It wasn’t a win, however the Sharks hope Tuesday’s highway sport with the Anaheim Geese can not less than be a springboard to some extra constructive outcomes.
Trevor Zegras and Rickard Rakell each scored within the shootout because the Geese beat the Sharks 4-3 on the Honda Heart, handing San Jose its seventh straight loss.
Brent Burns had a objective and assisted on each of Logan Couture’s objectives. Timo Meier had two assists and now has 5 factors in his final three video games, because the Sharks fell to 0-3-4 since a 4-1 win over the Washington Capitals on Jan. 26.
Nonetheless, the Sharks felt they performed a extra full sport Tuesday than at any level since they returned from a 12-day break early final week.
The Sharks misplaced 3-0 to Edmonton on Feb. 14, 5-4 in additional time to Vancouver three days later and had been coming off a 4-1 loss to Vegas on Sunday. The Sharks fell behind in every sport and by no means led at any level.
“I assumed that we performed very, very effectively,” Sharks coach Bob Boughner mentioned. “We battled arduous, we caught up for one another and I feel we emptied the tank tonight. The possibilities (had been) closely in our favor. We did some good issues.”
Sharks goalie James Reimer, making his ninth straight begin, allowed two second-period objectives to Rakell and a first-period objective to Derek Grant, as he completed with 26 saves.
“If we proceed to play that tough, clear up a few little areas,” Boughner mentioned, “I feel that we’re going to get our justifiable share of factors down the stretch.”
Couture gave the Sharks a 3-2 lead on the 13:44 mark of the second interval, as he scored off a rebound from Stolarz after a Burns shot on objective.
Couture, whose final two-goal sport was Oct. 22 in Toronto towards the Maple Leafs, now has 17 objectives in 46 video games this season – equaling his complete in 53 video games final season.
“It’s powerful to take positives from this sport proper now,” Couture mentioned. “(Wednesday), after we watch video, I feel there’s so much that we are able to take from this sport and construct upon it.”
The Sharks (22-22-6) at the moment are 9 factors out of a playoff spot with 32 video games left to play. Until they'll shortly flip issues round, the Sharks will seemingly be sellers by the March 21 commerce deadline.
The Sharks start a three-game homestand on Thursday towards the New York Islanders. They face the Boston Bruins on Saturday and the Seattle Kraken on Sunday.
“It’s not that simple for us to attain,” Sharks winger Andrew Cogliano mentioned. “So typically now we have to play virtually an ideal sport to win.”
The Sharks, although, met earlier than their follow on Monday and Boughner was of the opinion that the group was spending an excessive amount of time wanting on the huge image. Boughner felt issues just like the playoff race and the commerce deadline was taking away from the Sharks’ major focus – enjoying the sport that’s proper in entrance of them.
“We’ve all been responsible of worrying in regards to the huge image as an alternative of simply taking good care of at present, and I feel that was a part of the message,” Boughner mentioned Monday. “It’s about getting a little bit little bit of that zeal, that enjoyable again, a little bit swagger. Some guys are gripping sticks a little bit tight or they’re not doing issues that come naturally.
“We talked about this a little bit bit, the commerce deadline stuff will get in there, the contract negotiations – all of these issues, the swirling noise and all the pieces. Our job as a training workers is to try to get rid of these distractions and it’s their job as gamers to return (ready to play). We’ve acquired a job to do day-after-day and we are able to solely management what occurs within the first 20 minutes (Tuesday). And that’s all we want to consider.”
Couture and Burns each scored within the first interval because the Sharks led 2-1 after 20 minutes, marking the primary time since Jan. 29 once they had been up 2-1 on the Florida Panthers that they led after the primary interval.
After a Sharks turnover within the impartial zone, Grant went in on a 2 on 0 with Sam Carrick and beat Reimer on the 3:38 mark of the primary interval for a 1-0 Anaheim lead.
However the Sharks responded lower than 4 minutes later. Couture received a faceoff deep within the Geese’ zone again to Burns, whose shot towards the online went off Ryan Getzlaf and again to Couture, who scored on the 7:10 mark.
Burns then scored his first objective since Jan. 2, as after a go again to the blue line from Matt Nieto, Burns let a shot go that beat Stolarz to the blocker facet.
Tuesday’s sport was the primary assembly of the season between the Sharks and the Geese (25-19-9), who at the moment are tied with Los Angeles and Edmonton for third place within the Pacific Division, though the Oilers and Kings each have three video games in hand.