Credit: AP Photo/Brynn Anderson
By Pearl Allison Lo
The San Jose Sharks lost for the third time in a row as the Florida Panthers scored six against them as well, in a 6-2 win at BB&T Center Monday.
The Sharks have given up multiple goals on special teams during their skid, this time scoring their fewest on net since December 22.
San Jose also used two goalies for the first time in the stretch. Aaron Dell was brought in for relief of Martin Jones after Frank Vatrano made it 5-2 at 7:22.
Meanwhile, Florida goes into their All-Star break on a three-game upswing.
The Panthers tallied in all three periods, breaking the game open with three goals in the third. San Jose’s Evander Kane commented, “I don’t think we did a good enough job of thinking shot first…nothing was really clean…”
Teammate Joe Pavelski added, “That was the difference, their power play…it just kind of snowballed.” San Jose gave up three to the Florida advantage.
Six different Panthers scored. The top line of Vatrano (three), Aleksander Barkov (three) and Evgenii Dadonov (two) went heavy on the assists.
Timo Meier and Logan Couture provided the main offense for the Sharks. Meier’s goal broke a 17-game goalless drought. Kane replied, “Good for him to go to the dirty areas to get out of that slump.”
Aaron Ekblad scored at 17:21 of the first to put Florida on the board.
Couture tied it up at 4:21 of the second.
San Jose’s lead lasted less than two minutes, as Mike Matheson made it 2-1 at 6:07.
Meier then re-tied the game at 13:20.
The Sharks outshot the Panthers 14-7 in the second, but were outshot 17-8 in the third.
Kane took his second penalty of the night 1:56 into the second, resulting in an extremely costly double minor.
Keith Yandle continued the back-and-forth scoring with the last lead of the game at 2:27.
It was all Florida after that, as Vincent Trocheck scored just nine seconds later. Trocheck continued his successful return from a broken ankle with his second goal in two games and fourth point in the three games since he has been back.
Tension flared as the Panthers’ Josh Brown and San Jose’s Brenden Dillon engaged in a fight at 15:02 and Kane received a game misconduct and roughing minor at 19:14.
The Panthers did not stop, as they scored their final goal, at 19:22, also on the power play.
Pavelski noted, “Nothing’s easy, but we got to stick together and to find ways to get the job done…we got a job to do.”
Up Next: The Sharks will have to push through the final game of a back-to-back versus the Washington Capitals Tuesday at 4 pm, before they host the All-Star game on Saturday.
