firing, and the special teams are starting to come together. But the defensive and goaltending struggles were costly for San Jose during this stretch of the season.

The pattern continued on Thursday night when Sharks returned home after a five-game long road trip and fell 5-4 to the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets.

Sharks got an early lead in the game on a rare goal by Adam Burrish who put the puck into the top corner from the face off circle. Columbus defense did not make any effort to stop him as he was skating towards the net and Sharks player made the best out of this situation by scoring, after having not done so for over a year, and scoring just his second goal as a San Jose Shark.

Joe Pavelski added to the score with his third goal of the season during Sharks power play. Logan Couture shot the puck long from the blue line and Pavelski tipped it just enough to have it change direction and find a way into the net. As Couture got the puck from Patrick Mearlue, it meant that Marleau recorded his 500th career assist.

Ryan Johansen cut the lead to one when he scored at 8:22 in the second period. Holding onto the puck as he entered Sharks zone, he had no trouble passing Sharks defenseman Justin Braun and putting the shot with a backhander. The puck hit Antti Niemi back and went into the net.

Up to this point the Sharks had territorial advantage and were more sharp in the offensive zone but the goal seemed to have woken the Blue Jackets up. They tied the game few minutes later on a shorthanded chance, with Mark Letestu scoring on a breakaway after Sharks miscommunication, making it 2-2.

The bleeding did not stop and Blue Jacket took the lead in the game later, when Johansen scored again. Stealing the puck from Tye McGinn inside Sharks zone, silencing the crowd and stunning the home team.

The second intermission came in timely for the Sharks and they regrouped after the break. Whatever Todd McLellan said to the team worked, as they regained their focus and composure (even if for a period of time) and quickly tied the game at 3-3 on a goal by Joe Pavelski, his second in the game. Logan Couture put the Sharks back in the lead when he stole the puck from Cody Goloubef right in front of Columbus’ goal and put it past stunned Sergei Bobrovsky, making it 4-3 with 12 minutes remaining in the game.

The lead did not last too long as Nick Foligno scored few minutes later in front of the net during a power play when Brent Burns was in the box for a penalty, tying the game at 4-4.

Teams did not seem to mind to be playing an open hockey the rest of the game, with scoring chances going both ways. But it was Columbus who prevailed when Mark Letescu scored with just 20 second remaining in the game on a long range tipped shot that squeezed near the far post from Antti Niemi.

With all the offense firing, it was the defense that cost the Sharks the game, with Todd McLellan citing it as a main reason for what is ailing the Sharks right now.

“When you give up five, you’re not winning,” he said in his post game comments. “Our defensive play right now is killing us. You look at the [recent road] trip – we averaged 3-3.25 goals against per night, without the empty netters. Tonight we were at five. We’re not winning like that. It’s not just one player or one line – it’s all the lines right now, and the goaltending. So the overall defensive game has to improve or we’re in trouble.”

Kings still too much for Sharks

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by Ivan Makarov

SAN JOSE, CA — Playing their toughest opponent yet, the current Stanley Cup champion Los Angeles Kings and the team that eliminated them from playoffs in the memorable fashion last season, San Jose Sharks failed to impress and fell 4-1 at home.
It was a preseason game and Sharks head coach Todd McLellan benched a few key players, including Joe Pavelski, Marc Eduard Vlasic  and Justin Braun. But the Kings were also missing Marian Gaborik, Jarret Stoll, Jeff Carter and Tyler Tofolli, so on paper, the rosters looked evenly matched.

But it all came down to the Kings being more effective with their scoring chances, and more stingy in goal.

Joe Thornton opened the score in the game 88 seconds into it after a good puck possession inside the Kings zone. Sharks center got the puck from a rookie defenseman Taylor Fedun, paused and put it past Jonathan Quick.

Half way through the first period Drew Doughty tied the game at 1-1 on a great individual effort as he picked up the puck around center ice from Justin Williams, skated past two Sharks players and put it top shelf on Antti Niemi, scoring his first goal of the preseason.

Sharks could have taken the lead towards the end of the period when Patrick Marleau got out on a breakaway, but he was unable to shoot the puck as Kings’ defenseman caught up with him and blocked his stick at the same time as Marleau got close to the net.

Kings took the lead in the game early in the second period when Dustin Brown capitalized on the Sharks’ mistakes in their own end and put the puck high into the net. The Sharks were scrambling to get into the position unable to match the Kings speed on the zone entrance and it was too late.

Justin Williams doubled the lead and scored the third goal for the Kinds towards the end of the second period. He was the first on the rebound from the shot by Dwight King as LA players surrounded Antti Niemi. The follow up shot by Williams did not look all that strong, but it squeezed into the goal under Niemi’s pad.

Dwight King made it 4-1 for the Kings half way through the third period as he broke into the Sharks zone with speed on the left wing, and put the puck into the net above Antti Niemi’s shoulders who did not react fast enough.

On the positive side of things, Sharks rookies looked confident against a strong opponent, generating scoring chances and speed. Sharks looked faster on the transition and while entering the zone. On the negative side, Antti Niemi looked rusty and is in part to blame for the score, failing to save the Sharks when they needed him the most. Sharks were also sloppy with the puck giving it away 22 times vs just 9 giveaways for the Kings. The Sharks also allowed the Kings to outshot them at home 30-24 – not something that happened very often last season against any opponent.

The crowd also expected the game to be a bit more heated after the history between the two teams in the last post season, with Sharks blowing 3-0 lead in the series and allowing the Kings to beat them in the best of seven and go on to win the Stanley Cup. But overall the players kept their emotions and tempers in check, perhaps saving them for the regular season opener on Wednesday, October 8, when they meet again in Los Angeles. It’s preseason and not many are paying attention just yet, so why waste energy?

Sharks preseason games continue on Friday when they travel to Arizona to face the Coyotes.

Sharks suffer their worst playoffs exit yet

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By Ivan Makarov

SAN JOSE, CA — After many years of Stanley Cup playoffs disappointments, San Jose Sharks found a new way to end their season after making the playoffs once again.

After going up 3-0 in the series against the Los Angeles Kings, San Jose Sharks let the Kings climb back and take the series in Game 7, when LA won the game 5-1 at the SAP Center. LA Kings became just the fourth team in the NHL history to accomplish such a feat since the 7-game series format was introduced for the Stanley Cup playoffs back in the 1930s.

Devastated. Disappointed. Shocked. Upset. Low point.

These were some of the words heard again and again in post game interviews inside the Sharks dressing room. These are no doubt some of the emotions experienced by the Sharks fans as well that night.

And the Game 7 played out just like the previous four games won by the Kings. Stingy defense by LA, and a complete lack of offense and execution by San Jose, coupled with the outstanding game by Jonathan Quick.

Sharks scored the first goal in the game when Matt Irwin blasted a shot from the blue line early in the second period. But their lead did not last long as Kings tied the game four minutes later on a power play goal by Drew Doughty and played a solid defensive game for the remainder of the period. The big blow came towards the end of the period when Kings took 2-1 lead on a counter attack goal by Anze Kopitar.

When the Kings made it 3-1 on a goal by Tyler Toffolli early in the third period on an odd man rush, the home crowd loudly exhaled, knowing how hard the task became at hand. And the Sharks never came back, failing to score the rest of the game.

After scoring 17 goals in the first three games, Sharks scored only 5 in the remaining four. That’s the most telling stat of them all.

Special teams were once again terrible for the Sharks, giving up a power play goal, and going 0/6 on the man advantage.

So how did this all happen after going up 3-0 in the series and what happened to the offense?

“I think their defense just swallowed up our offense, to be honest with you,” said Sharks captain Joe Thornton. “They played real tight defensively, and their goaltender got really hot like he usually does this time of the year.”

Coach McLellan had similar thoughts.

“From the way I look at it, [the LA] fixed their problems,” he said after the game. “We didn’t. Our problems got progressively worse as we went along. We were awful off the rush. They scored I don’t know how many goals off the rush and we were awful around our net. Every day we came to the rink, we tried the stress that, but we were never able to fix that. It’s frustrating because during the year we’re pretty good in those areas.”

It’s hard to predict right now what changes the club is going to make in the offseason after another good regular season team ends their season early and without a championship. Sharks General Manager Doug Wilson job could be in danger, as he’s built every aspect of this team and still haven’t taken the Sharks into the Stanley Cup final while his neighbors Anaheim Ducks and Los Angeles Kings have all been there and have won the Cup. Todd McLellan’s future is also in question now, and he did admit after the game he’s in charge of this team and is to blame as well. Some of the players will no doubt change their home address to another NHL city.

These things happen to the teams that can’t win. But this win in particular will sting for a long time because of how close the Sharks were to advancing into the next round, and how far they let their game slip.

Sharks dictate their game and win Game 1

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By Ivan Makarov

Hungry for a revenge for getting knocked out by the LA Kings in last year’s Stanley Cup playoffs, San Jose Sharks started this year’s playoffs with a bang. Completely dominating the game in the first two periods and preserving their big lead in the third, they took the charge in the series after 6-3 victory in Game 1 at the SAP Center.

Sharks dictated the pace of the game from the start of the game with their physical play and aggressive forecheck, which opened the game for them and limited Kings’ scoring chances. Joe Thornton scored less than three minutes into the game. Battling along the boards, and carrying the puck behind the net, he somehow managed to get it to his lineman Joe Pavelski who had just an inch of extra space on his defenseman in front of the net. Pavelski shot it on goal and Thornton was there with a tip in goal.

Sharks continued to outplay the Kings by finishing all their checks. Their fourth line was the most effective in that area, with Raffi Torres using his skating and hitting abilities to keep the high pace to the game. But it was Mike Brown who had the most memorable moment in that period when he got away on a breakaway, shot the puck and then pushed one of the Kings defensemen into Jonathan Quick, visibly rattling the Kings’ goaltender and causing a heated exchange to erupt after the whistle.

“We want to play physical, and us [fourth line] especially when we get on the ice,” said Brown. “We got to get pucks deep on their defensemen. We got to let them know that we’re coming and that’s what we did and established right away.”

Sharks made it 3-0 before the first intermission when Tomas Hertl and Patrick Marleau scored within 48 seconds of each other.

They did not slow down there and scored two more in the second period, with Raffi Torres scoring in his comeback from injury after Marc-Eduard Vlasic hit the post moments earlier. Vlasic scored himself four minutes later on the power play with a great wrist shot from just above the face-off circles.

Going into the third period with 5-0 lead, Sharks did lose focus a bit, and allowed the Kings to get back into the game, and cut the home team lead to just two goals. But the Kings ran out of time, and Sharks tightened it up on defense in the final two minutes of the game. With Kings’ goaltender out of the net for extra skater, Brent Burns released the tension on the ice when he picked up a puck near the boards inside his zone and shot it from long range but on target into the open net, finalizing the score in the game at 6-3.

While the Sharks did not finish the game on a high note, there were too many positives in that game to be too upset about it.

“It was a great game – we won!” said Sharks head coach Todd McLellan when asked about what his takeaway from this game was. “We’ll talk about the third period and I was disappointed in how we responded there. But it was a really good game…. It’s over. Regardless of what the score was, we have to move on now and prepare to get better.”

Game 2 is this coming Sunday back at the SAP Center.

Pacific Division title hope still alive for the Sharks as they top Kings

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By Ivan Makarov

Much of the media focus going into the matchup between San Jose Sharks and Los Angeles Kings was on how the game is likely a preview of the first round playoffs for both teams, and how the atmosphere will be very similar to playoffs – with limited scoring chances, lots of hits, and stingy defensive play from both team.

This proved to be the case in this game, with Sharks coming out on top in a close one, as they defeated the Kings 2-1 on the goals by Brent Burns and Logan Cutuore. They only produced 12 shots on goal, which is a low number for them at home this season, but they also recorded 52 hits, matching Kings’ physical play all night long.

Joe Thornton was tied for second in hits on the night, and had the best quote in post game interviews, saying  “I just wanted to hit something tonight, that’s all.”

But the win also meant that the Sharks still have a mathematical possibility of winning the Pacific Division title, as they collected two more points in the standings and got closer to catching Anaheim Ducks. San Jose remains within one point, but Anaheim has two games in hand, and an advantage in the tie breaker. The Sharks don’t talk about not wanting to face the Kings in the playoffs, should the standings remain the same and Anaheim taking the top seed in the West. But they do talk about wanting the top seed and home ice advantage, and Thursday’s win have kept these hopes alive.

As for the game, it lived it to its hype, with lots of tension on the ice and close calls, as we grew to expect whenever two California teams face each other these days.

The Kings were the first score in this one, taking the lead just three minutes into the game when Jordan Nolan deflected a long range shot by Jarett Stoll.

Brent Burns tied the game at 7:15 mark in the second period scoring his 23rd goal of the season while the Sharks were on a power play. LA’s Dustin Brown was in the penalty box for roughing and it took the Sharks just a few second to punish  the Kinds for that. Joe Thornton won the face-off with the puck going to Dan Boyle and then to to Burns. Sharks forward shot it on goal right away, all the way from the blue line. It was a powerful shot and went straight into the net.

Sharks power play continues to be hot after Todd McLellan retooled it a couple of weeks ago, and it produced a key goal during the part of the game that Kings controlled.

The goal gave the Sharks a momentum they were seeking all this time before. They spent a good portion of the next few minutes inside the Kings zone. The pressure seem to took its toll on LA’s defense and Sharks took the lead when Logan Couture picked up a rebound from Patrick Marleau’s shot, quickly skated around the net and put the wrap-around shot into an open net, giving Sharks 2-1 lead at 12:13 mark in the second period.

The two goals was all Sharks needed to secure a victory that night, although they had to be perfect on defense all night long. It was a big improvement from two nights ago against the Oilers when they allowed four goals. Forechecking, finishing checks on all parts of the ice and good shot blocking was what kept the Kings at bay, and helped the Sharks earn the two important points as regular season is coming to an end.

Next on the schedule is Nashville Predators back at SAP Center on Saturday.

Sharks come back from behind to beat Oilers

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By Ivan Makarov

SAN JOSE, CA — It was a wild game at the SAP Center on Tuesday night when Sharks faced Edmonton Oilers. While it turned out a 5-4 victory for the home team, it wasn’t a game that the Sharks were proud of, having lost a two-goal lead in the game, and having have to come back from behind to earn the two points.

“It was a bittersweet win,” said Todd McLellan after the game. “It was nice to see us come back and score five, and the power play contributed. Those types of things are nice but I’m going to leave the rink a little more frustrated than excited. I’m sure some of the players will leave that way too.”

It all started well for the Sharks, with a quick goal just 3:11 into the game. It was Sharks fourth line putting the pressure on the opposing top line inside the Oilers zone that resulted in the turnover picked up by Jason Demers. He skated deeper into the zone and passed it to Tyler Kennedy on the ring wing. Sharks forward took the shot and Andrew Desjardins scored his third goal of the season on a rebound. But the Sharks went into a deep sleep for the next 10 minutes and had a stretch of no shots that lasted that long. Oilers in the meantime tied the game on apower play when Taylor Hall scored with a snap shot from the face-off circle. But Sharks began playing again as the period was ending and Dan Boyle put them ahead when he scored on a wrist shot from the top of the right circle, scoring his 11th goal of the season.

Sharks took 3-1 lead in the second period on a goal by Tommy Wingels. They looked confident for a while creating all kind of chances inside the Oilers territory and should have put the game away. But the game took a surprising turn when Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Jordan Eberle scored two quick goals within 30 seconds of each other and tied the game at 3-3 heading into second intermission.

Oilers then took the 4-3 lead in the third period 6:16 into it when Nugent-Hopkins scored his second of the night from close range after getting a quick pass from Jordan Eberle who made a great play skating around Matt Irwin inside Sharks zone.

The goal seemed to have woken up the Sharks one more time. They started played with more urgency and speed, finishing their checks and dominating puck possession.

The change have paid off, and they not only tied the game when Brent Burns scored in front of the empty net after across the crease pass from Joe Thornton, but when they took the lead three minutes later as Patrick Marleau scored just 6 seconds into the power play, his 32nd on the season.

While they earned the two important point, coach wasn’t happy.

“We weren’t where we needed to be. We gave up too much, we were sloppy. We will not trusting each other. To play the system, we’ve got to fix that quickly before the playoffs roll around. Before Thursday gets here. We are going to face a very good team [LA Kings], that plays a disciplined game, that plays for the full sixty. They don’t take many off, so we have to get fixed over the next day or two.”

Jets upset Sharks at home

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By Ivan Makarov

SAN JOSE, CA — It was a wild and and a crazy game at SAP Center on Thursday night but the Sharks found themselves on the wrong side of the scoreboard as they dropped the two points in an upset to the visiting Winnipeg Jets.

Dan Boyle, Brent Burns and Logan Couture scored for the Sharks, and Antti Niemi made 27 saves, but none of that was enough this time around as Winnipeg score one more than the Sharks and walked away with victory.

The game got off to a quick start, with Dan Boyle scoring his 9th goal of the season only 1:57 into the game. Sharks defenseman put the puck in the next on a deflection from Marty Havlat’s shot, as Boyle joined the attack and was standing right next to Winnipeg’s goaltender Al Montoya. Winnipeg tied the game 36 seconds later as Andrew Ladd scored on a counter attack and 2-on-2 opportunity. Brent Burns scored towards the end of that period on a power play putting a backhand shot in the net as he got a great pass from Joe Pavelski to put Sharks head 2-1.

The first period was very characteristic of the rest of the game. Both teams were playing open hockey, the defense wasn’t stellar, the puck was bouncing (Logan Couture complained about the ice conditions after the game), and both teams had plenty of chances in front of their opponents’ net.

Jets scored the next two and got ahead on goals by Blake Wheeler and Dustin Byfuglien, but their lead didn’t last.

Logan Couture scored one of the more painful goals of his career when he tied the game at 3-3 at 11:23 of the second period when Sharks scored another power play goal (their second) as he tipped the puck on a shot from James Sheppard who continues to play some of the best hockey of his career lately. Couture tipped the puck and was bent over crouching on the ice right after puck went in. But hands went up and he still celebrated his 20th goal. He mentioned after the game that the puck hit him in the thumb on its way into the goal.

That tying goal setup a great third period for both teams still having a chance to win the game with a good strong finish.

Dustin Byfuglien went on to score his second goal of the night when Sharks were in penalty trouble late in the third period. After nearly killing off Brad Stuart’s holding penalty, Sharks sent another player into the penalty box when Logan Couture sent the puck over the glass while clearing it. That penalty was costly as Jets capitalized on their man advantage to take 4-3 lead with three minutes left in the game.

Sharks pulled Antti Niemi for another man, but were unable to come back in this one.

“Obviously, we were not good enough,” said Sharks head coach Todd McLellan after the game. “I liked the power play, and did not like the penalty kill. The mistake at the end is something we work on all the time and was very preventable, which is disappointing.”

Sharks are now headed to Denver for one game road trip where they’ll play Avalanche on Saturday before returning back to San Jose to face Oilers on Tuesday.

Burns shines in Sharks victory over Ducks

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By Ivan Makarov

SAN JOSE, CA — Tied for points in the standings in the Pacific Division, San Jose Sharks and Anaheim Ducks faced each other at the SAP Center on Thursday night in what was going to be one of the most important games in this stretch of the season. With both teams coveting the home ice advantage in playoffs, the tension was high. Sharks biggest stars rose to the occasion, powered by a great performance by Brent Burns, and defeated the Ducks 3-2, coming from behind.

Down 2-1 in the third period, Sharks did not despair, being the veteran team that they are. Brent Burns and Joe Thornton got out on a 2-on-1 breakaway, with Burns holding the puck. He shot it on the net, as any good forward should in this situation. Ducks goaltender Frederik Andersen made the save, but the rebound fell to Thornton who put it just over Anderson who failed to make the save while still laying on the ice.

It was a big play from Burns who was flying all over the ice all night long, creating scoring chances, trying to finish them and throwing big hits all around.

“It’s so easy to play with him,” said Thornton of Brent Burns. “He just goes, he’s just a beast out there. Nobody can handle his size and his speed. It forced you to keep up with him because he’s going so fast. It’s great to watch.”

McLellan was likewise pleased with Burns.

“He is a wrecking ball, and a one man wrecking crew when he plays that way. His physically showed early in the game. I thought he finished his checks. That wasn’t even part of the offensive attack or anything like that.  He established himself as a man early and decided to play that way. It was nice to see him rewarded and the team.”

Sharks’ big defenseman-turned-forward Burns didn’t stop there and went on to score the game winning goal with four minutes left in the game, deflecting Joe Thornton’s shot in front of the net.

“I just saw Burnzie’s big body in front and decided to throw it in there, “ said Thornton. “It was lucky it hit off and he put it in the back of the net.”

Before Sharks were down, they were ahead at the start of the game.

Sharks were the first one to score in this game. Luca Sbisa took a bad penalty when he crossed checked Tommy Wingers into the boards with the puck nowhere near the two players, but with the referee watching. Sharks made him pay the price when Patrick Marleau scored his 29th goal of the season in front of the net after a good setup by Joe Thornton.

Ducks came back and also scored a power play when Marc-Eduard Vlasic was in the penalty box for questionable interference call when Teemu Selanne fell down on the ice in front of him. Mathieu Perreault was the goalscorer on the play as he put the puck into the net from close range. Selanne scored early in the third period to give the Ducks 2-1 lead, but it didn’t stand, and Sharks went on to win.

San Jose Sharks are now in the sole possession of the first place in the Pacific Division – the lead they have not held since early December. They are next on the ice on Saturday when they host Washington Capitals.

Sharks stunned by Panthers at home

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By Ivan Makarov

One thing that’s been odd and puzzling about San Jose Sharks season thus far is how poorly they have played against Eastern Conference outsiders, especially at home. With the losses to Buffalo Sabres and New York Islanders, it came as no surprise when another Eastern bottom dweller gave Sharks a hard time, this time the team being Florida Panthers.

With only 25 wins in 68 games before the match up at SAP Center (compared to Sharks’ 45 wins on the season), Florida walked away with a 3-2 victory on Tuesday night in front of the sellout crowd. Scoring three goals in the second period, that’s all they needed to stop the six game winning streak by the Sharks.

Scottie Upshall, Quinton Howden and Brandon Pirri scored for the visiting team while Marty Havlat and Brent Burns scored for the Sharks.

On top of that, it was a stellar night in goal for Sharks’ familiar foe Roberto Luongo who was a frequent visitor to San Jose when he was playing with Vancouver Canucks before being traded to Florida only two weeks ago in the trade deadline transaction. Luongo made 52 saves (28 of them in the third period alone!) to preserve the victory.

How do Sharks explain the losses to some of these weaker teams?

“It’s tough to explain,” said Logan Couture after the game. “We knew going in that they were going to come out and they were going to work. I think we have more talent in this room than they have in theirs. But in the first two periods they outworked us.”

Coach Todd McLellan agreed.

“I was really disappointed, and I’m sure [the players] would tell you they are too. We started average and didn’t get better and then fell asleep. There wasn’t a lot of emotion in the game and drive from our behalf. We fell asleep and then tried to get desperate in the end. It doesn’t matter what league you’re in, you can’t win like that. We’ve talked about this a lot of times already, with teams who may be not in the playoffs, and we keep shooting ourselves in the foot. Until we fix that, we’re probably going to end up with the same results.”

The game itself was indeed the tale of the two different performances like the two of them described – the lackadaisical first two periods, and the desperate game in the third period.

After uneventful first period, San Jose were the first team with the the lead in the game after Marty Havlat opened the score with his eighth goal of the season which he scored on the power play at the start of the second period, as he fired the puck on a slap shot above the face-off circle. But it was the second half of that period that decided the game when Florida scored three goals in a row.

The first two goals came within 17 seconds of each other, which had to be frustrating for the Sharks. The third goal came with only 15 seconds remaining in the period. Sharks were outshot in that period and did not look like the team that have won 10 out of the last 12 games.

“In the first two [periods] we were cheating ourselves,” said Couture. “We were trying to look for offensive chances, leaving the zone. Too many mistakes.”

After some adjustments in the second intermission the Sharks looked like they got their legs back, and they began playing faster hockey, putting more shots on goal and breaking through Florida’s stingy defense. They outshot them 29-2 in that period, and had four power play chances, including a 51-second long 5-on-3 advantage. But when even when presented with good scoring chances, Sharks did not capitalize on them, as Luongo was sharp and focused in goal.

Sharks did score one goal with three minutes remaining in the game, but the big scramble afterward did not lead to any more goals.

If there was one positive on Tuesday night for the Sharks it was that their main divisional opponent this season Anaheim Ducks also lost playing at home against Washington Capitals, failing to advance on the Sharks in the standings. The two teams will now face each other on Thursday back at the SAP Center.