San Jose Sharks come up short again at home to the Anaheim Ducks
By Conor Power
The San Jose Sharks have lost again, this time 6-4 to the Anaheim Ducks. They finish February with a single win, and have just two points since the all-star break. As the deadline approaches, it is fair to be more concerned about the future than the on-ice product. It's not exactly watchable right now, but this is getting worse. The injuries do not help, but this isn't a team that can hide behind excuses anymore.
San Jose would strike first as Fabian Zetterlund would engage in a board battle before taking the puck away from the Ducks red line. He cuts a quick turn and feeds the puck for Anthony Duclair to walk onto and quickly fire that home past John Gibson for a temporary 1-0 lead. A strong start, but the Sharks scored first against the Devils and they got slaughtered in that one so this doesn't mean anything.
Anaheim would get it right back. An odd-man rush into the offensive zone would allow the Ducks to fire the puck towards the stick of promising youngster Leo Carlsson who was able to deflected the puck home past Kaapo Kahkonen. 26 seconds after the Duclair goal, the Ducks had got back onto level terms. San Jose now had to find a way to gather their confidence and attention to regaining the lead in this one.
On the Sharks powerplay, Brett Leason would take the puck up the ice from behind his own net. He was able to enter the Sharks zone uncontested and was able to beat Mike Hoffman towards the net leaving him with a clean look at Kaapo Kahkonen. Leason's shot was able to fire the puck between the legs of the Finnish netminder and it means the Sharks were now behind with a lot to do at this point.
Early in the second period, the Ducks would strike again. A two-on-one was created when the Sharks were pulled too far forward into the offensive zone. It left Adam Henrique with the puck coming the other way for an odd-man rush. He looked off the pass before firing home past Kaapo Kahkonen to double the Ducks lead.
San Jose's powerplay would get one back when William Eklund picked up the puck at the side of the net before getting it back to Mikael Granlund. Granlund sent it back to Fabian Zetterlund at the point who sent it over to Mike Hoffman. Hoffman fired one on and it took a San Jose bounce past Gibson and into the back of the net.
William Eklund would tie the game up when a Sharks shot would sit out in front of Gibson. Sitting loose, Eklund is able to manoeuvre the puck from the pads of the goaltender into a position where he's got some net to aim at behind the Ducks netminder. Eklund would put the puck home to tie us up at 3-3 and the Sharks had life.
Anaheim took its lead back on a powerplay when they were able to work a shooting opportunity from the left circle. Frank Vatrano was able to walk onto one and rip it home, allowing the Ducks to regain their lead. It's a leaky one on Kahkonen who probably should be stopping that, but it's the kind of shooter that's just had pucks go in all season.
Anaheim's powerplay would strike to get their lead back to two. Jackson Lacombe would get the puck to Ryan Strome at the right circle of Kahkonen. Strome gave it back to LaCombe who fired at net from the point. Adam Henrique was able to deflect the puck past Kahkonen, giving him his second of the night.
In the third, San Jose would see its powerplay strike again. Mikael Granlund would give the puck over to Fabian Zetterlund before getting it back. He'd then do the same thing with Mike Hoffman before unleashing his shot. It would be deflected off the stick of Duclair, but it just sat in the slot after Gibson made the save. Duclair was then able to work it past Gibson for his second of the night, and to make it a one goal game again.
Isac Lundestrom would hit the empty net for Anaheim as the Sharks fall again. They are still joint last in the NHL standings with just one win in the month of February. They need to figure this out because this isn't acceptable, even for a rebuilding team like the Sharks. There's supposed to be signs of growth and development, which hasn't been the case to this point.