Sharks lament another close loss, but they’re leaving themselves no room for error
The San Jose Sharks hoped they were finished with games like the one they had Friday in Salt Lake City against the Utah Hockey Club.
But clearly some harsh lessons still need to be learned.
The Sharks did not play well against Utah at the Delta Center, particularly in the second and third periods. Still, they had a chance to pull out a win thanks to some timely saves from goalie Alexandar Georgiev — and perhaps a bit of luck.
But with the offense again sputtering and no margin for error, a Sharks’ late defensive breakdown in a tie game — after a lost faceoff in their own zone — led to another frustrating loss.
After Utah put three shots on the Sharks’ following Nick Bjugstad’s faceoff win over Mikael Granlund, Barrett Hayton took control of a loose puck, created some space for himself, and from near the top of the circle, fired a shot that beat Georgiev short side with 1:32 left in regulation time.
Final score: Utah Hockey Club 2, San Jose Sharks 1.
“(Hayton) kind of rolled high. I got picked,” Sharks defenseman Henry Thrun said of the sequence that immediately preceded the goal. “I’ve got to find a way to get through there and get a stick, get a body, get something. Can’t give up a clean shot from inside the circle there with two minutes to go.
“Georgiev made a couple of big saves at the end, and that’s what the goalies do. They make the save when you need them. But you can’t ask them to make three or four.”
In December, the Sharks gave up the tying or winning goal four times in the final three minutes of the third period. It happened against Utah on Dec. 14 in San Jose, and also against the Edmonton Oilers on Dec. 21, when the Sharks allowed a tying goal with 18 seconds left in regulation before losing 3-2 in overtime.
The Sharks thought they had taken a step forward in learning how to win tight games last week when defenseman Cody Ceci scored with 24.2 seconds left in the third period to lift the Sharks to a 3-2 win over the New Jersey Devils.
But there’s obviously more work to be done in crucial moments, as generating a tad more offense in each of those games probably could have saved the Sharks some heartache. As it is, the Sharks are now 5-5-1 in games tied after two periods, 9-9-6 in one-goal games, and 4-17-3 in games where they’ve scored two goals or less.
“That’s what being a good team takes,” Granlund said. “In those situations, we didn’t do a good enough job.”
While the defense had another late-game issue, the offense mostly got almost nothing going against Utah, continuing a weeks-long trend.
Fabian Zetterlund scored the Sharks’ lone goal at the 58-second mark of the first period.
Granlund won a faceoff in the Utah zone back to defenseman Cody Ceci at the blue line. Ceci sent a pass back to Granlund, who let a shot go near the faceoff dot, but Karel Vejmelka kicked it away.
The puck, though, came right to Zetterlund in the slot area, and he beat Vejmelka for his 12th goal of the season and his first in six games.
From there, though, generating scoring chances was a struggle for the Sharks, as they managed just 11 shots through the first two periods. Puck play was a major issue, particularly when breaking out of their own zone, as the Sharks only managed 19 shots on goal, a season-low.
“We weren’t really good with the puck,” Granlund said. “(We) didn’t really get anything going offensively all night. They defended well, but we’ve got to be better with the puck. We’ve got to win some battles.”
“We didn’t pose too much of a threat with the puck,” Thrun said.
The Sharks have scored two or fewer goals in 11 of 17 games since the start of December, including a lackluster 4-2 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday.
“Wasn’t good enough tonight,” Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said of the response. “Puck play was awful. Just wasn’t enough.”
Zetterlund might have been injured in a post-game scrum after the Sharks failed to score on a late power play. Zetterlund had been dealing with a lower-body injury lately and was kept out of practice on Wednesday and Thursday.
Klim Kostin sustained a lower-body injury in the first period Friday and was ruled out from returning by the start of the second. It could be determined by Saturday morning whether Zetterlund or Kostin will be available in that night’s game against the Minnesota Wild.
Maybe the biggest positive for the Sharks was the play of Georgiev, who stopped 23 of 25 shots. The Sharks returned to Georgiev after he made a season-high 38 saves in the Sharks’ 4-2 loss to the Golden Knights on Tuesday.
Georgiev, acquired from Colorado on Dec. 9 as part of a deal that sent Mackenzie Blackwood to the Avalanche, came into Friday with a less-than-stellar 9-12-0 record and a .876 save percentage in 24 games this season. But he appears to be benefiting from working with goalie coach Thomas Speer.
“A little bit more technical right now,” Georgiev said Tuesday of his work with Speer. “I think we’re focusing on some basic stuff. There is a lot of movement, just being square to the puck, a little taller stance, a more narrow stance, just small things. He is a great goalie coach. I’ve enjoyed it a lot so far.”
Georgiev and Yaroslav Askarov have split starts since the Christmas break. The 22-year-old Askarov will start Saturday against the Wild.
Giving Georgiev more consistent work might also serve another purpose. With the 28-year-old in a contract year, the Sharks might want to try to move Georgiev to a playoff-contending team before the March 7 trade deadline.
Regardless, goaltending isn’t the Sharks main issue right now. To anyone watching the last several weeks, the real problem is obvious.
“He was good tonight,” Warsofsky said of Georgiev. “You need two goalies to win this league. He’s been playing better. Gave us a chance tonight. We weren’t good enough in front of him.”