The Sharks continue to be vexed by the Seattle Kraken, and their latest loss cost them a chance to move up in the Pacific Division standings.
The Sharks allowed even two strength goals to Carson Soucy and one to Calle Jarnkrok and couldn’t fully take advantage of multiple power-play opportunities in the second and third periods in a 3-2 loss to the Kraken on Thursday in their first visit to Climate Pledge Arena.
Timo Meier, three days after he scored five goals, scored a power-play goal at the 9:37 mark of the third period to cut Seattle’s lead to 3-2. But the Sharks finished the game 1-for-6 with the man advantage in what was a frustrating night for a handful of reasons.
By losing to a Kraken team that had won just one other game in its last 10, the Sharks blew an opportunity to move into second place in the division.
As they get ready to play some of the NHL’s toughest teams, the Sharks are still in fourth place in the Pacific Division and are tenuously holding onto second place in the Western Conference’s wild-card standings with 44 points. Los Angeles and Anaheim both have 45 points, and the Kings lost 4-1 to Colorado on Thursday.
San Jose also lost to Seattle 3-1 on Dec. 14.
“It’s hard to win on the road and you have to do the things that we talk about every day and you have to have the identity that we know brings us success,” Sharks coach Bob Boughner said. “I don’t think we did it for long enough tonight.”
Tomas Hertl also scored for the Sharks, beating Philipp Grubauer just 38 seconds into the first period off a nice pass from Alexander Barabanov. But the Sharks missed a handful of other chances to beat Grubauer in what was a bitter way to end the first half of the season.
Defenseman Erik Karlsson hit the post once in the first period on a shot that would have extended the lead, and the Sharks the post two more times on a second-period power play. Meier, coming off his record-setting performance Monday in the Sharks’ 6-2 win over Los Angeles, was also denied by Grubauer on a second-period breakaway.
Grubauer finished with 22 saves.
“We had opportunities to tie it up,” Boughner said. “Give them credit. Their goalie made some saves.”
With the loss, the Sharks closed the first half of the season with a 21-18-2 record, and their schedule doesn’t get any easier from here.
Between now and the NHL all-star break in early February, the Sharks play two games against the Tampa Bay Lightning, starting with one at SAP Center on Saturday and the other in Florida on Feb. 1. In between, the Sharks have single games on the road against Washington, Florida, and Carolina.
All four of those teams are in the top seven in the NHL’s overall standings, and Florida and Tampa Bay are tied for first place with 59 points each.
“We got a good start and took the lead, but after the first, we stopped playing,” Hertl said. “They were all over us, they managed the game better and we couldn’t find a way. It’s a tough loss because everybody knows what is coming, the last five games before the break.”
San Jose has already equaled its win total through 56 games last season and has victories over playoff-caliber teams like Calgary, Toronto, Carolina, and Minnesota. But the Sharks also have two losses to the Kraken, which entered Thursday 29th in the NHL’s 32-team overall standings.
Sharks goalie Adin Hill finished with 16 saves as Soucy’s goals came at 4:18 and 8:25 of the second period and Jarnkrok scored at the 6:27 mark of the third period for a 3-1 Kraken lead.
Hill started for the sixth time in the last seven games as his game has been trending in the right direction over the last two weeks.
Beginning with his start Jan. 6 in Buffalo, Hill entered Thursday with a 3-1-1 record and a .932 save percentage, which was tied for 10th best in the NHL among all goalies who played at least two games in that time. He also had a 1.99 goals-against average, which was seventh-best.
Seattle snapped a nine-game losing streak Monday at home against the Chicago Blackhawks.
Source: www.mercurynews.com