The Sharks caught a bad break in the third period of their game against the Ottawa Senators on Saturday night.
Oh, they still made mistakes in the final 20 minutes, such as taking a delay-of-game penalty to set up a 5-on-3 goal for the Senators or making a bad change, which led to another Ottawa goal.
But with the game still tied early in the third period, a Ridly Greig shot into the Sharks’ zone took a weird carom off the boards. The puck then went to the front of an open Sharks net, after goalie Vitek Vanecek left his crease to play the Greig pass.
That left an open net for Tim Stützle, who scored his 19th goal of the season, giving the Senators the lead for good as they handed the Sharks a 5-3 loss at Canadian Tire Centre.
The Sharks allowed consecutive goals to Brady Tkachuk, Stützle, and David Perron as their third-period foibles continued in what became their eighth straight loss. Perron’s goal at the 8:31 mark of the third period, which became the game-winner, came after the Sharks made a bad line change.
“Didn’t like that line change. We gave up an easy goal,” Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said. “The bounces are gonna happen, the 5-on-3 goal. I liked our start. We did some good things, but the line change goal, unacceptable.”
Will Smith scored a power play goal for the Sharks, their third of the game, with 1:27 left in regulation time to cut Ottawa’s lead to 4-3. But Michael Amadio scored an empty net goal with 1:00 left to seal the win for the Senators, who swept the season series with San Jose.
“We’re in games right now. We’re right there,” Sharks defenseman Mario Ferraro said. “But that the small margin for error, it’s this big, right? We’re not finding a way to stay disciplined enough to play a full 60 minutes, or whatever it is, to pull out those wins. I think that’s just a little bit of the immaturity in our game as a whole, as a team.”
Tyler Toffoli and Timothy Liljegren also scored power play goals for the Sharks, with Liljegren’s goal at the 9:47 mark of the second period giving San Jose a 2-1 lead.
The Sharks carried that lead into the third period. But with Mario Ferraro (roughing) and Collin Graf (delay of game, puck over glass), a shot by Tkachuk appeared to go off the skate of Marc-Edouard Vlasic before it got past Vanecek 1:26 into the third period.
The Sharks now have a 9-7-4 record in games in which they held a lead after two periods and an 0-2-2 record on this seven-game road trip. They remain in 32nd and last place in the NHL’s overall standings.
“I guess we’re close, but we’re not close in a lot of other areas,” Sharks defenseman Jake Walman said. “I just hope — a couple years from now — that these games are going to be meaningful. Just don’t want to get stuck in this position very long.”
The Sharks took a one-goal lead into the third period after scoring a pair of power play goals.
After taking a pass from Smith, Toffoli sent a pass to the front of the net intended for Macklin Celebrini. But the puck went off Jake Sanderson’s skate and past Senators goalie Linus Ullmark, tying the game 1-1 at the 5:17 mark.
The Sharks took the lead 4:30 later. Klim Kostin, a new addition to the Sharks’ second power play unit, took control of the puck to the side of the Senators’ net, and sent it to Alex Wennberg near the boards. Wennberg then sent the puck to Liljegren, whose shot from inside the blue line got through traffic and past Ullmark for his fifth goal of the season.
The Sharks outshot the Senators 12-8 in the first period but still trailed by a goal.
The Sharks dominated the first few minutes, outshooting the Senators 9-1 before Matthew Highmore was called for holding San Jose forward Klim Kostin. The Sharks had two shots on goal with the man advantage before they turned the puck over in the Ottawa zone, leading to a breakaway for Shane Pinto, who beat Vanecek for a 1-0 lead at the 11:05 mark of the first.
Vanecek was coming off a 33-save performance against the Winnipeg Jets on Monday, and entered Saturday with a 3-9-3 record and an .882 save percentage in 17 games this season. Vanecek’s last win came on Nov. 29 when the Sharks beat the Seattle Kraken 8-5, as he missed six weeks from Dec. 18 to Feb.6 with a fractured cheekbone.
THRUN OUT: The Sharks were without Henry Thrun on Saturday. Thrun left Thursday’s game against the Montreal Canadiens early in the third period with an upper body injury. Thrun also missed the final five minutes of the first period of the game, which San Jose lost 4-3 in overtime.
Thrun, who had been on the Sharks’ top defense pair since Cody Ceci was traded to the Dallas Stars on Feb. 1, is considered day-to-day, coach Ryan Warsofsky said. Warsofsky added that it was too soon to say whether the team would need to recall another defenseman from the Barracuda of the AHL. The Sharks are carrying six defensemen with their next game on Monday in Toronto against the Maple Leafs.
Jack Thompson replaced Thrun in the Sharks’ lineup and began the game alongside Vlasic on the third defense pair.
Liljegren took Thrun’s spot on the Sharks’ top pair alongside Jake Walman, and Shakir Mukhamadullin, who was impressive during Thursday’s loss in Montreal, was paired with Mario Ferraro.