The Sharks ship is taking on water and they're
only equipped with had drills. The roster has too many holes and the youngsters
that are being asked to fill those holes just don't have the NHL maturity
required to be competitive. That formula is resulting in lopsided losses like
the one in Vegas on Tuesday night. Even against a struggling Vegas Golden
Knights club, the Sharks were out-gunned, losing 3-1 at T-Mobile Arena.
San Jose would only generate single digit shot counts in each of the
three periods, totaling a paltry 17 attempts on Vegas goaltender Robin Lehner.
It was too little against a team that is scratching to hold its playoff spot in
the Western Conference. No attempts, equate to no goals and the absence of
goals make it difficult to win hockey games.
4th liner Keegan Kolisar
staked the Golden Knights to the early 1-0 lead just 2:16 into the game. The
Sharks were guilty of pinching at the wrong time. Defenseman Jacob Middleton
elected to activate just as the sharks turned the puck over in the Vegas zone.
Brett Howden then skated the puck up the right side before sending a pass to
Kolisar on the left dot. Kolisar sent a one-time chance that beat James Reimer
for only his 6th goal of the season.
The snake-bitten Noah Gregor
scored his 4th goal of the season 1:53 into the 2nd period courtesy of a blown
attempt by Nick Bonino. Skating the puck to the left corner, Andrew Cogliano
sent a centering pass to the slot, where Bonino tried to one-time the puck, but
he heeled it off to his right. Gregor was in the right place at the right time,
as Bonino's flub floated right to him for the easy deposit past Knights
goaltender Robin Lehner.
It wouldn't be Sharks hockey without someone
falling to injury. This one just happened to be bigger than most of the
maladies that have inflicted the Sharks roster, because it was arguably the
best player of late in Reimer. Zack Sawchenko was inserted in net to start the
2nd period when Reimer couldn't answer the bell after the 1st intermission.
The Sharks reported that Reimer suffered a lower body injury.
Bonino night got worse, as he was late to cover Reilly Smith midway through the
period. Jonathan Marchessault took a William Karlsson feed up the right wing,
before sliding it over to his left where Smith was skating. After dropping
Bonino, Smith headed to the net where he collected Marchessault's pass and
snapped it pas Sawchenko.
The Knights effectively put the game out of reach
when Smith scored his 2nd goal of the game at 4:45 of the 3rd period. The Vegas
forward was the benefactor of a slick deflection by William Karlsson.
Marchessault sent a puck to the front of the net from the blueline, where
Karlsson was parked. He got a stick blade on the puck, altering its path at a
45 degree angle to Smith on the left post for the easy tap in.
That's
all she wrote.
Vegas didn't need any more scoring, because the Sharks
just weren't generating any semblance of an offense.
Game
Notes: * Zack Sawchenko faced 20 shots in his mop-up role, making
18 saves.
* Logan Couture and Noah Gregor were the big offensive
producers, generating 3 shots each. 8 Shark forwards did not generate a single
shot on goal in the game.
* Sharks head coach Bob Boughner was mum on
James Reimer's injury, only disclosing that it was of the lower body variety.
* Andrew Cogliano revealed that he missed two games earlier this week
after his daughter was admitted to the hospital for an undisclosed malady.
* It sounds like Erik Karlsson could be close to returning after he
continues to nurse his forearm, which required surgery in early February.
