San Jose Sharks Mishaps Lead To Defeat In Anaheim

The San Jose Sharks and Anaheim Ducks always play tight-checking, hard-hitting affairs and last night was no different. This had the feeling of a playoff matchup and the game lived up to the billing. Unfortunately for the Sharks, there were too many mistakes that Anaheim took full advantage of to score a 3-2 victory on Tuesday night.

This was a fairly even contest throughout with both teams surging at different points in the game. The Sharks came out strong in the first period with 14 shots on goal and multiple chances in close, but Ducks goaltender Frederik Andersen was there to thwart those opportunities.

Anaheim would strike first on a nice little give-and-go between Patrick Maroon and Rickard Rakell before Rakell rifled one past Martin Jones from the right faceoff dot to give the Ducks the 1-0 advantage after one period of play.

The game would really open up in the second period, and this is where some of those critical Sharks mishaps came back to bite them in the end.

San Jose would tie things up early in the second after a great shift by their fourth line of Dainius Zubrus, Chris Tierney and Melker Karlsson. The trio would work the puck back to the point where Zubrus tipped home a point shot from Brent Burns for his second goal of the season.

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The Sharks appeared poised to seize more momentum in this one as they immediately went on the power play following the Zubrus goal. However, it was the Ducks and their number one penalty killing unit that would find the back of the net. After a series of misplays from San Jose, Ryan Getzlaf found Hampus Lindholm from behind the net, and he blasted one top corner to give Anaheim the lead yet again.

It was a back-breaking goal for the Sharks to give up because they completely botched their passing and defensive coverage on the play.

Things would get worse for San Jose as their fourth line got caught behind the play as Anaheim attacked on a 3-on-2. Chris Stewart’s shot was saved by an over-aggressive Jones who couldn’t recover in time as Ryan Garbutt scored into the empty net, giving the Ducks a 3-1 advantage.

But the Sharks wouldn’t go away as they immediately responded. Joonas Donskoi took the puck to the middle of the ice, and a bouncing puck found its way to Tommy Wingels who fired one past Andersen just 1:05 after Garbutt’s goal. It was a big goal for Wingels and his teammates as they were right back in the game.

Unfortunately, San Jose couldn’t find the tying goal as Anaheim did a nice job of shutting things down and limiting the Sharks’ chances in the final frame. It was a tough game back for the Sharks who didn’t appear as sharp as they had been over the course of their 10-game point streak.

While the San Jose penalty kill did brilliant work in killing off two 5-on-3 opportunities by the Ducks, the Sharks power play was a flop, allowing the shorthanded goal and failing to convert when they had a chance to tie the game with 2:07 left in the game.

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For the second time in a span of three games, San Jose missed a big opportunity against one of their Southern California rivals. That’s the reason this one stings so much is the Sharks could have easily won this game, but now find themselves just three points ahead of the hard-charging Ducks.

Things don’t get much easier for team teal as they travel to St. Louis to take on the Blues for the first time this season. San Jose must rebound and not allow this loss to snow ball into something much bigger.