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The San Jose Sharks fell to the Calgary Flames last night in the first matchup of a brief three-game homestand, losing 5-2.
Matt Nieto came back into the Sharks’ lineup in place of Oskar Lindblom, while Kaapo Kahkonen got the start.
The Sharks found themselves trailing pretty early in the first period, with Jaycob Megna committing a brutal turnover and Tyler Toffoli was easily able to pick a corner to put Calgary ahead. While the Sharks weren’t getting much going though, they ended uo with a power play midway through the frame and Erik Karlsson made a great move to fake a shot, before finding Timo Meier for a one-timer to tie the game (on what was Karlsson's 700th NHL point). The game opened up for a few minutes after that with some great chances being exchanged, but it remained 1-1 through 20 minutes.
The Sharks continued not to be able to get much going early in the second frame and six minutes in, Milan Lucic’s shot went in off Trevor Lewis, putting Calgary back ahead. However, San Jose did end up generating some shots after that, before a huge fight between Jonah Gadjovich and Dennis Gilbert took place. San Jose ended up outshooting the Flames 13-7 in the frame and had a great opportunity to tie it late in the period off a chance for Nico Sturm, but he couldn’t convert and the Sharks remained down 2-1.
Everything completely unravelled as soon as the third period began though, first with Tomas Hertl taking a high-sticking penalty off the puck drop and the Flames scoring right away, as Elias Lindholm took a nice pass fom Jonathan Huberdeau. Then only 19 seconds later, Lindholm capitalized again off a one-timer and only 35 seconds into the third period, it was suddenly a 4-1 game. The Flames weren’t done there, and under two minutes later, Kaapo Kahkonen made a disastrous mistake, not being able to handle and easy dump-in and Dillon Dube converted on the loose puck, to make it a four-goal game.
The Sharks did respond on a power play later off a goal from Tomas Hertl and ended up having some good chances later, from the likes of Noah Gregor. They pulled Kahkonen early to turn a power play into a 6-on-4 with about five minutes to go but couldn’t convert, and ended up falling 5-2.
The loss ends San Jose’s four-game point streak.
The Sharks actually didn’t put together all that bad of a game. It’s also worth considering this was the second half of a back-to-back, while the Flames had a little bit more rest. They couldn’t get much going whatsoever in the opening frame, but they did recover with a pretty strong second period, where they were right in the game.
More than anything, it was just a brief, disastrous collapse at the beginning of the third period that sunk them.
That fifth goal on Kahkonen was brutal as well and while he shouldn’t be blamed for most of the goals that got by him, that’s just one that reinforces how his season has gone. He’s been so inconsistent and .872 save percentage through 13 games is telling, having allowed at least four goals in seven of his last nine games.
The repercussions of Tomas Hertl’s high-stick also didn’t end with the third period collapse, as the center was also suspended for two games, the league announced today. Given the Sharks don’t have a ton of firepower up front as is, it’s quite the blow.
The Sharks will be right back up against the Flames tomorrow.
OTHER ARTICLES FROM DECEMBER
Sharks come up short against Maple Leafs, fall 3-1
Sharks give up three power play goals, lose 5-2 to Senators
Sharks fall to Sabres in final game of road trip for third straight loss
Ranking the Sharks’ offseason additions based on their play this season
Sharks beaten by Canucks in overtime for fourth loss in a row
Eetu Makiniemi earns win in first NHL start, Sharks beat Ducks 6-1
Sharks fall to Kings in shootout but point streak extends to four games 
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