The captain summed it up well. The San Jose Sharks had been
beaten 3-2 by the Florida Panthers, blowing yet another
third-period lead in a game they had dominated. Heads were down
throughout the locker room.
”
We just had a couple dumb plays, and that was it,
”
said Joe Thornton, whose failure to clear the puck seconds
before defenseman Jason Garrison’s game-winning goal symbolized the
problem the Sharks had Sunday.
”
Just a couple stupid errors that cost us the game.
”
SUNRISE, Fla.
The captain summed it up well.
The San Jose Sharks had been beaten 3-2 by the Florida Panthers, blowing yet another third-period lead in a game they had dominated. Heads were down throughout the locker room.
“We just had a couple dumb plays, and that was it,” said Joe Thornton, whose failure to clear the puck seconds before defenseman Jason Garrison’s game-winning goal symbolized the problem the Sharks had Sunday. “Just a couple stupid errors that cost us the game.”
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The loss threatens to help turn what had been a stellar trip into something less. After winning the first four of seven games away from HP Pavilion, the Sharks are in danger of returning home with three consecutive losses if they cannot beat the Nashville Predators on Tuesday night.
But players weren’t ready to examine the bigger picture. The loss was still too fresh.
“You’re in control of the game, but I guess it’s not over till it’s over,” left wing Ryane Clowe said. “We have to be better at our board work in our own end and make stronger plays. To throw away two points like that at this time of year, it’s just disappointing.”
The teams traded goals over the first 40 minutes, the Sharks taking a 1-0 lead at 12:57 of the first period on defenseman Kent Huskins’ shot from the left point and the Panthers coming back to tie things 28.9 seconds into the second when center Mike Santorelli banked a shot into the net off the back of goalie Antti Niemi.
But the Sharks got that one back just 2:02 into the third period when Joe Pavelski pounced on the rebound of a shot by Torrey Mitchell and got the puck past Panthers goaltender Tomas Vokoun.
Huskins said it wasn’t as if the Sharks got complacent with a 2-1 lead and almost 18 minutes left to play.
“Everyone kind of recognized that it was a huge goal at the time, but we were still only a goal ahead, and anything can happen when you’re one goal up,” he said. “Case in point, it did.”
The Panthers knotted things up for the second time at 10:36 after winning a battle along the side boards in the San Jose zone. Left wing Chris Higgins cut laterally around defenseman Jason Demers en route to the slot, where his backhand shot eluded Niemi.
Florida continued to apply the pressure as San Jose could not clear the puck out of its zone. The Panthers’ effort paid off at 17:59 when Garrison fired a 50-foot slap shot into the net.
“When you’re in that situation, you’ve got a full pinch on,” Sharks coach Todd McLellan said, referring to the Panthers. “Their D were coming down the walls hard, and we got caught out long.
“Jumbo was the only fresh player we had on the ice. The two wingers couldn’t breathe by the end, and they (the Panthers) made us pay for it.”
Niemi acknowledged that he had good looks at both of Florida’s third-period goals but just couldn’t keep the puck out of the net.
“The first one, I think I was expecting a shot just a second before,” he said of the backhander by Higgins. “I was almost going down, and then I didn’t go down, and then it came, and it was too late to get down. The last one, it just went through me.”
Third periods have been the Sharks’ undoing all season. The team’s record when leading after 40 minutes is a less-than-impressive 20-3-3, and that doesn’t even include games like the past two against New Jersey and Florida, where the Sharks were tied going into the final period, took the lead and then failed to hold it.
McLellan found other similarities in the past two narrow losses as well, liking much about the way his team played—to a point.
“We need one extra save,” he said, “and we need one extra shot to go in at the other end.”
—The Sharks were involved in their first fight in four games when Jamal Mayers took exception to a hit on Dan Boyle in the second period and went after Florida pest Darcy Hardichuk.
Before they were in full battle, however, Panthers defenseman Bryan Allen intervened against Mayers and earned two minutes for instigating and a 10-minute misconduct as well.
—Special teams were not a factor as all five goals were scored at even strength. The Sharks killed off three second-period penalties but were on the power play only once.
—Sunday’s game attracted four scouts from the Los Angeles Kings, as well as one each from the Carolina Hurricanes, New Jersey Devils, Ottawa Senators and Montreal Canadiens.
— Story by David Pollak, San Jose Mercury News
