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The San Jose Sharks came up just short against the Tampa Bay Lightning today, falling 4-3.
Nick Bonino re-entered the lineup in place of Jonah Gadjovich, while James Reimer got his seventh start of the season.
The Lightning opened the scoring right away, with Victor Hedman joining a rush and burying a pass from Brayden Point only 32 seconds into the game. San Jose did get even under a minute later through, with Erik Karlsson intercepting a pass and going in towards the net, beating Andrei Vasilevskiy with a well-placed shot. However, after a relatively even frame, Tampa Bay took the lead back just after a power play expired, with Ross Colton burying the rebound. The Lightning had the momentum for the rest of the frame, as the Sharks went into the intermission down one.
However, after outplaying Tampa Bay in the early part of the second period, Nico Sturm took a pass and ripped a shot past Andrei Vasilevskiy, tying the game. The Lightning did end up generating more chances in the back half of the frame though and with only about a minute left, Alex Killorn took a pass off the boards and went five-hole on Reimer to put Tampa Bay back up through 40 minutes.
The Sharks responded yet again in the third period though, with another key goal from Erik Karlsson, who beat Vasileskiy through traffic on a power play. San Jose then put together a really good period, building some momentum. However, the Sharks let their foot off the gas a bit in the final stretch of the frame and Brayden Point used his speed to create a rush and Nikita Kucherov was able to finish off a nice passing play with under a minute to go. The Sharks couldn’t respond after that, falling 4-3.
Despite the loss, this was a fairly positive game for the Sharks. The effort was there and once again, they limited a good opponent to a manageable number of chances, giving up just 26 shots to Tampa Bay.
Erik Karlsson is also off to a great start this season, already with six goals and 11 points in 11 games. He’s provided some big goals and while Karlsson is still far from perfect defensively, he’s providing a much bigger overall impact this season.
It’s been a good stretch for the Sharks, winning three of their last six games. While they’re still 3-8-0 this season, San Jose really didn't have any sort of expectations coming into the season, so seeing them in competitive games against good teams is a positive sign at this point in the year (especially after their 0-5 start).
San Jose’s next game comes on Tuesday against the Anaheim Ducks.
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
Sharks come up short against Devils, lose 2-1
James Reimer picks up shutout as Sharks blank Flyers
Sharks lose to Golden Knights as Phil Kessel breaks ironman record
Sharks blow lead but beat Leafs in overtime 
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