SAN JOSE – The San Jose Sharks – for the third consecutive game — were not ready to play from the opening drop of the puck on Monday.
It proved costly, as the Seattle Kraken most of their damage in the first 20 minutes and handed the Sharks a 4-2 loss before an announced crowd of 11,559 at SAP Center.
The Sharks, coming off a 4-0 win over the St. Louis Blues on Saturday, allowed goals to Matty Beniers, Oliver Bjorkstrand, and Shane Wright and never recovered, as they lost for the 10th time in 11 games.
San Jose Sharks goaltender MacKenzie Blackwood (29) looks for the puck against the Seattle Kraken in the second period at the SAP Center in San Jose, Calif., on Monday, April 1, 2024. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
Monday’s game represented a chance for the Sharks to win back-to-back games for the first time since Jan. 22 and 23, when they beat the Los Angeles Kings and New York Rangers to extend their then-winning streak to three games.
Even after the slow start, the Sharks only trailed 3-2 going into the third period.
With the Sharks down by two, Mikael Granlund controlled the puck behind the Seattle net and sent it back to the point for Calen Addison. The puck then found its way over to Marc-Edouard Vlasic, who fired the puck toward Kraken goalie Philipp Grubauer.
The shot was tipped by Klim Kostin past Grubauer, giving him his seventh goal of the season and his fourth since he came to the Sharks on March 8 from the Detroit Red Wings for defenseman Radim Simek.
It was a good way for the Sharks to mostly erase a terrible start, as they allowed three goals in the first 17:06, including one 29 seconds into the game.
The Sharks turned the puck over in their own zone, and after he found a soft spot in the Sharks’ end, Beniers took a pass from Bjorkstrand and fired it past Mackenzie Blackwood for a 1-0 Kraken lead.
Bjorkstrand and Wright also scored in the first period for the Kraken, goals sandwiched around a power play marker by Fabian Zetterlund at the 14:19 mark.
Blackwood, making his fourth straight start, made seven saves in the first period and eight more in the second. He finished with 29 saves.
Blackwood had to be terrific in the first period in the Sharks’ last two games as well, as the skaters in front of him could not generate many offensive opportunities. In the first period of both games, they were outchanced, per Natural Stat Trick, 22-5.
San Jose lost 3-1 to the Wild, but beat the Blues 4-0, improving as both games went on.