San Jose Sharks Continue Poor Play At SAP Center

Well, if anything, the San Jose Sharks are maddeningly consistent, or inconsistent whichever way you want to look at it, with their play at SAP Center. The trend continued on Tuesday night as the Sharks dropped another contest on home ice, falling to the Pittsburgh Penguins by a 5-1 scoreline.

It was another vexing performance from the boys in teal as they were doomed by a Pittsburgh attack that scored their first three goals all from below the goal line. The first, from Phil Kessel, bounded off the skate of former Penguins defenseman Paul Martin, off Martin Jones’ pad and into the roof of the net. It was just a sign of things to come for the Sharks on this night.

Following a 1-0 first period, veteran Matt Cullen would extend the visitor’s lead by banking a shot in off Jones’ left skate and into the net. Less than two minutes later, Evgeni Malkin would score the goal of the night skating around both Martin and Jones, who was caught too far out on the right side of his crease, before wrapping it in on the far side to serve as the back-breaking goal of the night from a Sharks perspective.

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San Jose would get one back as their power play continued their recent surge as Patrick Marleau took a perfect feed from Joe Pavelski and fired it into the gaping net cut the deficit to 3-1. Marleau was honored before the game by the home crowd and the organization for reaching 1,000 career points with a tribute video where he was joined by his four sons, former teammates Mike Ricci and Evgeni Nabokov, along with current teammates Pavelski, Joe Thornton and Logan Couture.

The Sharks thought they had turned the tide as 17 seconds later Tomas Hertl looked to have scored a goal in his second straight game, depositing a rebound past Marc-Andre Fleury but the goal was waved off because of incidental contact between Tommy Wingels and Fleury in the crease.

That was a pivotal moment as San Jose was coming on and pushing the pace of the game, but they couldn’t get another one past Fleury on this night. Two third-period goals, including an empty-netter from Kessel, would seal the fate of the Sharks who probably deserved a better result on this night.

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However, once again, San Jose found a way to lose at SAP Center, where their record dropped to 4-7-0 on the season. Making matters worse, this was Pittsburgh’s first win in San Jose since 1997, which happened to be the same year Marleau was drafted by the Sharks.

Also, San Jose hasn’t won two straight home games all season as their home woes continue to plague this team. The good news for the Sharks is their next game is on the road against the Anaheim Ducks, but they must sort out their home ice performances and do so fast because it’s becoming embarrassing at this point.