The San Jose Sharks fell 5-1 against the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday, extending their losing streak to six games.
Sharks forward Fabian Zetterlund scored first at 11:02 in the first period to make it a 1-0 game. Zetterlund’s lone goal put him on a three-game point streak.
While Team Teal managed to score first, the following two periods left multiple unanswered goals and resurrected old Sharks’ problems.
In the second period, the Kings had goals from Kevin Fiala, Trevor Lewis, and Pierre-Luc Dubois. Fiala’s goal came at 2:57 with an assist from Jordan Spence. The Dubois goal was assisted by Arthur Kaliyev and Alex Laferriere at 12:26.
After the two quick goals in the second period, the Sharks’ play started to take a hit.
“I thought the first twenty-five minutes we played well,” head coach David Quinn said following the loss. On the final period, Quinn said, “It [the game] just got away from us. We got demoralized”
The Kings’ Adrian Kempe scored the last two goals of the third period. Matt Roy and Kyle Gundstrom assisted on the first goal at 3:36. At 15:42, Mikey Anderson and Drew Doughty picked up assists for the second goal.
The Kings won 59.3 percent of the face offs and profited off of it.
By the end of the game, the Sharks were outshot 43-25.
The Sharks looked like their old self when they were at a 0-10-1 record to start the season.
Los Angeles drew two penalties at key points in the game that the Sharks failed to generate on.
Between loose plays, messy turnovers, and lacking follow-through on one-on-one battles, familiar problems have crept into the Sharks’ bench.
In their last six losses the team has given up 28 goals.
“We gotta have way more urgency, it was just slow. We went through this before, we’ve just gotta get back to playing much more urgency and efficiency,” Quinn said.
Adding onto their offensive and defensive regression, the team has been battling injuries all season long.
On Wednesday Jacob MacDonald was placed on injured reserve with an undisclosed injury. MacDonald did not play on Wednesday’s loss. In the defenseman’s most recent three games he scored two goals.
Goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood is also day-to-day with an illness. San Jose Barracuda netminder Magnus Chrona was recalled on Wednesday.
As of Thursday, captain Logan Couture remains unavailable with an undisclosed lower body injury. The injury has kept the captain away all season as well as training camp.
Right winger Givani Smith remains on injured reserve after suffering a lower body injury against the Arizona Coyotes on Dec. 21.
Defensemen Matt Benning and Ty Emberson have been injured since before the holiday break, with Benning out indefinitely.
Emberson last played Dec. 1 in the Sharks’ 6-3 win against the New Jersey Devils.
Center Nico Sturm remains out with a middle body injury that is considered week-to-week.
The team’s final game of 2023 will be on the road against the Colorado Avalanche on Sunday.
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Featured image courtesy of San Jose Sharks on NHL.com
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