Under bright lights, Sharks start to wilt: ‘It’s kind of getting to us’

CHICAGO – The Sharks have been one of the NHL’s most surprising and talked-about teams so far this season. They’ve had some rough spells, for sure, but it’s largely been one feel-good moment after another as they’ve become playoff contenders after two straight years of finishing in the league’s basement.

Now the Sharks are dealing with the other side of that coin: enhanced expectations and added pressure.

“This is probably a new situation (being in a playoff race) for where we are right now,” Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said, “and I think it’s kind of getting to us in a sense.”

The Sharks lost their third straight game Monday as the Chicago Blackhawks capitalized on San Jose’s dreadfully slow start and some sloppy defensive play to earn a 6-3 win at the United Center.

The Sharks managed just one shot on net in the first period, had taken four minor penalties by the four-minute mark of the second, and simply weren’t physical enough as they trailed the Blackhawks 5-1 midway through the game.

What’s worked for the Sharks for most of the season — getting pucks behind the opposition’s defensemen and using their forecheck — disappeared on Monday, and has largely been absent since the first period of their game against the Edmonton Oilers last Thursday.

“When our forecheck is going, it feels like all three zones are going well,” Sharks defenseman Vincent Desharnais said, “and it’s been a couple of games now that forecheck is not going and or it’s going 10 minutes out of 60.”

Warsofsky promised lineup changes for Wednesday’s game against the Colorado Avalanche, and there’s a chance Kiefer Sherwood will be available.

But one person will not be a panacea.

Against Chicago, the Sharks allowed three second-period goals in a span of 8:22 to fall behind 4-0.

Desharnais was not as physical as he needed to be on Ryan Donato’s goal at the 9:35 mark of the second period, as Donato toe-dragged in front of the Sharks defenseman before he snapped a shot past Yaroslav Askarov.

On a calamitous fourth goal, Shakir Mukhamadullin’s pass back to Dmitry Orlov in the Sharks’ zone instead went right to Ilya Mikheyev. The Blackhawks winger then had all day before he found a wide-open Sam Rinzel, who entered the zone and one-timed a shot past Askarov at the 10:36 mark of the second.

That was it for Askarov, who didn’t have the best defensive support as he allowed four goals on 10 shots. Still in his first full NHL season, Askarov has now won just one of his last six starts.

“Just felt like he probably couldn’t get into the game with some saves early,” Warsofsky said of Askarov. “He’s a guy that kind of feeds off of feel, and he didn’t really get tested much there in the first. But they scored one (on Connor Bedard’s first-period goal) and then in the second, it was bang, bang.

“We need our goalies. We need Askarov to get better. We need our players to get better.”

After that collapse against the Oilers, in which they held a three-goal lead before losing 4-3 in overtime, the Sharks, two days later, looked mostly flat in a 3-2 loss to the Calgary Flames.

The Sharks began their road trip in a playoff position as they held the Western Conference’s second wild card spot. Now in 10th place in the west with 58 points, they’re three points back of the Anaheim Ducks for the final playoff spot.

The Sharks have a handful of players who have never been to the playoffs before or even been in a race down the stretch. As they’re quickly discovering, the intensity is being ramped up.

“It obviously is frustrating,” Sharks winger Tyler Toffoli said. “I think we had an opportunity to get two points, and not sure if we weren’t ready. But it’s disappointing. Every point matters and we feel like we let the last two games kind of slip away.”

Did that bitter loss to the Oilers have a lasting impact and affect the Sharks’ confidence?

Depends on who you ask.

“It probably has, to be honest with you, which is unfortunate,” Warsofsky said. “But we’re getting punched in the mouth and in the gut right now, and we’ve got to move forward.”

“I think it sort of seems like that, but that’s not the feeling in the locker room,” Toffoli said when asked about the loss in Edmonton. “We haven’t talked about it, to be honest. I think we’ve done a good job of moving on every day after every game.

“The Calgary game was disappointing. We had a chance to steal at least one point there and didn’t do it, and today just wasn’t our best effort.”

Now to avoid going into the Olympic break on a four-game skid, all the Sharks have to do is beat the Colorado Avalanche, the NHL’s best team, on Wednesday in Denver.

With the Sharks’ losses to the non-playoff-contending Flames and Blackhawks, that game against the Avalanche has taken on extra significance.

“Whatever the media says, or the rest of the league, who cares? It’s these 20 guys in here, and no one else is going to come help us,” Desharnais said. “No one else is going to do it for us. We’ve got to do it together. I think we have the answers in here, and I don’t think we need to panic.”