Sloppy second period dooms Sharks in loss to LA Kings
SAN JOSE » This was supposed to be the week that the Sharks were going to take advantage of a forgiving schedule and make a strong push for a playoff spot in the West Division.
It didn’t work out that way.
The Sharks allowed three unanswered goals in the second period and lost 4-2 to the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday at SAP Center, closing out a week in which they managed just one win in three games against the West Division’s seventh and eighth place teams.
The Sharks began the week with a 5-1 loss to the last place Anaheim Ducks before rebounding to beat the Kings 5-2 on Friday. With Saturday’s loss, the Sharks (18-18-4) are now four points back of the St. Louis Blues for fourth place in the West Division, and three points back of the fifth-place Arizona Coyotes.
Dylan Gambrell and Timo Meier both scored for the Sharks, who went 6-2-0 in their eight-game season series with the Kings and now host the Ducks on Monday and Wednesday to close out their five-game homestand.
The Sharks were a step slow early in the second period, allowing goals to Andreas Athanasiou and Alex Iafallo at the 2:28 and 3:23 marks, respectively, to fall behind 3-1. Dustin Brown then helped put the game to bed, rifling a shot past Martin
Jones for a power play goal and a 4-1 Los Angeles lead with eight seconds to go before intermission.
Brown, Athanasiou and Jeff Carter each had a goal and an assist for the Kings, and goalie Jonathan Quick had 26 saves.
“Just didn’t look to me like we were fighting hard enough,” Sharks coach Bob Boughner said. “We looked a little complacent and some nights when things aren’t going your way and it’s a back-to-back situation, you simplify your game. It didn’t look like we were ready to simplify that.”
Jones, making
his seventh
straight start — all in 13 days — allowed four goals on 19 shots but once again, didn’t get a ton of help from the skaters in front of him.
Josef Korenár, placed on the active roster after Devan Dubnyk was traded to the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday morning, made his NHL debut as he started the third period for the Sharks. He stopped all seven shots he faced in the third period.
“Our team was completely flat in the second period,” Boughner said when asked why he inserted Korenár. “It looked like we just needed some kind of injection of some energy, and I was hoping that (Korenár) being in his first game we’d play a little harder around him and maybe rally around him a little bit. But the game was lost in the second period.”