The winning streak is no more. The Sharks
returned home on Thursday night, and brought back their abysmal home ice play
to drop a 7-4 decision to the visiting Detroit Red Wings. Sloppy play afforded
the Red Wings too many easy goals, especially late in the 3rd period where
Detroit scored 4 times to hand the Sharks their 9th loss on home ice in 10
games this season.
San Jose overcame a 4-2 deficit in that 3rd period,
but then mistakes and turnovers doomed San Jose.
The Sharks staked
themselves to the early lead when Kevin Labanc unloaded on a drop pass from
Erik Karlsson at 6:56 of the opening period. Karlsson carried the puck up the
right side but had no angle as a Red Wings defender cutoff a path to the goal,
so he h sent a blind backhand pass to the inside of the right circle, where
Labanc stepped into it to score his 3rd goal of the season.
Detroit
answered just under 3 minutes later when Filip Hronek lifted a puck from a
tight angle near the right end line, beating James Reimer to tie the game at
1-1.
Matt Nieto scored a highlight reel goal with 7 minutes remaining
in the period. The Sharks forward split a pair of defenders before flipping the
puck on net. The shot appeared to hit goaltender Ville Husso in the right
shoulder and bounced into the Red Wings net for Nieto's 3rd of the season.
The Red Wings out played the Sharks in the 2nd period, motivated by
their deficit. That would eventually result in another game tying goal. Dylan
Larkin fired a shot from the left of the high slot that hit David Perron in the
skate enough to change the directory on the shot and push past Reimer.
Jake Walman gave the Red Wings the lead with his 1st goal of the season with
3:16 left in the middle period. The defenseman sent a blast from the left point
that found the top right corner of the net as Reimer was screened by three
skaters and had to guess on the shot's location. He guessed wrong.
San Jose let the Red Wings extend their lead in the
3rd period, when Joe Veleno pushed the score to 4-2 after pulling a puck off
the end boards and tucking the puck around the right post with three Shark
defenders staring at him. The goal was Veleno's 3rd of the season and came 4:58
into the period.
Logan Couture cut the Red Wings lead to a single goal
at 8:58 when he slammed home a shot from the right side to give the Sharks
captain 8 tallies on the season.
Karlsson bagged his 11th of the
season less than 3 minutes later on a shot from the left wing boards that hit
Andrew Kopp in the posterior before bouncing over the goal line to help San
Jose re-tie the game at 4-4.
Mortiz Seider helped Detroit reclaim the
lead 2:23 later, firing a shot from the right dot that Reimer was late to react
to.
For all his offensive heroics, Karlsson's defense was simply awful
on Thursday night. There was no better example than his play on a loose puck
that rolled out of the Red Wings zone. The Sharks defenseman lolly-gagged back
for the puck, allowing Pius Suter to skate right past him and then deposit his
4th goal of the season after Reimer tried to come out and play the puck.
Dominik Kubalik added an empty net goal to cap the game's scoring.
Game Notes: * Former Sharks head coach Bob Boughner
made his return to SAP Center as an assistant coach with the Red Wings on
Thursday night. The Sharks recognized him on the center-ice video scoreboard in
the 2nd period.
* Nick Cicek recorded his 1st NHL assist and point on
Matt Nieto's 1st period goal. The rookie made his NHL debut on Tuesday night in
Las Vegas.
* The Sharks honored cancer survivors before and during the
game. The opening puck was dropped by Layla Malone, who receives her last dose
of chemotherapy for Leukemia next week. Malone's father works for the Sharks.
* Erik Karlsson was on the ice for 9 of the 11 goals scored in the
game. Unfortunately, 5 of them were Detroit goals.
* James Reimer's
goals against average and save percentage took a beating on Thursday night.
Reimer gave up 6 goals on 20 shots.
