The San Jose Sharks were 20 minutes away from their first victory of the season on Sunday.
But unless they expect their goalies to be perfect, it’s going to be hard to earn a win by scoring just once a game.
The Sharks led by one going into the third period but allowed goals by Dylan Strome and Tom Wilson in the final 18 minutes in a 3-1 loss to the Washington Capitals, extending San Jose’s season-long losing streak to nine games.
On a scramble beside the Sharks’ goal, Wilson chipped a puck over goalie Mackenzie Blackwood which went off defenseman Kyle Burroughs into the net with 4:45 left in regulation time for a 2-1 Capitals lead.
Evgeny Kuznetsov then added an empty net goal for the Capitals with 58 seconds left.
Luke Kunin scored the Sharks’ only goal and Blackwood finished with 39 saves.
The Sharks (0-8-1) have now scored just nine goals in nine games.
On Washington’s tying goal at the 2:18 mark of the third period, Mike Hoffman tried to glove down a head-manning pass inside the Sharks’ blue line. But instead, it went off his hand and right to the Capitals. Strome then took a Nick Jensen pass and fired a shot that got past a screened Blackwood.
Kunin’s goal, his first since Nov. 27 of last season, came at the 11:40 mark of the first period. After some work deep in the Capitals’ zone, William Eklund got the puck back to the blue line, where it swung around to defenseman Ty Emberson, who fired it toward the Washington net. Kunin picked up the loose puck around the net, and chipped it past Darcy Kuemper, giving San Jose just its third lead of the season.
The goal snapped a Sharks goalless drought of 163 minutes and 10 seconds, the third longest in team history. San Jose had been shut out in each of its last two games, in losses to the Tampa Bay Lightning and Carolina Hurricanes, and hadn’t scored since the second period of their game on Tuesday against the Florida Panthers.
The Sharks officially activated Mikael Granlund off of injured reserve on Sunday morning.
Granlund has dealt with a lower-body injury since the Sharks’ Oct. 12 season-opener. He appeared set to come back into the lineup near the start of the road trip as he was preparing to play the Panthers, but suffered what was described as a minor setback.
Granlund, though, started to better later in the week due to what Quinn said was a “different approach to his treatments.”
With Granlund added to the roster, the Sharks reassigned forwards Jacob Peterson and Thomas Bordeleau. Both had played in six games with the Sharks this season; Peterson didn’t have a point and Bordeleau had a goal and an assist.
Source: www.mercurynews.com