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The San Jose Sharks split their back-to-back over the past two nights, falling 5-3 to the St. Louis Blues on Thursday, before defeating the Dallas Stars 5-4 last night.
The Sharks fell behind early on Thursday, giving up a goal to Torey Krug only 2:30 into the game. After a relatively even period though, the Sharks tied it late in the frame, with Justin Faulk deflecting a rebound into his own net. San Jose ended up being outplayed pretty badly in the second period though, allowing 18 shots. Jordan Kyrou gave St. Louis a 2-1 lead on a power play off a nice pass from Pavel Buchnevich and while Tomas Hertl did tie it once again later in the frame, Brandon Saad snuck towards the net to score off a pass from Josh Leivo with under two minutes left in the frame, putting the Blues back ahead.
Logan Couture was able to even it early in the third period and San Jose did put a pretty good frame together, getting some good chances and limiting the Blues to just six third period shots. However, Calle Rosen ended the back-and-forth with a point shot that found its way in later in the period, as the Blues held on, getting an insurance empty net goal from Noel Acciari in the final minute, as the Sharks fell 5-3.
Against Dallas, San Jose got down early once again, as Jamie Benn roofed a shot past James Reimer on a rush under five minutes into the game. However, the Sharks responded shortly after, with Alexander Barabanov getting a shot through Jake Oettinger on a power play. Then about six minutes later, San Jose capitalized off a turnover, with Oskar Lindblom putting a nice pass over to Evgeny Svechnikov, who buried it to give the Sharks the lead. Just as it looked like San Jose would take the lead to intermission though, Benn struck again for Dallas with only about 20 seconds left in the frame, tying the game.
San Jose did get the lead back early in the second period though, with Timo Meier ripping a shot past Oettinger only 30 seconds into the frame. Then only about 35 seconds after that, Barabanov found Logan Couture at the side of the net with a nice cross-crease pass and he capitalized, putting the Sharks up 4-2. The Sharks were outshot 11-4 in the frame overall, but managed to take the two-goal lead to intermission.
Then in the third period, the Sharks struck quickly once again, with Hertl taking a pass in front of the net and deking Oettinger to extend the lead to 5-2 only 30 seconds into the third period. San Jose was once again outplayed in the frame though, being outshot 11-3 this time, with goals from Roope Hintz and Joe Pavelski making things interesting. The Sharks managed to hang on though, coming away with a 5-4 win.
It’s important for the Sharks to have taken at least one win in the two games to start their road trip. With the win over Dallas, they also snapped their five-game losing streak, which had seen some winnable games slip away.
Despite managing only 18 shots in the win against the Stars, San Jose capitalized on their chances. The Sharks’ top forwards (Couture, Hertl, Meier) were contributing in the wins and have really turned things around after a poor start. They all had a goal in both games, combining for six goals overall between the games.
The Sharks still aren’t in a good spot overall, holding just a 4-9-3 record. That said, they’ve at least been competitive and after their 0-5 start, they’ve gone 4-4-3 since.
OTHER ARTICLES FROM NOVEMBER
Erik Karlsson’s hat trick not enough as Sharks fall to Ducks in shootout
Sharks mount comeback against Panthers but still fall in a shootout
Sharks outplay Ducks but blow another lead for third straight shootout loss 
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