Sharks flat in first home loss
SAN JOSE — The Sharks haven’t always played the type of game they wanted through the first three weeks of the season. But never did it seem like they looked disengaged.
That word, and others along those lines, cropped up in the wake of their 3-2 loss to the Calgary Flames on Thursday, as a distinct lack of passion through the first 40 minutes paved the way to their first defeat of the season at SAP Center.
“First two periods, those are on us as players,” Sharks captain Joe Pavelski said. “We had
chances, we had power plays. We weren’t clean enough, weren’t ready to play. Disengaged. Doesn’t need to be to win in this league.”
With the game tied 2-2 after third period goals by Brent Burns and Melker Karlsson, the Sharks left Flames rookie Matthew Tkachuk go uncovered as he came up from the far wing.
Tkachuk skated toward the middle of the ice, took a pass from Michael Frolik and beat Sharks goalie Martin Jones with a forehand-to-backhand move for the game-winner with 4:21 to go in the third.
Burns’ power play goal 35 seconds into the third and Karlsson’s tip in of a shot from the point by Marc-Edouard Vlasic might have erased their sluggish start had it not been for Tkachuk’s second goal of the game.
But it stood as a vivid reminder for the Sharks that even for the defending Western Conference champions, they can’t get by with only occasional spurts of inspiration.
Asked if his players understood that they have a target on their back after their Stanley Cup run, Sharks coach Pete DeBoer said, “If they don’t, we’re getting a lesson in that pretty much nightly here.
“The desperation level of the teams we’re playing is very high, and ours is high for stages of the game but not for 60 minutes,” he added. “This is a league where if you don’t play desperate for 60 minutes you’re really limiting your opportunities to win, and I think that’s where we’re at right now.”
Hit stats usually aren’t totally indicative of a team’s energy level. But it told a pretty good story Thursday, as the Sharks were credited with just one hit in the first 20 minutes.
“We want to be a heavy, hard team and when we’re not playing physical and not getting in on the forecheck, I think that indicates for sure when we’re not on our game,” Sharks defenseman Brenden Dillon said of the meager first period hit total.
DeBoer tried to give his team a jolt as he juggled his lines to start the second period. Karlsson was moved to the top line with Joe Thornton and Pavelski and Mikkel Boedker was placed on the third line with Tomas Hertl and Patrick Marleau.
It worked for a while as the Sharks outshot the Flames 8-5 in the first 11 minutes of the second, but the Flames struck twice in the final 3:28 of the second to take a 2-0 lead.
An uncovered Troy Brouwer one-timed a behind-the-back pass from Michael Ferland past Jones for the game’s opening goal. Just 93 seconds later, Tkachuk found some space in the Sharks’ zone and beat Jones with a wrist shot through the legs.
The Sharks went 0-for-3 on the power play in a scoreless first period, collecting five shots in six minutes with the man advantage. The Sharks also killed the one power play they allowed without allowing a shot.
The Sharks figured to have a special teams advantage Thursday.
No team in the NHL has been shorthanded more often this season than the Flames, who’ve given up at least one power play goal in nine of 11 games. Coming into Thursday, the Sharks converted five of 12 power play chances in four home games and had killed 15for-15 penalties over the last five games overall.
“It looked like our first period in general,” DeBoer said of the power play. “We had no hits. We had zero 5 on 5 chances, and that carried into our power play. Our entire game was off. There’s no excuse for that.”
The Sharks don’t play a division foe again until Nov. 19.
“Right now, we’re a goal short, we’re a shot short. That’s on everybody,” Pavelski said. “It doesn’t just come at the end of the night, it doesn’t come on the third shot in the third period. It comes throughout the whole game.”