After getting pasted by the Tampa Bay Lightning back on January 3rd, the Sharks were intent on cleaning up their defensive play as the two teams locked horns in St Petersberg on Monday night. San Jose played a more organized game, but in the end Tampa Bay had too much against the road weary Sharks. Brandon Hagel scored a pair of goals to lead the Lightning to a 4-1 win at Benchmark International Arena in St Petersberg.

Yaroslav Askarov didn't last 7 minutes in the first meeting between the two teams, but Sharks head coach Ryan Warsofsky inserted the young Russian in net after Alex Nedeljkovic's pugilistic performance on Sunday.

The Sharks were careful not to play loose defensively and shifted the momentum midway through the opening period after the Lightning held an advantage in shots on goal.

William Eklund helped put the Sharks up 1-0 at 14:37 after he carried the puck around the back of the Lightning goal and tried to wrap the puck around the right post. His shot lifted and hit Tyler Toffoli in the shoulder before redirecting into the net for the game's first goal. The goal was Toffoli's 14th of the season.

Tampa Bay took all of 33 seconds to respond. Brandon Hagel converted on a nifty cross-ice feed from Anthony Cirelli after Sam Dickinson turned the puck over in the Sharks zone. Hagel cut to the net on the left side just as Cirelli sent a bullet past two defenders for the tap in goal past Askarov.

The Lightning opened the 2nd period with more motivation and put a pair of goals past Askarov to take a 3-1 lead. Yanni Gourde narrowly missed on an attempt on the first shift of the period, then things went from bad to worse for San Jose.

First Hagel wrapped a puck around the right post, deflecting it off a Sharks skate and past Askarov for his 25th of the season.

Another Sharks turnover in the defensive zone turned into another Tampa Bay goal. Dominic James gathered a Gage Goncalves feed in the left corner then spotted Jake Guentzel sitting unattended in front of the Sharks net. Guentzel received the James feed and easily snapped it past Askarov for his 22nd of the season.

Ryan Reaves was called for holding Declan Carlile on an attempt to check him off the puck at 6:51. Carlile got a skate stuck on the boards, which forced him into the splits likely injuring his hamstring. San Jose killed the penalty but they had to be thinking about the 3 power play goals Tampa Bay scored on January 3rd.

The Sharks were gifted an opportunity at 12:57 when the Lightning bench was penalized for interference after assistant coach Dan Hinote jumped and tried grabbing a puck that was floating toward the glass behind the bench. The puck was likely not going to clear the glass, which would have been a delay of game infraction, but referee Wes McCauley assessed the 2 minute penalty to Tampa Bay.

All of that was moot as the Sharks were unable to convert the power play chance.

Warsofsky juggled his lines to start the 3rd period, moving Michael Misa onto the top line, joining Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith. Collin Graf was moved to the Adam Gaudette, Pavol Regenda line. Misa didn't look out of place, skating on the left wing, but the Sharks just couldn't crack the Lightning's lockdown of their zone.

The closest San Jose came to scoring was on a improbable Ryan Reaves breakaway chance that Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy denied.

Warsofsky pulled Askarov with 3 minutes left in regulation, which resulted in an empty net goal for Hagel to cap the scoring.

Game Notes:

* The Sharks gave Igor Chernyshov the evening off after his 2 assist performance in Sunrise against the Panthers. Sharks head coach Ryan Warsofsky called it a maintenance day for the Sharks young forward.

* Adam Gaudette was back in the lineup after being scratched on Sunday. He did not have a particularly good game, serving as Chernyshov's replacement. Gaudette was a -2, with no shots on goal and was 0-for-2 from the faceoff circle.

* Macklin Celebrini led the Sharks with 5 shots on goal, but was held off the score sheet. Celebrini was muzzled all nigh by the Lightning who played a lockdown game against the Sharks all night.

* The Lightning did to the Sharks what the Sharks did to Florida 24 hours earlier by scoring big goals in the 2nd period to decide the game. Tampa Bay only scored 2 in that fateful middle period, but their defense made those goals count.

* Ryan Reaves celebrated his 39th birthday. He is by far the senior statesman in the Sharks locker room. He just missed scoring on this big day in the 3rd period on a breakaway chance.