The Sharks dropped their series opener against the Blues last night 5-4, making this their second consecutive loss.
San Jose's last game wasn't all doom and gloom. The Sharks had a great first period and opened the scoring with a goal from Kevin Labanc. Logan Couture tallied his first goal of the game on the power play to make it 2-0 before the end of the first period. Compared to this season, Logan Couture didn't score any goals on the man advantage last season, which is shocking to say the least. Couture also scored his second goal of the game in the third period and assisted on the Sharks' first goal by Labanc to record three points on the night. Brent Burns had a three-point night of his own, recording two assists on the Sharks' first two goals in the first period and scoring the Sharks' third goal of the game in the second period on the power play. Speaking of the Sharks' power play, it looked pretty solid in their most recent game, going two-for-three. Overall, the offense is coming along nicely and looks better than it did last season for Team Teal so far.
The game got away from the Sharks in the second period as the Blues scored four unanswered, two of them from Justin Faulk. The Blues netted the game-winner in the middle of the third from Jordan Kyrou, and the Sharks played catch-up from there.
Team Teal was outshot 26-33 during this game, but improved in the faceoff circle from last game and went 32-29. The Sharks weren't very good on defense and spent more time in their own zone than they should've for much of this contest, and Erik Karlsson was especially a weak point defensively with a minus 3 rating. The Sharks are only three games into the 2021 season, so they still have time to improve in the defensive end. However, it would be great if the defense got it together sooner than later.
Devan Dubnyk started in net on Monday, stopping 28 of 33 shots from the Blues. He performed okay for a good chunk of the game and made some great saves, but the goals he gave up were ones that he didn't have much of a chance to save.
Logan Couture is now tied with Owen Nolan for third place among Sharks players all-time in multi-goal games with 35. The other two above them are Joe Pavelski and Patrick Marleau respectively.
Radim Simek returned to the lineup last night after missing the first two against the Coyotes due to injury, playing on the third D-pair with Nikolai Knyzhov. Fredrik Handemark made his NHL debut for the Sharks in their first game against the Blues, playing on the fourth line with Marcus Sorensen and Patrick Marleau. In addition, Marcus Sorensen skated in his 200th NHL game against the Blues on Monday.
San Jose now falls to 1-2-0 in their first three games this season, tied with the Avalanche and Kings for fourth or last in the West Division, depending on how you look at it. The Sharks are looking to split their first two-game series against the Blues in St. Louis on Wednesday at 6 pm PT.
In other news, former Sharks goalie Aaron Dell was claimed by the New Jersey Devils off waivers from the Maple Leafs yesterday. The Sharks recently placed Joel Kellman on waivers but has yet to be claimed by another team or clear waivers.
Sources: NBC Sports Bay Area/California, ESPN
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