Week in Review: Sharks Drop From Playoff Picture

Feb 21, 2015; Santa Clara, CA, USA; Los Angeles Kings right wing Marian Gaborik (12) celebrates with defenseman Jake Muzzin (6) after scoring a goal against the San Jose Sharks in the third period during the Stadium Series hockey game at Levis Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

It was another rough week for the San Jose Sharks as they went 1-2 and now find themselves in tenth place in the Western Conference with only 21 games remaining. For the Sharks, the week began with a Tuesday trip to take on the Western Conference-leading Nashville Predators.

While the Sharks didn’t play poorly against the Predators, costly turnovers and a red-hot performance by Nashville netminder Pekka Rinne allowed the Predators to cruise to an easy 5-1 victory over the Sharks.

Two nights later, San Jose continued their brief road trip with a stop in Dallas to take on the Stars. An early goal from Marc-Edouard Vlasic helped get the Sharks going and two Andrew Desjardins second period goals would give San Jose some breathing room at 3-0. The Stars replaced starter Kari Lehtonen after that and got a power play goal shortly after to make it 3-1 heading to the third. Antti Niemi stood strong in net for the Sharks as the Stars tried to get back into the game. An Erik Cole goal with 2:16 remaining pulled Dallas within one, but empty-net goals from Patrick Marleau and Tommy Wingels sealed the victory for San Jose.

The Sharks wrapped up their week with the most highly anticipated game of the season: the Stadium Series matchup against the Los Angeles Kings. The atmosphere was electric as more than 70,000 fans were on hand at Levi’s Stadium to witness the event.

Unfortunately for Sharks’ fans, the Kings took it to San Jose in the opening period and a Kyle Clifford deflection just 2:46 into the game gave Los Angeles the lead. It was turnover-after-turnover for San Jose during the first, but a late goal by Brent Burns evened the score at one after the first period and breathed life back into the Sharks faithful.

The second period was a much better period for the Sharks, but Jonathan Quick was able to stop every effort. The third period was similar to the first, and a neutral-zone turnover by Burns allowed Marian Gaborik to skate in and blast a shot past Niemi from the left circle that Niemi should have stopped. Gaborik’s goal gave the Kings a 2-1 lead, and they would withstand a couple of late chances by the Sharks to pick up a huge victory. With the win, the Kings vaulted past the Sharks in the standings, leaving San Jose on the outside looking in.

Looking Ahead

The Sharks get some much needed rest this week as they won’t play again until Thursday night, although who knows how far out of the playoff picture San Jose might be at that point. The Sharks will host the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday night at SAP Center and follow that up two nights later by welcoming the Ottawa Senators.

Obviously, the rest of the games are important for the Sharks but hopefully they can regain their confidence and defensive game after having some rest and practice time to clean up their game. The Sharks will need to have winning weeks from here on out if they want to have a successful drive towards the postseason.