San Jose’s losing streak now 6 games
The Sharks find themselves in quite a predicament after their latest home loss – a 2-0 decision Saturday night against the Minnesota Wild.
San Jose has lost a season-high six straight to fall to 14-14-1, including 4-9 at home. The Sharks now embark on a five-game trip that isn’t nearly as easy a road as when they won six straight from Nov. 13-22.
This trek takes the Sharks to Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa, Chicago and Los Angeles before a return home, where they have lost six of their past seven. Long gone, it seems, is the home-ice mystique they once possessed at the Shark Tank.
Sitting in fourth place and out of a playoff spot in the Pacific Division, the Sharks are only one point ahead of Alberta also-rans Calgary and Edmonton, and two points ahead of last-place but resurgent Anaheim.
It’s possible San Jose will be looking up to all those division rivals once Christmas comes. Talk about a lump of coal in the Sharks’ stockings.
“We were at a critical stage and went on the road the last time for a long trip and found a way,” Sharks coach Peter DeBoer said. “We’ll regroup here. It’s not all bad.”
It was pretty bad Saturday night.
The game was scoreless into the third period until a defensive breakdown allowed Wild captain Zach Parise to work alone against goalie Martin Jones. Parise put a rebound of his initial shot in close over the right pad of the Jones at 4:41.
“We can break it down any way you want,” DeBoer said. “They made some mistakes we didn’t capitalize on and they capitalized on one and that was the hockey game.”
San Jose’s defense pair of Brent Burns and Paul Martin were nowhere close to Parise. Rookie left wing Joonas Donskoi was the only Shark in the neighborhood, and he was late to arrive. Forwards Tomas Hertl and Chris Tierney were no factor on the play that was culminated following a fairly long Minnesota cycle.
“The defense, and forwards, as a group, that can’t happen,” Burns said.
As was the case early, the Sharks couldn’t solve Minnesota backup goalie Darcy Kuemper, who was playing his third straight game as starter Devan Dubnyk remained home from the road trip to rest a groin injury and spend time with a newborn son.
Kuemper made 25 saves for his first shutout of the season and sixth of his career.
“We never got to the goalie,” Sharks captain Joe Pavelski said. “It was one of those games where there wasn’t much room out there. We didn’t create enough to get a couple.”
Pavelski is aware, too, the season has reached a critical point.
“Drop six in a row, it gets frustrating,” he said. “We’ve got to calm down a little bit and realize where we’re at.”