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The San Jose Sharks dropped both games of their weekend back-to-back, falling 5-4 to the Florida Panthers in overtime yesterday, then 2-1 to the Carolina Hurricanes today.
5-4 OVERTIME LOSS TO PANTHERS
After some good chances were exchanged early, Tomas Hertl opened the scoring for the Sharks, driving to the net and putting a shot through Sergei Bobrovsky. San Jose then managed to extend their lead late in the period, as Jonathan Dahlen ripped a shot past Bobrovsky on a power play. However, the Panthers got on the board before the end of the frame, as Gustav Forsling took a pass from Sam Reinhart and beat James Reimer, making it 2-1 Sharks after 20 minutes.
Matt Nieto extended San Jose’s lead early in the second period, burying a shot off a pass from Nick Bonino. Florida outplayed the Sharks through the period, throwing 20 shots on net in the frame for a two-period total of 37 shots, but the Sharks kept the 3-1 lead heading into the intermission.
The Panthers continued buzzing early in the third period though and Aleksander Barkov cut the lead to one under 1:30 into the frame. However, Jonathan Dahlen extended the lead on a power play once again, firing another shot past Bobrovsky. Florida kept pressing though and after Reimer couldn’t cover a loose puck, Mason Marchment made it a 4-3 game. Then just a couple minutes later, Jonathan Huberdeau took a pass from Carter Verhaeghe in front and tapped it in, tying the game.
Despite the teams trading good chances before the end of regulation, neither team could take the lead after that and the game continued to overtime. In the extra frame, Huberdeau put the puck out front from behind the net and Sam Bennett put a shot through Reimer, giving the Panthers the 5-4 overtime win.
2-1 LOSS TO HURRICANES
In the second half of San Jose’s back-to-back, they went down early against the Hurricanes, as Vincent Trocheck wired a shot past James Reimer. The Sharks did generate some momentum later in the frame, but couldn’t convert. San Jose came out pretty flat after that in the second period, being outshot 11-4 in the period. However, Carolina couldn’t extend the lead and it remained 1-0 heading into the third period.
Rudolfs Balcers managed to tie the game early in the third period, as he picked up a loose puck and beat Frederik Andersen. After some good chances were exchanged in the frame though, Andrei Svechnikov buried a rebound with a few minutes to go and the Hurricanes took a 2-1 win.
Despite facing a high quality of competition, the losses definitely set the Sharks back. San Jose now sits with a 22-20-3 record, which has them in 12th in the Western Conference in points percentage.
The Sharks continue to be without key pieces though, as several defenders are unavailable, while James Reimer was forced to play both halves of the back-to-back, with Adin Hill still out. ‘
San Jose’s next game comes on Tuesday, when they'll wrap up their road trip against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
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