The Sharks did a lot of little things right Saturday, tying
their season-high with 43 shots and peppering the Nashville
Predators with another 22 that were blocked before they reached the
net. But the Sharks also did two significant things wrong
— including an unofficial 44th shot into the wrong net by Jason
Demers that turned out to be the winning Nashville goal — and that
was just enough to put San Jose on the short end of a 2-1
score.
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SAN JOSE
The Sharks did a lot of little things right Saturday, tying their season-high with 43 shots and peppering the Nashville Predators with another 22 that were blocked before they reached the net.
But the Sharks also did two significant things wrong — including an unofficial 44th shot into the wrong net by Jason Demers that turned out to be the winning Nashville goal — and that was just enough to put San Jose on the short end of a 2-1 score.
The loss extended the Sharks’ current losing streak to a season-high three games and was their fourth in a row at HP Pavilion. All of which made it more difficult for coach Todd McLellan to simply shrug off the bad break.
“This is one of those games when you’re cruising along or near first place, you say ‘You know what? We probably deserve a better fate and these things happen,”’ McLellan said.
“But,” he added, “when you’ve lost some games here in a row, these are games that you have to win.”
Rookie Logan Couture scored the only San Jose goal, ending a season-high, seven-game drought with his team-leading 19th of the season. But that was offset by David Legwand’s first-period goal and the winning shot credited to Sergei Kostitsyn.
“They teach us to put it in the corner,” Demers said of the rebound of a shot by Nashville forward Patric Hornqvist that landed on the defenseman’s stick. “I went to put it in the corner and put it the wrong way. In a game tight like that, one mistake like that cost us the game.”
Demers wasn’t the only San Jose defenseman in a funk over what had just transpired. Veteran Dan Boyle was shaking his head over his failed attempt to use his glove to clear the puck out of the defensive zone.
Instead, it went to Legwand who fired a quick shot, then picked up his own rebound to beat goalie Antti Niemi and give Nashville a 1-0 lead at 13:10 of the first period.
“All night the puck was bouncing,” Boyle said. “It bounces, I fall. That’s the way it is. It’s bouncing. The guy is coming right at me. I’m not sure if I tripped or what. It just sucked. It’s frustrating.”
Couture’s goal came at 4:35 of the second period on a play that started with a takeaway by Ryane Clowe, who sent Couture on a two-on-one rush with Jamal Mayers.
“I waited for Jammer to get up in the play to create a question in the goalie’s mind whether I was going to pass or shoot. He drove the net hard and I picked a spot,” Couture said. “But I’d go goal-less to trade it for a win right now.”
Mayers had been moved up to the second line from the fourth and the forward known more for his forecheck than offensive potential put five shots on net. Only Couture with eight and Devin Setoguchi with six had more.
Though he didn’t show up on the score sheet, Setoguchi seemed to make the most of his chance to start on a line with Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau, showing speed and persistence.
“I thought we saw a bit of the way Seto should look, and that’s great,” McLellan said. “But I want to see it again tomorrow, and the day after, and the day after and I want him to string it together.”
If the Sharks were looking for positives — especially after that listless 3-0 loss to Buffalo on Thursday night — there were a few.
Still, the bottom line was that a Sharks team now in a four-way tie for seventh place in the Western Conference failed to pick up a single point on a three-game homestand — and must try to stop this skid in Anaheim tonight.
“It’s upsetting, but the last thing we need this hockey team to do is feel sorry for ourselves,” Boyle said. “I think it’s very important that we stay together and not go, ‘Why us? Why me?’ We have to find a way.”
— Story by David Pollak, San Jose Mercury News
