Another competitive game. Another third-period lead. Another late goal allowed. Another gut-wrenching result.
If blowout losses and dispiriting performances characterized the 2023-24 Sharks season, the team’s 2024-25 season has been pockmarked by heartbreak, with an almost uncanny ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
It happened again Monday, as the Sharks held a one-goal lead late in the third period before giving up a 6-on-5 marker to defenseman Josh Morrissey, and the game-winning goal to center Mark Scheifele 93 seconds into overtime in a 2-1 loss to the Western Conference-leading Winnipeg Jets.
The Sharks’ loss was their 12th in the last 13 games and their 20th by one goal this season (10-12-8). The Sharks also lost 3-2 to the Calgary Flames on Sunday, giving up a go-ahead goal with less than seven minutes to go in regulation time.
“We’ve played two games here where we’ve actually played pretty good, and we’ve got to take that with us.” Sharks forward William Eklund said after Monday’s game. “We didn’t get the results we wanted, and we’ve got to do a better job in some areas, but overall, we’ve got to take this game and try to see something positive.”
The Sharks have now held a third-period lead 18 times this season. They’ve won just nine of those games. The Jets, by contrast, are 31-0-1 in that category.
“We played how we wanted to play,” Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said. “I give a lot of credit to our group, we worked extremely hard every period with the things that we talked about this morning.
“To fall short is a kick in the gut. Disappointed we don’t get the result, but I’m really, extremely proud of our group.”
The encouraging part for the Sharks is that not every team on the rest of this road trip is as good as Winnipeg. If they are able to duplicate the effort they showed Monday, they should – should being the keyword — get rewarded.
What choice do they have? The last thing the Sharks want to do is fall apart over the final eight weeks of the season.
The Sharks next play the rebuilding Montreal Canadiens on Thursday and the Ottawa Senators on Saturday, the third and fourth legs of a season-long seven-game road trip.
Other takeaways:
STARTING OVERTIME: Warsofsky began overtime with Alexander Wennberg, Collin Graf, and Mario Ferraro as his three players. The Jets countered with Morrissey, Scheifele, and Kyle Connor. The Sharks’ trio couldn’t get a change and remained on the ice until Scheifele scored.
There were certainly more offensively potent options available for the Sharks, as Wennberg, Graf, and Ferraro have combined for 14 NHL goals this season. But both Wennberg and Graf had strong games, and Ferraro might have been the Sharks’ steadiest presence on defense. Wennberg got a shot on goal 40 seconds into overtime, marking the last time the Sharks touched the puck.
“I thought (Wennberg) was one of our best players,” Warsofsky said when asked about starting the trio. “Really good in the faceoff dot. Good percentage, wins the faceoff to start. We get the possession, and he gets a really great chance. So that was the biggest thing.”
The result shouldn’t take away from the fact that the Sharks competed hard for over 60 minutes. What could have been a blowout against one of the NHL’s best teams turned nearly into a galvanizing moment.
“My heart breaks for the group,” Warsofsky said. “To play that hard against one of the best teams in the league and be (25) seconds away, it stinks, it hurts, but that’s life. There’s some adversity that we’ve gone through, it’s been a challenging year for everyone in the organization, really, and the one thing we can do is just keep slugging away, keep going out and keep getting better every day we get a chance.”
VANECEK’S NIGHT: The Sharks had to be encouraged by the performance of Vitek Vanecek, who made several key saves to help keep the Sharks in front for more than 59 minutes.
Due to the 4 Nations Face-Off break, the extended time away seemed to do a lot of good for Vanecek, who looked as dialed in as he’s been all year with 10 saves in both the first and second periods and 12 more in the third.
Vanecek’s last start came on Feb. 8 when the Dallas Stars hammered the Sharks 8-3. That lopsided score wasn’t all Vanecek’s fault. Still, over the break, he watched video of his counterpart on Monday, Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck, who is the favorite to win the Vezina Trophy this season as the NHL’s best goalie.
After Monday, Hellebuyck is 35-7-2 this season with a .925 save percentage.
“You’re working every day on something,” Vanecek said. “I’ve been watching Hellebuyck. I think he’s a very good goalie. I like how deep he sometimes plays. So, I was working on that.
“Today, I felt really comfortable with that because I have more of a chance at rebounds.”