SAN JOSE – This was supposed to be the week that the Sharks were going to take advantage of a forgiving schedule and make a strong push for a playoff spot in the West Division.
It didn’t work out that way.
The Sharks allowed three unanswered goals in the second period and lost 4-2 to the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday at SAP Center, closing out a week in which they managed just one win in three games against the West Division’s seventh and eighth place teams.
The Sharks began the week with a 5-1 loss to the last place Anaheim Ducks before rebounding to beat the Kings 5-2 on Friday. With Saturday’s loss, the Sharks (18-18-4) are now four points back of the St. Louis Blues for fourth place in the West Division, and three points back of the fifth-place Arizona Coyotes.
Dylan Gambrell and Timo Meier both scored for the Sharks, who went 6-2-0 in their eight-game season series with the Kings and now host the Ducks on Monday and Wednesday to close out their five-game homestand.
The Sharks were a step slow early in the second period, allowing goals to Andreas Athanasiou and Alex Iafallo at the 2:28 and 3:23 marks, respectively, to fall behind 3-1. Dustin Brown then helped put the game to bed, rifling a shot past Martin Jones for a power play goal and a 4-1 Los Angeles lead with eight seconds to go before intermission.
Brown, Athanasiou and Jeff Carter each had a goal and an assist for the Kings, and goalie Jonathan Quick had 26 saves.
“Just didn’t look to me like we were fighting hard enough,” Sharks coach Bob Boughner said. “We looked a little complacent and some nights when things aren’t going your way and it’s a back-to-back situation, you simplify your game. It didn’t look like we were ready to simplify that.”
Jones, making his seventh straight start – all in 13 days — allowed four goals on 19 shots but once again, didn’t get a ton of help from the skaters in front of him.
Josef Kořenář, placed on the active roster after Devan Dubnyk was traded to the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday morning, made his NHL debut as he started the third period for the Sharks. He stopped all seven shots he faced in the third period.
“Our team was completely flat in the second period,” Boughner said when asked why he inserted Kořenář. “It looked like we just needed some kind of injection of some energy, and I was hoping that (Kořenář) being in his first game we’d play a little harder around him and maybe rally around him a little bit. But the game was lost in the second period.”
The NHL trade deadline is Monday at noon (PT), and it doesn’t appear general manager Doug Wilson is done dealing, saying Saturday that “we’ll be talking to everybody.”
“It’s nothing you can really worry about. It’s out of our control,” Sharks center Dylan Gambrell said. “Obviously it’s hard to see somebody like (Dubnyk) go. He’s a great guy.”
Saturday’s game was tied 1-1 after the first period as Dylan Gambrell scored his fifth of the season at the 16:54 mark of the first period.
Christian Jaros fired a puck on the Kings that Quick stopped and thought he had frozen under his glove. The puck squirted free, and Gambrell backhanded it past Quick as he scored in his third straight game against Los Angeles.
The Kings opened the scoring at the 11:43 mark of the first period. A shot from inside the point from defenseman Mikey Anderson deflected off Athanasiou in front of the Sharks net and trickled behind Jones, where Carter tapped it in for his eighth of the season.
Jones was making his 10th start in 11 games Saturday, and he’ll likely continue to be busy.
In the deal with Colorado, the Sharks got back a 2021 fifth round pick and depth defenseman Greg Pateryn in the deal. Although the Sharks are high on Kořenář and fellow goalie Alexei Melnichuk, their combined NHL experience is next to nil. Melnichuk played 9:11 on Feb. 11 against the Kings, coming on in relief of Jones.
Considering their hectic schedule over the last month of the regular season, the Sharks are going to need their backup goalie, whether it’s Kořenář or Melnichuk, to play at least a few games. Starting with Monday’s game against the Ducks, the Sharks play 16 games in 27 days, which includes four back-to-back situations.
