San Jose has lost its way. Playing in their
seventh game of the season, the Sharks turned in what was arguably the worst
performance of the season in a 6-0 loss to the host Tamp Bay Lightning. The
Sharks were simply overmatched, to the point that getting the puck out of their
own end was a major accomplishment. The Lightning played at 4 levels above
anything the Sharks could throw out on the ice and it wasn't even close.
Miserable would be the best word to describe the uninspired Sharks.
The game was decided 101 seconds into the contest, yet San Jose was forced to
endure their worst beating of the season.
Brayden Point staked Tampa
Bay to an early 1-0 lead just 1:41 into the game on some precision shooting
from 15 feet out. The Lightning forward took a Mikhail Sergachev feed on the
right side, then picked the upper left corner before snapping a bullet past
MacKenzie Blackwood for his 2nd goal of the season.
Former Sharks
Mikey Eyssimont stung his former team 4 minutes later when he tipped a Calvin
DeHaan shot past Blackwood for his 2nd tally of the season. The Sharks had just
killed a Thomas Bordeleau slashing penalty, but allowed the even strength goal
to fall behind by a pair of scores.
San Jose decided to counter Tampa
Bay's offensive punch by taking a pair of penalties that would put the
Lightning on a 5-on-3 power play. Not surprisingly, that blew up on them when
Steven Stamkos snapped home his 3rd goal of the season on the 2-man advantage.
The goal came before Matt Benning's leading penalty expired, to Jacob
Peterson's high sticking penalty carried over to the start of the 2nd period.
San Jose survived the remaining time on the penalty kill, but Brandon
Hagel made it a 4-0 at 4:01 of the 4th period, stuffing home a shot from just
outside the right post.
Nick Paul pushed the Lightning lead to 5-0 3
minutes later when he gathered a lead pass from Stamkos then raced in on
Blackwood and lifted a shot past the Sharks goaltender for his 5th tally of the
season.
David Quinn mercifully pulled Blackwood at that point, but his
stat line was bloodied by the 5 Tampa Bay goals. Kaapo Khakonen replaced him at
7:29 into the frame.
Things were so bad that when San Jose finally
went on the power play with 2:22 left in the period, Kevin Labanc took a
slashing penalty 6 seconds into the power play to negate that advantage.
Luke Glendening scored his 1st goal of the season
off a deflection 5:44 into the 3rd period. Connor Sheary threw a puck to the
front of the net where Glendening was parked. The forward got a stick on the
shot, redirecting if off Kyle Burroughs, then Matt Benning before it slipped
past Khakonen.
Game Notes: * The Sharks will
be without forward Alexander Barabanov, who broke a finger in the Sharks loss
to Florida on Tuesday night. Barabanov suffered the injury from friendly fire
when a Jacob Peterson shot caught him in the hand. He is listed as week to
week.
* San Jose recalled forward Ryan Carpenter from the Barracuda to
fill the void created by the Barabanov injury. Carpenter was not able to reach
Tampa in time for the game, so he was listed as a scratch. He will join the
team in Raleigh for the Sharks next game against the Hurricanes.
*
Marc-Edouard Vlasic was a healthy scratch for the second consecutive game.
* Lightning goaltender Jonas Johansson faced 23 shots, stopping all of
them to earn his 2nd consecutive shutout.
* Eight Shark skaters turned
in a -2 plus/minus performance, and Filip Zadina added a -3 game. The Sharks
were -25 collectively as a team.
