The San Jose Sharks once again had a chance to earn a rare post-all-star break victory on Thursday night as they faced the Minnesota Wild.
Once again, the third period proved to be the Sharks’ undoing, although this wasn’t a case where they were badly outplayed.
The Sharks allowed an even-strength goal to Matt Boldy just 18 seconds into the third period and were unable to find the equalizer in a 3-1 loss to the Wild at Xcel Energy Center.
An aggressive Wild forecheck after the period’s opening faceoff at center ice created a turnover in the Sharks’ zone.
After the puck came toward the front of the Sharks’ net, Kirill Kaprizov had his shot attempt blocked by Kyle Burroughs, but the puck came straight to Boldy, who was open to score his 25th of the season past Sharks goalie Mackenzie Blackwood.
Ryan Hartman scored an empty-net goal with 54 seconds left in the third period to seal the win for Minnesota, which has now lost just once in regulation time in its last 11 games (7-1-3) to keep its faint playoff hopes alive.
Mikael Granlund scored for the Sharks and Blackwood finished with 29 saves as San Jose’s record since February’s NHL all-star break fell to 2-16-3. The Sharks had 17 shots in the third period but could not beat Wild goalie Filip Gustavsson a second time.
In third periods and overtime in the nine-game skid, the Sharks have now been outscored 22-1.
Overall, during this most recent losing streak, the Sharks have been outscored 44-20, but Thursday’s effort was one they could potentially build on for Saturday’s game against the St. Louis Blues.
“It was a good effort,” Blackwood said. “It’s frustrating because they’re playing hard, playing the right way. The first period didn’t go our way, but I thought they responded well and deserved better than that.”
Badly outplayed in the first period, the Sharks (16-48-8) played with a lot more passion and energy in the second and scored the tying goal at the 9:26 mark.
Taking advantage of a bad Minnesota line change, Granlund took a long pass from Jan Rutta and skated into the Wild’s zone on a Sharks 3-on-1.
Granlund tried to send a centering pass to William Eklund, but the puck hit the stick of defenseman Declan Chisholm and came right back to him, where Granlund batted it past Gustavsson for his 11th goal of the season.
The Sharks looked flat and uninspired from the start, as they were thoroughly outworked by the Wild and outshot 15-1 in the first period. Of Blackwood’s 14 saves, 10 came on the penalty kill, as the Sharks took two minor penalties and were mainly on their heels for the first 20 minutes.
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San Jose’s only first-period shot on goal came at the 3:41 mark off the stick of Burroughs.
“I actually thought we were doing some good things physically. But I really felt mentally we were out of it,” Sharks coach David Quinn said. “Didn’t really get the mental effort that we did with our physical effort, and the penalties didn’t help us.
“We certainly were fortunate to get out of that period only 1-0.”
The Sharks’ allowed the game’s first goal at the 16:01 mark of the first as they looked somewhat confused in their own end. That allowed Joel Eriksson Ek to get behind the Sharks defense, as he skated between Rutta and Luke Kunin before he took a pass from Kirill Kaprizov and beat Blackwood for his 30th goal of the season.
