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The San Jose Sharks dropped all three games this week, falling to the Arizona Coyotes, Colorado Avalanche and Dallas Stars.
The Sharks had a strong first period against the Coyotes on Wednesday and opened the scoring off a power play goal from Scott Reedy. However, Nick Ritchie responded for Arizona before the end of the frame and despite San Jose leading 11-4 in shots through 20 minutes, the game remained even. Then in the second period, Jan Jenik gave the Coyotes a lead but Brent Burns’ point shot got through traffic to tie the game heading into the second intermission. Despite the Sharks outshooting the Coyotes 18-11 in the third period, Arizona ended up retaking the lead in the final frame off another goal from Jenik, before a late tally from Barrett Hayton and an empty net goal from Nick Schmaltz secured a 5-2 Coyotes win.
After a scoreless first period on Thursday, the Avalanche opened the scoring early in the second frame. However, Timo Meier buried a nice pass from Tomas Hertl to tie the game, with the game at 1-1 after 40 minutes. There was more back and forth scoring in the third period, with Darren Helm giving the Avalanche their lead back, but Brent Burns managed to slide a puck through Pavel Francouz to tie it again. However, two goals from Mikko Rantanen and Andre Burakovsky later in the frame resulted in a 4-2 Avalanche win.
Then yesterday, the Sharks dropped another game, coming up short against the Dallas Stars. After getting on the board early off a goal from Nick Bonino, San Jose collapsed to allow four first-period goals, ending up down 4-1 after 20 minutes. The Sharks did come out with a better second frame, and Brent Burns managed to cut the lead to two heading into the third period. In the final frame though, Joe Pavelski added to the lead and while late goals from John Leonard and Logan Couture made it interesting, the Sharks still fell 5-4.
The Sharks had a good game against Arizona, outshooting the Coyotes 41-24 in the loss. However, they were badly outplayed by the Avalanche through a lot of the game and while they did have a better back 40 minutes against the Stars, it was yet another example of them getting down bad early.
In other news, the Sharks also signed Nikolai Knyzhov to a one-year contract extension on Friday, which will kick in next season and carries a $850,000 cap hit.
Knyzhov hasn’t played this season due to injuries but did suit up for all 56 of San Jose’s games last season, scoring two goals and 10 points. The defenseman just turned 24 years old and should get a great opportunity to grow his role within the Sharks' defense group next season.
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Quizwiz 
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