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The San Jose Sharks came up short against the New Jersey Devils today, falling 2-1.
Kevin Labanc and Scott Harrington came back into the Sharks’ lineup, while Jonah Gadjovich and Jaycob Megna were scratched.
It was a fairly slow first half of the period, with not many chances exchanged. The Devils did start to build momentum in the frame and sustained zone time, but the Sharks held them off and the game remained scoreless through 20 minutes.
The Devils generated some good chances throughout the second frame but Kaapo Kahkonen came up big, notably making a huge save on Miles Wood pretty early in the frame. It did look like the Devils had opened the scoring midway through the period, but it was later called off due to a kicking motion.
However, with about six minutes to go in the frame, Marc-Edouard Vlasic lost the puck in his own end and Yegor Sharangovich capitalized, going in alone and beating Kahkonen with a nice move. Then only a couple minutes later, the Sharks took a penalty and the Devils took advantage, with Dawson Mercer taking a pass in-close to score, marking San Jose’s first unsuccessful penalty kill of the year. However, only 32 seconds after that, Kevin Labanc cut the lead in half, going down ice and ripping a shot past Mackenzie Blackwood on a rush. The Sharks were still outshot 20-8 in the frame overall though and found themselves down by a goal heading into the third period.
The majority of the final frame was slow, with few worthwhile chances exchanged. The Sharks really couldn’t get much going offensively and despite a late power play and a flurry of chances that followed right at the end, the Devils hung on for a 2-1 win.
The Sharks were outshot pretty badly in the loss, by a 36-22 margin. They just weren’t able to generate much offense and it’s going to be pretty hard to win games while being outshot that badly. Especially in the second period, the Sharks relied heavily on Kahkonen just to keep them in the game.
Too many forwards aren’t getting results and given the Sharks rely heavily on their top forwards for the bulk of their offense, things falls apart when those top forwards aren’t producing. Tomas Hertl and Timo Meier have combined for a single goal, each with just two points in seven games. Logan Couture hasn’t been much better offensively, with two goals and three points.
It’s an unfortunate result, given the Sharks weren’t able to build any momentum following their win over the New York Rangers. They’ll wrap up their four-game Eastern road trip against the Philadelphia Flyers tomorrow.
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
Sharks fall to Hurricanes in Brent Burns’ return to San Jose
Sharks winless through four games after blowing lead in loss to Blackhawks
Sharks fall to Islanders, now on five-game losing streak to start season
Sharks beat Rangers in overtime for first win of season 
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