SAN JOSE – Goalie Kaapo Kahkonen acquired a chance to begin his first profession sport at house on Saturday as a member of the Sharks, an opportunity to choose up his victory in teal after a largely strong outing two days earlier.
Kahkonen’s evening lasted 20 minutes, as he was the sufferer of some shoddy defensive play in entrance of him and maybe his personal momentary lapse in focus in a four-goal first interval for the Dallas Stars.
James Reimer got here on in reduction of Kahkonen to begin the second interval however the harm had been executed, because the Sharks had been unable to beat a three-goal deficit in what turned a 5-4 loss to the Stars at SAP Middle.
Nick Bonino, Brent Burns, John Leonard and Sasha Chmelevski all scored and Reimer completed with 14 saves because the Sharks misplaced their third straight sport. Leonard and Chmelevski scored 3:14 aside late within the third interval to attract the Sharks to inside one objective, however they might not get any nearer.
“I appreciated our begin,” Sharks coach Bob Boughner mentioned. “We went out and we scored the primary objective. I can inform when we've got legs and once we don’t have legs, and I assumed we had good legs tonight.
“Even once we’re down 4-1, I assumed we had good legs. Simply unlucky that we had been clawing again all sport.”
Kahkonen allowed 4 targets on 14 pictures within the opening interval, together with a shocker to Jason Robertson with simply 0.3 seconds left.
The Sharks had been referred to as for icing with 2.7 seconds left within the first interval, as Jonathan Dahlen did not get his stick on a puck at middle ice that had rimmed across the boards by defenseman Mario Ferraro.
“Mario’s simply making an attempt to rim it to (Couture), who let it go simply to get it out of the zone with two seconds left,” Boughner mentioned. “There are guys coming to the bench, they need to have touched it. However I nonetheless assume it went proper by the Dallas participant as effectively.
“That simply may have been a no-icing name and the interval can be over.”
With the faceoff deep within the Sharks’ zone, Tyler Seguin received a faceoff with Couture again to Denis Gurianov, whose shot on objective went off Ferraro and off the top boards behind Kahkonen’s proper shoulder.
Robertson received the race to the free puck and shot it towards the Sharks’ web, the place it went off Kahkonen’s skate and over the objective line with a fraction of a second to spare.
“It’s not a great objective,” Boughner mentioned. “We misplaced the primary interval, we received the second, got here out, we received the third. However you possibly can’t begin permitting 4 targets and (Robertson’s) objective was the backbreaker proper there. The distinction is 2 seconds. Only a unhealthy objective.”
Vladislav Namestnikov, Jani Hakanpaa, and Roope Hintz additionally scored in a span of 8:03 for the Stars within the first interval.
Hanakpaa’s objective on the 8:11 mark of the primary interval truly got here after Seguin fanned on a shot try. However the puck got here again to Hakanpaa, whose shot from above the circles acquired previous Kahkonen.
“In order that’s acquired to be a save as effectively,” Boughner mentioned. “It's what it's.”
“I’ve acquired to do a greater job on the draw, however we’ve acquired to know that there are 5-10 seconds left,” Couture mentioned. “Guys had been going to alter and also you’ve simply go to know the state of affairs within the sport. Keep on the ice, contact the puck.”
Former Sharks captain Joe Pavelski scored on the 7:44 mark of the third interval — the game-winner — for Dallas, which was victorious for the sixth time in seven video games and moved previous the Vegas Golden Knights for the Western Convention’s second wild-card spot.
Ferraro was anticipated to overlook six-to-eight weeks after he had surgical procedure on Feb. 27 to restore a fractured left fibula. However he started skating on Monday and had ramped up his on-ice actions in latest days earlier than he was given medical clearance on Sunday.
“He’s such a tough employee and that speaks for itself,” Leonard mentioned of Ferraro. “Regardless of the docs inform him, he’s going to do and he’ll do the whole lot he can to be again on the ice immediately.”
The Sharks’ homestand continues subsequent week with video games in opposition to Edmonton and Calgary on Tuesday and Thursday respectively.
Kahkonen was making his third begin for the Sharks on Saturday and his second straight after he stopped 42 of 46 pictures in San Jose’s 4-2 loss to the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday.
Boughner mentioned he wished to provide Kahkonen, who made his first two appearances for the crew on the street, the possibility to begin a sport at SAP Middle. Kahkonen got here into Saturday with a 0-2-0 report and a .907 save proportion and a 4.01 goals-against common.
Pavelski was taking part in his third sport in San Jose in three years since he signed a three-year contract with the Stars in 2019. Dallas gave Pavelski, 37, a one-year, $5.5 million deal extension.
Burns and Pavelski now share an fascinating stat in widespread, as each have now scored extra targets after they turned 30 than earlier than. Burns has now scored as many targets at age 30 or older (113 in 538 video games) as he did earlier than age 30 (113 in 699 video games).