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The San Jose Sharks dropped their third straight game to open the season, falling 2-1 to the Carolina Hurricanes tonight.
The game marked Brent Burns’ return to San Jose, following 11 years spent with the Sharks. It was also the Sharks' home opener, after playing two games against the Nashville Predators in Prague last weekend.
Noah Gregor and Evgeny Svechnikov were both in the lineup for the Sharks on the fourth line, while Jonah Gadjovich was a healthy scratch. Jaycob Megna was back in the lineup as the final defenseman, while Scott Harrington was also scratched, after clearing waivers this week.
In the first period, San Jose’s defensemen were having a hard time with the Hurricanes’ forwards forechecking and weren’t winning a lot of battles deep in their end. While the Sharks only gave up eight shots, a few of them were pretty good chances. That said, Evgeny Svechnikov managed to beat Antti Raanta with about two minutes to go in the frame, giving San Jose the lead after 20 minutes.
Things went downhill in the second period, as the Sharks didn’t get a single shot for the first 13 minutes of the frame. They weren’t able to get anything going off the rush whatsoever and only really started getting some opportunities on a power play later (notably a one-timer from Kevin Labanc in-close), though that same power play also featured a shorthanded breakaway for Brett Pesce. It still looked like San Jose was going to escape the frame with the lead but with under 30 seconds to go, Kevin Labanc was stripped of the puck by Andrei Svechnikov, before he got it to Martin Necas, who beat Reimer to tie the game. It was a pretty rough frame but giving up the late goal after nearly keeping the lead into the intermission was tough for San Jose.
The Sharks ended up with a couple power play opportunities in the third period but weren’t able to capitalize, giving up some good shorthanded chances to Carolina as well. The Sharks were outshot but just as it looked like they may get to overtime, a point shot was directed in by Sebastian Aho, putting Carolina ahead with only two minutes to go. Tomas Hertl then got a chance in front to tie the game right at the buzzer but Raanta came up with a big save and the Hurricanes hung on for a 2-1 win.
Coming off a pretty strong outing in the second game against the Nashville Predators last weekend, the Sharks struggled for most of the game tonight. They were giving up almost as many chances on some of their power plays as they were getting, struggling to sustain pressure or create chances off the rush, and were having trouble getting out of their end at times.
On the bright side, James Reimer put together a strong performance, making some key saves to keep the Sharks in the game. Through his first two games of the year, Reimer holds a .924 save percentage.
While it’s still very early in the year, Matt Benning is off to a rough start with Sharks. After signing a four-year deal with the the team, it’s hard to be optimistic about the move (though he’s being tasked with a larger role than would be ideal). The rest of the defense group isn’t without their faults either, however.
The Sharks are now 0-3-0 to start the year – they’ll be back in action tomorrow against the Chicago Blackhawks.
OTHER ARTICLES FROM OCTOBER
Sharks announce additions to Hockey Operations staff, sign Scott Harrington
Sharks drop season opener in Prague, fall 4-1 to Predators
Sharks fall short against Predators in second game of Global Series
Sharks announce roster for home opener 
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