Sharks Game 12 Recap: Kings 6, Sharks 2 (2/11/21)

 This has to be the most frustrating loss for the Sharks this year, getting blown out 6-2 by the Kings to close out one of the longest and most difficult road trips in NHL history. 

San Jose got off to a bad start in this game, giving up three goals in the first period. However, the Sharks were able to get one back on Tomas Hertl's first of the game, with assists from Marc-Eduoard Vlasic and Nikolai Knyzhov. 

The second period was an improvement over second periods in previous games as Tomas Hertl netted his second goal of the game to put the Sharks within one; assisting on the second goal were Erik Karlsson and Logan Couture. Luckily, this was the only goal scored in the second period. 

The third period was when the game truly got out of hand for the Sharks. They proceeded to give up three more goals to increase their deficit to four. I should mention that once the score became 5-2 in favor of the Kings, the Sharks had a valid case for goaltender interference, but it was ruled invalid by the refs and the goal stood because it was determined that Brent Burns shoved Dustin Brown into Martin Jones on the play. This made things more upsetting. After Martin Jones gave up his sixth goal, he was pulled from the game in favor of Alexei Melnichuk, who made his NHL debut in the third period of last night's game. The great news is that Melnichuk didn't give up any additional goals, but it has yet to be seen how he will perform in a starting role for the Sharks and for a full 60 minutes. 

It was announced earlier yesterday that Devan Dubnyk is day-to-day with a non-COVID lower body injury, so Martin Jones will be the Sharks' primary goalie for the time being. Jones had a rough start last night, and reports are suggesting that he could be one or two more rough starts away from getting waived and/or sent down to the Barracuda in the AHL. The only other significant roster change in last night's game was John Leonard being inserted back into the lineup. 

The Sharks' record now stands at 5-6-1 through 12 games. It should come as no surprise that after playing 12 consecutive road games, these have really worn them down. Fortunately, the Sharks will have plenty of opportunities to establish themselves as a team that performs well at home, starting with their next game on Saturday against the Golden Knights at 1 pm PT. Vegas is now the only team in the West Division that the Sharks have yet to face this season. 

Sources: NBC Sports Bay Area/California, ESPN, The Athletic