Takeaways from San Jose’s loss in Arizona
GLENDALE, Ariz. – A lot of bad news came out of Wednesday’s game in the desert.
The Sharks (28-14-7) season-high seven-game winning streak came to an end. They missed an opportunity to pull even with the Calgary Flames for first place in the Pacific Division and Erik Karlsson is showing signs that he might be a little dinged up.
After he received just six third period shifts for “precautionary” reasons in Tuesday’s win over the Pittsburgh Penguins, Karlsson skated for 25:48 in a losing effort against the Arizona Coyotes, posting a minus-4 rating. The ice time is down from the 30:09 he received in Las Vegas last week, the 29:15 he logged against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Jan. 5 and the 30:54 he accumulated in Colorado on Jan. 2.
In the wake of Marc-edouard Vlasic’s injury, the Sharks have leaned heavily on Karlsson in close games, which is why it’s surprising that his ice time was down as his team attempted to erase a deficit in the third period. Sounds precautionary.
Here’s the good news: 25-plus minutes is still a healthy workload, so it’s unlikely that he’s dealing with a major injury. Second, he nearly led the Ottawa Senators to the Stanley Cup Final is 2017 with two hairline fractures in his left heel, a sign that he can perform with pain. Third, the Sharks are going to receive a nine-day break in a week. If the injury is significant, Karlsson can skip the All Star Game at SAP Center regardless of how the league feels about it.
Here’s what we learned in the Sharks 6-3 loss to the Arizona Coyotes:
The Sharks deserve a get-out-of-jailfree card. They won’t accept it.
After an emotional win over the Penguins, the Sharks jumped on a plane for Arizona where they played the second game of a back-to-back against a rested team after putting together two weeks of near-flawless hockey. A letdown seemed more than possible.
But the Sharks aren’t letting themselves off the hook.
“No. You don’t think that way. No. No,” Logan Couture said. “We’re disappointed.” The Sharks are disappointed because they handed the Coyotes a twogoal lead in the game’s first five minutes.
After Kevin Labanc turned the puck over in the neutral zone, goalie Aaron Dell allowed Lawson Crouse’s 45-foot shot to bounce in off his glove. 1-0. Then, Brent Burns coughed it up on a Sharks power play, leading to a breakaway for Richard Panik. 2-0.
After that, the Sharks spent the rest of the night trying to climb out of a hole that proved to be insurmountable. They gave the puck away throughout the game and failed to match the Coyotes physicality and intensity level for long stretches. After Couture scored to make it a 4-3 game with 4:52 left in regulation, Timo Meier committed a senseless penalty that ended the rally.
“We were uncharacteristically sloppy, a little soft,” head coach Pete Deboer said.
They’ll get a chance to start over Saturday with a rematch against the Tampa Bay Lightning.