Lightning strikes quite often
Sharks can’t keep pace, see their four-gamewin streak come to an end
SAN JOSE >> The Sharks couldn’t complete a line change or get control of the puck as the Tampa Bay Lightning connected on at least six passes inside San Jose’s defensive zone in one second-period stretch.
The sequence ended — almost mercifully — for the Sharks when Steven Stamkos fed an open VladislavNamestnikov right next to goalie Martin Jones for a tapin goal.
Coming into Wednesday riding a four- game win streak, the
Sharks got a bigtime reality check from arguably the
NHL’s best team, as the Lightning skated away with a convincing 5-1 win.
Namestnikov’s goal was one of five straight by the Lightning after Joonas Donskoi’s opener 25 seconds into the first period, which turned out to be the home team’s lone highlight. Jones was chased after two periods after stopping 17 of 21 shots.
“What you take away is when you play an elite team, you have to bring your A game,” Sharks coach Pete DeBoer said. “We didn’t have that tonight across the board. When you show up with your B game against a team like that, that’s what it looks like.”
Namestnikov finished with two goals and an assist, part of an impressive night for Tampa Bay’s top line. Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov also had three points each, with Kucherov scoring his league-leading 15th goal and Stamkos raising his NHLbest point total to 28.
“Anytime we had it, we seemed
to give it back to them,” Sharks captain Joe Pavelski said of the team’s turnovers. “They got a lot fromus tonight, but no doubt, they create off of that as well.”
Namestnikov’s first goal was a prime example of how every time the Sharks found themselves even slightly out of position, the Lightning either created a quality scoring chance or made San Jose pay with a highlightreel score.
“If you miss assignments and leave them alone in the slot, they’ll bury you,” said Sharks defenseman MarcEdouard Vlasic, who returned to the lineup after a one-game absence with a head injury.
“Kucherov’s goal, he was all alone. (Namestnikov) was all alone too on his goal. If you do that against that line, they’ll score.”
Donskoi had the Sharks’ lone goal in the first two periods, his fifth goal of the season. Slowly, though, the Lightning began to exert its will over a Sharks teamthat has prided itself on tightchecking hockey.
The Sharks had done a decent job of slowing down the top scorer of each of their past five opponents, holding Rickard Rakell, Filip Forsberg, Auston Matthews, Evander Kane and Brad Marchand to a combined one goal, two assists and 12 shots on goal.
Through two periods though, the Lightning’s top line of Stamkos, Namestnikov and Kucherov had combined for six points.
“I thin kwe played maybe a good first five minutes and then our game tailed off,” Sharks center Logan Couture said. “They kind of found their legs and we turned pucks over, didn’t forecheck well. They forechecked well and we gave their skill time and space. They felt comfortable and had the puck all night. Our focus going into tonight was not to do that and we let them do it.”
The Sharks only had two power-play opportunities, but the Lightning had the better scoring chances on both tries. The Sharks had two shots on goal with the man advantage, and Tampa Bay had four short-handed shots on goal.
“They outskated us all over the ice,” Couture said. “They were a man short and they looked like had five more guys than us on the ice. It was embarrassing on all of us on the power play.”
It was a frantic first 20
minutes, perhaps not quite the pace the Sharks were looking to have against one of the NHL’s most dangerous offenses.
The Lightning averaged a league-best 3.87 goals per game coming into Wednesday and owned an Eastern Conference-leading record of 11-2-2. Seven of Tampa Bay’s players had at least 11 points, with Stamkos and Kucherov leading the way with 25 and 23 points, respectively, to pace the NHL.
The Sharks already made some impressive statements so far this homestand with wins over Toronto, Nashville and Anaheim, as their four-game win streak was largely a product of goaltending, timely goals, puck management and limiting chances against.
Wednesday’s game, it seemed, was another opportunity to show they deserve to be mentioned in the same breath with the league’s best teams.
“As the game went on, we could never just reset ourselves,” Pavelski said. “Laid a few pucks in, we kept missing passes and just fed their rush.”
After being a healthy scratch for the past six games, forward Jannik
Hansen drew back into the lineup and was on the Sharks’ fourth line with Barclay Goodrow and Joel Ward. Hansen had 12:04 of ice time.