The Sharks faced the cursed trap game, or the
first game following a long road trip, on Tuesday night as they hosted the
Buffalo Sabres at SAP Center. San Jose has historically struggled with home
games that are played after returning to home ice. Tuesday night's game was not
different. Losing 7 of their last 8 games against the Sabres also stacked the
deck against the Sharks who failed to build on a great road trip, losing to the
Sabres 2-0.
Buffalo entered play on a 3-game losing streak, dropping 2
of those games in overtime. They were the last place team in the Atlanctic
Division. That mattered little. They out-played the Sharks from top to bottom,
playing a methodical road game that netted them 2 points.
Sharks head
coach Ryan Warsofsky tried to kick start his offfense by splitting MAcklin
Celebrini and Will Smith, moving Smith to the 2nd line. Warsofsky inserted
Collin Graf on the 1st line, which turned out to be fruitless.
Graf
did little help generate anything. The Sharks were hit with an epidemic of
ill-advised passes that were intercepted all night. San Jose looked like a team
unwilling to work for their supper and Buffalo took advantage.
The
rash of poor passing and the inability to maintain puck possession all night
meant little pressure on Sabres goaltender Colten Ellis. Buffalo's goaltender
made 23 saves, most of the unthreatening variety.
San Jose's power
play had 11 seconds to convert early in the contest before Mason Marchment was
called for a slash after the Sharks turned the puck over trying to enter the
Buffalo zone.
That may have been the only offensive showing by the
Sharks in the first 10 minutes of the contest. They struggled to keep pace with
Buffalo who out-shot the Sharks 9-5 through the first 10 minutes of play.
Louis Crevier took his 2nd penalty of the period at 12:53 to give the
Sharks power play another shot. They would burn the full 2 minutes of the man
advantage this time but that also meant that the special teams unit did not
convert.
An exceptional defensive performance will hold a team to 16
shots in a game. The Sabres had 16 shots in the opening period. SJ too loose
defensively. They struggle getting the puck out of their own end &
turnovers still an issue. Otherwise, Buffalo controlled the opening period.
Buffalo finally made the Sharks pay for the deluge of shots they
allowed in the direction of goaltender Yaroslav Askarov. Olen Zellweger snapped
an unscreened shot past Askarov 50 seconds into the 2nd period after the Sharks
turned the puck over in the offensive zone.
San Jose stumbled through the remainder of the
period, looking for something to spark their dormant offense. Buffalo would
tack on another 14 shots for a 2 period total of 30 to the Sharks 16 shots.
Zach Benson would take a holding penalty with 27 seconds left in the
period, which carried over 1:33 to the 3rd frame. San Jose's disjointed attack
did little to challenge Ellis.
San Jose was forced to turn up the heat
with 5 minutes to play. They had some quality looks, but Ellis stood tall.
Kiefer Sherwood was staring at a wide open net, but his shot faded back into
the Sabres netminder rather than shooting at the open half of the net.
Askarov denied Noah Ostlund with 2:40 left in regulation on a point blank slap
shot that the Sharks netminder sacrificed himself to block.
San Jose
pulled Askarov after making 38 saves in the game with 1:45 to play, but that
ended with Benson swiping a puck into the empty net to seal the Sharks death
sentence.
Game Notes: * In a peculiar move, or a lack
of one, San Jose did not recall any forward help from the Barracuda even though
Alexander Wennberg and Igor Chernyshov are week-to-week as they nurse injuries.
Andrea Gasseau has scored 5 goals for the Barracuda. Filip Bystedt and Jimmy
Huntington have added 4 each, with Huntington leading the team in scoring with
9 points.
* Macklin Celebrini was held pointless for the 4th time this
season, all coming within the last 7 games. Celebrini had 4 shots in the 1st
period, then was held without a shot the remainder of the game.
* Zach
Benson, Jason Zucker, Beck Malenstyn and Tage Thompson combined for 21 of
Buffalo's 40 shots.
* Celebrini and zack Ostapchuk combined for 22 of
35 faceoff wins (62.8%). The Sharks were a combined 32 of 58 (55%)
*
San Jose announced ticket sales at 14,900, their 2nd non-sellout of the season
(in 5 games).
