Eighth straight loss for the San Jose Sharks sees Dallas Stars sweep season series
Another difficult night for the San Jose Sharks sees the Dallas Stars complete the sweep of the season series at the Shark tank as they win 6-3.
By Conor Power
The San Jose Sharks could not keep up with another team as they lost again, increasing their skid to eight straight defeats. A 6-3 defeat at home to the Dallas Stars means that the Sharks have just two wins since the all-star break, and one was the second game back from it. That is the stat that can summarize this season for the Sharks. It's a challenging year, but we're getting to the end of it, so let's get through this game quickly.
It didn't start well when Wyatt Johnston was able to steal the puck on the San Jose Sharks powerplay. He breezes in alone on Mackenzie Blackwood and is able to lift the puck over his blocker. It was a costly mistake on the Sharks man advantage, but it was still just the first period. There was plenty of time for the Sharks to make worse mistakes than that one and wash it from our memories.
It was two with less than four minutes to go in the frame. Mason Marchment got the puck in his own zone before he jumped around Nico Sturm in the neutral zone. A power move saw the big forward able to beat Kyle Burroughs to the front of the net. Jan Rutta couldn't get back in time to slow him down, and he found a hole on Blackwood to get the puck home on a beautiful solo effort.
In the second, the Stars would capitalize on another lousy mistake from the Sharks. Mikael Granlund won a defensive zone faceoff back to Burroughs but couldn't clear it, as Jason Robertson held it at the point. Robertson walks into the faceoff circle and can bury it 14 seconds into the second period as it leaks through Blackwood. San Jose was getting pumped early in this one.
However, they would get the next one. William Eklund got the puck behind the net and found a beautiful pass out in front to Alexander Barabanov, who fired home his first goal since January 4th, ending a long baron spell for him. San Jose had life, but it was still a long way back between now and the end of the game if the Sharks would get the two points. San Jose needed to find a few more without giving anything else up.
The Sharks would also get the next goal. Mikael Granlund put the puck on Thomas Bordeleau's blade on the powerplay. Bordeleau found a perfect pass across the middle of the ice onto the stick of William Eklund, who blasted home the one-timer to give the Sharks a fresh lease on life. Suddenly, this was competitive, and the Sharks had done their part in making a game out of this massacre.
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Dallas would quickly douse the flames of hope when Nils Lundkvist got hold of the puck behind the net before dishing it out for Wyatt Johnston. Blackwood denied that, but the rebound bounced high for Stars captain Jamie Benn to knock home out of the sky like he was on a tryout with the Texas Rangers, and the Stars were dominating once more. Reestablishing their two-goal lead, Dallas was showing why they were a Stanley Cup threat, and the Sharks were the favorites for Macklin Celebrini.
San Jose would make this game competitive again when Mikael Granlund could pick off a pass through the neutral zone. Dropping it back to Klim Kostin, Granlund continued down the left boards while being interfered with. Kostin walked in and picked a corner, ringing the post on its way in and bringing the Sharks back to within one. This second period had seen the Sharks show signs of growth and promise in the first half of it.
The pair that had caused the Sharks so much trouble in this game would grant the Stars their multiple-goal lead once more. Johnston and Benn walked in on a two-on-one, with the lone player back being Jan Rutta. Rutta drifts over to try cutting Jamie Benn's passing options, leaving Johnston alone in the slot. The pass gets through, Henry Thrun cannot return, and Johnston buries it.
In the third, we would get the final nail in the coffin from the Stars. A powerplay marker would see Jason Robertson through the puck back to the point for Miro Heiskanen. Heiskanen would give it back to Robertson in the circle to the left of Blackwood, and the Stars sniper was able to fire it home and complete the season series sweep over the San Jose Sharks. It's another challenging game, but there's no time to mope with a road trip coming up.