Third Period Dooms San Jose Sharks Against Dallas

The San Jose Sharks are back to square one. After beginning the season with a 4-0 record out of the gates, the Sharks have now lost five of their past six games following their 5-3 loss at the hands of the Dallas Stars and their former netminder Antti Niemi.

San Jose (5-5-0) has lost their momentum from the early going and must now look to reestablish who they are as a team. Following their quick start, the Sharks said this was a different team, but after sputtering in their last few games, San Jose looks just like the 2014-15 version of this team.

The Sharks were in a good position in this one after battling back from 2-0 and 3-2 deficits in the second period. This game was all knotted up at three apiece when Antoine Roussel scored the game-winner with 6:27 left in the third following a net-mouth scramble in front of San Jose netminder Alex Stalock, who was making just his second start of the season.

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It was a banner day for two former Sharks as Niemi and Jason Demers each made meaningful contributions for Dallas in this one. Demers scored his third goal of the season, a shorthanded deflection off the rush to give the Stars a 2-0 lead at the time. Demers picked up third star honors after recording one goal and one assist while being a plus-three in this one.

Meanwhile, Niemi made 26 saves in his first start against his former teammates. While San Jose was able to apply plenty of pressure against Nemo, they couldn’t cash in when they needed it most.

The one silver lining for the Sharks was the resurgence of their dormant power play. San Jose went 2-for-4 with the man advantage in this one, as Joe Pavelski tipped home a Brent Burns shot from the point to get the Sharks on the board, while Joel Ward deposited his team-leading sixth goal to tie the game at three.

San Jose even got a shorthanded goal from Matt Nieto following a nice feed from Tommy Wingels for Nieto’s second of the year. Hopefully the Sharks can build off their power play performance and get that aspect of their game rolling again.

For Stalock, it’s been a rough couple of games between the pipes for him. In his two appearances, Stalock has allowed nine goals on 57 shots faced (.842 save percentage) with a 4.54 goals-against-average. Those numbers won’t cut it, and he probably should have done better on the Stars’ third and fourth goals.

San Jose doesn’t have much time to think about this one as they head to Colorado for a battle with the Avalanche tomorrow night. The Sharks need to rediscover their game and find a balance in playing a full 60-minute game. Currently, the nights when the defense is going well, the offense isn’t clicking, and vice versa.

Next: Sharks Special Teams Anything But Special At The Moment

With a majority of their injuries behind them, it’s time for this team to come together and prove they’re different from the outfit last year. Right now, it’s hard to see much of a difference between those two teams.